Gecko08’s Collection - MOVED TO A NEW TOPIC

I like the Styracosaurus by Safari Ltd.

The first additions for May have arrived.

Pufferfish (Tetraodontidae) (Oenux)
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Eocene-Recent (the whole family)
Scale: 1:1 (I couldn't calculate the exact size because I don't know what species it is, but most of them are pretty small).

I found this rubber Pufferfish on Aliexpress and bought it. It appears to be inflated, but I can't identify any species from the markings. Some Pufferfish are very toxic, eating the wrong piece of meat from them could kill you due to a neurotoxin called Tetrodotoxin, also found in the Blue-Ringed Octopus. Despite this, people still eat them in the form of Fugu. The Porcupinefish (which is what Safari's Incredible Creatures "Pufferfish" actually is) is part of a different family called Diodontidae. Porcupinefish are different in that their spines are visible even when deflated.

The rest of Tetraodontiformes in my collection. I'm probably going to add Safari's Porcupinefish to this set. I think these guys are lucky, as a lot of the fish orders will only have 1 or 2 figures in my collection. Some of those are Salmon, Tetras, Herring, Eels, Gars, Flatfish, and Sturgeon, but I digress.
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Chinhai Spiny Newt (Echinotriton chinhaiensis) (Yowie)
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Recent China
Length: 5 inches
Scale: 1:2

I don't think I have any Newts/Salamanders in my collection and I have very few frogs. Yowies in general are a mixed bag. Once you start buying them, you're bound to get the same thing eventually. Thankfully I got something new this time. The Chinhai Spiny Newt's method of defense is glands that secrete poison when the animal is grasped. The glands are triggered by the sharp edges of the ribs. They are critically endangered due to pollution, but it doesn't help that they breed slowly.

05.01.2022

Most of the smaller members of my collection are from Yowie, but recently I've been getting the same figure whenever I get a new Yowie from the store. I solved this problem by just ordering them online. One of the first Yowies that I found on eBay was this figure.

Peacock Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica ) (Yowie)
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Recent India
Width: 6 inches
Scale: 1:4

Sadly, this vibrant species of tarantula is critically endangered, living in a very small area of forest (less than 100 square kilometers) and that habitat is shrinking due to logging. This figure comes from the Yowie Animals with Superpowers series, and it’s superpower is listed  as is hypersensitive hairs. It’s venom is considered significant to doctors.

I struggled to find a figure worthy of a group shot, and then I found the Primeval Protosolpuga. Protosolpuga is an arachnid, but not a spider. It’s actually a solifuge, or Camel Spider.
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05.18.2022

I was very excited about my newest batch of modern animals.

Hula Skirt Siphonophore (Physophora hydrostatica) (Wild Republic)
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Recent Worldwide Oceans
Length: 16 inches
Scale: 1:3

The Wild Republic Hula Skirt Siphonophore is extremely rare, and I am very surprised to have found it for a few dollars. Cnidarians are troublesome enough to find as figures, so to get a rare figure for a unique species is great. Like the Portuguese Man ó War, the Hula Skirt Siphonophore isn’t a singular animal. It’s a colony of small animals that work together as one to survive. The smaller animals are called zooids, and the largest colonies can reach over 100 feet (but the Hula Skirt Siphonophores don’t get that big).

Spotted Jelly (Mastigias papua) (Wild Republic)
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Recent Indo-Pacific Oceans
Length: 20 inches
Scale: 1:6

The only other Jellyfish I need is the Antarctic Jellyfish by AAA. The Spotted Jellies have a very mild venom that does not pose a threat to humans. Some larger Spotted Jellies have smaller fish that seek protection in the venomous tentacles. Spotted Jellies are also called Lagoon Jellies since they often inhabit freshwater lakes and lagoons.

I’m slowly but surely building my collection of jellyfish. Factor in the other Cnidarians in my collection (sea pens and siphonophores) this would be even bigger.
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05.23.2022

A rare set

My first prehistoric arrival this month, I’ve just been really busy with the end of the school year to worry about what figures to get.

