Rtas' additions - Birthday gift from El Desperado

Roger wrote:

Interesting reading and a few figures I avoided and I was never 100% sure it was a good decision. Namely the spoonbill. I also enjoy the three chamois figures even if I only own the Papo model. Waiting for your next adventures.

Normally, something quite special should arrive this week !

Pardofelis wrote:

Dear Rtas,
I'm very sorry to hear about your family situation. If there is anything I can do for comfort you, here you have a friend.

Thanks Pardo but don't worry, that's kind of the least of my concerns.

Pardofelis wrote:

Andrés bought the turtle set long tome ago. He offered me to get the half of the pieces and share the half of the shipping costs. Then first he chose the most desirable figures for himself. I still accepted some of what he left. Then he chose more and more and left me without any figure of my interest. Better in this way, as after that we learned that trade with him can be a bad idea. Finally I will receive very soon the best figure of this set. I really not' need very much any other.

Well, you know my opinion about Andrés, we are not going to talk about that again. Which ones are you going to receive ?

Pardofelis wrote:

Your move of Japanese sets is smart, but take in account that you will end with a lot of figures that will don't fit in your collection. I buy entire sets if the vast majority of figures in them are of my interest, both species-wise and quality-wise (and size-wise of course ). If don't, then I chose only one or some, like I did with Colorata cookiecutter shark, radiated tortoise and boa constrictor.

Well, as far as bony fishes are concerned, I almost have none so that problem is unlikely to occur with them. But reptiles are another story... For example, I'd like the Colorata reptile set for the tuatara, the radiated tortoise and maybe the chameleon. The Galapagos marine iguana seems also bigger than the one from the Kaiyodo set with the moloch and frilled lizard and thus, may fit better since I am using the green, komodo dragon-sized, iguana from Schleich But I have no use of the big reptiles from this set and noone here will be ready to buy them from me as we all want the same species from these sets...

Same thing with the Yujin lizards set : most of them are of pretty bad quality but I like some of them like the basilisk.

I'm not going to collect amphibians because all would be crazy oversized so the only one I wish is the Kitan giant salamander.

Pardofelis wrote:

I knew about Hilaire's side-necked turtle species before I do for Chinese softshell, and because I saw it in a French zoo (2009, Jardin des Plantes) so it could be well known for you too

Ok, that sounds way more plausible because I would have hardly noticed it in Beauval since you basically always lack of time in that factory and the crowd discourages you to stay too long in covered areas, whereas I always spend a lot of time in the vivarrium when I visit the ménagerie.

Pardofelis wrote:

There are other softshell turtles that are better known than the Chinese one. It surprises me a lot what you say in ZTL about this species. I reckon it as a common and banal species in captivity, I saw it even in my hometown aquarium. So I checked ZTL and found a more expectable situation: Chinese softshell is extremely common in captivity, found at 90 different zoos withing Europe, Russia and Near East. Three of them in France. In fact, it's the most common softshell in captivity, what surprises me a bit, as I tought Egyptian one would be much more common (I saw it as a personal pet, in pet shops, in display at a restaurant...) but I check is rarer.

Ok, I checked again and you're right, don't know what happened

Pardofelis wrote:

For the "russian" tortoises you mention, the young ones have the size of an adult and the adult have the size of at least an African spurred tortoise, so the Indian star tortoise is more too big than too small

Yes, that's what I meant and that's why I prefer to use my "Russian" tortoise pair as Asian forest tortoises which are the fourth largest tortoises after the sulcata. Does that identification seems coherent to you ?

Pardofelis wrote:

You always can customize one of the three Mauremys into an European pond turtle you only need a pencil and some acrylics

Yes but I feel like the best candidate would be the Japanese species (because of the tail mostly) and that's actually my favourite of the three.

Pardofelis wrote:

The colorata fossil fish set is waiting for me in Brett's home He made the favour to me of remove the coelacanth I'm not interested in, as I have a better one :)

That's typically the counterexample of a set in which no species is useless ! The bichir is the only one I don't know. Your coelacanth is indeed better but the one from the set will be enough to me.

