Which group of animals has been most neglected in terms of figures?

[The Templar of Nature]

Greetings brothers and sisters,

Today I wanted to discuss the issue of neglected extant animal groups in the figure marked and discuss how this issue could be solved in the future and by whom.

I'll start this discussion with one category, one that inspired men terror since the dawn of time: snakes.

As far as representation goes, snakes got the short end of the stick compared to the other major reptile types (turtles, lizards and even crocodilians): currently we can observe a major bias towards large constrictors and elapids, with the only vipers made into toys being rattlesnakes.

Even in the case of favored clades, the focus is hardly consistent and there are certain critical flaws:

- In the case of constrictors, it's evident the golden child is the green anaconda, which currently counts a version from CollectA, Schleich and Safari.

- While for elapids representation has been more even a lot of crassness can be observed in their handling, with most of the snakes branded as "King cobras" actually looking like spectacled cobras, resulting with us having only one decent figure of Ophiophagus hannah, that being Collecta's effort. Maybe this was for the best, as without this misidentification perhaps we would have no good figure of the quintessential cobra species.



Considering these problems, who could solve this issue in the future? My bet would be on Papo and Safari:

- Papo often makes familar european species, as proven by its excellent Podarcis muralis; if somebody ever made figures of ubiquitous european snakes like Natrix helvetica or Vipera berus it would surely be Papo.

- As for Safari, of the big four companies (the others being CollectA, Papo and Schleich), it's the only one that put out colubrids with some regularity, therefore it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect more coming from them.




That's all from me, I'm eager to hear your opinion about neglected animals.

Blessings

[brettnj]

I collect primarily Kaiyodo figures. It has the ability to do produce extraordinary birds but, in my opinion, for the most part, simply doesn't. The Birdtales sets in particular fall far short of other Kaiyodo subjects.

Secondarily, molluscs. So suited for rendering in plastic and their (real) shells are themselves so widely collected. Very strange that the company neglects them (and to a lesser extent, echinoderms).

Brett

[The Templar of Nature]

Secondarily, molluscs.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, as there are plenty of octopus and squid figures around, from many different species, though I must say I haven't seen many shelled molluscs toys, aside from the nautilus.

[NSD Bashe]

Many species of jellyfish and other cnidarians come to mind, echinoderms (I would especially love to sea a basket star represented), many species of nudibranch, a lot of sea life in general hasn't been depicted much if at all in toy form...  I would love to see a figure of a giant pyrosome or a Christmas tree worm, but I fear much of these aquatic species are considered obscure enough I'm not sure most companies consider them worth making figures of.  This could be solved in the future if someone particularly interested in them started a toy brand, or if they became "culturally significant" I suppose.  Very interesting topic

[The Templar of Nature]

Many species of jellyfish and other cnidarians come to mind,

This is the second time aquatic species have been brought up, good catch about jellyfish, there's definitely more that need to be made. Perhaps if Safari made a toob we could get quite a bit of jellyfish.

"culturally significant

Not sure that would help, like vipers are culturally significant and yet we've only got rattlesnakes, aside for just two exceptions that I know of (Yowie's green pit viper and Safari's Cerastes cerastes).

[Saarlooswolfhound]

For my main collecting interests, I'd say wild dogs are quite underrepresented with the exception of the wolf. But of all the animals, species, groups in the world there are TONS of them not represented in toy form.

[The Templar of Nature]

wild dogs

If I may ask, what exactly do you mean by wild dog? Because besides wolves we have quite a lot of other canids: coyotes, dingoes, african wild dogs, maned wolves and foxes.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

wild dogs

If I may ask, what exactly do you mean by wild dog? Because besides wolves we have quite a lot of other canids: coyotes, dingoes, african wild dogs, maned wolves and foxes.

That's what I mean- any other wild canid besides wolves (and I'll tack on red foxes too) get very little attention. Bush dogs, dholes, gray foxes, dingoes, etc. not many models of any of these respectively speaking.

[The Templar of Nature]

wild dogs

If I may ask, what exactly do you mean by wild dog? Because besides wolves we have quite a lot of other canids: coyotes, dingoes, african wild dogs, maned wolves and foxes.

That's what I mean- any other wild canid besides wolves (and I'll tack on red foxes too) get very little attention. Bush dogs, dholes, gray foxes, dingoes, etc. not many models of any of these respectively speaking.

I see.

I guess it's possible, though they probably aren't in a situation as pitiful as snakes and jellyfish.

[brettnj]

There are some beautiful jellyfish by Kaiyodo--even a jellyfish set--and other Japanese makers.

