Comparison of Caterpillar sets

With the release of a few new sets of caterpillars recently, plus my acquisition of a (nearly) complete set of the obscure and hard-to-find Club Earth set, I decided to do a bulk review of caterpillar sets!

Those marked with as asterisk are, to the best of my knowledge, unique as toys and figures at the species level (not for the developmental stage).

First up, the four Capsule Q Museum collections by Kaiyodo. The first two sets had six figures, the next two had five. They are all lepidopteran larvae, except for one scarabaeoid beetle in Volume 2.

Volume 1 (2013):
1. Asian swallowtail, Papilio xuthus
2. Indian alkwing, Choaspes benjaminii*
3. chestnut tiger, Parantica sita
4. Ailanthus silkmoth, Samia cynthia*
5. deaths-head hawkmoth, Acherontia lachesis*
6. fruit-piercing moth, Eudocima tyrranus*

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Volume 2 (2014):
1. spangle, Papilio protenor
2. Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon
3. cankerworm moth, Cystidia truncangulata*
4. impatiens hawk moth, Theretra oldenlandiae*
5. lobster moth, Stauropus fagi*
6. stag beetle, Dorcus hopei binodulosus
This figure marks the only beetle larva among these Kaiyodo sets!

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Volume 3 (2015):
1. paper kite, Idea leuconoe
2. commercial silkworm moth, Bombyx mori
3. great orangetip, Hebomoia glaucippe
4. oleander sparrow, Daphnis nerii*
5. common map, Cyrestis thyodamas*

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Volume 4 (2020):
1. Asianswallowtail, Papilio xuthus
this time with an extended osmeterium
2. spangle, Papilio protenor
a different pose than the earlier release
3. Chinese bushbrown, Mycalesis gotama fulginia*
4. great purple emperor, Sasakia charonda
After several adults of this species, I am very happy to finally have a larva!
5. paulownia bagworm, Eumeta variegata* (marketed as E. japonica)
this figure MUST be unique at the family level!

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Next, the set Larvae Moei by Shine-G (year unknown). The set features seven figures, six lepidopterans (one of which is a pupa) and one hymenopteran.

1. Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon
2. P. machaon, but with an extended osmetrium
3. Asian swallowtail, Papilio xuthus
4. chestnut tiger, Parantica sita
5. commercial silkworm moth, Bombyx mori
6. B. mori, pupa
7. giant Japanese hornet, Vespa mandarinia

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Next is Volume 2 of the Caterpillars set by Toy Spirits (part of SO-TA) (2020). I had not invested in the first set as they were common species and somewhat stylized. This set, however, offers some unique taxa, and another hymenopteran! The species identifications were made with translational help by Beetle Guy as well as the morphology of photographs of actual insects in promotional pics for the set. The figures are stylized and 'squishy', so they may not look exactly like their intended species.

1. Asian swallowtail, Papilio xuthus
2. Old World swallowtail, Papilio machaon
3. spicebush swallowtail, Papilio troilus*
4. fruit-piercing moth, Eudocima phalonia*
This is my identification; the genus is sound based on the accompanying photograph, but it might represent another species in the genus.
5. sawfly, Corymbas nipponica*
This was the biggest surprise, and what might be the very first symphytan larva in toy form, and only the second symphytan overall I am aware of (the other being the raspberry horntail by Play Visions). I have had trouble finding out much information on this species, and it is possible C. nippnoica has been synonomized with something else.

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Next up is the Caterpillars to Go set by Club Earth (year unknown). These were elusive and almost mythical, but with the help of forum member WhiteLightningWolf, I was able to score 11 of the 12 (not shown here is the cloudless sulfur, Phoebis sennae). Each figure is marked with a common name. These figures have been copied and recopied numerous times, with the best tribute by Beam (next set, below).

1. falcate orangetip, Anthocharis midea
2. Mylitta crescent, Phyciodes mylitta
3. American painted lady, Vanessa virginiensis
4. small Apollo, Parnassius phoebus
5. zebra longwing, Heliconius charithonia
6. creamy marblewing, Euchloe ausonides
7. zebra swallowtail, Protographium marcellus
8. gulf fritillary, Agraulis vanillae
9. queen, Danaus glippus
10. anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon
11. pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor

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The last set is Imomushi by Beam (year unknown). This is probably the best set influenced by the Club Earth caterpillars. Nine of the 12 species are shared between the sets. For the figures unique to this set, the identifications are my own.

1. anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon
2. zebra swallowtail, Protographium marcellus
3. pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor
4. small Apollo, Parnassius phoebus
5. queen, Danaus glippus
6. Mylitta crescent, Phyciodes mylitta
7. great spangled fritillary, Speyeria cybele*
This is my identification
8. American painted lady, Vanessa virginiensis
9. falcate orangetip, Anthocharis midea
10. creamy marblewing, Euchloe ausonides
11. unknown (I have this tentatively identified as the small tortoiseshell, Aglais uticae.)
12. unknown (maybe something in Satyrinae?)

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Thanks for showing us this comparison. Great variety.

Wonderful collection and excellent topic.
I felt in love with the Kaiyodo caterpillars because of you ( I bought a few) and seeing them all together is very impressive and delicious.
The funny thing is they used the same mold for two different species on the fourth set, we used to see that with Ikimon products but it’s too bad if Kaiyodo follow the same path.
The shine-G and Toy Spirit are more simple and less addictive to me but I understand a specialist like you can’t miss them.
The so rare Club Earth and the Beam are really excellent too. Thank you for sharing Blaine

These are wonderful figures, very naturally. A good example for the reaosn of the japanese fever.

So beautiful, every one of them! Japanese figures get all the detail just right, and all of these sets look so good together! All they need is a leaf, and then I think I would be tricked into thinking they were alive!