Megaptera's Collection

Unbelievable! I just have to migrate to Germanie from South of France to get new papo releases!

The good old Chinese woman, who owns the shop has maybe some connections

Cormorant seems to be from the P.R.C. factory, it shares the same concept of the albatross. It seems I will add the mole to my wish list.

Megaptera wrote:

Today, in my local Papo shop, I found some new Papo models. So, I've got the Double-crested Cormorant, the Hermann's Tortoise, the European Mole, the Common Pheasant and the Golden Jackal:

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All are must haves, now i hope to find that soon

Now, with a different day light, the Papo Tortoise could also be a Russian Tortoise with this painting:

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WOW !!! They are marvellous

Thank you, Susanne:D
They are all well made. The shop owner reserved the best looking ones for me. The Tortoise is sadly very different to a Hermann's Tortoise. So, it fits better to a Russian or a Greek Tortoise.
Now, I'm still waiting for the Edible Crab, the Roman snail and the Bee

I think that I will go with the identification of Greek Tortoise for this mess of a figure. It’s certainly no Hermann’s Tortoise. I won’t buy it, because I’m still holding out hope that maybe they will fix the colors and present it more like the promo image at some point.

Congrats on the models. It seems papo has made up a few controversial figures.

endogenylove wrote:

I think that I will go with the identification of Greek Tortoise for this mess of a figure. It’s certainly no Hermann’s Tortoise. I won’t buy it, because I’m still holding out hope that maybe they will fix the colors and present it more like the promo image at some point.

Ok now I finally understand why I was so confused all the time.
In german, the Hermann´s Tortoise (Testudo hermanni) is called Griechische Landschildkröte. Translated, this would mean Greek Tortoise.
But the Greek Tortoise (Testudo graeca) is called in german Maurische Landschildkröte. This means moors, the Muslim inhabitants of Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages

About the tortoise, I'm familiar with both species as they are so common where I live. I think it's just a tortoise carrying and missing identifiers from both (or more) species. Also the model is too much on the large size for such a small reptile.. I mean it's almost as big as the jackal. So, for a small "generic" tortoise, the new Schleich is more appealing to me.

Anyway, since we love to specify these toy models, we can count some identifiers and check who's winning..

from wikipedia:

Greek tortoise                  vs                        Hermann's tortoise
Large symmetrical markings on the top of the head   -------------- Only small scales on the head
Large scales on the front legs    -----------   Small scales on the front legs
Undivided carapace over the tail --------------  Tail carapace almost always divided
Notable spurs on each thigs    -------------    No spurs
Isolated flecks on the spine and rib plates    --------------    Isolated flecks only on the spinal plates
Dark central fleck on the underside    -------------    Two black bands on the underside
Shell somewhat oblong rectangular    ------------    Oval shell shape
Widely stretched spinal plates    ------------    Small spinal plates
Movable posterior plates on underside    ---------------   Fixed plates on underside
No tail spur    -------------------   Tail bears a spur at the tip

The tortoise is....a failure! Let's just all agree on that <evil grin>.

It was sculpted as one species, later repainted and advertised as another, and then the final product looks like neither.

At least, we could use it as a Russian Tortoise. They have a great variety of carapace colours.

I have a Russian Tortoise as pet and I know this species very well. The overall shape doesn't fit to the Testudo. But the colouration, especially the one of the carapace is typical for the Russian or also for the Turkish subspecies of T. gracea.

Kostas made an interesting research. It is also clear for me, Papo reused the sculpt of some giant tortoise to offer a different species and as Blaine pointed, they were not even consistent in that task. Obviously I do not mean that the figure has no interest. I have myself both Safari American white and brown pelicans sharing the same mould and despite being similar birds, they show different shape in real and it is obviously not represented once the sculpt is the same. I hope they're not wanting to make the same with their tortoises as they did with their tropical frogs.

Today, my next newcomers arrived. I've chosen the better version of the AAA Hermit Crab, the Bullyland Norwegian Rat, the Bullyland Meissner Lop and the Safari Bat Ray:
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Thank you, Andreas

That's the hermit crab that arrived with me today, and it's beautiful, any ideas regarding species?

If you don't want the other hermit crab, I'd be happy to take it under my wing

Beautiful models again! I like the rat especially.

Advicot wrote:

If you don't want the other hermit crab, I'd be happy to take it under my wing

I think it could be the Green-striped Hermit Crab.
Maybe we find something to trade, then you can have the other one

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Beautiful models again! I like the rat especially.

Thank you very much. The model is very tiny, but the details are astonishing.

Send me your wishlist via PM and we can work something out, you might have some more figures I like. :)

By the way that species works well as that species, so that's what it is going as in my collection

I like this Bully rat a lot!

Where has this Safari bat ray come from? I’m pretty certain I’ve never seen or heard of it before? Is it a Tube figure or a retired figure? I like it and the rat very much!