My newest additions

Here my newest acquisitions!

First, I went to a stationery and found here the CollectA's striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), a model that was in my wishlist. So I bought it! But oh, once out of the store I realized how ugly has been painted. It was GREY!!! and with some bold stripes, all of them stopping suddenly about 1 cm to dorsal line, and the legs were striped in a zebra-style. So when I arrived to home the first thing that I did is repaint it. I should have been think first, and take a photo for the "after" and "before" here in the forum, but I just was in urgent need to correct the failures, so I added a tan coat instead the ugly pure grey one, continued the existent black stripes a bit more for make them tapered and unequal, added more intermediate stripes in the belly region, and added a black dotting on the legs for make they more mottled than ringed. So now here is the result, very similar to the promo image of this figure, but very different to the real thing that they are selling

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I don't have more hyenas for size comparison, but here, the brave blackbull bull from CollectA try to pull this predator away from his herd:
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Second, I received the next day (last friday) a mail with my first Japanese brands!!! I bought them via eBay, as no online stores sell them to Europe. They was expensive but I'm very happy :)

First one is the Kaiyodo serval (Leptailurus serval). Perfectly painted and very well done, tough I didn't knew that it had junctures (in the photo of the eBay page is shown one without them). I was fooled by the size. It's indicated 6 cm, so I took a rule and imagined a serval of about 6 cm of body lenght. But I forgot the tail... Well, the result is that I have a miniature serval. It's really 6 cm in total lenght, but I expected bigger. It's much smaller that the new Safari LTD serval. And a bit of painful seeing it side by side with my overgrown fennec or quokka But actually the serval is good in size compared with my bigger figures... just odd when compared with the smaller ones.

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Kaiyodo's serval compared with Schleich's big cats:
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Kaiyodo's serval compared with (repainted) Papo's snow leopard:
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Second is the Kaiyodo Iriomote cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis). It's a figure to be assembled, I didn't knew before buying amd it's my first figure of this kind. However, junctures are reasonably inconspicuous (except those in the base of the tail). The figure have a stand of fake logs, stones and mosses, one can detach the figure from it but it's not possible to put it in a natural position (with the four legs touching the soil) if you remove the base, so I kept it with the base. It's a similar size than the serval but a bit more corpulent.

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All my cats including the two new ones:
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Third is the Takara Tomy's Japanese crested ibis, Nipponia nippon. This is the first bird in my collection, and a species that I dreamed about since child. There are various figures of this species amongst Japanese brands, and the best done is the Kitan Club one, but it's too big (like most birds of western brands are), while mine have the perfect size when compared with most of my mammals. It comes with a nest with three eggs and the figure is molded for be put into the nest, even it have holes in the belly that matches with the eggs.

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And the fourth is, in my opinion, the best of all these acquisition. It's a wonderful and perfectly done FRILLED SHARK (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) very detailed, from Kitan Club (Nature Techni Colour). It's supposed to be a keychain, but I removed the ball string attached to its chin. I'm just in love with this wonderful shark!

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Here compared with other small sharks, the Collecta's zebra shark and Safari's leopard shark:
Underwater:
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On land:
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The price and the fact of being assemblable, are the two reasons why I have a reduced number of these Japanese figures. However, they show a level of realism rarely equaled by major companies. Fortunately, these non Japanese brands are also improving and releasing some masterpieces. I agree that the shark is an amazing piece and it represents a quite illusive creature. Very good photos too and always the special touch of an Artist.

Such great additions , and a fine repaint of the "grey hyena " , and ( as always) beautyful photos !!

We do neither have that crested ibis ( [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ) nor the shark ( [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in TAI
If ever I find out where to put them, perhaps we may use your photos ?

Feel free to use them! :) You may be interested in photos of the usual TAI style, on a table and with something to scale, instead in a natural background? :)

very good acquisitions Pardofelis and great repaint for the stripped hyena I bought too few years ago!..