Dsungaripterus (Mattel)
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Early Cretaceous China
Wingspan: 10 feet
Scale: 1:15

Crested Pterosaurs are similar to ceratopsians in that they are similar to their relatives body-wise, but the headgear makes them unique. Dsungaripterus certainly has one of the strangest crests of any pterosaur. The teeth around the back of its mouth were adapted to crushing shellfish, but it would have eaten almost any small animal it could find. Now for the figure itself, I bought it because it was surprisingly accurate. It’s wing structure is better than some of Safari’s other pterosaurs (albeit the Safaris were made around 2010, but of all the things Mattel is known for, scientific accuracy isn’t one of them). I was thinking about getting the Skorpiovenator, but the Dsungaripterus isn’t as cartoony and makes fewer accuracy mistakes.


Another shot comparing its skull to the human.
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Some Cretaceous pterosaurs from the 1:10-1:15 range. Those being Tapejara (Safari Ltd) and Nyctosaurus (PNSO)
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05.26.2022

Interesting to see a Mattel figure being posted when I was just informed that Mattel is releasing something for my collection.
Yes, first school and I hope the end of the year is being as good as you expected.

Roger wrote:

Yes, first school and I hope the end of the year is being as good as you expected.

Thank you, and school is going great, but now I can spend summer with friends.

The newest arrival in my collection came by surprise today.

Diabloceratops (Schliech)
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Late Cretaceous North America
Size: 18 feet
Scale: 1:35

For the dinosaur itself, Diabloceratops lived in the state of Utah around 79 mya. It’s upward curving horns may have been used for defense or display. The horn structure is similar to that of Machairoceratops, which is because they are the closest immediate relatives of each other. Some of its neighbors in the Wahweap Formation include the Machairoceratops and the tyrannosaur Lythronax.


As for the figure, this is surprisingly accurate for a Schleich. For May I’ve been getting accurate figures from brand that throw accuracy out the window most of the time. Seeing this one and the Spinosaurus, one might be tempted to hope that Schliech is making an effort to produce better dinosaurs, but they discontinued the Diabloceratops last year. They took one of the best dinosaurs they made in the past few years and said “We’re gonna stop making this one”…



With some other Centrosaurines I can trust are in 1:30-1:35 scale range. Einiosaurus (Safari Ltd), Machairoceratops (PNSO), Centrosaurus (PNSO), Styracosaurus (Safari Ltd). The Machairoceratops is looking suspiciously similar to Diabloceratops today.

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The namesake of a family of dinosaurs usually gets a lot of figures, except for Centrosaurus. At least when we finally got a Centrosaurus, it was a good one. Even then it cost $35, and PNSO is upping their figures’ prices while shrinking their size, added to the fact that I could buy 3 Safari figures for that amount of money and I have a good reason to lay off the PNSO for a little while.

Prehistoric Planet came out, and they revolutionized the documentary industry after a few decades of poorly researched, lackluster monster “documentaries”. BBC also decided to show a lot of the carnivorous dinosaurs with lips (the “lips” are immobile scales that shield the teeth when the mouth is closed. think a gecko’s lips). But as for figures, I’m rather indifferent to the matter. I know it’s going to take a little while to catch on, but some companies like Safari and Collecta have already started putting lips on theropods, which is more accurate.

Battat Tyrannosaurus (lipless) and Safari Qianzhousaurus (lipped).
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Another thing I consider is that lips aren’t the only aspect that makes a model accurate. I would rather have a lipless figure that got the rest of the animal right than a lipped figure that got the rest of the animal wrong, not to say that there’s anything wrong with any of these as all the following models are very good.

