Recent acquisitions

[Advicot]

Who knows, but I came across some bootleg Schleich in a Lidl. Schleich is German and so is Lidl. Some of the figures looked like the originals but the 2017 orangutan knock off was only about the size of Schleich's squirrel monkey. As well they had the big croco research centre play set but it was a jaguar skull and not a crocodile.

[stargatedalek]

These Chinese bootlegs are frustrating. On one hand they are bootlegs...on the other, they are often much better painted than the Safari originals!!! I have been to a couple aquariums in the last couple years here in the US, and you are seeing more and more of these Chinese bootlegs of the aquatic Incredible Creatures figures. I wonder sometimes if the aquariums know they are selling figures that could be potentially hurting US-based Safari LTD?!?

They also did a better job of hiding the seam on the neck than the original did. It's so strange that some bootlegs have seemingly fewer quality control issues than the originals, though perhaps it's "different" rather than fewer. One of them has a bent ear tuft and both have slightly warped feet.

If it means anything my policy is only to buy bootlegs of retired figures, or of rare figures that I'm hoping to make customs of.

[postsaurischian]

     My first order from My Favorite Animals (probably not my last):

     - Dalatias licha ~ Kitefin Shark
     - Uroplatus henkeli ~ Henkel's leaf-tailed Gecko

[Isidro]

I was completely unaware of this absolutely wonderful shark! An obscure species and realistic: my kind of figure! I only need to know the size... I fear it will be enormous for me

Edit: Never mind, I've found myself using your link. 18'5 cm and 6000 yen - too big and too expensive for me But all these models are really admirable!

[Isidro]

New purchases from the previous week!

First, I looked at the figures that a stationery near my home have, for if maybe the added something new. And they did. But not any figure, but the super special CollectA new White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), new for 2019!!!! This is in my opinion undoubtely the best rhino figure that major brands produced ever!!!!!!!!! It's absolutely incredibly perfect in every detail and infinitely better than previous versions of same brand.




Six different zoos in the world keeps or have kept white rhinos with cheetahs in same enclosure (Cleveland Metroparks, Parc Safari Quebec, Borås Djurpark, Schmiding, Attica and Everland - Zootopia), it seems to work quite fine. Cheetahs are usually not afraid of rhinos because rhinos accept them quickly as friends. I suppose that encounters in the wild tends to be peaceful too.


Also often rhinos and giraffes meets with harmony, overall near drinking spots.


This white rhino matches perfectly in size with my other rhinos (Papo black and Safari Sumatran):

[Isidro]

Next figures were bought in the toy shop that I've talked about sometimes, that only have CollectA's. It was difficult to choose some figures and left others for next time, finally I reluctanly let in the shop the dugong and other creatures, and caught the next ones:

2. The diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana).

As it cames:

After a bit of repaint:


Also, the "before" and "after" of the face:



It's a magnific figure, one of the best done monkeys from any major brand. And a so attractive species!


It joins to mi monkey troop happily. Size fits perfectly with the Schleich mandrill.


More encounters in the African jungle:

[Isidro]

3. Next one is the Blainville's beaked whale, Mesoplodon densirostris. This one was also repainted for make it more realistic:

Before:

After:


It's an absolutely wonderful figure. The shape and sculpt is very well done.



Especially in the mouth area.


Here, the two only species of beaked whales available in realistic figurine: with Happy Kin's strap-toothed whale, that is noticeably smaller than the Blainville's figure:

[Isidro]

4. Next one is the largetooth sawfish, Pristis pristis. Well, the figure is sold under "sawfish" only, but TAI list it as that species. Again a wonderful animal, and altough there are plenty of sawfish figures from many brands, I think that this is one of the best.



This one was also retouched: I sharpened every tooth with a cutter, and painted them to the base as they was painted only in the tip. However the result was not very different from the original figure, and I didn't took photos of the "before".