Then, I should hurry up to buy it if I want to present it here before you

Pardofelis wrote:

So nice memories to have grown with spoonbills. It's something not everybody was enough lucky to be. I saw my firt wild spoonbill just last year. Roseate spoonbills and scarlet ibis are strongly associated in captivity because they also are in the wild. An scarlet ibis figure exist (I don't remember brand), but I don't like it (especially the weird position of the bill), so I made my own one :)

Yes, spoonbills, avocets, stilts, sacred ibis (introduced in France) and night herons are the birds of my childhood

I checked the scarlet ibis figures, they are not good. I vaguely remember yours but that's not an exciting enough species to make me commission one from you, I will prefer a silky anteater if I decide to do it !

The lack of ibis in this industry is a shame but maybe CollectA will grant us with a bald ibis one day, that's typically the kind of endangered species they would do. To be honest, the Japanese crested ibis is not a species I'm especially familiar with but I need an ibis representative and the Kitan is a masterpiece.

Pardofelis wrote:

it's a relief that you decided to keep this treasure in your collection, as the only bird with correct size amongs them

Yes, my twisted conception of a properly sized figure is quite funny actually In fact, major brands dictate us what size this or that animal should be in toy form.

Pardofelis wrote:

For put a gender in a chamois, you can use just the shape (degree of divergence) of the horns

Then, I would say both males. What do you think ? Actually, male genitals on the Bully model is quite a shame as it represents the idea I have about what an old infertile herd matriarch looks like.

Hi,
You know, my opinion about Andrés is that he's sexy but not safe so the turtle I will receive will come from another source :) It's not the one you consider the best of the set, but very close. (Ah, I don't mind to have that snapping turtle too!)

I was tempted by Colorata tuatara but it's a bit oversized. Actually the radiated tortoise I already have from same set is also a bit oversized but in this casse it looks much less shocking to my eyes. For green iguana, I chosen the one that came as accessory of the Colorata harpy eagle but it needs a very heavy customization for be used as a figure per se, overall is difficult to cut it from the base! The Kaiyodo marine iguana is very tempting for me, I especially like the colours, and looks like it fits sizewise with my other two iguana species :) For the same reason you say, my only (branded) amphibian is the giant salamander you mention (and it's an absolutely unbeatable figure in terms of quality and detail!), plus a homemade olm that would be too small for be done for any brand haha. It's unlikely I will have some anuran ever, as the species I like are the colorful or weird ones, and the species enough big for being able to be made in figure, are not colorful or weird.

Smart idea to use the Schleich tortoise nest as Manouria emys, as the ones I saw in zoos are quite big. However I have not much idea of turtles and tortoises, they're not my kind of favourite animals. Hence I don't have absolutely the least idea about if the Schleich tortoises can fit morphologically into Asian forest tortoise or not.

If you mind that an European pond turtle have a too short tail, you always can say that it's a female hehe (much shorter tail than male, as happen in general with most turtles).

No need to hurry with Colorata fishes. I think I will complete the order by summer The bichir is a bit oversized, some bichirs can get huge but they're other species, and anyway not that huge But it's a so magnific wonderful figure and taxon, that it's one of the cases where "I don't mind" (you know my scale divergence acceptance varies a lot depending on how exciting is the species represented for me haha)

I doubt a lot that CollectA do a bald ibis, not even a waldrapp ibis. They can made obscure antelopes and even obscure cetaceans, but no way that they do obscure birds (Ahem... yes I know they chose black-faced spoonbill instead better known spoonbill species, but this exceptional situation it's unlikely to repeat I think). If they do an ibis ever they will do, most probably, a scarlet one, and next most probably, a sacred one

Ok, I guess the most exciting species from that set is definitely the red-eared slider to you, so I expect this one.

More seriously, I would say matamata.

Tuatara oversizing is not a problem to me as my reference lizard is the Schleich pogona And not even being a lizard it does not even have to fit technically.

On the other hand the Kaiyodo marine iguana would be too small. But I expect the Colorata to be bigger, can anyone confirm it ?

I think the black-faced spoonbill was chosen because it's an Asian species and CollectA is based in Hong-Kong. Bald ibis are not obscure birds, they are quite popular (at least among the birdwatching community) and CollectA likes to make their figures "conservation ambassadors" for endangered species.

