It’s a day brought to us by the letter P! And P can also be for prehistoric…mostly. Although the only living one only has prehistoric relatives.
CollectA Deluxe 1:20 (1:40?) Paraceratherium
Our first figure is one of the first big CollectA prehistoric mammals, their take on Paraceratherium, item number 88313. It was first released in 2009, and back then I think I picked up every CollectA figure that came out; even if I didn’t I would still get it. I’ve always been a fan of prehistoric mammal figures. When it came out it was listed at 1:20 but that seems doubtful; at about 13cm at the shoulder, it’s closer to 1:40. Which means that it would scale well with many dinosaur figures–which is kind of fitting, being one of the largest land mammals of all time (apparently there may be a few contenders among ground sloths and probiscideans). CollectA did a decent job representing this giant, hornless rhino, although it does seem a little lightly built for such a big beast. Still, can’t complain as most major companies don’t make it (although there are some in similar sizes from smaller makers). I will complain that the figure was discontinued in 2019–but it lives on as a mini in the CollectA mini box of prehistoric mammals.
CollectA Prehistoric Marine Life Pleuroceras
From one of their older models to one of their newest (and from one of their newest lines, too! CollectA started a line of ‘Prehistoric Marine Life’ in 2020, releasing a number of larger figures representing a variety of marine invertebrates (so far). The figures all tend to be similar in size, representing animals that wouldn’t be feasible to scale with the standard-size or deluxe-size prehistoric reptiles, etc (although, they had originally made much smaller ones in a mini box!). This Pleuroceras figure is a great example of the line–and a very modern take on an ammonite. They have certainly done a great job of capturing the relationship to octopus and squid–it’s a super detailed figure. My complaint is that there is no way to make it rest upright…which is annoying. Still a great companion to other ammonite/cephalopod figures (it now rests on a shelf with a bunch of my other invert figures) where it can be compared to other ammonites like the Bullyland and recent Safari ones of similar size.
Kaiyodo DInotales Series 2 Pteraspis
Here we are with another Dinotales figure because, of course, I have a whole lot! This one is their Pteraspis figure from series 2, number 042. I recall hunting this one down (as well as a few others) because there were so few Palaeozoic armoured fish figures…at the time, I think the only ones around were from Starlux and maybe some Yowies? And it turns out that…I don’t think there are many other Pteraspis still (although there is one in the Oumcraft Life game, but I don’t have it; there may be a couple others too). It is a great model of the real animal, truly capturing the awkward and pointy appearance. The fish figures are easily some of the most interesting and appealing of the original Dinotales figures…but of course it’s as discontinued as the rest. Definitely one that belongs in a collection!
NewRay Hunting Sets Pronghorn duo
And now we’ll just change gears to a pair of Pronghorn figures from a company called NewRay. As a company, they currently seem to specialize in outdoor and adventure sets, although at one time they did make more random sets of animals including pets, wild animals, and apparently even dinosaurs. This set was an interesting one to me–having lived on the prairies for my entire life, I was well aware of these speedy animals, but was not aware of any figures of them–until I found these in an agricultural hardware store (it’s a seasonal thing they do). They do come with a couple of bow hunters (most of their sets include people doing stuff) but the pronghorn figures themselves (both bucks) are actually pretty well made and quite lively–the one on the base, lifted on a peg, is an excellent way to depict them. The size is also pretty good for most modern and prehistoric mammal scales; other current (or recently discontinued) figures tend to be much larger. I am pretty sure that the set is still made–or at least the figures are still made by NewRay in other sets, I have definitely seen that. Worth looking for them, great for collections of North American fauna!
