Recent acquisitions

[bmathison1972]

very nice Isidro; the opah wasn't readily avail when I purchased marine bony fish, but it's on my wishlist. Need to add that squid to misc. invertebrates when the time comes!

[Beetle guy]

Ah @Isidro these really are great! Thanks for posting, that Oar fish and Opah are specially really cool. Gongrats!

[Beetle guy]

These are my recent purchased ones. Kaiyodo and one Furuta newts/salamanders, two horned ornate frog larvae and two of the mating Oophaga pumilio frogs from Kaiyodo Animatales (completing the three, last pic).
On Yahoo these sometimes are still, unlike on Ebay, available for a reasonable price.

[Isidro]

My last addition: unknown brand Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata). I discovered it in STS and was my first eBay purchase of an animal figurine. I bought at the end of January but the delivery time was veeery long (I bought other eBay figurines after that arrived before). It belongs to a set of mainly Himalayan animals, all the other were even much more oversized (except an Asian black bear that is tiny), and a bit of non-Himalayan animals such as a sloth. It have nothing marked in the belly, no brand or "made in". The figure measures 6 cm lenght and 6 cm height, it's a bit oversized comparing with most modern companies medium-large animals, but it fits perfectly with other oversized small animals from many brands. The sculpture and painting are perfecta and these kind of very obscure but fabulous and dreamed species are what I like more for my collection. It's my favourite canid since I know of it, replacing even the ethiopian wolf! And now I have a mini-Tibetan fox in my shelves 




All my canids now:
Fits well with CollectA's fennec, a bit too big with CollectA's maned wolf...


And now Tibetan sets:
With CollectA chiru or Tibetan antelope:


Gentle nose touch 


With Papo's snow leopard, the fox is on steroids!!! 
Improbable pals:


But if the leopard is used in background, the scale difference doesn't mind so much:

[stargatedalek]

Jurassic Clash figures arrived today! I had originally put off ordering these hoping they would appear locally, but so far none have shown up in Canada. Was pleasantly surprised to see they are quite a bit larger than I'd expected.



I love the terror bird, reminds me of the animated Turok movie's terror bird design. Only the jaw is articulated, but the sculpt and paint are both more detailed than equivalent Jurassic World figures. It's also quite heavy for its size.






The human figure is not my thing, but some of his weapons happened to fit Figma hands. The terror bird also scales remarkably well with them. I simply couldn't be more pleased.




The raptor is also pretty great. It's not as hefty and the head gear is a bit more difficult to remove and put on but it's a lot of fun. I can hardly wait to try this gear on other dinosaurs. Is... is that a bayonet on a flamethrower?






And here they are, looking like extras from a Metal Gear spinoff.

[bmathison1972]

What species is the bird supposed to represent?

[stargatedalek]

What species is the bird supposed to represent?

The package gave no identification sadly, some creatures even have fictional names. These fit in very well with Jurassic Park/World styled figures, but I don't think if I didn't have a soft spot for terror birds I would add them to an accurate figure collection.

[Isidro]

What species is the bird supposed to represent?

I doubt a lot that they intend to represent a specific species.

[bmathison1972]

What species is the bird supposed to represent?

The package gave no identification sadly, some creatures even have fictional names. These fit in very well with Jurassic Park/World styled figures, but I don't think if I didn't have a soft spot for terror birds I would add them to an accurate figure collection.

I thought as much. I never had any intention of buying one, was just curious if they marketed as a specific animal.

[Beetle guy]

@Isidro, really nice pictures, I never saw the species before, great looking animal figurine!

[Isidro]

Here my newest additions. These were figures in my wishlist since long time, I was waiting a good occasion (birthday/Christmas) for buy some of my wishlist figures. But then I checked the page I realized that two of the Mojo figures disappeared from stock! I asked them, and looks like that various pages are making disappear Mojo figures... So that's why I bought them now, fearing for them to be not available in the future. I also included in my purchase the only Bullyland figure of my wishlist, because they told me that Bullyland is in bankrupt.

So these are my first Mojö Fun figures and my first Bullyland figure:

First one: the Mojo's Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). This is the only Iberian lynx done by a major brand. As a Spanish collector of interesting species in figurines, I could not let pass without the most endangered feline of the world and almost endemic of my country!
I repainted it a bit for make more realistic.



Here the size compared by other cats of major brands (Schlech jaguar and cheetah, Papo snow leopard, Kaiyodo serval):


Second one: the Mojo's Sulawesi crested macaque (Macaca nigra). The sculpt is absolutely perfect, the shape of the face is very recognizable as this peculiar species. It's the first primate in my collection and hence I don't have nothing to compare... But it's big. Too big, actually. Compared by most of my animals, it's more like a chimpanzee than a macaque...


