More Japanese figures! Except this one is very, very new! Like, released earlier this year new! I actually only just received it a few weeks ago. And since I was taking photos anyway, I thought I would just go ahead and share it here this week!
This is a set of five figures made by Kaiyodo for a CapsuleQ Museum set. In this case, the animals featured include venomous and poisonous animals. This is actually the second set of Venomous/Poisonous animals released by Kaiyodo. The first one, coming out a few years ago, featured a tarantula, coral snake, scorpion, and two centipedes…admittedly, not a set I felt the need to get. But this one, well, it featured some animals that I definitely needed! Two creatures were kind of neat, the Indian Tiger Centipede and Japanese Box Jelly. I don’t normally do inverts, but it was easier to get the whole set, and they are very cool. Plus, I don’t think box jellies get made very often.
But I mean, come on! A couple of Fire salamanders? Including a red morph? Those were definitely going to get added to my collection. And they’re the only poisonous figures in the set. But the fifth figure? A Freshwater stingray (Potamotrygon leopoldi to be exact). This figure is the absolute best part of the series for me! As a group, freshwater rays don’t show up as figures much–officially there’s only one, a giveaway figure from fish food maker Hikari. And also one made for the FaunaFiguresFishes series (but those were even more limited…). It was especially great to see Kaiyodo finally tackle a new type of ray!
The figures are of course very well made and very detailed. Certainly up to the standard we’d expect from Kaiyodo. They are all single-piece figures, and a softer material so they aren’t likely to get damaged. One odd thing, the figures are actually presented as strap figures, but the straps are easily removed, they’re just small screws. I did leave the strap on the box jelly, as it is easier to display in a hanging position. The straps on the other figures are meant to hang them in a way that makes them look like they are hanging. It explains the poses on the salamanders and centipede…but it does leave a big hole in the back end of the figures. Not really noticeable depending on how they are displayed (or photographed!) but kind of awkward. Who would actually hang these anyway? It seems like a strange way to present them.
The good news is that this set is still fairly available on Japanese auction and resale sites–it only came out a few months ago and is apparently still on sale…wherever exactly gashapon figures are sold? I know that Capsule Aquarium figures are sold at aquariums, but I don’t know where these others show up. But for fans of these kinds of animals–really, the ray alone–makes the search worth it. And knowing that it is currently available, as of this writing, is encouraging, maybe some people can actually find them! Definitely easier and less expensive now than a year from now when they are no longer on offer. And, again, add a freshwater ray to your collection!