I have the iriomote cat too, and shot it outside with its other bengal japanese cousin (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilura)

I love this ibis and I had never seen this odd shark before!.. and  you know what? for a few time, I 'm tempted to begin a shark collection and your beautiful ones increase the temptation!..

Sharks are nice subject to collect in figure form, because there are many species represented both in western brands and in japanese brands!

Pardofelis wrote:

Feel free to use them! :) You may be interested in photos of the usual TAI style, on a table and with something to scale, instead in a natural background? :)

Thankyou very much

Ohh, yes ! It would be great with just one photo with something to show skale.
If it is easier, you may send to me : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

PS, do you happen to know which series they belong, perhaps ?

Yes, the shark belong to this set: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
About the crested ibis, I can't find a review of it in the Takara Tomy's section of this forum, but it belongd to a set of extinct creatures. The set include this ibis, a dodo, a thylacine, a Steller's sea cow, a golden toad and a secret. The only part that is not in Japanese in the title says "Eternal lost breeds - Extinct animal". Nipponia nippon is not an extinct species, however the Japanese population disappeared in 2003, so the birds here are now reintroductions from the Chinese population. Once considered distinct races (not even subespecies), it has been demonstrated that they're in fact less than that: the Chinese "race" wast just the breeding plumage. So no taxa went extint in this species - tough it passed through a tiny bottleneck.

I must made the photos, I will send you later.

Hello [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] here are the images at your request.

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thank for these useful photos pardofelis!..

Thankyou VERY much for the pictures , dear Pardo

I also want to thank you for your pictures for Toy Animal Wiki. It is important these contributions to turn that website as much complete as possible. Our Julie [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] also owns a figure from the same set as your ibis, a Steller's sea cow obviously since she is a collector of sea cows. By the way, the secret figure is a yellow morph of the golden toad.

Here my latest addition: Colorata cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) bought from eBay

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Predator and prey...
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But who's the predator and who's the prey?
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I suspect your spermwhale does not smoke or it could use the shark as a cigar. A cookie is much better, I guess. It may be the most interesting figure of the Colorata Sharks Deluxe set. OK, there's a goblin on it and I love these weird sharks too but this one is quite rare in toy shape.
Have you acquired more figures from that set and can I use your picture at Toy Animal Wiki once it is missing?
You're making wonderful choices to your collection and it is really great to follow your additions. :)

Yes, the sperm whale could use the shark as a cigar, but is the shark who uses the sperm whale as a cookie
It's the only figure that I purchased, and it was sold alone. Bretjn told me that is a rare occasion as Colorata figures are difficult to get alone. I know there is a goblin shark here, but a bit too small for my scale tastes I think. For the remaining shark species of the set I prefair other brands. So this one is the only of the set that I really wanted :)
Of course feel free to use my picture fot TAW.

which brand the spermwhale?..

I do believe that is the new CollectA 2018 sperm whale.

thanks Simone! :)

Phantastic newcomers :)

Pardofelis wrote:

Yes, the sperm whale could use the shark as a cigar, but is the shark who uses the sperm whale as a cookie
It's the only figure that I purchased, and it was sold alone. Bretjn told me that is a rare occasion as Colorata figures are difficult to get alone. I know there is a goblin shark here, but a bit too small for my scale tastes I think. For the remaining shark species of the set I prefair other brands. So this one is the only of the set that I really wanted :)
Of course feel free to use my picture fot TAW.

Thanks for letting us to use your pictures on TAI. It is useful to all of us.
That shark will have the chance of eating loads of cookies. The sperm whale is also magnificent.
Yes, Colorata figures are not easy to find individually and they use to be not cheap. I still dream with their penguins set.

