Animals with superpowers will come as a new 2021 Yowie USA series

For  a few minutes i have seen the poster of the new serie "Animals with superpowers"

There are a Alberts lyrebird, a pitohui, a dingo, walrus, amur leopard, pygmy blue tongue lizard, brown sea cucumber, black flanked rock wallaby, and more. I will look if ican share the poster tomorrow.

So exciting! If you can share it here I would be very eager to see. Thanks Andreas!

It sounds really exciting, Andreas! These Yowie figures are getting better and better and always with so many interesting species.

Ok Andreas, I want to see them.

Great find, Andreas!

It looks like Yowie posted them on their website:

https://yowieworld.com/collect/  (scroll down on this page for more detailed pictures)

I only see two birds: a Hooded Pitohui (one of the only poisonous birds) and an Albert’s Lyrebird (mimic of other birds; a mynah bird might’ve worked too) Both are obscure enough for me to be interested, but there are not many others (besides some reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates) that I would get even a little excited about. I was expecting more birds. There are many superpowers within birds, and they went with a reindeer, a dingo, a leopard, and a hyena? I don’t find any of these to be any more super than many birds that I know.

Thank you for sharing the banner! I am excited for this series, each one looks great. And this time I am really excited to read the papers to learn some new super powers of these guys! I admit, I am eyeing that spider...

Not saying that birds aren't amazing too, but I think the animals you named as not special all have their own "super powers".

Reindeer can see ultraviolet light, an adaptation to better see predators and food in the arctic and limit damage from snowblindness.

Dingoes are the only canine that can rotate its head 180°, is "double jointed" can rotate their wrists and subluxate their hips, making them extraordinary tree climbers and amazing fence jumpers (can jump 2 meters high).

Amur leopards, as they described, are one if the strongest cats in the world. Much less an extremely endangered one which is partially the entire point of this toy line is to highlight (critically) endangered species.

Spotted hyenas have the strongest mammalian bite force and are one of the few animals who can not only break up dense prey bones but easily digest them and utilize them as a food source.

Birds are great too but generally speaking, mammals are more attractive to most consumers, especially kids.

Finally a hyena*!!! How long did it take!
(*Even if it is a miniature copy of the Safari Ltd...)

Great find, Andreas!
I really like these birds, the reptiles and the frog on the leaf don't you hug a moss frog ?

O M G
I feared, that such a theme could include animals like blue whale, elephants or gepards. However, there are so many figures, that I never heard of and that are never made in toy form.

If I´m right, I need nearly everything, except for the wolverine, dingo, reindeer, amour leopard and walrus. Boah, never expected that.

Are our friends from the US and/or Australie already prepared for the purchase and eating a lot of chocolate?

Another fantastic series. I really want the wallaby among a few others.

Wow, I think I'll get many of these:
Abert's lyrebird
brown sea cucumber
Chinhai spotted newt
hooded pitohui
mutable rain frog
peacock tarantula (sculpt looks like a jumping spider, though)
pygmy blue-tongued lizard
ruby-eyed green pit viper
rusty-patched bumblee
southern bent-winged bat
sunflower sea star
black-flanked rock wallaby

Here are my opinions of all the animals:
Albert’s Lyrebird: Great. Extra points for being a different species from the more famous Superb Lyrebird, an equally good mimic. Other birds are more widely known for mimicry, though, such as mynahs and parrots.
Amur Leopard: Average. The figure is not the best painted one, but it is an somewhat underrepresented and conservation-dependent subspecies, It could be a good enough alternative to the Colorata figure. Many other animals have much better agility and strength than leopards, though.
Black-flanked Rock-Wallaby: Good. Probably not to scale with most other macropod figures, but it is a unique species to represent climbing animals. Glad they didn’t just go with the more colorful and well-known Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby.
Brown Sea Cucumber: Great. Sea cucumbers are known for their ability to regenerate internal organs (something that I only recently heard about from the Ask Two Zookeepers video) and any unique species of sea cucumber would be a welcome addition to the collections of many.
Chinhai Spiny Newt: Good. Unique, obscure, and highly conservation-dependent amphibian species. A reasonable alternative would be the slightly more famous Spanish Ribbed Newt. Slightly simplistic in design, though.
Dingo: Poor. The mostly monochrome yellow color makes it almost unrecognizable as a dingo. Not a unique species and not at all unique as an extraordinarily flexible animal despite being unique for a dog; snakes and weasels probably fit this description better.
Wolverine: Average. Not a unique representative of its species. Probably the best TOOB-sized wolverine figure, but not the best overall. Not the only exceptionally smelly animal; skunks, stink bugs, and the Hoatzin are all better known for this.
Hooded Pitohui: Great. Obscure and unique species. While there are plenty of poisonous animals, only a tiny fraction of birds have poisonous feathers, so this superpower is a well-chosen one.
Mutable Rainfrog: Great. This is a unique figure, and the species has the unique and unusual superpower of changing the texture of its body for camouflage. And it’s obscure to boot. I have never even heard of this one!
Peacock Tarantula: Great. This is a nice complement to the PV Indian Ornamental Tarantula, being a similar yet unique species. Of course, I am sure that most tarantulas have the hairs, but it is still a superpower worth representing by a unique, obscure, and rare species.
Pygmy Blue-tongued Skink: Average. Not the best painted figure; and is immobility really a superpower when it means voluntarily staying still, basking in the sun, and drinking rainwater? At least it’s a completely different species from the existing Blue-Tongue figures, so I would still be getting this one.
Reindeer: Very poor. This Reindeer almost looks like a Moose; and Reindeer are common as figures. Reindeer are not especially well known for their UV eyesight;  mantis shrimp species are probably better known for their UV (as well as polarized) vision.
Ruby-eyed Green Pit Viper: Good. Design is simplistic and superpowers are not unique (all pit vipers can sense infrared light), but the species is obscure, unique, and was recently described, making it good enough for me to be interested.
Rusty-patched Bumble Bee: Good. The majority of other bumble bee figures are generic, with the exception of the PV one, which represents Bombus fervidus. As such, this one is unique as a a species. Also, this represents an especially endangered species of bee, which gets extra points in my book. While I would assume that multiple species of bumble bees can collect pollen electrically, this one was a good choice for a specific species. The main problems are: 1. The bee is depicted on a honey bee-like comb with hexagonal cells instead of a series of globular cells, and 2. As I alluded to, this pollen-collecting ability is not actually magnetism but rather static electricity. Of course, that is still a very intriguing natural superpower in itself.
Southern Bent-winged Bat: Great. This one is not only a unique species (Australian Bent-winged Bat), but it represents a particular subspecies (which gets extra points) and the most threatened one at that! Of course, microbats in general are known for their echolocation, but they chose a unique species to represent them.
Spotted Hyena: Poor. This is a very commonly represented species for sure. I guess they featured one because no other series has had a hyena to date, which is a reasonable decision from the company’s perspective, but that doesn’t change the fact that a number of other companies have made them. It is virtually a Safari ripoff after all. Also, while the jaw and digestive adaptations are fairly unique, we are still wishing for a Brown Hyena, and such a concept could have been represented by a Bearded Vulture or some such.
Sunflower Sea Star: Great. A very unique species was chosen here to represent the well-known adaptation of sea stars; limb regeneration. They could have went with any of the previously represented species, and they went with this unique one instead. That was a great choice for sure! This would serve as a good complement to the PV sea stars.
Walrus: Average. The main draw with this one is that it has no tusks, so it would make a great walrus pup. That may have been the intention for leaving the tusks off. Otherwise, it is not a unique species by a long shot.

