My orca/killer whale collection

As promised, I am now going to show off my monospecific collection of orca/killer whales. My collection started in 1997 with the Playmobil orca and has seen a steady expansion over the past 16 years.

First off, I will show a set of pictures which were taken back in 2005. That was my then-complete collection, but it has been added to over the past 8 years. I unfortunately do not have any recent pictures, so I have made it my goal to take more pictures soon.

Alright, here we go! This is an overview of all the models I had back in 2005. There are quite a few different types of models. Some are the solid vinyl-type, some are hollow (squeaky) ones, some are plastic with a velours coating, one key-chain is made up of stress ball-like neoprene, some are ceramic, one is actually a pen (very shiny and an unusually long tail ) and one is made of silicone and was played with a lot (notice its greyish base color coming through).
I might have to re-upload this image and add numbers to the different categories
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Just some of the visible models in this view: New Ray adult (just its snout on the far left); AAA baby killer whale; Albert Heijn killer whale; Safari Ltd. baby killer whale; small, unknown (far right); Play Visions; adult and baby ceramic (unknown brand). If you look closely, you can see that the flukes of the adult ceramic have broken off once and has been stuck back on .

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Different angle of the same group, showing the New Ray adult killer whale better. You can also see the two velours coated models. One is lying down flat, the other one has perked up its head and tail (like a captive orca).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Here we have the two Mattel Barbie Keiko models. I am a boy and not ashamed to admit to having bought a Barbie in a store  Sitting on top on the right is a large squeaky model of unknown make. The middle left again shows the furry sprayed ones. The Playmobil orca (one of the best, were it not that it is lacking a saddle patch and doesn't have the bottom of its flukes white. It is one of the most well-proportioned models and I love that it is made to scale with other Playmobil toys. One of the weirdest models I have is the 67405 Bullyland one that is next. They didn't even bother to put its eyes in the correct place and don't even get me started on its paint job... But with the proper adaptations (something I may tackle in the future with the right resources) it could pass for a Type D Antarctic orca (with tiny eye patches and a different head shape). Far right we have a baby squeaky model, very realistic, despite its silly set of teeth. I used an Edding/Sharpie-type black marker to alter its white patches. I may have also used Tipp-ex...  

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The right side of this picture shows only squeaky models (all of unknown make). The realistic baby has an adult as well, also love its paint job, apart from the white underside of its pecs (should be black after all). The Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection adult and baby (actually ordered online at MBAQ website! I have kept the box it came in ). Then to the left of them is a hard plastic unknown make; stress ball-type key chain and part of the K&M Int. silicone killer whale (also great realism!!).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The far left in back shows the 16071 Schleich adult orca. If it hadn't been for its ridiculously small and pointed pectoral fins/flippers, it would have actually been pretty reasonable. Bottom far right shows just the tail of the K&M Int. silicone orca, next to it is the tall thick dorsal fin of the Safari Ltd. adult male orca 2752 29. The middle shows the velours covered models from the front.

The following images show off the AAA/Schleich 16004 adult female killer whale. But this model has been customized by me to represent a killer whale called Gudrun, which lived at the marine park called Dolfinarium Harderwijk in The Netherlands. This is also where I initially got this figure (despite it being marketed in an Intertoys store brochure and them never actually having it for sale!! )
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I was actually quite vicious, using a pair of scissors to cut the flippers to a more paddle-shape, rather than the fishy-fin-like appearance they had. For the painting, again, I used Tipp-ex and Edding marker. I would like to redo it proper with paint that is more suitable for this purpose. If anybody has any tips for me, I would very much appreciate it! I suppose this one might be considered ruined, or not?  

Here are some pictures of the real Gudrun, so you can compare the two!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As I mentioned before, this collection of pictures dates back over 8 years. In the meantime I have added other models, like the 3 later Schleich models (16091 calf, 14551 adult and the latest 2013 adult), a Kaiyodo mini (ultimate in realism, despite its small size) and some others. In other words: more to follow, so please stay tuned!

Comments very welcome! And thanks for watching!

A great and special collection!! See your as expert differences between the orcas so that you can differ the types?   