Third one: the Mojo's quagga (Equus quagga quagga). As my collection is synoptic, I will not have a plains zebra since I have now this quagga that is the same species. It's the first extinct taxon that I have in my collection (tough I have the Safari LTD Vaquita, a species that will become extinct in next 2-3 months almost sure). As with the lynx, I repainted this model for make more realistic stripes and more well delineated white-black in the hooves.


Comparation with CollectA's african wild ass:


Fourth one: the Mojo's sun bear (Helarctos malayanus). This is the best sun bear model that I know about, it have even the shaggy and folded skin in bottom and back when these bears sit. Also is perfect in size. Being the smallest of the bears, it's also the smallest of my bear figures.


And by last the fifth: the Bullyland Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus). As explained above this is my only Bullyland figure at the moment. It's the best Asian black bear that I know about, and it's a big figure, as big as most brown/polar bears of major brands. The material feels very slightly more soft/gummy that the other plastic figures I have, but its good quality.


All my bears now:

[Beetle guy]

Nice additions Isidro!

[bmathison1972]

Nice. @Isidro , I have the 2016 Bullyland red panda (one you should consider, if you want that species) and it also initially had that tacky/gummy feel to it, but as it sat out in the open air, it 'dried' out and felt more normal.

[Isidro]

A new batch of animals for my plastic zoo. This is the most bittersweet purchase that I have had, and even it colded slightly my passion about getting more figures. Like the previous batch, I bought it just because theyre retired figures or soon to disappear, and I fear to not get in time if I don't buy it before. More concretely, the gaur and the tapir disappeared from the page where I had them selected for future purchase. Asking for this tapir, I was adviced to buy it at MiniZoo, an Australian page that still have them. I also discovered here the gaur so I added it. Then I discovered that they also have the ocelot, a model retired this year, so I added it. And finally I saw here the buffalo, and I just wanted it because I wanted this species but I dislike the more readily available ones from Collecta (in a weird position) and from Safari (with a bunch of grass in the mouth and two green  oxpecers in its back. I avoid animals with such "complements" in my collection and I just wanted a beautiful mass of muscles with elegant curved horns. So I saw this very well made buffalo and added it to my shopping cart.
I selected first the wished figures, but before adding things to my shopping cart I did a transfer from my bank account to PayPal for be able to purchase them. It was weekend and the transfer took more time than usual, 3 days I think. Meanwhile, the fifth figure that I wanted to buy in this page, their last Safari Ocean Sunfish, disappeared!  There are other pages with this figure, but this one was the cheapest. Sigh, just for three days...!
But at least I had the others. Saw prices, saw shipping costs, decided that it's reasonable, and paid. This website have a tracking system that even tell you to the email the status of the order in every change. A total of almost 40 euros for figures + shipping. Reasonable. I was happy.
But once received... the Customs added 25 € more for their service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o
So, I paid 65 € for just 4 figures  This is unfair!!!!!!!!!!
I still have two incoming orders from international sellers, but this incident make me decide to not buy anymore in shops outside the EU. From this point I only will buy figures from european shops.

Well, after my relief, I come with a more pleasant thing: the figures themselves.

First one is the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) from Mojö Fun. It's highly detailed with a very good sculpt. It measures 13 centimeters lenght and about 7 centimeters at shoulder height. At home, I sharpened its horns, that are too blunt as you can see in the images.




Second is the Gaur (Bos gaurus) from Mojö Fun. A wonderful beast that I always admired. It measures 13 cm lenght and 9 cm at shoulder height. I was aware that its a bit too shiny from the online images, but well... it's really sparkling. So glittering that looks like as if he bathed in oil. Anyway, the sculpt is magnific and the powerful musculature it's very well dome. Again, I sharpened its too blunt horns at home.



Third is the Lowland tapir or Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) from Mojö Fun. It measures 9,5 cm lenght and 5 cm at shoulder height. Its a nice and perfect figure, tough its... too small. It have about the same lenght than the CollectA's Baird's tapir, but is much thinner, more slim. The head is clearly smaller than the head of the Baird's tapir. Lowland tapir is a bit bigger than Baird's tapir, so this is a bit disappointing to me. Anyway, it's in a range that I can accept (otherwise I would not have bought it )




And fourth is the Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) from Papo. As a small cat lover, I really like this species and hence I like any realistic figure of them. Well, this ocelot is very well made, tough it's too big. It measures 6,5 cm of head+body lenght, 9 cm of total lenght, and 3,5 cm of height at shoulder. The painting is not as perfect as in the promo picture, but still a good job. I just wish I can reduce it's size a bit...

[Beetle guy]

Nice figurines!!

I understand your frustrations about the extra costs, I know it from own experience!
when you want to avoid custom clearance charges, you should keep orders from outside the EU under 22 dollars. When you go above that chances are you will have to pay tax (mostly a little amount) and administration cost (for small orders this is the same as in bigger orders, so relatively expensive).