From what I’ve read, this argument doesn’t really apply to any kind of Spinosaur, as they were more crocodilian in nature than lizard or bird.
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Safari Velociraptor (lipless) and BoTM Velociraptor (lipped). Both awesome figures.
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Safari Dilophosaurus and Deinonychus (both lipped)
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Collecta Neovenator (green) and Collecta Megalosaurus (brown) and Safari Allosaurus (far right). All lipped and all great figures. The Allo’s mouth is open so it’s a little harder to tell it has lips.
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05.28.2022

Schleich Diabloceratops was widely well accepted on STS but not exactly on DTF. Undoubtfully DTF community is more dino oriented but it seems also there is a kind of negative preconcept towards Schleich. A brand name is not always a stamp of quality or lack of it. Schleich is especially diversified in terms of quality since their models are from different sculptors. I think Schleich Oviraptor and Psittacosaurus are good examples of great models even if Halichoeres famous list places the Safari Psittacosaurus as the best.
Then, there's also the fashionable discussions, now people is very focused about lips, I remember when the main focus was about non pronated hands, the controversy around the feathering or the shrink-wrapping.

So many great models that I missed you adding! That pufferfish is super fun though, great find!

Sorry for the late end of the month post because my order was late. For the end of May, I used a discount code I found on the DTF to make an order from Safari’s site.
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Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) (Safari Ltd)
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Miocene-Recent Australia
Size: 20 inches
Scale: 1:3

The Platypus is so strange, that when scientists saw the first specimen, they thought it was fake. We are still discovering new things about the Platypus. In 2020, scientists discovered that the fur of a Platypus actually glows under a black light. The Platypus is the sole living member of a family that dates back to the beginning of the Cenozoic. And the Monotremes (the group that includes all egg-laying mammals) were the earliest to split off from the rest of the mammals. The Monotremes use electroporation, which means they can locate animals using muscle vibrations.

This figure represents a male as it has the venomous spur on its hind legs.
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I trust Safari to make a good figure of this hilariously strange animal.
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Uintatherium (Safari Ltd)
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Paleogene North America
Length: 13 feet
Scale: 1:30

Uintatherium is an odd-toed ungulate, meaning it's in the same order as Tapirs, Rhinos, Zebras, and Horses. Uintatherium has large canines, but males have larger teeth than females. It is part of an order called Dinocerata, which are herbivores with horns and large teeth. The teeth may have been used to eat aquatic plants.

Uintatherium with Safari's Daeodon. Two animals from the same place and time, and on similar scales.
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Patagotitan (Safari Ltd)
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Early Cretaceous South America
Length: 80 feet
Scale: 1:60

Patagotitan lived during the Albian stage (101 mya), but I've heard that stage get called the "Late Cretaceous", "Early Cretaceous", and "Middle Cretaceous". But when I look it up, it says it's the latest stage of the Early Cretaceous, so I'm going with that. The first fragments of Patagotitan were unearthed in 2014, and it was estimated in a new article to be 131 feet long, only for the fossils to be formally published 3 years later in 2017. Even in 2014, some scientists had said it was too early to make an estimation on the size. The femur of the Patagotitan is 7.8 feet tall, yet the femur of the Argentinosaurus is estimated to be 8.4 feet. Yet now it seems as if the safest estimation to make would be 80 feet, or 25 meters, meaning it is similar in length to Argentinosaurus. Most animals of such size are known from very little remains, which is sad, but Patagotitan is known from six individuals, comprising of ribs, shoulders, limbs, tail, and back vertebrae. From this, two accurate reconstructions of these bones have been made (currently one is on display at the Field Museum, and the other at the American Museum of Natural History in New York).

As for the figure itself, this is the first dinosaur revealed for 2022. I first thought that the paint job around the head looked a little odd in promo pics, but it looks a lot better in hand. The figure's posture is clearly based on the Patagotitan display in the Natural History Museum, and I'm a big fan of this posture.