Great collection! I love to see the same animal made by so many different companies :cheer:

Impressive collection! Congratulations!   

Interesting collection, very nice.
Which is your favourite orca figure?

If you want to paint some of your figures, you're probably better of buying a bottle of acrylic paint.
This is waterbased paint and you can find it in any hobby shop. (I buy my paint at Pipo's).
It will cover much better than Typex and will look more professional as well.
And you can clean your brushes with just water and soap.

Thanks for the tips and ideas, Simone!
Do you also have any idea how I can get rid of the Typex?

My favorite orca figures are the Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection adult female and baby. And my Kaiyodo Capsule Aquarium figure (very small, but highly detailed). Those are the most realistic ones I have yet been fortunate to add to my collection.

Montery Bay is from Safari ltd. right? And Kaiyodo makes fantastic figures for such a small scale.

I'm not sure how to remove Typex, but I would suggest to leave your figure in a bucket of warm water with some dishwashing soap to soak overnight.
Then hopefully the Typex will be soft enough to be removed with a toothbrush.
Again, I'm not sure, but this is how I would try to remove it.
Good luck!

Awesome Orca / Killer Whale collection you have there GudrnOrca, mooi spulletje zo

Great collection, congrats!

Thanks for presenting the part already photographed of your collection.
It is great to read all stories and it was also interesting to know that everything started with a Playmobil . being clear that your knowledge about these animals is high, I think it is prestigious to Safari to have made your favorite replicas. Monterey Bay Aquarium is actually a sealife line with a very good reputation among sealife collectors.
As I told on another topic, I only have the little Play Visions orca, do you know which type it belongs? I only know it is a male.
I hope we have the chance of seeing your collection updated. I don't know if you have the two from Maia & Borges and the CollectA, you'd probably love them.

Fantastic collection! Congrats!

Thanks Roger!

The Play Visions orca doesn't really look like a regional type, to be honest. In general, the killer whale models on the market do not really seem to represent a certain type of orca. That's because the regional variations (perhaps even species) do not show that much variation in appearance to the casual observer. Only when you pay closer attention to the shape of the head and the dorsal fin, the prominence of the grey saddle patch or the shape and size of the eye patches, do the variations become more obvious.
The biggest difference in killer whales can be found in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada, where the Resident and Transient killer whales (likely different species) are found. Or in the Antarctic region, where the killer whales are currently being divided into 4 (quite obviously) different groups (most likely different species as well)

Click here to view a poster published by American killer whale researcher Robert Pitman, who continues to study the regional variations (referred to as ecotypes, although in all likelihood the term species will become used.

GudrunOrca wrote:

Thanks Roger!

The Play Visions orca doesn't really look like a regional type, to be honest. In general, the killer whale models on the market do not really seem to represent a certain type of orca. That's because the regional variations (perhaps even species) do not show that much variation in appearance to the casual observer. Only when you pay closer attention to the shape of the head and the dorsal fin, the prominence of the grey saddle patch or the shape and size of the eye patches, do the variations become more obvious.
The biggest difference in killer whales can be found in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada, where the Resident and Transient killer whales (likely different species) are found. Or in the Antarctic region, where the killer whales are currently being divided into 4 (quite obviously) different groups (most likely different species as well)

Click here to view a poster published by American killer whale researcher Robert Pitman, who continues to study the regional variations (referred to as ecotypes, although in all likelihood the term species will become used.

Thanks for your very interesting comment and links and sorry for my delay replying.
I already expected it but it could match accidentally. I agree with everything you're saying but brands are working caring more with scientific aspects, so, soon or later will see some orcas designed thinking in a regional type or even in the correct species if they end classified like that.

Wow, that's huge collection of orcas indeed! Big congratulations, I don't think I've ever seen so many orca toys at once

Wonderful collection!  
I also like killer whales but I don't collect them. There are four killer whale in my offers. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And I thought I had much Orca's! Really nice collection. Do you got the newest from Schleich too?

Wow, this is an excellent collection! I love it.

nice
 

It seems the photos I had added to my original post are no longer hosted online..
My collection has since been expanded quite a bit, so an updated post seems to be needed. Stay tuned!