Review of the entire
Sticky Tack Insect Set, new for this year (2016) by Kaiyodo. There are six figures representing five species. All figures come with two packs of ‘sticky tack’, and a plastic receptacle on the ventral side in which to put the tack, so you can adhere them to surfaces such as walls. The plastic receptacles snap off, so you can remove them from the figures if you don't want them (they do prevent the lady beetles and cockroach from sitting flat).
Each figure is a single piece and roughly 2.5 cm (including appendages). They also all represent figures that are unique or only uncommonly made. The figures are of incredible detail for their size.
The theme, if there is one, appears to be anthropophilic species. A neat assortment for collectors of various species, or of arthropods/insects in general. The translation of the set says 'First' (if translated correctly), so we may get more of these in 2017!
On to the figures:
1. Adanson’s house spider,
Hasarius adansoni, a member of the jumping spider family (Salticidae). Wow! This is only the third jumping spider I am aware of (the others being by Safari LTD-Hidden Kingdom Insects and Cadbury-Yowies), and the only one attributable to a given species. This figure is the highlight of the set!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]2. Commercial silk moth,
Bombyx mori. I have a few other silk moth figures. Insect Lore did a complete life cycle, and Kaiyodo did a larva for one of their recent caterpillar sets. I also have another larva/pupa from another, unknown, Japanese manufacturer. This is also another little gem!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]3. House fly,
Musca domestica. Surprisingly, I think this technically is a unique figure as I do not know of any other specifically attributable to
M. domestica. Generic flies are common, but never seen one specifically modeled after this species. This figure is fantastic, and the wing venation is accurate (although not all the veins are painted black so the detail may not show up in this image).
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]4. Two color versions of the multicolored Asian lady beetle (MALB),
Harmonia axyridis. Kitan Club-Nature Techni Colour also did two color versions, a two-spottted melanic form as shown here, and an immaculate form. So now there are three color versions of this species available. By the way, this has become quite the invasive here in the U.S.!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]5. A nymph of the smoky-brown cockroach,
Periplaneta fulginosa. Kaiyodo did an adult last year for their Insects Pest Hygiene Exhibition collection (or whatever the name translated to), so it was very nice of them to follow-up with a nymph. Like flies, roaches are commonly made as generic toys but rarely attributable to a given species.
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