My latest acquisitions! They arrived yesterday and I was literally jumping of happiness after unpackage them I managed to purchase them by the " @Brettjn system" - patented in this forum - for buy Japanese figurines not available in Europe! :) So I give big thanks to him for make it possible and also for the nice touch included in the package - some deep fish-shaped clips and a thanksgiving in a nice paper :) :)

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They are figurines from Ikimon - Kitan Club - Nature Techni Colour (which of the three is the true name of the brand??), from Deep Sea sets 1 and 2. All of them are keychains and I just removed the stringball. Here you can see all of them together for size comparison. These are the first bony fishes and the first invertebrate of my figurine collection , so it slowly increases in taxonomic diversity!

First one is the Opah (Lampris guttatus), a species that I like very much. It measures 5,2 centimeters lenght - it's a bit too small, but no matter, it's just perfect. Fins are slightly flexible but the plastic is hard. The spots in the body are highly metallic and reflective making it super beautiful.
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Second is the Comores coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae). It's a species that I like a lot. Several brands (mainly Japanese ones) did coelacanths, but this one fits much better in scale with most of my sealife figurines. Total lenght is 8,6 cm. It belongs to the Deep Sea Set 1, while the Deep Sea Set 2 have the other species, Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) - just the same figure, but painted brown instead blue. Probably this figure is the only one of the Indonesian species, while all other coelacanths from any brand are the Comores one. But I'm happy just with this one
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Third is the Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni). This is the most massive of all the invertebrates (shorter than the giant squid but heavier) and lives in Antarctica deep waters only. The figure measures 15 cm in total lenght and 6,5 cm in mantle lenght. It's a bit too small, but is absolutely perfect. It comes in two pieces (the head+tentacles and the mantle+fins) that must be assembled, but given the anatomy of squids, the joint is of course not visible and it fits perfectly. The eyes are absolutely accurate as are the suckers, siphon, etc.
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And by last, the fourth is the Oarfish (Regalecus glesne). Contrary to the others, it's made of a much more soft plastic and the body is quite flexible while the head rays and pelvic fins are soft as spaghetti. Total lenght is 24,5 cm, so it have the same lenght than CollectA sperm whale or Papo whale shark. The only disadvantage of this figure is that it cannot stand upright (unlike the others), but I solved puting it against the vertical panel of my collection. The figure is so absolutely perfect as the others, and I'm in love with it :) :)
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wonderfull additions pardo, The regalec is very impressive, the coelacanth and the opah are very beautiful and I have never seen yet that kind of squid!..

I am glad you've found a way to acquire these figures. I believe you feel now more than ever that entering to the world of the best Japanese figures is like visiting another planet. They have an atention to the scientific part of the figure and use some production details that we can't see in brands more common in Western countries. These figures, are super interesting regarding the species presented and they have a level of detail absolutely superb!
You placed a hard question but I think the brand of this articular set is Nature Techni Colour. Though, whichever is the name used, all three mean the same.

Wow. I love the Deep Sea set, especially the coelacanth and oarfish. Great figures!

My last addition: unknown brand Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata). I discovered it this same forum, more precisely in this post [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (see last replies), and it was my first eBay purchase of an animal figurine. I bought at the end of January but the delivery time was veeery long (I bought other eBay figurines after that arrived before). It belongs to a set of mainly Himalayan animals, all the other were even much more oversized (except an Asian black bear that is tiny), and a bit of non-Himalayan animals such as a sloth. It have nothing marked in the belly, no brand or "made in". The figure measures 6 cm lenght and 6 cm height, it's a bit oversized comparing with most modern companies medium-large animals, but it fits perfectly with other oversized small animals from many brands. The sculpture and painting are perfecta and these kind of very obscure but fabulous and dreamed species are what I like more for my collection. It's my favourite canid since I know of it, replacing even the ethiopian wolf! And now I have a mini-Tibetan fox in my shelves    

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All my canids now:
Fits well with CollectA's fennec, a bit too big with CollectA's maned wolf...
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And now Tibetan sets:
With CollectA chiru or Tibetan antelope:
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Gentle nose touch  ^-^
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With Papo's snow leopard, the fox is on steroids!!!  
Improbable pals:
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But if the leopard is used in background, the scale difference doesn't mind so much:
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