A Few Questions for TAW! :)

Just a few questions I thought about for the amazing TAW!
Firstly, about materials- are only plastic animals allowed on it? I was curious because I would still call a resin animal for example, an 'animal replica', but then maybe if it isn't plastic it wouldn't be called a 'toy'?
And then cartoon animals- I'm sure like me most collectors prefer realistic models to the more cartoon ones, but as a dog collector, I collect both and both could be classed as 'animal replicas'- even though some are obviously better replicas than others! Are they not allowed on TAW?
And I was also recently looking at the Breyer section, and was wondering whether we should start to build this up? But I can completely understand why not much has been done yet- there are so many Breyer horses (And other animals) that it would of course take a long time! But maybe, if we added models photo by photo, even if it isn't complete there would still be some models here?
I hope this is in the right place! The TAW is just perfect- these were just a few questions that came to mind and I'd love to know the answers!
But thank you so much for TAW- it's just amazing!

I know for a fact resin are allowed as the Naturally Adorkable series is resin and on there. For Breyer, maybe you could start building up a page (ask Roger to become an editor) for the brand

The Naturally Adorkable series are actually not resin, just harder than average PVC :)

I would love to help but I fear my knowledge of Breyer is very limited - I'd only be able to help a bit with the dogs! And interesting about the Naturally Adorkable series- I always thought they were resin! Maybe other materials could be a future project for TAW- but that would of course be a lot of work!

Some figures on TAW are made of different types of metal and as Adam says, some are made of resin. I think it is usually not so much about what is "allowed", but whether someone has had the time to put the figures onto TAW. There are so many animal figures (and so few TAW editors) that it is virtually impossible to add them all.

I am sure that Breyer is allowed, but I believe there is a very good website listing all the Breyers (Sorry, I don't know which) so editors have preferred to focus on brands about which there is less information. If you are keen to help, then I am sure the animal figure community would be very grateful. As Adam says, (the other) Roger can make you an editor.

Thank you so much Roger- that really helps and I can see how finding enough editors would be a problem- and there really are so many models out there! I think the website is called Identify Your Breyer or something along those lines- and this definitely includes so much information! But I would love to help TAW- I'm not amazing with technology but if it isn't too tricky I would be honoured to be an editor!

Ohh, yes, - the limits are editor time !!!
And now it has become so much more difficult to enter pictures, I, at least, find it enormously time comsuming, as I am a two finger typist

The Breyer place is here : http://identifyyourbreyer.com/identify/JohnH.htm , and it is fantastic !!!!

I can imagine- so many animals!
It is so amazing, I can only imagine how much work would have gone into it! And thank you so much for the link too, it's perfect for Breyer dogs and the variations!

Bonnie, I see your questions were already answered. Before TAW, collectors had no access to good sources about some popular brands. There were loads of websites dedicated to Schleich due to the extreme popularity of this company, but big brands as Safari didn’t have any source. Most catalogues were not known and a huge number of models were completely unknown. TAW allowed that with the help of a few collectors/editors we could build a very good source about this company. The same for Papo or CollectA, newer companies but without any page dedicated to them. We extended it to other popular brands as K&M and Play Visions, often without catalogues and only studying a lot and completing complex puzzles with a few random pieces. So, it is what Roger says, it depends of what we have in our collections and of the time we find to introduce the information and pictures on TAW. We invested also a good time on Schleich, despite the many sources around but it is because it is a core brand in this hobby. Breyer is also an important brand but only to a certain niche and it is already very well documented in the website Susanne provided. For more than we work, the layout of TAW will never allow us to make a source for Breyer as good as the Identify your Breyer website and the time needed to build it, would take all the time we have to dedicate to other poorly documented companies.
We have a section about materials on TAW. Of course not only pvc is allowed, we have a few series of Japanese resin models, among others, you can find some lead figures from Britains and loads of composition figures. There are many other materials already presented at the wiki.
Cartoons are not defintely TAW’s goal, I know some are more realistic than some figures on TAW but they belong to another collecting univers. I have myself a few cartoon figures in my collection of foxes but we can’t put these on TAW. We sometimes open a few exceptions when they belong to some famous animal themed brands but they have a very low priority.

Thank you so much for this Roger, so helpful, and it just shows how much work has gone into the wonderful TAW! It was such a good idea to document figures from the lesser known brands, it's what makes the wiki so unique and special! And I see what you mean about Breyer, it would take so much work, and if there is already a source which covers all the models in so much depth it makes sense to focus on the lesser known brands that TAW is so useful for!
And of course, the lead figures from Britains, I forgot about this, and composition models too! And I also see what you mean about cartoon figures too- it would also be so much more work as there really are so many cartoon figures, and of course, for some figures I've seen, it would be tricky to draw the line between calling a figure an animal or an alien!

Thankyou, Roger for explaining so well, - as always

Bonnie wrote:

......there really are so many cartoon figures, and of course, for some figures I've seen, it would be tricky to draw the line between calling a figure an animal or an alien!

If it is allowable, perhaps it would be good to put a link to other websites devoted to a line the TAW doesn't really delve into? I.e. a link to Identify Your Breyer on the Breyer page.