[Sim]

Interesting topic!  From me the most conspicuous neglecting is towards the troodontids.  But this thread is only for extant animals, so...

Snakes are an interesting group.  Even among the preference for large constrictors there isn't a brown python...  Safari has an albino Burmese python which I'm hoping they'll repaint into a normal-coloured one...  And there is no good figure of the reticulated python, the species known to eat humans and a remarkable species overall.  It's taken up to this year for there to be an adequate saltwater crocodile though, so maybe the reticulated python will be made in the future.

There are a few other vipers as figures besides rattlesnakes: https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Pit_viper and https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Viperinae  Most are retired, but two are available from Safari toobs still in production and speaking as someone who has these toobs, the figures are high quality although small.

I think the CollectA king cobra looks like a monster more than a real snake.  The king cobra I have is the Eikoh version, I like it a lot.  I'd recommend getting one of it if you can, it costs very little.  It can be seen here: https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Eikoh_78832_King_cobra

As much as I love Papo, they don't seem keen on making snake figures.  I think their only snake is a bendable rattlesnake?  Additionally they had a green anaconda planned but they ended up cancelling it.  I do agree that Papo is the most likely to make a grass snake or adder though.
I think Safari is much more likely to produce the snake figures we need, they have made a lot of good snake figures.  A major step forward would be if Safari made their Burmese python available with normal colouration...
I also think Mojo has potential to make good figures of snakes, or anything not prehistoric.

[The Templar of Nature]

There are some beautiful jellyfish by Kaiyodo--even a jellyfish set--and other Japanese makers.

Thanks for the information, perhaps when I'm done with the herpetofauna and I'll proceed further with the rare and retired figures I'll have some time left to dedicate to jellyfish.

I still have to get The Access sea animals set with its box jellyfish.

[The Templar of Nature]

There are a few other vipers as figures besides rattlesnakes: https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Pit_viper and https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Viperinae

OOooo, I don't know about this, even though none of these vipers specifically are on my list they could come of use in the future.

I think the CollectA king cobra looks like a monster more than a real snake.

I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's pretty crass compared to some of their other reptile figures. Its biggest advantage is probably not having a spectacle marking on its hood, the gigantic viper-like fangs that some other elapid figure suffer from and the right colors.

I think their only snake is a bendable rattlesnake?

They also have the best spectacled cobra figure on the market and no I refuse to believe it's a king cobra, don't know why the blog ultimately decided to go with the official identification.

[The Templar of Nature]

It's taken up to this year for there to be an adequate saltwater crocodile though

Actually no, there was the G.I Joe Fiona the Crocodile Hasbro figure which is probably the best version of the species.

[Sim]

They also have the best spectacled cobra figure on the market and no I refuse to believe it's a king cobra, don't know why the blog ultimately decided to go with the official identification.

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me!  There's quite a few good Indian cobra figures.  I think the one by Mojo is nice, and the one I have is the Safari toob version which is excellent.

Actually no, there was the G.I Joe Fiona the Crocodile Hasbro figure which is probably the best version of the species.

That's why I said adequate.  Some people, such as myself, aren't interested in action figures, so only "regular" models are suitable.

[The Templar of Nature]

I think the one by Mojo is nice

Eh, I believe like many of these "king cobras" the Mojo one retains too much of the king part to be considered a suitable indian cobra, though not as much as the (large) Safari one which I thought was a king until I had the chance to see the hood.

I didn't know about the toob cobra, which I believe that is the only Naja naja figure labelled as such, though if you want a more sizable option Papo is still the way to go.

so only "regular" models are suitable.

I don't know, Fiona looks way more detailed than the Papo saltwater crocodile to me.

[JimoAi]

Rays that aren't mantas or sawfish especially butterfly rays and torpedo rays imo

[brettnj]

Secondarily, molluscs.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, as there are plenty of octopus and squid figures around, from many different species, though I must say I haven't seen many shelled molluscs toys, aside from the nautilus.

Yes, gastropods and bivalves. I should have clarified.

And we should be able to get any of the Access sets easily, if anyone is interested.

Brett

[Sim]

I don't know, Fiona looks way more detailed than the Papo saltwater crocodile to me.

It doesn't matter if it is, for some people such as myself the articulation of an action figure makes it unsuitable.

[bmathison1972]

I don't know, Fiona looks way more detailed than the Papo saltwater crocodile to me.

It doesn't matter if it is, for some people such as myself the articulation of an action figure makes it unsuitable.

Agree. That's why I have no interest and would prefer Papo's. I have to be really excited for a figure or taxon to accept articulations. I have some, but it is often a deciding factor not to get a figure!