Recent acquisitions

[bmathison1972]

 Those are nice choices, @EpicRaptorMan - had I been starting a general collection now, I may have gotten the Schleich harpy eagle, but I don't see a reason to replace Safari's. I contemplated getting the Papo common dolphin; the only problem is that it is a repaint of their bottlenose dolphin, and the the shape of the head/snout is not accurate for a common dolphin.

[EpicRaptorMan]

@bmathison1972 I specifically got the Papo's "playing" Bottlenose dolphin for a more eccentric pose and to not rival other more basic dolphin figure poses.
I may repaint my old Mojo Common Dolphin into a Spotted Dolphin or something.

The Schleich Harpy Eagle is the same size as Safari but the face is way better in my opinion. Safari's doesn't even look like a Harpy in the face head on.

[bmathison1972]

My CollectA 2023 came today! Wow, that was fast. Starting last year, packages from Australia went through customs in Chicago, where they sat for an average of 10 days. This landed a couple days ago and I already have it! Wasn't expecting it until next week!

1. Jersey cow
2. Hadrosaurus
3. Brighstoneus
4. Ruyangosaurus
5. Shastasaurus
6. Mosasaurus

The Mosasaurus and Ruyangosaurus are not as big as I thought (the perspective with camera phone pics can alter proportions sometimes I think). What surprised me is how small the Hadrosaurus was! I thought it would have been comparable to a Safari hadrosaurid!

[NSD Bashe]

I don't normally tend to collect plush figures but occasionally I'll make an exception, as in the case of this particularly unusual flashlight fish by Wildlife Artists, Inc.

[EpicRaptorMan]

Cool flashlight fish. Want one of the big five to one day make one.

[NSD Bashe]

Yeah unfortunately, all the flashlight fish figures I know are pretty obscure and hard to come by.  There are only three plastic figures that I know of, the most well known brand being Toy Major.  But, Safari hasn't reveled most of their 2023 releases yet, so you never know 

[sbell]

Yeah unfortunately, all the flashlight fish figures I know are pretty obscure and hard to come by.  There are only three plastic figures that I know of, the most well known brand being Toy Major.  But, Safari hasn't reveled most of their 2023 releases yet, so you never know 

The only true flashlight fish figure I know is an accessory with the Aqua Night Museum dragonfish

[NSD Bashe]

Yeah unfortunately, all the flashlight fish figures I know are pretty obscure and hard to come by.  There are only three plastic figures that I know of, the most well known brand being Toy Major.  But, Safari hasn't reveled most of their 2023 releases yet, so you never know 

The only true flashlight fish figure I know is an accessory with the Aqua Night Museum dragonfish

Oh I thought those were lantern fish?  The three flashlight fish figurines I know of were made by Toy Major, Discovery Channel Store (DCS) and Bio Beams.  I have the DCS one currently, and I used to have the Toy Major one but I've only seen images of the Bio Beams figure.  Not sure what exact species they are, but I suspect they're a couple different ones.

[JimoAi]

Will have a p sizable haul soon since my birthday is in 8 days. Will post in batches as I have alr gotten some and more will only come in after the date

[sbell]

Yeah unfortunately, all the flashlight fish figures I know are pretty obscure and hard to come by.  There are only three plastic figures that I know of, the most well known brand being Toy Major.  But, Safari hasn't reveled most of their 2023 releases yet, so you never know 

The only true flashlight fish figure I know is an accessory with the Aqua Night Museum dragonfish

Oh I thought those were lantern fish?  The three flashlight fish figurines I know of were made by Toy Major, Discovery Channel Store (DCS) and Bio Beams.  I have the DCS one currently, and I used to have the Toy Major one but I've only seen images of the Bio Beams figure.  Not sure what exact species they are, but I suspect they're a couple different ones.

I'm trying to remember what they look like. Most toy ones are some other deep sea fish

[JimoAi]

My first figure from my sizable birthday haul: the BOTM Tyrannosaurus. It was supposed to be an Xmas gift but ended up arriving a week b4 my birthday. I finally have a lipped Tyrannosaurus in my collection and the seams don't look too bothersome and that's coming from a guy that prefers static figures.

Expect more figures to be shown soon!

[bmathison1972]

Happy Birthday 

[JimoAi]

Happy Birthday 

It's not until next Tues but thanks

[JimoAi]

Happy birthday to me!

I'll start with the stuff I got before the day itself!

Got these qualia mini terrarium: the great white shark and the Clownfish with Blue tang set. Wished the great white came with a seal prey but IG it would be too gory and the Clownfish set is clearly inspired...


