Insect Bucket (K&M International - Wild Republic)

[bmathison1972]

Review of the complete set, Insect Bucket by K&M International - Wild Republic, new in 2017. The set includes 30 pieces, 21 insects and 9 pieces of scenery (six pieces of ground/bark and three palm trees). I think these scenery pieces are in all of their bucket sets; they make sense of dinosaurs or large animals, but not insects unless they are intended to be kaiju .

When I first saw publicity pics of the figures, I thought they were just repaints of their Nature Toob and large Polyvinyl bag sets. I was wrong. The smaller figures are clearly the style seen in their tube set, but are not the exact same sculpt and actually appear a bit smaller. The larger figures are truly new/original. They are smaller than the polyvinyl bag figures and appear to be influenced by (but not bootlegs of, as they are smaller) some of the 4D Master figures. None of the figures have elaborate paint detail, but the larger figures are very nicely detailed with regards to texture. All of them have a dull, matte finish. The larger figures also have a common name stamped on the bottom, but none have K&M nor a year stamped on them.

I was very happy with this set, especially the larger figures!

On to the pics. For the larger figures, I am including measurements to get an idea for how big they are:

first, the bucket!



Ants. The larger one (9.0 cm) has a similar form to the 4D Master ant, but is smaller and obviously in one piece. The smaller ant is in the classic TM-style.



Beetles. The large ladybug is 5.5 cm. The smaller one is  a common sculpt. The generic red goliathine scarab looks like it was influenced by XX and the cerambycid appears to be in the genus Anoplophora.



Wasps and Bees. The large wasp is 8.5 cm (including the stinger). The smaller bee is similar to many generic figures.



Scorpions. The larger one is very nice, measuring 7.0 cm (not including pedipalps); the smaller one is similar to both Safari and K&M tube figures (not TM-style).



Spiders. The large blue spider has an 8.0 x 9.0 leg span. The smaller one is the same sculpt style as in their tube set.



Misc. insects. A cockroach, centipede, and swallowtail caterpillar, all in classic previously-used sculpts.



Grasshoppers. The larger two are very nice; the largest measures 12 cm (not including antennae). It's a very large, robust figure!



Mantids. Again, the larger two are very nice; the largest measures 14.0 cm, including front legs. The two larger ones have short wings, similar to the 4D Master figures.