Safari's Patagotitan with Safari's Giraffatitan (both 1:60)
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Collecta's Argentinosaurus with Lontic's Barosaurus (both 1:80)
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Since the Collecta Argentinosaurus and Safari Patagotitan are on two different scales (1:60 and 1:80) it would be unfair to do a group shot with them because it wouldn’t truly represent their sizes together. Instead, I found this picture comparing the two.
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And for the May 2022 group shot. This month's batch is nice and rich, but starting in June I'm going to try and select which figures to buy earlier on so I'm not rushing to buy the figures at the end of the month.
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Cretaceous~

Diabloceratops (Schliech)
Dsungaripterus (Mattel)
Patagotitan (Safari Ltd)

Paleogene~

Unitatherium (Safari Ltd)

Recent~

Chinhai Spiny Newt (Yowie)
Hula Skirt Siphonophore (Wild Republic)
Peacock Tarantula (Yowie)
Platypus (Safari Ltd)
Pufferfish (Oenux)
Spotted Jelly (Wild Republic)

06.02.2022

Those are all really cool figures. Uintatherium is the most interesting for my collecting taste.
Maybe the confusion is between the Albian age and the Albian stage.
Using Wikipedia's help, the age is part of the Geologic timescale while the stage is part of the stratigraphic column.
It is the age we should use when refering to a period a certain creature lived.

I want the Uintatherium in my collection.

June in my collection couldn't have gotten a better start. I'm very excited about this figure, and I'm also excited to be making this post since I think a lot of my followers like hearing about weird Paleozoic animals, along with seeing them in accurate plastic form.

Crassigyrinus (Play Visions)
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Early Carboniferous Scotland
Length: 6.5 feet
Scale: 1:25

Crassigyrinus is sometimes called the Killer Tadpole of Death, due to its massive jaws, tadpole-like figure, and tiny limbs. Crassigyrinus could be considered a dead end on the Tree of Life, as it descended from animals that were already moving onto land, yet it is adapted for the water. Its arms were useless, as it had a powerful tail. Crassigyrinus lived in the swamp. Play Visions made a Crassigyrinus along with other animals in their Prehistoric Amphibians set. There is only 1 more that I want from this set, and I already have it ordered.

With such a great figure, I had to take more pictures. The Play Visions Crassigyrinus is a very accurate figure. It has big eyes and barbels, both adaptations for hunting in murky water.
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Despite the person I bought this from starting a forum topic about selling Play Visions models, I actually found out about this figure through my emails. I saved a search for "Play Visions Amphibians" and "Crassigyrinus" and several other terms and when Cody listed the figures, I got an instant email from eBay. Either way massive thanks to Cody. This shows that as long as I am persistent in looking for a figure, I will eventually find it. My total Carboniferous figure count is 11, making it equal to my Permian figure count, but the Permian is going to get some attention later this month  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It made an appearance in the 2006 BBC show Prehistoric Park, where Nigel Marvin captures extinct animals and houses them in a zoo environment. It only ever got one season despite a second one being teased in the finale. Still, this show and a host of other movies made my childhood.


Here is a 1:25-1:30 Carboniferous group shot. Orthacanthus (Safari Ltd) and Rayonnoceras (Kaiyodo). I never thought I was going to make a Carboniferous group shot on figures that weren't near life-size, but here I am.
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Crassigyrinus was plagued with classification issues since it had the lifestyle and some features of a fish, but a lot of features from Tetrapods. It was originally placed in the primitive amphibians group, but it's now been placed just outside of the Tetrapods in a group called Stegocephalia.
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06.04.2022

What a fascinating creature, it would look good in an outdoor photoshoot if you could find a little bit of natural-looking pond or riverside habitat to pose it in the water's edge.

Congratulations Haydn! That is such a great model. And I never noticed before that it has whiskers until I held it hand.

Another great figure from Cody arrived today.

Platyhystrix (Play Visions)
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Early Permian Texas
Length: 3 feet
Scale: 1:12

Platyhystrix is a Temnospondyl, which is a group often seen as true amphibians (though there have been some objections). Eryops and Koolasuchus are some other Temnospondyls. Platyhystrix was a predator, and it had a lot of really small teeth. It would have been good at gripping small animals, but it would have been the prey a lot of the time.