[Isidro]

So, the incoming parcel from China with just three figures will have also a custom charge  and all because the shipping cost are enormous, and that because it weighs 1 kg, and that because all the packaging (the figures themselves are light). Gosh!
Thanks for being comprensive

[Beetle guy]

In the Netherlands they pick them out radomly and tend to look only to the item price sometimes.
I have never payed custom charges on parcels from China till now. 1 kg seems a bit heavy for a parcel with three figurines though.

[Isidro]

Yes, the weight surprised me a lot. In fact, I bought them because shipping costs looks fairly cheap (about 2,5 € for each 100 grams), and when they told me the final shipping costs, it surprised me a bit.
I don't know if Spanish customs also pick them ramdomly, I hope so!
Anyway, now I have nice retired or soon-to-disappear figures for about the same price as they would reach some years later :p

[Beetle guy]

These came in today!

Two frogs of Kaiyodo's Natural Monuments of Japan; Kajika Frog and forest green tree frog (Rhacophorus arboreus).

 

Kitan Club Frogs of Japan; Ishikawa's frog (Odorrana (syn. Rana) ishikawae).



Kaiyodo ChocoQ; Viviparous Lizard

 

And to marvelous salamanders!!
They are sold in Japan by BR6 MAG under their line 'Reptiles Mag' (rather weird these being no reptiles ;-)) There is a magnet in their nose, them being sold as an office decoration to gather/collect paperclips with. So do not look for them in any toy section ;-). They are made out of hard resin.

Bell's false brook salamander or Bell's salamander (Isthmura bellii ) and the Barred tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium). Both scale 1:1 and very detailed. I was actually suprised bij the nice detail. Although quite nicely painted, I am going for a little repaint at least for the Barred tiger salamander.

 

 

 

 

[Isidro]

Time for the last batch that arrived recently. These figures I bought at TaoBao and are from CBIOV brand, not available for Europeans except with Chinese market access platforms such as this one. The're not very cheap but also not expensive. However, the shipping costs are more expensive than one would tought. One must pay twice, one for the figures and domestic delivery, and once the items arrive to they, they calculate shipping costs that you must pay appart. Shipping costs looks like very cheap at first (for Spain is more or less like 2,60 € for each 100 grams), but with all the additional packaging and protecion, the whole packet weighs much more than one can think initially. Anyway, these worth the price. CBIOV have as good quality as CollectA, Safari or Mojo, and these species are not done by any major brand. And they come with cards with info about the species, a postal, a certificate that part of the money of your purchase has been donated to protect the species they represent, and very good individual package.

First is the Takin (Budorcas taxicolor). It represent the Sichuan takin (Budorcas taxicolor tibetana), and they also have the Mishmi takin or golden takin or Shaanxi takin (Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi), that is just a colour variation of the same figure (with entirely yellow coat). Curiously, the golden takin is much more expensive than the Sichuan takin, so I choosed the latter, that I also like more. The figure is much bigger than the Anna Dobrowolska's takin, and fits well in scale with most of my bovids. It measures about 12 cm lenght (from tip of right horn to ankle of right leg) 8 cm at shoulder height, and 9'2 cm of total height (from horn tips to the soil). Proportions, sculpture and painting are just perfect, the only tiny failure is the cast seams more noticeable than I would wish, but this is just a minor issue for perfectionists




Size compared with CollectA's mux ox:


Second one is the Finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides). It also represents a concrete taxon: the Yangtze finless porpoise, so, the freshwater population of Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis. (There is a marine population of the same subspecies, plus the also marine nominate subspecies). It belongs to a set of three figures that you can choose which one to buy. I bought the male alone (that have an open mouth), other options are buy the mother and calf (both with closed mouth) (the calf is almost fully grown!), buy the three, or buy the three+ a displaying case. Logically the cheaper option is the male alone, so I gone for it. It measures about 10,6 cm of body lenght (from front to caudal notch, adapting to the curvature of the tail) and 11,3 cm of total lenght (from front to tip of right caudal fin lobe). The ears and spiracle are painted black. The skin coat is shiny grey (more shiny than CollectA's cetaceans). The figure only have one issue: it don't stands in straight position, it always turn to the left. But putting a small piece under the left pectoral fin, it solves the problem.




Size compared with Safari LTD's vaquita:


Size compared with CollectA's Ganges river dolphin:


And by last, the third figure is not a CBIOV and it's just a CollectA, easily available in European shops. But it comes from the same seller and I just wanted to add it. It's the male Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus). It's a species that I like a lot, but the CollectA's figure could be a bit better for this brand standards. The head is rally nice, but the body fur is too woolly, and not much detailed, plus the animal itself is a bit obese, and the coat is not pure white, but a bit dirty white in certain zones.Maybe all these things make it just a winter-coat individual. Anyway, it's generally speaking a good figure.



Size compared with CollectA's chiru: