Who makes it? Kaiyodo Dinotales, part of the 7th series. The Elasmosaurus is number 117A–the brown colour one. I think 117B is purple, but I only got one!
When did it come out? I feel like it was around 2008 but I can’t exactly remember.
Still available? As with all Dinotales, these were limited in their availability. And of course only available in Japan. Attached to a specific drink bottle, I think.
Where can it be found in my displays? In the cabinet dedicated to Dinotales and Kaiyodo prehistoric figures that are pretty much Dinotales in spirit.
How does it fit in the collection? It’s a Dinotales figure. I try to have at least one of each. And small prehistoric marine reptiles are kind of awesome.
Any story behind it? Not anything specific. I probably got the half set from a fellow collector or something.
Notable remarks about this figure (a review that isn’t really a review): First off, this figure is very small, about 10cm. For a reptile that was as long as 14m, that makes it roughly 1:135 in scale. That gives some perspective, then, on how much Kaiyodo packed into this tiny model. Some elements are larger and stand out, like the well-defined paddles in their ‘flying motion’, giving the animal a lot of movement; and the neck and head that follow the more recent understanding of their range of motion. No swan necks here, the neck has a slight sideways curve, and the head is leaning downward. But there are other things, like the details in the mouth with fine teeth individually sculpted. They aren’t quite as numerous as they should be, or flared out from the mouth in an interlocking tangle. But given that they’re maybe 1mm long, it’s pretty good. More points include the barnacles all over the bodies (visible as the white blotches on the back and belly of the figure). The barnacles are even raised a little. All in all, a very dynamic, modern figure…other than the tail, as some recent interpretations include a small tail fin. But the figure predates that.
Would I recommend it? It’s a bit of a broken record, but of course I recommend it. The Dinotales in all of their incarnations are great. It’s just too bad that they’re not always easy to track down. And this model is from the original releases, when the material was a fairly brittle plastic–so these are not things to hand over to kids (plus, I find that this one tends to be really loose in its base). Definitely a great representation of an elasmosaur, especially compared to other models I’ve talked about! A definite must for a collection.
