Overview F-toys beetles

[Beetle guy]

This is an overview of the F-Toys beetles out there. The series has been running since 2007, having 14 line ups till now (2019). Nowdays they are released once a year (spring/summer) under the name 'Insect Hunter'. The first five series went under the name 'World Insect Encyclopedia'. They could have called it World Beetle Encyclopedia for there are only beetles present in this series and to narrow it down; mostly beetles from the Dynastidae or Lucanidae family.

The beetles look very realistic. Mostly scale 1:1 (with exception of the hercules beetles from the most recent years). I asume their cast from real specimens. The first series had really big beetles present. Some can even compete with the DeAgostini beetles (a holy grail to insiders ). The detailing however is of less quality than the later ones. Also the paintjob is not as good. But I think they are great, having collected and hunted them down them for years on auctions. I initially started collecting them to display them together with the DeAgostini beetles/insects. Because these F-toys ones have species not present in the DeAgostini line-up. Looking at my insect collection now I wonder where things got out of control  .

The beetles came in individual carton boxes, each containing a small tablet of chewing gum. This was a marketing trick to slip the toys into the Candy isles of supermarkets. Thus expanding the market. The sets are available for a relatively short period of time, making it collectors items often a year after release. Till the line was renamed 'Insect Hunter' there were different kinds of educational cards or flyers as a sumplement to the figurines.

Selection of cards/flyers.



So, here we go!

This is the first set. Released in 2007. This is an interesting set for the whole F-toys output for the female Trypoxylus dichotomus! Because male beetles of the Lucanidae and Dynastidae are most attractive to most people, female beetle figurines are very rarely made.  The secret was the redish brown Trypoxylus dichotomus male.
Also the two dorcus beetles have galea present (the bristle like mouthparts). Which were removed from the mold for later releases of the same beetles. Also you can see in this set that the molds of the figurines are fresh. For releases in later years I quess the same molds were used and you can see them fading.

The line up: Trypoxylus dichotomus, Dorcus hopei binodulosus, Lucanus maculifemoratus, Trypoxylus dichotomus (female), Dorcus titanus castanicolor, Prosopocoilus inclinatus, Trypoxylus dichotomus red (secret).

There was an extra so called secret that I have not added to the collection because it was nothing more than the same Dorcus from the lineup but with white eyes and it's mandibles wrongly turned upside down. I pass on such commercial tricks. Though the Dorcus in this set is really good, on of my favorites!




Female Trypoxylus dichotomus


The line up.



The second line up from 2007, containing 7 huge beetle species!
The line up: Dynastes hercules hercules, Megasoma actaeon, Eupatorus gracilicornis, Dorcus titanus palawanicus, Prosopocoilus giraffa, Chalcosoma caucasus and a (bluish gray) Dynastes hercules lichyi (secret). So two subspecies of Dynastes hercules here!
I swapped the front and hind legs of the Eupatorus and the Dorcus because F-toys placed them wrong. Funny thing is they even got it wrong in the booklet (see picture) 



The line up.
The secret figurine from the set: blueish gray Dynastes hercules lichyi is depicted with the wrong (D. hercules hercules) head. The actual secret model had the D. h. lichyi head (and info card).


Front: head of D. hercules hercules (in the 2007 set with yellow elytra, pictured the gray one of the 2010 set). Back: head of  D. dynastes hercules lichyi.


The fault of front and hind legs in the booklet



On to the third release from 2008. This is a very special set in a few ways. First it features many species not so commonly made and it featured three female beetles of the species Lamprima adolphinae. By subscribing to F-Toys, they could be optained (after payment). They were then send to your home adress (I got it via an Japanese auction).

The line up: Lamprima adolphinae (green), Phalacrognathus muelleri, Mesotopus tarandus, Cyclommatus metallifer, Allotopus rosenbergi, Chrysochroa fulgidissima, Lamprima adolphinae (blue, secret) and the three mailorder Lamprima adolphinae females (yellow, red and blue).
The Allotopus and Mesotopus beetles have galea present (the bristle like mouthparts). Which were removed from the mold for later releases of the same beetles.



The line up.


The box in which F-Toys send their extra figurines.