The Colorata Marine Iguana is around 1/12 scale, perfect with the Yujin/PV rhinoceros igiuana, Yujin revised Mata-mata , Kaiyodo Common snapping turtle, Schleich Badger and Papo Chamois

This week, I got quite a rare catch from Vinted, a webpage where people (well, mostly girls) sell the clothes they do not wear anymore. As I sometimes mentioned, my dog is using it to sell my mother's clothes, here is his profile :
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Last time I was at home, he told me that he had seen some of my silly plastic toys for sale on it, which surprised me a lot. I had a look and actually found quite interesting pieces at ridiculously low prices, including these ones I bought from a very kind and charming seller
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I had never met this model before, except on TAI of course, neither during my figure hunts nor on Ebay, so I guess it's difficult to find. It's the exact same mould than my Schleich emperor but painted as a king. The king was the first one to be released in 2010 before being replaced by the emperor as soon as 2011 ! The chicks were released at the same time while being emperor offsprings, a voluntary mistake which is likely to have the same motives than the white seal pup error : making the figure immediately recognizable to the general public. Indeed, king chicks are all brown and thus, less iconic. However, despite this mistake, those emperor chicks are in my opinion incredibly good. That was not a model I was especially looking for but I'm more than happy it was included to the lot.

The adult is not a large mould, being only slightly taller than the CollectA gentoo for example. As a consequence, it fits better as a king in my collection. That replacement does not only introduce a new species in my collection, it also allows me to add a new model I have always liked but never bought because of size compatibility issues with my Schleich emperor, the Papo emperor.

In the afternoon, I went to my toy shop which is closed because of the lockdown but they accepted to let me enter as a faithful customer ! So here is the other newcomer :
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Ok, the size difference should be slightly more important but it still satisfies me perfectly. Most of all, the Papo is fatter, bulkier, heavier, which is an important feature to tell them appart. The only shame is the coat : the king's back is grey and the emperor's back is black while it should be the opposite.

As for the chicks, they have now found a more appropriate nanny :
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That update forces me to sacrify the Schleich "empress" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which I like so much and am not ready to abandon though. That's why I have commissioned a custom king repaint of this model from Andrés to make it fit with my new king. And maybe, then, the Colorata set will come to complete the family.

Now, my emperor is bigger, I guess the chinstrap from Safari becomes much more acceptable.

Edit : yes, it seems to be, but I'll still ask confirmation to Paige as usual
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Schleich penguin chicks were never criticized regarding their quality. They are good models and perfectly identifiable as emperors. The noise around it was just because they were marketed as king penguins and as you pointed, king penguin chicks are completely different. Another point, in my opinion, the adulte works better with its king coat than with its emperor coat. Schleich fixed the mistake a single year later and the decision was clever, using the mold of the king and repainting as an emperor. Why clever? Because Happy Feet, was the movie who caused the penguin fever and it is an adulte emperor penguin with chick colors and let's agree, the emperor chicks are much more beautiful.
About their coats, they are correct. It is the king who has a grizzled back while the emperor has a black coat. Schleich got it correctly and that's one of the reasons why I like so much this king penguin that lasted only for a single year. I am curious to see the empress as a queen, especially the baby as a brown prince. By the way, my emperor is the Safari model but, as you guessed, it is not with me.
About the chinstrap, I suspect you are aware that the Safari model is the exact same as the Colorata.

I can share a comparison photo this weekend. What models exactly do you want included? (I don't have the Papo emperor but most of the others I do).


Maybe I will just do a penguin comparison palooza topic. 

Some wonderful penguins and gorgeous little chicks!
And I love your dog's account, he is a natural model! Such a sweet little face, and some adorable poses- I'm sure they'll sell well!

Oh, you're right !!! I got confused with the coats despite having seen kings in real and emperors in countless documentaries. That makes the whole thing even more perfect

That brown prince was a detail we had completely forgotten, I only told Andrés not to forget it this afternoon ! However, it wouldn't have been a catastrophy as I have a painter in my town who can fix tiny things like that (but I wouldn't let her do the more delicate neck pattern custom).

You are getting my attention with that Safari emperor I never checked since, as you can expect, that Papo emperor (empress ?) now needs a mate, that's a tradition !

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I can share a comparison photo this weekend. What models exactly do you want included? (I don't have the Papo emperor but most of the others I do).


Maybe I will just do a penguin comparison palooza topic. 

Thanks ! Would be welcome :
- Safari emperor Roger just told me about
- Safari chinstrap
- Schleich king
- CollectA gentoo
- Why not Mojo gentoo too
- CollectA rockhopper
- Any Colorata from the set

No need for Safari humboldt though, it's ugly. However, would you have by any chance that wonderful AAA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ? But I think it's big from the lego.

If you have the little penguins (I think they are two) from the tube too.