This may sound stupid, but how to define cartoony sometimes? Usually it's obvious- as Bonnie aptly pointed out above- but Roger mentioned more realistic models can be 'cartoony'. Does this mean more realistic models attached to a movie or cartoon series? (such as the recent Jumanji releases, or some attached to an animated woodland animal series Karin mentioned once) Or animals that were accessories to lines such as GI Joe or Barbie? Or the Wild Rush animals since they're joined somehow with anime figures?

I guess while distorted figures such as Littlest Pet Shop are obvious, I wonder about the other. If you didn't get it new, you may have no idea it has a 'shady' origin and wouldn't be listed here. Shows and maybe even toy lines can be regional also, so a figure that ends up far from home would have no meaning to it's current owner. I'm thinking things like Karin's animated series, which to my knowledge was never broadcast in the US- I wouldn't recognize the figures as its characters. And the best eagle replica I ever saw (Paige owns it now) that was apparently an accessory to a human figure, from a video game if I remember right. I got it in a thrift store lot and had no idea its origins.

What to say more ?

About cartoons figure: Mickey is a mouse, if we began to add all Mickey Mouse figures on TAW, it would means TAW is dead. How to find an animal in a cartoon's figure ocean ?
Animated or movies figures: For now, as long as they look like real animals, they are included in TAW. If one can't find something and have a good pic, it is fine.
Animal as accessories: Most of the Playmobil animals are listed on TAW for example.
Wild Rush animals: Good example ! Anime and realisitic animal figures were sold separately. We only show on TAW the realistic animal figures.
Material: We try to show all kind of animal toys regardless of materials. However "non toys" animal models, like small Porcelain animals, expensive resin desktop models or sculpture are not welcome on TAW until now. Why ? Again, we built TAW as a useful tool for all animal toys collectors. We know some of us are also collecting "non-toys" animals models but where are the limits ?

The real TAW serious problem is the lack of time, lack of pics and lack of publishers. Even modern mainstream brands are incomplete like CollectA or even Schleich. A lot of japanese stuff is missing and I won't talk about vintage brands.

Building TAW is already a colossal task so it would be risky IMHO to open TAW to cartoons or porcelain or Fantasy.
"Qui trop embrasse mal étreint" (Who too kisses badly embraces).

Quick question regarding Toy Animal Wiki, I've noticed you don't have photos for a lot of the CollectA horses, and would happily supply all the missing ones I own.
I've never submitted any before, I know you like a plain background so I'd re-photograph all the horses specially (all mine are against scale scenery, no plain tables or backdrop papers), so are there any other requirements before I get started?
I usually save as jpeg, resized 700 pixels wide, would that be big enough? Can do any size you'd prefer.
Pretty sure I don't own any lego bricks, but I've got a little lego man who'd do the trick for scale, if that's ok?

George wrote:

Quick question regarding Toy Animal Wiki, I've noticed you don't have photos for a lot of the CollectA horses, and would happily supply all the missing ones I own.
I've never submitted any before, I know you like a plain background so I'd re-photograph all the horses specially (all mine are against scale scenery, no plain tables or backdrop papers), so are there any other requirements before I get started?
I usually save as jpeg, resized 700 pixels wide, would that be big enough? Can do any size you'd prefer.
Pretty sure I don't own any lego bricks, but I've got a little lego man who'd do the trick for scale, if that's ok?

Yes, a plain background is better but there aren't that many rules regarding the background. As you can see on TAW, it is quite variable. Though, plain backgrounds turn the identification easier for a collector. All pictures are forced down to 600 px width, we use to upload 800px as we do on forum but 700 is more than fine. If you use 700, no need of resizing it to 800. You also don't need to provide more than a single picture for each model, as long as we can see the figure from its most recognizable angle.
About the comparison element, I like a lot the Lego block but that's a personal thing. These Legumen or Lego men are quite irritating to me, just ask Kelly. I'm kidding, you can use it, a human figure or nothing if you wish. jpg is the ideal file format. As uploading directly on TAW is easier than on forum, let me know if you want me to open a TAW account for you and I can do the page tables if you can't do it yourself. If you want to put the pictures on forum or just e-mail me or any other editor, it is again your choice.
It is really great that the important section of CollectA horses will be enriched with your pictures.

Here a picture from Susanne with a style I like a lot.

I have no idea what a page table is I've never worked on a wiki before and don't have a clue about any kind of page formatting or coding (my entire website is made with a drag-and-drop page builder on a template they provided pre-made), I'm totally useless at learning computery stuff no matter how much it's explained to me. So I think it's safer, easier, and quicker if I just post the pictures in that 'photos for toy animal wiki' forum thread, and leave the technical stuff to someone who understands what they're doing! I'd either make a mess of it or stress for hours then give up

George wrote:

I have no idea what a page table is I've never worked on a wiki before and don't have a clue about any kind of page formatting or coding (my entire website is made with a drag-and-drop page builder on a template they provided pre-made), I'm totally useless at learning computery stuff no matter how much it's explained to me. So I think it's safer, easier, and quicker if I just post the pictures in that 'photos for toy animal wiki' forum thread, and leave the technical stuff to someone who understands what they're doing! I'd either make a mess of it or stress for hours then give up    

Oh, I surely don't want to demotivate you. A page table or a figure table is what we call to these little tables with the bred/species, brand, series, availability and all these informations about the figure.
Don't worry about it, just put on that thread and we take care of everything.