Vault Tales 299 Run the Set GeoWorld Travel-to-Go Ice Age

So here's a neat little set from GeoWorld that, well, didn't last long. They aren't especially great models, but feature a few animals that you never really see. And a few that you pretty much always do... Clearly not to scale with each other...but it came with a neat playmat. There were also a couple of plastic hollow rocks but those are long lost because...plastic rocks. But at least there were also info cards so that the identifications are clear...…

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Vault Tales 285 Run the Set Kaiyodo National Museum of Nature & Science

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…

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Vault Tales 279 Run the Set Safari Ltd Sea Turtle Life Cycle

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…

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Vault Tales 277 Run the Set Safari Ltd South African Animals toob

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…

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Vault Tales 272 Run the Set Takara Monster Fish

More fish this week, this time ostensibly a 'set' but really just two different versions of the same figure, from the same series. In recent years Takara has started releasing small gashapon sets of figures, usually 3 to five figures, a little larger than more familiar Kaiyodo, Yujin, and similar models. Most are in a couple of pieces, often with some kind of jointing or movement. There are also quite a number of themes--a few fish ones, some prehistoric ones,…

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Vault Tales 266 Run the Set Furuta Dinomodels Series 1

Time to look at another set of Japanese dinosaur figures, or at least the ones I have of the set. The name Furuta might sound familiar, as I have referred to them a few times before. In those instances, it was usually as a partner company with Kaiyodo, continuing the Chocoegg series. However, in the early 2000s (and until today) produced figures for their own series, in this case a line of 8 dinosaur figures in their Dinomodels line (optimistically…

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Vault Tales 265 Run the Set Playmates Dinosaur King Series 2

I have spoken about the Playmates Dinosaur King series of figures, but this is the first time I'm looking at a whole (mostly) series of them. In this instance, it is all of the figures that I have from the second release, which in my case is 16 of the 24...and it looks like that will be as far as I can get. A few of the bigger figures (relatively speaking). Pentaceratops, Stegosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus (the SUPER ALPHA VERSION!!! Yes,…

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Vault Tales 251 Run the Set BattleTop Dinosaurs (unknown maker)

So, today, a very strange one. One which I've had for about 15 years now. It's a set of dinosaur figures that look an awful lot like Dinosaur King figures. Except that they came mounted on battle top (early 2000s...it was a big thing). And while they were carded, they were not branded as Dinosaur King or as Bandai, or anything else in particular. And they were at a local dollar store. But they were cheap, and unique--I had never…

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Vault Tales 250 Run the Set Toys Spirits Super Long Moray Mascot

It's going to be a fast one today, but a really unique one. A set that came out recently (I received them in August, I think?), it's a series from a Japanese group called Toys Spirits. As best as I can tell, this is one of many lines produced by or for Bandai; Toys Spirits tend to be smaller figures overall than what we usually associate with capsule figures, which really says something. From the limited information I could find,…

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Vault Tales 249 Run the Set Safari Ltd Pelagic Fishes toob

Another Safari toob set? Already! How awesome...and statistically likely, since I have a lot of them...! But this time it is a newer one, and one of what I think is their best ones in recent years (the Great Lakes toob is of course my favorite, maybe I'll get to it someday). In this instance, it is the Pelagic Fishes toob from 2019, Safari number 100265. The set features 10 fish, and only fish (in the broad 'swimming vertebrates sense)…

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Vault Tales 248 Run the Set Safari Ltd Prehistoric Mammal Skulls toob

Another toob set! This time a prehistoric one again, featuring more skulls! I looked at some other Safari toob sets before--a dinosaur skull toob and, related to today, a modern mammal skull toob. So today it will be the third and what appears to be final Safari skulls toob, the Prehistoric Mammal Skulls toob! A couple of the smaller skulls, a Australopithecus and a Smilodon The toob set came out in 2011, the same year as the modern mammal skulls…

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Vault Tales 243 Run the Set Safari Ltd Alligators Alive! toob

Now with another toob from Safari! This one has a very narrow theme, in this case focusing on a number of American Alligator figures (and a few associated reptiles from their normal range). In a way, it's surprising that a toob like this didn't come out sooner--Safari Ltd is a company founded and based in Florida, notable for their alligators; and even their logo is an alligator. All of the adult figures, more or less similar in size, on average…

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