Bonnie wrote:

Some wonderful penguins and gorgeous little chicks!
And I love your dog's account, he is a natural model! Such a sweet little face, and some adorable poses- I'm sure they'll sell well!

He is a true cheapskate, his prices are bloody high and he drives a hard bargain ! But the quality follows so, yes, he sells well !

Fabulous penguin family! Your new emperor catches much better the appareance of the species, fat body, small head and thin sharp bill! :)

RtasVadumee wrote:

Oh, you're right !!! I got confused with the coats despite having seen kings in real and emperors in countless documentaries. That makes the whole thing even more perfect

That brown prince was a detail we had completely forgotten, I only told Andrés not to forget it this afternoon ! However, it wouldn't have been a catastrophy as I have a painter in my town who can fix tiny things like that (but I wouldn't let her do the more delicate neck pattern custom).

You are getting my attention with that Safari emperor I never checked since, as you can expect, that Papo emperor (empress ?) now needs a mate, that's a tradition !

Safari emperor is 6 mm taller than the Papo so I believe they will work nice together despite their very different design.
Don't take the chick as a gender indicator because both adultes share equally the parental care. However, it is the best option, to use the Papo as a mother and the Safari as a father. Their robusteness is also not identificative. Your Papo is a robuste animal, it shows only that it replaced recently the work of looking after the chick with its mate that was surely starving and now is going to the sea to find food.
That's another interesting point of your king penguin project because it is a species whose parental care is very similar to emperors. Though, brown princes grow quite fast and they are still feeded when they are as large as their parents.  
If you want to get the Colorata set, you don't need to worry about the huge Safari humboldt penguin. You have a smaller one in that set. You also have the Eikoh that has a slight extra cuteness but is the same size as the Schleich African ppenguin as you can see on Susanne's picture. Oh, maybe I need the Eikoh cutie too.

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So it turns out I am missing some CollectA penguin friends afterall but here is what I have (I also have very few japanese models...). First all my penguins on display (sorry for the dark photo) and then the ones I have that are in question. Hope it helps you!
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I will post a penguin palooza topic soon.

Paige, first of all, you seem to have something that really looks like a great auk, where the hell did you found that ?!

Then, the chinstrap is clearly not at the same scale than my other penguins, you just have to look at the feet to realize that. However, from a pic Roger posted on my topic asking for comparisons with the Colorata penguins, it seems that the chinstrap from them is almost the same mould than Safari, but at a slightly smaller scale.
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Can anyone confirm ?

Finally, now the Schleich is used as a king, the Mojo gentoo becomes quite perfect sizewise. Maybe it can form another pair with my CollectA.
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As I said on the other topic, it's quite impressive how perfectly CollectA and Schleich African go together despite CollectA being slightly taller. So another pair here.
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My rockhopper will find its mate in the Colorata set I guess.

Finally Roger, now I see it, I don't like the Safari emperor so much

The great auk is part of the extinct species sets by club earth. Great eye.

Glad my photos help! Hopefully someone with the coloratas too can post some comparisons.

Safari emperor is an old and quite simple model. Not so nicely painted as previous Schleich and not so nicely sculpted as Papo. However, it is enough for my likings and much nicer than the current Schleich emperor.

Hi guys !

I received a parcel from Modellpferdeversand a few days ago and thus, have a lot more new things to show you. But before talking about the additions, I have a wonderful news to share with you

As you know, I recently welcomed a mate for my lonely white rhino male, in an attempt to take part in the conservation of this endangered species. Well, I am happy to tell you the program is a success and that little Frederik is born, in perfect shape, and is now allowed to go out and enjoy his outside enclosure with mommy and daddy
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You can never know what's going to happen with newborn calves so I wanted to make sure he survives before presenting him, so that I wouldn't have to announce a sad news later. But Frederik has grown fast and healthy and he is now strong enough to attend elementary school where his best friend is Nelson the black. They both have recently befriended Indian foreign pupil Mohandas, here is a picture I took this morning when I left him at school :
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Having already two rhino calves, I couldn't accept one more with the same boring pose like CollectA's or Safari's, I needed something new, refreshing. That's why I naturally chose that sitting one from Mojo. As you can see, it fits perfectly with the two others and is the undeniable proof that "cute as hell" does not necessarily meen ridiculously cartoonish But most of all, my three white now form an outstanding family, I'm even more proud of as it is a mixed-brand one Actually, the fact that the Safari female has a slightly different colouration is more a strenght than a problem to me as it makes the family picture less monochromatic and boring.

