General category for all posts
We're looking at a clade again today, and as far as clades go...I have been excited and dreading it all at the same time. As the title says, it is the crown group Cladistia, which includes the modern bichirs and reedfish and their fossil relatives. I'm excited because as I'm sure I've mentioned before, bichirs are easily my favorite fish of all time. Dreading because, well...not a whole lot to say. I may be a fan, but I'm no expert.…
We're going to go through a bunch of mini-size figures this week! A good look at how many companies have actually made these tiny-size figures! With one exception, most of these figures are sized well for scenes and dioramas with more traditionally larger figures. In keeping with the theme, I'll keep it short (there's only so much to say...) Safari Ltd Good Luck Minis Red-Eye Tree Frog A tiny little Red-eye Tree Frog. Which looks pretty good, if a little…
It'll be a quick look at the figures I have from a set today--two thirds of which I looked at in greater detail once before (when I apparently changed my format!) But always great to look at the history a bit more. Two figures that I've visited before, but so worth the extra look. Futabasaurus in the purple flesh, and a Futabasaurus skeleton. Clearly, the museum and Japan are proud of their sea monster! As said before, the series was…
Taking a look at a weird and wide variety of prehistoric figures. Representing all kinds of geologic ages and taxonomic groups! Also...pretty wide range of quality. Dino Magic Fizz-N-Surprise 'Brontosaurus' Skeleton (GLOW!) Kind of the basic dinosaur skeleton, ostensibly a Brontosaurus skeleton. It's roughly 1:200 scale, so that diver guy there is pretty close in scale Well let's start with what will obviously be the low point...another figure from the Dino Magic series. I have to say, it's representative of…
A quick visit to a single excellent figure from Safari Ltd today, the Gryposaurus from the Dinos & Prehistoric Life series (or whatever the name of the series is, was, or will be. It's changed a lot). The item number is 302529, and it was first released in 2013. One thing to immediately note--for a Safari figure, and an ornithopod, this figure is relatively large. It's about time, since some of these dinos were impressively big! One of a few…
Time to look at another single, kind of special figure. This time another very unique model from the French company Starlux, but how often does a company make a dicynodont? And even more, how often does a company make a kind of aberrant dicynodont like Endothiodon? And I don't even have one--I have two Endothiodon figures! It's a very strange animal, from a group of already strange animals. Starlux was always great for the huge taxonomic variety that they released…
It's going to be all living animals today! No extinction here! Hopefully! And a pretty broad taxonomic range too! Safari Ltd Pets Toob Llama It's a LLAMA an in an interesting pose. About 1:30 scale, so close to the zoo guy there. Let's start with the mammal, a Llama from the Safari Pets toob, item 683704. I don't have a ton to say about it--other than it's a pretty decent figure. The pose is kind of interesting, probably chosen as…
Let's look at another great figure from a great set that was tragically cut short. I am speaking of a figure from the rebirth and re-release of the Battat Dinosaurs for their Terra series. Four new figures were created by the great sculptor Dan LoRusso, and several of the figures from the original Battat Boston Museum of Science series were brought back in revised paint schemes. This figure is one of the novel models--a Cryolophosaurus. A few first pictures! Even…
Let's do a quick one this week, a visit to another Safari Life Cycle. This time it's a quick look at the Green Sea Turtle Life Cycle, released in 2012 under item number 662316. As with the previously-seen Monarch butterfly set, there are a few figures, and their scales are all over the place. The first two stages--a nest of exposed eggs (!) and a hatchling. It's resting on the nest because it looks good. Being a life cycle, there…
Time for another fast, single-figure post. This time featuring one of my favorite models...from a series called My Favorite Animals. Naming the company is awkward...anyway, it is part of the subset 'Past Works 4, the only figure I have from the sculptor. It's definitely not a toy, and definitely one of the more obscure figures and series in my collection (among many, of course). This could very well be the definitive American Paddlefish figure ever made. It would be nice…
It's time to look at a set today--toob from Safari Ltd. This one is the South African animals toob, released in 2020 under number 100409. It kind of snuck by me somehow when it first came out, but I was fortunately reminded about it, and able to get it fairly quickly. At least Safari is still generally available, even in Canada. Well, it's an African animals set. It had to have a Lion in it! But it also includes a…
Let's look at another weird range of figures. One of them isn't much to look at--but how often do we see caecillian figures? Almost never to be exact. Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 2 Brachiosaurus More dinotales! This time their really nice Brachiosaurus. It's about a 1:185 scale figure, so the man there is too big for that scale. First up, another of the great Dinotales figures, specifically the Brachiosaurus from series 2, number 27. There is not a lot to still…
