Insects Gather to Sap - Night Feast of Midsummer (Kaiyodo - Capsule Q Museum)

[bmathison1972]

Review of the complete set of Insects Gather to Sap - Night Feast of Midsummer by Kaiyodo - Capsule Q Museum, released in 2015. This is an ecologically-specific set, focusing on gummivorous insects, i.e. insects that are attracted to sap exudates from trees. All species, as typical with Kaiyodo, are Japanese/southeast Asian. There are 8 figures total, representing only five species, two of which are new to the toy insect realm (one at the family level!).

The figures are comparable in size to other Kaiyodo/gashapon-style figures (but of a much better quality than previous versions) and are a solid-piece PVC (no assembly required). They all also have a small, unobtrusive magnet on the underside.

On to the figures:

1. Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma.
Any set of Japanese insects would be incomplete without this guy. No stranger to toy form, I have 40 figures from 18 different manufacturers, plus a few of unknown origin!!!



2. Saw-toothed stag beetle, Prosopocoilus inclinatus.
This is another commonly-made species by Japanese manufacturers; I have 19 figures by 12 different manufacturers.



3. Drone beetle, Pseudotorynorrhina japonica [marketed as Rhomborrhina japonica.]
This is one of the 'unique' species (even though are two of them). This species is naturally variable in color and Kaiyodo made both copper and green versions. It is a surprise more Asian goliathine scarabs have not been made in toy form! The sap beetle (next) was an accessory to this figure.



4. Sap beetle, Glischrocheilus japonicus [marketed under its subgenus name, Librodor japonicus.]
This is the other unique species and the only figure I am aware of representing the family Nitidulidae (sap beetles)!!! This figure was technically sold as an accessory to the P. japonica (above) and as such there were two in the set (one for each drone beetle).





5. Great purple emperor, Sasakia charonda.
There are two figures of this butterfly, one male (more purple, left) and female (more gray, right). While they just painted the same sculpt in two different color schemes, in nature the female would be larger than the male. Kaiyodo made this species previously as part of the Choco Q Animatales series. It has also been made by Bandai and Kabaya and I have a large figure from an unknown manufacturer originally suspected by a string.