Now let's get to the "true" additions

As I recently said, my long-lasting relationship with major brands is progressively coming to an end. I will be now merely filling the remaining gaps and that order is part of this last completion step. The very first time I did a topic about a new brand joining my collection, it was Mojo. Then, I stopped collecting, or at least only kept doing it locally, before getting the whole Shouthlands range for Christmas. Then, holy Corona brought me freedom and I started again but my main focus was then Safari. I had made sure all the absolutely needed Mojo were included in the first order but I usually also make sure that an internet purchase does not exceed 70/80€, which was the price of a video game when I used to play much more than today. So, a handle of species were left to the side and I had to correct that. That's why this order is mainly dedicated to Mojo. The release of the basking shark will then provide me with the opportunity to fill the CollectA gaps (I still miss the Grevy's zebra) but I still afforded myself a little CollectA pleasure I couldn't resist
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Some of you may be surprised not to see any honey badger but despite the species' appeal to me, I don't like the glossy, plain and undetailed figures Mojo did of it. The Iberian lynx is also missing but that's because I have a much better one in mind. You'll know more about that at the end of the post
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My priority, while doing this order, was the grey seal which basically motivated and draw the whole thing. When I received my harp seal from Safari, I was caught by a compelling completist drive and felt the urgent need of getting the Mojo grey seal RIGHT NOW ! That's an excellent figure which was always in my wishlist, especially because it catches perfectly the so distinctive muzzle of that species. Grey seals live on the coasts of my region, Brittany, where they are more common than harbour ones (not even sure there is any harbour seal actually). These are funny-looking but quite unsexy animals with a large and elongated head which, it was often discussed here, does not make them good candidates for cute, and thus lucrative toys for kids. Here is a real one photographed in a nearby aquarium :
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However, Mojo dared to do it and, sharing a similar philosophy to golden age Schleich, even managed a way to make the figure aesthetically pleasant. Please, note that this is the 2017 repaint, which is way better than the original.

The second figure to join was the great horned owl.
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This is not especially an exciting species to me but I mean, I had to get it at one point. To be honest, I have only seen it once in a zoo and remember feeling quite satisfied to check that species on the list, but not much. I actually didn't really remember how it looked like so I had to check pictures on the net to help me decide between Mojo and Safari. I found that both plumages were possible and just decided that I would get it from the brand I would be collecting at the moment. Since I always have too many Safari to buy and my basket is always full before I even consider the owl, while there were only a few Mojo I missed, it ended up being Mojo. In any case, the figure is really pleasant and catches well the face mask of the species, even if I feel like it should have more stripes on the belly.

Next one is much more exciting for an elapids freak like me !
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As you may know, I have kind of a venom fetish and really really enjoy venomous snakes ! I honestly think this is because I have been deprived of seeing them in my childhood, because they require a special authorization to be kept and thus can only be found in very specific places and almost never in generalist zoos. I now have seen cobras, mambas even taïpans and quite my share of dangerous vipers too but I still miss a lot and haven't seen a coral snake yet. I have seen milk snakes which are called "false coral snakes" in French, but not true ones. Coral snakes can be found on three continents but according to TAI, that one is a Sonoran or Arizona coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthus). I have nothing to complain about the figure, it's very good. The eyes of that species are of the same black than the head, which makes them hardly visible and I especially enjoy that this model appears as a long faceless colourful worm at it is supposed to look. The crawling pose is also appreciated as it changes from my other venomous snakes which are all coiled up. As far as size is concerned, it's certainly too long compared with the others but it's so hard and so enjoyable to add a new snake species that I totally don't care !

Next comes a masterpiece only CollectA is able to provide us since Schleich has lost his job, divorced his wife, discovered the guy who raised him and made a man out of him was not his father, and now drown his sorrow with alcohol and LSD bad trip fairy tale animals [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I am talking about their new gorilla, who is shown here with two buddies released when Mr Schleich had better days :
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All three are wonderful and gorillas (apes in general) are definitely one of my favourite collecting subjects. However, as I am willing to respect the social structure of species I collect, I was not supposed to add any new male. But that CollectA is a completely different species, it's an Eastern gorilla of the mountain subspecies so I had a legitimate excuse to buy it It's quite unlikely any other mountain gorilla will be releases anytime soon, I expect brands to keep focusing on the Western "vanilla" species. So it's likely that no new gorilla will ever join my collection from now (except new females for my Western tribe and the Mojo sitting one will be definitely considered if correctly sized) and that my mountain patriarch will remain a loner.