I would want most non-mammals plus the walrus and bat.

It really doesn’t make sense for bird toys to be less popular with consumers than mammals. I guess culturally, we think of birds in general as uninteresting and unassuming background and backstage wildlife compared to the “beasts”; that is, mammals, “sea creatures”, and “creepy crawlies”. I might also assume that interests in birds, birding, and/or ornithology are simply more niche and not as prevalent among the average consumer than I thought. But then again, how can they include so many species that are so obscure and/or only recently described? With that in mind I had come to expect more birds from Yowie.

Birdsage wrote:

Here are my opinions of all the animals:

Peacock Tarantula: Great. This is a nice complement to the PV Indian Ornamental Tarantula, being a similar yet unique species. Of course, I am sure that most tarantulas have the hairs, but it is still a superpower worth representing by a unique, obscure, and rare species.

Birdsage - this tarantula species is not unique; Bullyland made one back in 2016 (or so), and frankly the body looks as if it was based on a jumping spider (but I'll know more when I have it in-hand)

My point is:
The reindeer doesn’t look like a reindeer. A mantis shrimp would’ve been an even more super choice.
While the Amur Leopard is an important endangered species, it is not as good as the Colorata or CollectA ones. It may be a cheaper alternative though. Also, there are more agile and speedy species than leopards.

The leopard is not half bad. In fact, I may have judging too hard. I might actually want it after all!

Great variety, as always from Yowie. Now to avoid those stupid Yowie characters.

The leopard and sea cucumber and wallaby are reused moulds it looks like. Can't blame them after everything with the Pandemic. But again, I am excited for these models and think they chose a great variety to appeal to nearly everyone.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

The leopard and sea cucumber and wallaby are reused moulds it looks like. Can't blame them after everything with the Pandemic. But again, I am excited for these models and think they chose a great variety to appeal to nearly everyone.

I wondered about the sea cucumber but now I can't tell; will have to wait and see in-hand.

Also, I just remembered I said this when the superpowers theme was announced:

halichoeres wrote:

Superpowers could be fun. My favorite animal superpower is the Iberian newt punching its own ribs through its skin to envenomate would-be predators.

The Chinhai spiny newt in this set has exactly this superpower! I'm tickled.

That's right! How funny! You predicted it.

Blaine, its hard to tell exactly for the cucumber, I would be surprised if it is a new sculpt. Either way, I need more sea life like this so another sea cucumber is welcome to me.

halichoeres wrote:

Also, I just remembered I said this when the superpowers theme was announced:

halichoeres wrote:

Superpowers could be fun. My favorite animal superpower is the Iberian newt punching its own ribs through its skin to envenomate would-be predators.

The Chinhai spiny newt in this set has exactly this superpower! I'm tickled.

That's a genial prediction!
I knew the Iberian ribbed newt since it is endemic from Portugal and Spain but I was not aware of its superpowers. It is a magnificent creature, I wished someone could release a lifesized replica of it in a similar style to the Safari Tennessee salamanders.

bmathison1972 wrote:

Wow, I think I'll get many of these:
Abert's lyrebird
brown sea cucumber
Chinhai spotted newt
hooded pitohui
mutable rain frog
peacock tarantula (sculpt looks like a jumping spider, though)
pygmy blue-tongued lizard
ruby-eyed green pit viper
rusty-patched bumblee
southern bent-winged bat
sunflower sea star
black-flanked rock wallaby

Most of your wishes are on my list too :)