Today we are going to look at a single figure (I know, it’s been a while!), the recent CollectA Uintatherium from their Deluxe prehistoric mammals line. It is number 88800 in their series, and was released in 2017, although I don’t think I actually purchased mine until…2019? Not fully sure what the delay was. Probably a matter of needing to track it down.
I don’t know why I waited, but I am glad that I eventually added it to my collection. Prehistoric mammals are not the most common group of figures, and if you take out sabre tooth cats and mammoths it goes even further down (although things are better than they were, my shelves are pretty full!) And uintatheres (including Eobasileus and Uintatherium) are just weird enough that when a company gets creative, they sometimes get the call. And when they do, they are almost uniformly reimagined as a rhino with a bumpy head–pretty much par for the course for all hefty-and-horned mammals like Arsinoitherium and brontotheres as well (although at least the Kaiyodo arsinoithere had some life to it. CollectA went a different route, with a lighter, more gracile animal in a far less lumbering pose.
CollectA did a great job of capturing the odd appearance of this ancient mammal, which has no living relatives today. The whole body has a hairy texture on it, with a short mane down the neck and even a tuft on the tail (is this accurate? I don’t know). The knobs on the head also have a light haired texture, although the tips on the bigger ones are marked with grey, possible indicating wear? Or nodding to early interpretations that there would have been antlers…(I have seen old reconstructions…they are bizarre). The prominent canines are painted a gleaming white, as are the other visible teeth. The toes appear correct, as hefty hoofed feet with the proper toe numbers. The pose is the really interesting part–it is obviously meant to convey an agitated or attacking animal. The front legs are forward and splayed just a little, while the rear legs are held more under the body. Perhaps it is anticipating a charge from a rival?
Like most of the CollectA Deluxe prehistoric mammals, the Uintatherium is ostensibly 1:20 scale, although my rough measurement says more like 1:17. either way, this is more or less in keeping with the majority of Cenozoic megafauna figures, which is a good way to line them up together and get a sense of the diversity that once existed. Or line up the few larger uintathere models and see the diversity in interpretations that once existed! To be fair, that will be a tricky feat–the CollectA one is still in production and available from various sources, depending on where you are; other figures are from companies like Starlux and Play Visions…good luck finding those. And a few others of course. But overall I would definitely suggest that this model get added to your shelves (or toy boxes…I suppose). Finding figures from the earlier Cenozoic isn’t easy, so everyone should try and add some Eocene flavour in there, mix it up with the Ice Age favourites!
