Today’s post I am going to look at a figure that was one of my personal grails…and I was happy to eventually get it. It is, as the title says, another Starlux figure, the Edaphosaurus. This figure was first produced in 1983, making it one of their more recent releases (as a group, Starlux new prehistoric figures were made until 1984). It seems like the more recent figures are often harder to find, and yet are also often among the most desirable. The Edaphosaurus, item number FS40110, is definitely a desirable one, and reflects how well Starlux was often able to depict early reptiles and other prehistoric oddities (myself…not a fan of their dinosaurs).
I don’t exactly recall my first Starlux figures, but I was aware of them from early on through collector sites and mailing lists. It was, however, not easy to find much information on the company. I knew they were breakable, and I knew that there was a wide range of interesting animals, and I knew that they were from France. Also at the time, trying to add more Permian animals to the collection was fairly ridiculous. Finding Dimetrodon has always been easy (still is) but the vegetarian sail-back counterpart was pretty much nonexistent.
This was before Bullyland finally made their awesome Edaphosaurus…or CollectA got themselves on track and recently made their fantastic Edaphosaurus. In other words, there really weren’t any to be found, but I at least knew about this one. It seemed like it was impossible to find. I had tracked down a number of other Starlux figures in the earlier 2000s. I had put my limited memories of French to go onto eBay and found a few of the ones I wanted. But the Edaphosaurus had managed to elude me.
I did eventually manage to get myself one. In a ridiculous pair of lots. From France! It was shocking how relatively inexpensive it was, all things considered. The lot actually contained a whole lot of figures that are considered rare; not only did I manage to get my hands on the Edaphosaurus, but a whole lot of others, like the weird prehistoric fish and several mammals. But the Edaphosaurus was definitely a motivator. One thing I did learn–they are very breakable, and yet they were packed so poorly and made it all the way from France with not a single break (although there were a few that were broken in the lot). I’m still really anxious about them, even if they can go transoceanic without breaking.
So I eventually managed to get this in my collection–not just a Starlux Edaphosaurus, but an Edaphosaurus at all. Now, of course, I have a fair number including that aforementioned Bullyland and CollectA as well as a couple of odd little erasers and even a 3D printed one (that one is in the queue actually, give it a couple weeks). Still not as many as Dimetrodon though (but far more common than other sphenacodonts, so there’s that). I would of course recommend tracking down one for yourself if you enjoy the classic-styled figures, but obviously not as a toy (the weird composition material is not strong). But if you need an Edaphosaurus just to have one, get the CollectA one instead, that one should be easier to find and more likely less expensive.