There would be so much to say about this new jewel... Let's not beat around the bush, it's gorgeous and soooo interesting to compare with the other masterpieces from Schleich, especially the last one. Both are the absolute perfect representations of their respective species, that's crazy, they could definitely be used in an anatomy lesson to teach people the morphological differences between them. But I prefer not to tell you more here, nor provide any extra picture because I think that matter would justify a whole separate walkaround. But as you know, I'm lazy as hell so if you are really interested in it, please ask for it clearly, I don't want to do it if another one is already available or there is just no real need of it.

Modellpferdeversand offering very interesting prices, I was still far from the 70-80 required euros. So, I decided to add something new, something refreshing. Something daring But still much into my personal interests actually.

I'm a birdwatcher, even though I do not practice a lot anymore since several years. Living in Brittany, my favourite preys are waterfowls. But my love for ducks goes beyond intellectual interest, I really feel a deep tenderness towards them. Actually, even my bidwatcher colleagues when I worked for a conservation NGO made fun of my duck Bible listing all the species in the world, anatidae being apparently not a very "sexy" topic, even for birdwatchers. I always thought that, if I ever had a house with a small pond in a garden, I would keep ducks as pets. And ducks are a big part of my love for the UK where they are so many and so diverse ! That's where I saw wood ducks, which are American cousins of the Chinese mandarin that were introduced as ornamental birds. Unlike mandarin ducks that prospered however, wood ducks never managed to settle a self-sustaining population in the UK and are thus quite rare.

The wood duck species was the one to introduce me to the Maia & Borges water birds series. I didn't know M+B did anything else than sealife figures and I think Roger (him again. May I call him my mentor ? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ) made me discover that series when I posted my Schleich mallards and Papo mandarin on my collection thread.

After further researches, I understood that this wood duck was a bit large but its beauty was enough to make me consider it. On the contrary, the loons were just perfect sizewise and very well done too. This rather light purchase was then the best opportunity to crack and add the whole bunch of them to the basket !
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Finally, that wood duck ends up fitting pretty well with the Papo mandarin which was already oversized compared to Schleich's mallards. In case it wouldn't fit, I had bought the bigger Safari mandarin duck for only 3€ on Vinted but it seems it got lost and I have no way to track it. It would not be such a catastrophy if it never reached my place as the Papo rendition is undoubtedly better and not shocking at all next to my new wood duck.
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Here is a real comparison pic. I already posted it on my wildlife pics thread but I like it so much (and am quite proud of it) that I can't resist posting it here too :
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The size discrepancy is certainly more problematic when it comes to the European native species, the mallard and the tufted duck. I was recently extremely surprised to learn that Isidro had only seen wild tufted ducks for the first time not so long ago and in the UK. But I checked the distrubution map and learnt that these ducks were indeed not so common in Spain and only seen in winter in most areas. Here in France, they are by far the second most common species after the mallard. That's actually, excluding mallards, the very first wild duck I checked on my birdwatching list, I still distinctly remember the scenery : I was with my grandmother and that was our second or third birdwatching walk together around our usual lake (God... so many species we saw together on this lake... now it has become a leisure water park ). So I couldn't pass on that one even if I perfectly knew how big it was. For those who are not familiar with it, I precise that it is supposed to be way smaller than a mallard why it's the opposite here :
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As far as accuracy is concerned, I can say it's really good, in addition to being charming. I don't have very good pictures of tufted ducks because I shooted with a simple compact camera back then but here is one anyway (had to excavate it from my old computer) :
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Finally come the loons and grebe ! As I said to Andrés who is not a waterfowl guy at all, I think that every collector should at least buy one of the loons from this series (my preference goes to the common one) because they represent an order for which we don't have any alternative. Yet, I hesitated A LOT over including them in my wishlist or not. Indeed, I was extremely disturbed by the standing pose as any birdwatcher knows these birds are always swimming and rarely seen on the ground. To be honest, their legs are so backward on their body (to help them dive and swim underwater actually) that I'm not even sure they are able to stand like that. Well, I'm even pretty sure they can't...
But as I said, we have no alternative and they are exciting enough birds to justify a purchase. By the way, except those legs that are way too forward on the body, they are very nice renditions. The common loon, especially, reminds me a lot the wild individual my father filmed in Iceland and brought me the frames of back. In France, we obviously never see loons with such a beautiful nuptial plumage as they only visit our coasts in winter. I have seen both species or rather seen small dots in the middle of the ocean I identified as such. Actually, the only loon I have ever had a very good sighting of is not here : that's the Arctic loon.