The Lamprima beetles from the line up! Five different lamprima in one set




Not in both the beetle series there was a beetle released in a 2008 F-Toys 'Creatures of the Waterside' set. It is Cybister japonicus (scale 1:1).
Blaine did a walk around on this set. http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=2109.msg17664#msg17664

Cybister japonicus


The line up of the set.



The 2009 release brings another batch of giant beetles. A variation on the Hercules beetle in colour of the elytra. No secret figurine with this set.
The line up: Dynastes hercules, Dynastes neptunes, Chalcosoma atlas (different thorax and head from the 2007 C. caucasus), Dorcus titanus and Prosopocoilus confusius.
The Dorcus titanus had the mixed up legs issue. So I swapped the front and hind legs of this beetle figurine making it right.



The line up.



The 2010 release with even more giant beetles. A Dynastes hercules hercules with bluish gray elytra as a variation. Forum member Brontodocus kindly helped me out by trading three of his double figurines from this set with me!! Thus completing my whole F-Toys beetle colection . Like the set released the previous year, no secret figurine.

The line up: Dynastes hercules hercules (bluish type), Dynastes satanas, Megasoma elephas, Chalcosoma Moellenkampi, Hexarthrius mandibularis.
The mandibles of the Hexarthrius mandibularis are just flat and do not have the curves that is typical for this species mandibles. So a bit odd since all F-Toys beetles are normally very realistic.



The line up.



These (above) were the sets that went under the name 'World Insect Encyclopedia'. The following sets were marketed under the name 'Insect Hunter'.


In the 2011 set creativity was low at the F-Toys beetle corner I asume. Which went a bit down hill from this release anyway. F-Toys  re-released five sculpts from the 2007 set. Removing the galea (bristel-like mouthparts) from the sculpt of the two Dorcus species. The was also no secret figurine with this set. So not much to say about it except that these are still very nice figurines!

The line up: Dorcus titanus castanicolor, Dorucus hopei binodulosus, Prosopocoilus inclinatus, Lucanus maculifemoratus, TrypoXylus dichotomus.



The line up.




the 2012 set brings like it's predecessor nothing really new. Except for the addition of a really nice Hexarthrius parryi figurine. The H. parryi suffers also from the front and hind leg mix-up. So in the first pic you see the legs ajusted. No secret accompanies this set. The galea (the bristle like mouthparts) have been removed from the sculpts of Allotopus rosenbergi, Dorcus hopei binodulosus and Mesotopus tarandus.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus, Dorcus hopei binodulosus, Allotopus rosenbergi, Mesotopus tarandus and Hexarthrius parryi.



The line up.



The 2013 set brings something new. While still three of the five are re-used sculpts/molds. Interesting in this set is a subspecies of Dorcus titanus never before made in toy form (see line up).
Also there is a new sculpt of Prosopocoilus dissimilis.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (white eyes), Dorcus hopei binodulosus (red eyes), Lucanus maculifemoratus, Prosopocoilus dissimilis and Dorcus titanus sakishimanus.



The line up.



The set released in 2014 has all new sculpts, not all new species. New sculpts for the TrypoXylus dichotomus and Dorcus hopei binodulosus!

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Dynastes granti, Dorcus hopei binodulosus and Rheatulus didieri.



The line up.


different sculpt for TrypoXylus dichotomus. Left the old sculpt (2007), right the new one (2014).



So on to the 2015 set. Which brings three of the same figurines as in the previous year. And two familiar sculpts but in smaller size!! The sculpts look in many ways the same as their 2010 versions only smaller.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Dorcus hopei binodulosus, Chalcosoma moellenkampi and Dynastes hercules.



The line up.


Size matters . The Dynastes hercules from the 2007 set (left) VS the D. hercules from the 2014 set.


The big Chalcosoma moellenkampi from the 2010 set compared to the smaller 2014 one.



The 2016 set brings much the same as the 2014 and 2015 set. Repeating the same sculpts for T. dichotomus and D. hopei binodulosus makes collector wonder how long the series is to be continued.
The two new sculpts are (like in 2014) miniature versions of bigger older sculpts.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Dorcus hopei binodulosus, Dynastes neptunus and Chalcosoma caucasus.



The line up.


The 2009 D. neptunes dwarfs the 2016 one.


