Another figure frenzy today, all over the place again! Dinosaurs and fish and amphibians! I’m a little late with it, so I’m going to be brief here!
Safari Ltd South American toob Giant Anteater
I only just discussed the Capybara from the Safari South American toob, and already, a week later, here we are with the second figure from the set, a Giant Anteater. I said a lot about the toob already, so no need to repeat here–other than, this is another great little figure from that toob. For the size of it, it is a great figure. One nice thing about it, it is roughly 1:20, which puts it at the usual scale for many mammal figures, especially prehistoric mammals. Gives some opportunity for interesting South American display. As I said before, I definitely recommend adding this toob to a collection.
Safari Ltd Deep Sea Creatures Silver Hatchetfish
And now another toob figure from Safari, this time from the Deep Sea Creatures toob, number 688108. The figures in the series tend to be a bit larger, but a bit rougher. This is clear in this figure, which is likely a Silver Hatchetfish (which is also known as a Lovely Hathetfish, which I find charming and puzzling). Like the other figures in the set, the paint jobs are very simple, and the sculpts are a little broad as well. That said, it is great to see a series like this available outside of Japan, which features some of the stranger creatures of the deep. This hatchetfish is pretty typical for the series–more or less one colour, with coloured eyes, and simplified detail overall. Nice models, great starter figures, even if they are not quite on the level of the Colorata set (but far less expensive). But one major annoyance–most of them cannot stand up on their own. This is less conducive to display or even play.
Kaiyodo Takara ChocoQ Animaltales Clouded Salamander
Now, speaking of high-detail Japanese figures, we have a Clouded Salamander from Kaiyodo. This one is from a Takara ChocoQ Animaltales series, series 06 to be exact. Many different animals are made with the Kaiyodo series, but something about the Takara amphibians are especially excellent (the Salamandroidea post features a few others). This model is a really nice one, number 162 in the Animatales numbering. The sculpt and paint job is top notch, but the pieces on the figure do leave the seams a little more visible than would be nice. But a great figure, and definitely one I would recommend!
Gakken Dinosaurs Gallery Velociraptor
And then we’ll slip into the prehistoric with a figure that is…not at that level. It’s marked from the maker Gakken, which I believe might be part of Bandai. It’s an odd set–the figures are made of individual pieces, but the style is very heavy and kind of old-fashioned. This is especially odd given that they were released in about 2006 or so, there had already been far more up to date figures of Velociraptor before this. Kudos, though, that this Velociraptor is not based on the Jurassic Park styling, but a little more like the actual animal…loosely speaking. But it’s at least very active–the stand makes it look fast and leaping–unforuntaely the rod on mine is broken, though, so it isn’t posed quite right. Still, kind of fun model, and it’s the type of figure that, honestly, I didn’t mind the kids playing with (I was the one that broke the rod). They’re of course out of production and I’ve never really looked them up further, so I’m not sure if they’re easy to find. Not sure if they’d be worth the search (maybe for the Supersaurus in the series though, it’s kind of nifty).
Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 02 Allosaurus skull
And finally, we end on a dead dinosaur, the Allosaurus skull from Dinotales series 02. It is numbered 047 in the Dinotales collection. As with most of the bone-based Dinotales, it is of a very high quality, with a lot of detail on it (recalling the Smilodon skull that I discussed a long time back). Fortunately, it is only made of a few pieces instead of all of the skull bones! It’s a little heavy for the real Allosaurus, probably because the openining in the skull are filled in. And, of course, the long sharp teeth are more painted in place instead of individually sculpted–which makes sense; Dinotales are very well-sculpted, but those teeth might be asking a lot for a toy that came packaged with candy! Nice model, but as hard to find as any of these Kaiyodo figures from the earliest 2000s.