Loons are big guys the size of a goose, at least the common one which is the largest in Europe, so M+B figures are just fine in this regard. However, that grebe is RIDICULOUSLY oversized. I mean, it's good, faithful to the real bird, but definitely too big. I have seen this species (horned grebe) only once but I am very familiar with the close and more common black-necked cousin which is exactly the same size. And guys, these birds are barely larger than little grebes, that is to say as big as an old mallard duckling ! But it would have been a shame not to get the whole series so I don't regret to have it.
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I am nevertheless missing the falcated duck which was not available on Modellpferdeversand but that was the least interesting species for me. Maybe I'll manage somehow to put my hands on it but I'm not going to look for it especially.

Finally, last but not least, I decided to afford a little experiment... Something REALLY daring this time

Despite my countless contradictions and liberties I constantly allow myself to take, size remains important to me and I never renounce keeping a certain size hierarchy between my whales. Having the M+B masterpieces as a basis prevented me to add almost any other one as it seems the trend is not to produce such ginormous models anymore. Many people tried to convince me to give up the size hierarchy and accept the Safari right whale and CollectA bowhead whale, which I was very tempted to do. But I held on and didn't crack.

While digging into Modellpferdeversand pages, I made quite an unexpected discovery. I found something I had never heard about, something that had never been shown on forum, something I had thus no visibility on. But as I said, I felt in a daring mood so I just went ahead !
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Of course, you're going to tell me it's not the correct colouration and thus not accurate. But first it does not look so light in real and second... well, it looks quite great aesthetically ! I mean, that's supposed to be a very cheap brand of light, soft and flat rubber figures, what I usually call "dog's toys figures". But it's not so light and definitely not so soft nor flat ! It's even, in my opinion, less cheap-looking than my Papo blue whale.

But most of all, look at that S-I-Z-E ! It's exactly what I was looking of !

That's the right whale from Recur, a model which is not even on TAI ! So if you need any pic for the wiki, or if you are interested in a walkaround, just ask

This new purchase forces me to renounce to the CollectA bowhead whale but that's not such an issue. What really bothered me was not having any Balaenidae in my collection but one is enough to me.

Well, I feel like this update is already long enough and it's time to end it so that you don't die from overdose.

But is it really all for now ?

Of course not my friends, these were only the trailers, the pre-dinner drink, the foreplay !

The true fiesta happens [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] See you very soon !
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Really really stunning new models! Congrats on them all!

Hello Harry, I am your best mentor, you can call me Dumbledore. I am so glad you acquired these Maia & Borges models. M&B design was quite influencial to the best Schleich era. This combination of realism  with a special charm you can see in these River & Lake Birds, is the same we could find in many Schleich models that projected this company to a strondous commercial success. Their quality finish is also very good so you almost don't feel the shock of accepting a different brand.
About the 2017 Schleich gorilla we have two walk arounds [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
CollectA model hasn't received yet a dedicated topic.
I actually would love a comparison topic pointing why they are so good representatives of each species. If you can do it after finishing your additions, I'd be grateful. To be fair, both models are under my cogitations.
Yes, please take a picture of the whale for TAW when possible.
Your baby rhino is the baby of the century, so there's nothing left to say.

I agree, and you have chosen some wonderful new figures indeed!

Roger wrote:

I actually would love a comparison topic pointing why they are so good representatives of each species. If you can do it after finishing your additions, I'd be grateful. To be fair, both models are under my cogitations.
Yes, please take a picture of the whale for TAW when possible.

Yep, I'll do that tomorrow if I'm motivated. Actually, spring (even if I don't like summer weather) makes taking pictures much easier as the natural light is almost always good. I think it's better like that but I can get back to the flash with green background if people prefer.

That's actually what I had in mind regarding the gorillas. I also gonna do some reaserches to see if both Schleich are the same species. Maybe I have Western gorilla, Eastern lowland and Eastern mountain and I'm not even aware of it !

Nice models, especially the Maia & Borges figures.