As does the 2007 C. caucasus compared to the 2016 one.



There is not much different to say about the 2017 release. No new sculpts at all. Except for the different colour of the D. hercules figurine nothing new here. Using old sculpts of 2012 (H. parryi) and 2013 (P. dissimilis).

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Prosopocoilus dissimilis, Dynastes hercules and Hexarthrius parryi.



The line up.


The differnt size of the 2011 D. hercules (bluish gray) and the 2017 one.


The 2018 release. Two new sculpts or more correct downsized sculpts of earlier models.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Prosopocoilus confusius, Megasoma actaeon and Dorcus titanus sakishimanus.




The line up.



The Megasoma actaeon dwarfed by it's 2007 predecessor. I actually like this one added, it can represent a minor male next to the older version.



The Prosopocoilus confusius dwarfed by it's 2009 predecessor. I like it in this case also becuase it can represent a minor male next to the older version.



The Dorcus titanus sakishimanus has a more bownish colour than the 2013 model, maybe to look like an imago freshly hatched from it's pupae.





The 2019 release. Two "new" sculpts or more correct downsized sculpts of earlier models. I wasn't going to buy this set but decided later two buy only the M. elephas and the H. mandibularis to keep this overview complete. I find it a real pitty that they keep using the same sculpts over, over and over again. It could be even save to predict that they will release smaller versions of Dorcus titanus, Dynastes satanas or the prosopocoilus giraffa (the three remaning bigger beetles from the old sets that are not released in small versions yet) in the next years.

The line up: TrypoXylus dichotomus (black), TrypoXylus dichotomus (brown), Hexarthrius mandibularis, Megasoma elephas and Dorcus titanus sakishimanus.



The line up.




The Megasoma elephas dwarfed by it's 2010 predecessor. It can represent a minor male next to the older version.




The Hexarthrius mandibularis dwarfed by it's 2010 predecessor. It can represent a minor male next to the older version. While most of the F-toys beetles are one of the best around, this model has it's flaws and is the only incorrect one in the series. The mandibles are incorrect and in the smaller version the front legs are weird looking, like they are front legs of a whole other beetle family.

[Beetle guy]

Updated the above on 4 feb 2018

[bmathison1972]

With the exception of my recently acquired 2008 set, I only have sets from the last few years. And even so, some are not complete because every set lately has a black and brown A. dichotoma and I don't need to duplicates every year. I also have some under the name Beetle Battle, which may just be an alternative translation to Insect Hunter.

[Beetle guy]

With the exception of my recently acquired 2008 set, I only have sets from the last few years. And even so, some are not complete because every set lately has a black and brown A. dichotoma and I don't need to duplicates every year. I also have some under the name Beetle Battle, which may just be an alternative translation to Insect Hunter.

I did not go for the doubles in the latest sets either. I thought to have seen some old ones in your collection posts!

These are the doubles I have if you are interested.
Chalcosoma Moelenkampi (scale 1:1) twice as big than the latest release;
Hexarthrius mandibularis;
Megasoma elephas;

[Beetle guy]

All the beetles from F-Toys are posted above!

[bmathison1972]

Thanks you for this valuable resource!

So in addition to my nearly complete 2007 set [I say nearly because I don't have the secrets], I have the complete 2011 and 2014 sets and the non-Allomyrina from 2016 and 2017 (well, I have the two A. dichotoma from 2017 but they are not incorporated into my collection and will be used for trades/donations). I also have two (M. elephas, D. satanas) from 2010 set but they were marketed specifically for Itakon- Itami City Museum of Insects.

I'll take anything extra I am missing; I am probably only interested in species I am missing from F-toys. My one D. hercules is the blue morphotype; I guess I still don't have a yellow one.

[Beetle guy]

The F-Toys beetles overview above is updated with the 2018 release!

[AnimalToyForum]

Thanks for the amazing exhaustive overview, Beetle guy. Because it is such a useful reference, I've moved it to the Animal Toy Lines section. I hope that's okay. 

[Beetle guy]

Thanks for the amazing exhaustive overview, Beetle guy. Because it is such a useful reference, I've moved it to the Animal Toy Lines section. I hope that's okay. 

Thanks!

[Beetle guy]

Above the original post is updated and now includes the 2019 set.