Wide range of figures again today. All over the map–prehistoric and modern, big and small, really nice and…less high end. I guess that’s what happens when picks are random…!
Jurassic World FK mini Apatosaurus (Walmart)
First up, a small mini dinosaur figure from Mattel, an Apatosaurus from the 15-pack from Walmart (and only the first of many mini figures from Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom). Like most of the figures in the set (I looked at the Stegosaurus before) the figure is a monochromatic model, based more or less on the dinosaurs from the movies…both accurate and inaccurate. And then that weird red splotch, which I guess is supposed to be blood? Because we need to remember the movies are violent I guess. I do like the series, and am always happy to have mini figures. There’s still something just great about getting sets of a whole bunch of figures! Good value for kids with limited budgets too!
Yujin Primary Freshwater Fish Pictorial Book 1 Reissue Revised White-spotted Char
Now we have a great fish from the Yujin Freshwater Fish Book 1 series, the White-spotted Char, number 02 in the series. This one is actually from the reissued, revised set–so apparently, the third time this set was released! As always, a really nice figure, and by this point, they really had it figured out. The paint scheme is expertly applied (okay, the spots are a little broad). I also really appreciate the char figure; for whatever reason, salmon and trout are not common as figures, and char even less so (even though they’re pretty popular among the salmonids). But if a figure is made, it’s especially great to have it from Yujin. They of course show up elsewhere–I think only from other Japanese companies, here’s a Kaiyodo version! And I know Colorata has one, plus a few others (several of which I don’t have). So it’s possible to get the species as a figure, but the Yujin are long out of production, but do show up in auctions.
Diramix Epic Animals Mega Squali Poraspis
Okay, so this one is weird. I got it from a friend that got a bunch of them, possibly from Italy. The set, Mega Squali, refers to the majority of the figures representing sharks and other ‘monsters’ of the sea. And MEGA means they are big–imagine, these bead-filled rubber figures, the size of your hand, are blind bag figures!? I was able to get a couple from someone; they are rough, and squishy, but very unusual. And being a weird heterostracan ‘agnathan’, that is almost exactly full size, makes this Poraspis even more unique. Of course, the series was short-lived (I think–it’s never easy to tell), and these Diramix (and De Agostini) series are pretty much restricted to southern Europe, so that’s limiting (and postage from there can be scary!). Plus these figures overall don’t tend to be very resistant, tearing and getting holes easily (I have a Pituriaspis that has a tiny leak somewhere…) So if you can get one, I highly recommend it, just as a novelty. But it’s probably going to be through a secondary market, if you can even find them. Try though! It’s really cool!
Kaiyodo CapsuleQ Marine Reptiles Archelon
Sticking with prehistoric aquatic animals, we are going from a large figure of a small animal to a small figure of a notably large animal. This is number 5 from the Kaiyodo CapsuleQ Marine Reptiles series, the famous giant sea-going turtle (not ‘sea turtle’) Archelon. This is the second attempt by Kaiyodo, after including one in their Dinotales Series 3. The base, the pose, and the colours all go to make this a very dynamic and intense animal. It really looks like an active sea dweller. Even better, it comes with a small diver, so that it’s at least possible to get a sense of scale with how large these animals are (the diver could be a little smaller I guess). Definitely a great addition to a prehistoric collection, but of course they were short-lived. The good news is that there is no shortage of Archelon figures in a number of sizes–for a small one, the CollectA mini box is still around. But this is still one of the best (not a toy like the CollectA though).
Playmates Dinosaur King Spinosaurus
And ending on a…not low point, but not high point. It’s Spinosaurus imagined for the Dinosaur King series 1 from Playmates. When it came out, around 2010, this was probably about as close as anyone could expect for a depiction of Spinosaurus. Of course, only a few years later, more material and new interpretations have meant models like this seem quaint. Or wrong. However you want to think of it. As a Dinosaur King figure, it recreates the figure well. Based on the eyes and posture, my guess is that it plays a villain of some kind–after all, Tyrannosaurus was one of the ‘main’ dinos’, and a certain movie had positioned Spinosaurus as its natural enemy. Anyway, these figures are not easy to find (easier than Series 2 of any kind) but overall, they’re fine. If nothing else, I always appreciate the odd colour choices seen in Dinosaur King figures.