These pictures don't really do it justice, as the Play Visions Platyhystrix's sail is a beautiful mix of blue, yellow, orange, and green. Platyhystrix is probably the best figure out of that set, but the only one I would consider bad is the Eogyrinus, which doesn't really resemble one and just looks like a generic salamander.
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With the other sail-backed Permian animals. Edaphosaurus (Collecta) and Dimetrodon (Safari Ltd). There must have been some advantage to having a sail back then, as Platyhystrix is distantly related to Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon, yet they both evolved the same feature.
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As with any set I buy individually, I pick and choose which ones I want. So far, these two are the only ones that I want. These two are easily in the Top 5 rarest figures I have (maybe a future post idea? I've covered my rare models, but never actually did a list. If I did, I would include these as one to save room). Unlike the Crassigyrinus, Platyhystrix is a true amphibian.
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06.06.2022

I love your collection !!! So many different ones, - and yor presentation is wonderful with this understated humour

Your collection is a mine to discover new models!

Last Monday I left for a trip to Colorado with my youth group. It was really fun and I got to know a lot of people close to my age. It was a nice break from all the negative distractions. I bought a knockoff Lego set of a moose as a souvenir from my trip. The instructions were awful but it was fun building it.

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When I arrived back home I got two new figures that I ordered before I left.

Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) (Safari Ltd)
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Pliocene Antarctica
Length: 11 feet
Scale: 1:25

I've always liked this figure's pose. It's dynamic but not overly aggressive like Collecta's Leopard Seal. It's also more accurate in shape and pattern, so it's the obvious choice for my collection. They are the top predators of their environment due to their massive jaws, but their molars are able to filter krill out of the water as a supplement to their diet of small animals. Leopard Seals pose a threat to humans, but attacks are rare, only being recorded 4 times, and only one of those led to a death. Strangely, a National Geographic photographer had a positive interaction with a seal. It brought him a dead penguin, possibly to teach him how to hunt. A professor argued that Leopard Seal attacks are rare, but may become more common as more humans set up research bases in Antarctica.

Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses are the only marine-adapted mammals to move on land effectively. The other animal in the photo is the Safari Manatee, and while they may be built similarly, the Seals are in the same order as carnivorous mammals and the Manatees are closer to Elephants.
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Daspletosaurus (Safari Ltd)
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Late Cretaceous North America
Length: 26 feet
Scale: 1:30

Two species of Daspletosaurus have been confirmed (those being Daspletosaurus torosus, and Daspletosaurus horneri), but I'm not the most well-versed in their differences, so in my collection, this is just Daspletosaurus. As most of you have probably realized, Daspletosaurus is a relative of Tyrannosaurus, as they both have two-fingered hands and small arms. There are only two tyrannosaurs I need for my collection now (Safari's Albertosaurus and Collecta's Lythronax). I'm skipping on PNSO's beautiful Zhechengtyrannus because I don't agree with their reason for lipless Tyrannosaurs. In 2021, Safari made only 3 dinosaurs, since they were hit hard by the virus. Those being an updated Spinosaurus (which I skipped out on), a Baryonyx (which I've had for a while now), and this Daspletosaurus. Daspletosaurus has longer arms than T. rex, but they are still very short. Overall an amazing figure from Safari.

Daspletosaurus is famous for sharing an environment with another tyrannosaur, Gorgosaurus. Gorgosaurus was closer to Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus was close to T. rex.
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Gorgosaurus was lighter and believed to hunt hadrosaurs, big dinosaurs with no armor.
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While the stocky Daspletosaurus hunted ceratopsians and ankylosaurs, herbivores with lots of armor
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With Collecta's Daspletosaurus. I'm still keeping the Collecta version on my shelf since it has a unique pose.
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Daspletosaurus lived with the small Parksosaurus.
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06.20.2022

I love that moose
Yes, it must have been fun to make !

Wonderful dinos !

What brand is the hadrosaurus ? It is beautyful, I hope it survives the encounter