4 japanese figures in the Ikimon clownfish and anemone diorama, which is the best one yet and there's like 4-5 to choose from, the kaiyodo/furuta swimming Marine iguana (the reptile lounge was too ex and hard to find for me and I'm satisfied with this one, sans for the material used), the yujin Amur catfish as I need a normal catfish + kaiyodo's biwa catfish I'm not fond of the material and the Ikimon is too ex and lastly from this pic, the kaiyodo electric eel which is nearly perfect but costly.


I'm getting into acquiring more birds for my collection and got these 2: the colorata golden eagle and secretary bird. I got the harpy eagle too but it came damaged and the bald eagle was missing! I really love the secretary bird base the best out of the set as it is depicted in combat with it's venomous snake prey!


Last but not least, I got my most anticipated prehistoric figure and 2nd most anticipated figure of the year: the collectA deluxe mosasaurus! This thing is just beautiful: from the immense size that scales well with many dinosaur figures, like the BOTM 1:35 rex and the level of accuracy as to be expected. The holdbacks include the pterygoid teeth not being as polished and a personal choice, wished it was more black, but other than that, I feel this is the definitive mosasaurus figure made and I doubt it will be replaced anytime soon! Stay tuned for the stuff I got on the day itself!

[Isidro]

Happy happy birthday JimoAi!!!!   
You had wonderful gifts for celebration, and from what you said, looks like it will come even more!

As you know I have the electric eel and the Colorata raptors, and curiosuly, as glad as you are of the base of the secretarybird, I deleted mine and cut the pegs under the feet - but the secretarybird doesn't stand itself then, and the soft legs warp because of the weight if the figure is not supported by nearby structures, such as other figures in my case.

I have the bald eagle, in my opinion is the worst figure of the set and I don't recommend you to chase it. I love the wing position, but the head shape, eyes, bill, are a bit weird. Sorry for hear about damage in the harpy (That is the star of the set), but maybe you can fix it?

[JimoAi]

My birthday haul for this year: rebought the Papo sperm whale and blue whale for repainting, got a tiny oviraptor from the collectA blind bags which should suffice till I get a kaiyodo one. Got the kaiyodo caiman and yujin olive ridley turtles + other non animal related junk

[JimoAi]

Happy happy birthday JimoAi!!!!   
You had wonderful gifts for celebration, and from what you said, looks like it will come even more!

As you know I have the electric eel and the Colorata raptors, and curiosuly, as glad as you are of the base of the secretarybird, I deleted mine and cut the pegs under the feet - but the secretarybird doesn't stand itself then, and the soft legs warp because of the weight if the figure is not supported by nearby structures, such as other figures in my case.

I have the bald eagle, in my opinion is the worst figure of the set and I don't recommend you to chase it. I love the wing position, but the head shape, eyes, bill, are a bit weird. Sorry for hear about damage in the harpy (That is the star of the set), but maybe you can fix it?

Terrible idea. When I removed the acrylic rod, the noodle legs started warping the second it's pegged in.

I would like to have the bald eagle nonetheless. For the harpy, it's the tail feathers having a part peeled off

[Isidro]

Well, the legs in my figure are more resistant than that, but still they warp with the passing of days if the figure is left standing on their feet instead having the wings over a support such as other figures or a wall. But I still prefair my secretarybird baseless.

The harpy tail should be quite easy to repaint I guess.

I have the same Olive Ridley turtle, it's unbeatable and scales very well with the Papo leatherback that is the only other marine turtle I have.

[JimoAi]

Well, the legs in my figure are more resistant than that, but still they warp with the passing of days if the figure is left standing on their feet instead having the wings over a support such as other figures or a wall. But I still prefair my secretarybird baseless.

The harpy tail should be quite easy to repaint I guess.

I have the same Olive Ridley turtle, it's unbeatable and scales very well with the Papo leatherback that is the only other marine turtle I have.

A chunk of the tail feathers fell off so I'll have to use sculpting putty and repaint.

The available sea turtles are either too small or too big for my liking imo. For mine I went with the articulated Takara Tomy green turtle and I may get the colorata sea turtle box in the future.

[JimoAi]

The last part of my birthday haul and arguably the most expensive haul I've had so far: each figures sans the penguin and hammerhead shark are at least USD 30 each. Included is my holy grail: the kaiyodo emperor angelfish. Other items includes the kaiyodo banded archerfish, red bellied piranha, which I was initially hesitant due to the hole looking too obstructive,subadult red emperor, scalloped hammerhead and threadfin butterfly as well as the yujin longtooth grouper and Takara Tomy secret blob sculpin figure and the wonderful Papo emperor penguin father with chick.