With the Colorata's bastard halibut:


As I don't have other branded rays than the sawfish, I put it together with my homemade torpedo ray:

[Isidro]

5. Next one is the wonderful Saiga (Saiga tatarica). This one already was perfect so I didn't customized it




With other inhabitant of the endless Central Asian steppes:


These two antelope species from the cold areas of Central Asia are both very specialized to breathe cold air with lower level oxygen. That causes that they can't thrive in captivity because they fail from respiratory diseases.

[Isidro]

6. And by last: the Tasmanian devil, Sarcophilus harrisii. Two models of this species are almost equally superb and well done and have the same size: the CollectA's and the Southlands. It's difficult to choose one of them for my collection as both are magnific, but I decided by the CollectA's one and after some years passed finally I got it.

Again, with a bit of retouching. Before:

After:


And now released into the wild:



Devils usually prefairs carrion and do not chases live prey often. But they can do too, if convenient. But how "convenient" will be this prickly thing full of hard and pungent spines?


And the inevitable comparison pal....

[AnimalToyForum]

Good work! The Diana monkey's face before the repaint...

BTW, did you post these in the wrong thread, most of these seem more appropriate for the customisation section. 

[bmathison1972]

Good work! The Diana monkey's face before the repaint...

BTW, did you post these in the wrong thread, most of these seem more appropriate for the customisation section. 

they can probably go in both 

[stargatedalek]

Package arrived today from Minizoo! Something secret also arrived from Canadian Tire, but it's still a secret

With word of its imminent departure I had to finally get a Schleich Psittacosaurus, and I'm glad I like it because I figured I might not get a better chance to buy two! The rooster was part of Minizoo's black friday special, and I'm rather surprised by it too. All of them are made of a nice, traditional hard plastic, not the weird gummy plastic I've grown accustomed to Schleich using.



Also included was the CollectA bearded dragon. I love it so much that I wish it was twice the size! Come on CollectA, if you can do pterosaurs, surely a series of supreme sized exotic pets would be right at home! Even this small it's joining my 1:1 collection as an unusually plump baby.



In no small part because I've been playing a lot of Conan Exiles lately, I also finally got the CollectA shoebill. This whole order is figures I've been putting off getting. It's not 1:1, so 1:13 will have to do.

[bmathison1972]

I have that Schleich rooster as part of my Synoptic Collection; it's nice!

[Isidro]

That rooster must be frightened of fear with these two Psittacosaurus looking so inquisitively and close to him!

I hope that the girl in the last pic don't want to ride the shoebill as her neighbour do with the dinosaur-bird, hehe.

[AcroSauroTaurus]

No living animals this time, just fictional ones.

[Isidro]

My latest additions was bought in eBay and received some days ago!

1. The Galapagos land iguana, Conolophus subcristatus. One of the few reptiles in my collection, it's absolutely magnific and painted with the exquisite detail that only Japanese brands are able to do with their figures, even the supertiny eyes. The sculpt is superb too. The crest over the back is precisely sculpted with minute teeth, and I love the folds of the skin in one flank as the animal curves itself slightly to the right side.



This could win a contest about funniest/weirdest faces in our figures...


That's because the iguana is supposed to be eating a minute piece of greenery.


The iguana is detachable from the earthy base...


...and the earthy base is also detachable from the "plate" base.


This figure is suitable for nice dioramas in natural environment...


..sometimes in company of a new species for science, the Giant Rove Beetle from Galapagos, specialized in iguana-phoresis (Blaine, you're invited to try an identification hahahahah)


Size compared with Safari LTD Good Luck Minis chameleon:

[bmathison1972]

Is that Tachinus iguanophilus? 

[Isidro]

Maybe, hehe. You replied just while I was editing my post asking your advice

Here is a clearer pic of the rove beetle if that helps but I would be surprised if even the genus is identifiable



This maybe will be considered a sacrilege by some, especially by base-lovers (Blaine ) but I, by the contrary, dislike bases and avoid them when possible. So once at home, I cut the attachments under the feet, revealing the grey plastic used for this figure...



... and painted over the "wounds" with matchig colours.

[bmathison1972]

It's a tachyporine, but I don't remember the European fauna well. Most likely it is Tachinus or Sepedophilus.