Tarantula (Toy Major)

Walk-around of the Tarantula Spider by Toy Major, originally released in 1996. I recently received this figure from froggie; it was on her recent sales post. I originally asked for it because it was a Toy Major figure I was not familiar with, and as I collect more I find myself being more and more a completist. I know TM gets a lot of slack for their suspected knock-offs and such, but I have always been a huge TM fan (also, they have had to fears in making tons of arthropods). When I got this figure in the mail, I didn't realize how much I would like it. Every now and then, a figure comes along with a certain aesthetic charm that we find really appealing, even if it not the most realistic (another good example for me is the Safari Incredible Creatures shrimp).

On to the figure. First of all, it is big. I was expecting it to be smaller. I have a couple similar figures by TM and they are not quite as big. In this figure, the body length is 11.0 cm; when pressed flat it has a maximum leg span of 24 cm! The legs and pedipalps contain wires, so the figure is bendable/pose-able. I am displaying mine with the front legs raised as if in a defensive pose! If I ever get the AMT/Ertl tarantula hawk wasp, these two are going to make a fun diorama :).

I do not think this figure can be attributed to a given species. The banded legs are very suggestive of The Mexican red-kneed tarantula (Brachypelma smithi), or related, but the green on the carapace clearly represents artistic license. If you wanted to call this B. smithi for your collection, I think you could get away with that easy enough :). The eyes and mouthparts are consistent with a true tarantula in the family Theraphosidae.

The underside is a monochromatic black and is marked with the TM logo, the year (1996), and 'TARANTULA SPIDER'. Other pose-able spiders I have by TM are not given a common name other than simply 'spider'.

On to the pics, enjoy!

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Great adquicition.

Very nice colors, congratulations.

Looks like a giant! Congrats