Papo 50311 Caiman: a review and comparison topic by Kikimalou

As promised, here's a ‘little’ review of the brand new Papo Caiman, the seventh crocodilian to be offered by the brand. As always since 2007, the French have produced a very pretty croc model, a speciality shared by Lacoste.
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The first thing to note, apart from the aesthetic appeal, is that it's a Caiman, but which one?
There are six different species of caiman living in the aquatic jungle habitats of Central and South America.
There's nothing immediately obvious to identify our Papo. Let's try by process of elimination.

Black caiman? No dark greenish-black colouration, head not broad and massive, lower jaw not dark with three black spots. So no

Yakare caiman? The Papo is brown but lacks the emblematic three to five dark spots on the lower jaw, and the muzzle is too narrow to represent a Yakare.

Broad-snouted caiman? The Papo isn’t obviously broad-snouted and isn’t light olive-green coloured.

Smooth-fronted caiman? The head could be the good one but the tail’s end is supposed to be dorsoventrally flattened, which is not the case for the Papo.

Cuvier's dwarf caiman? No, Papo's head is too long and not shaped like that of a dog. The upper jaw is not further forward than the lower jaw.

Spectacled caiman? The bony ridge between the eyes is not very noticeable, to say the least. The pupils are not green, but otherwise the morphology, snout shape and colours are quite similar to those of the Spectacled caiman. Perhaps the least bad choice
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Oh yes, a little detail: the upper jaw is articulated, as usual with Papo.
The big difference with the Kaprosuchus and the Alligator is the size of the opening. A little extreme on this new model, it may seem unusual and yet the pose remains natural, even at maximum the upper jaw remains in line with the neck.
The problem, in my opinion, is that the articulation becomes too visible at the maximum opening.
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So yes, overall I find it beautiful and pleasing to the eye, but it does have a few finishing flaws that are unusual for a Papo. The application on the animal's body has faded as far as the mouth is concerned. Caimans are known to have longer, sharper teeth than alligators, but this is not the case with Papo. What's more, closed mouth... the mouth isn't closed!
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With my 1/12 South American fauna
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It was in 2007, in a toys shop window, that I discovered the Nile Crocodile that Papo had just released. It was a shock that undoubtedly had a profound effect on my desire to collect, as the Schleich and Bullyland toys of the time had left me rather indifferent. Now the world of toys had moved up to the next floor. 17 years later, I still love this crocodile, even though the colour is a bit basic.
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Five years later, in 2012, Papo gave us a baby. Very handsome, very big and, above all, much better painted! At the time I remember debates on STS about whether he was acceptable as Caiman.
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In 2013, the brand did it once again with the first ever realistic Gahrial.
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In 2016 Papo launched its first croc with an articulated mouth, the Kaprosuchus. Specialists will tell you that it is less accurate than the Safari Ltd released earlier. They're probably right, but Papo exudes such energy and luxury of detail that it looks more realistic, more alive.
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2019 is the year of the American alligator. Of course, Safari Ltd has the biggest alligator farm in the toy world, and its 1998 model still holds its own at the time. Of course the American brand has been offering a WW since 2017. Of course CollectA offered its walking Alligator in 2013 and Mojo its jointed mouth Alligator in 2017. Did I really need the Papo? I did without it until January 2023, when I finally fell in love with its elegance.
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The whole Papo family
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In 2018 Kaiyodo produced a Spectacled caiman for his famous Wild Rush series. Although smaller than the Papo, it still stands the comparison with the Papo, just look at the teeth!
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Finally, some pictures with the Black caiman proposed by ToyMany in 2023. If the Papo open mouth seems more natural to me, the quality of the carving of the mouth itself and of the teeth are of course much higher in the ToyMany.
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This is a figure I'm really excited about. On a more superficial level, I have to admit that the figure is fantastic. Hence the importance of topics that delve deeply into all the details related to the figure, and you do that like few others. For collectors focused on species like me, it's always important to see if the figure corresponds to an exact species and I, after seeing your photos on TAW, was also left debating.
At first glance, the figure looks a lot like the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, the overall body shape, relatively unremarkable, especially in the neck region, and especially those very prominent tail scales that give it an air of a prehistoric creature, makes me think a lot about this species. However, it is true that the head does not seem to be the most adjusted for this species. I really have many doubts whether this figure can be identified at this level or if perhaps it serves for different species, not being an exact reproduction of any. This is a point that I don't like very much even though the figure is spectacular.
Papo has always been a reference with crocodilians, I also have the Nile crocodile, the difference with the Schleich contemporaries is absurd and even if the painting is too simplistic, we are talking about sculptures of completely different levels. In recent years, crocodile figures have improved a lot, from Schleich, the new Mojö, and even the CollectA are already quite decent models.

Amazing topic

I too was enthusiastic about it, but I have to admit that I was disappointed by the encounter, just a little, but still.
To me, the golbal shape looks more like the Smooth-fronted caiman or the Spectacled caiman than Cuvier's dwarf caiman. The neck area is quite satisfactory for a Smooth-fronted caiman. If it were not for the problem of the tail, I would choose this species.
I find the Baby Croc much more presentable as a Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, at least as far as the head is concerned.
The lack of clear identification and the lack of attention to detail with regard to the mouth and teeth leave me with a bittersweet impression.

Wow amazing in-depth review as always! I have all the Papo crocodilians except the albino variants and Kaprosuchus.

Thank you for the species guide, I sometimes really struggle trying to ID a figure. Even if this one isn't clear.

A shame about the mouth, it looks very distracting and doesn't close all the way. Still a nice crocodilian from Papo, although not their best in my opinion.

I am still amazed by the Papo crocodile, it really blows away all the other crocs.

I still plan on picking this caiman up though! Hopefully it arrives in the US soon. I am saving money this year by not buying Papo immediately from Germany. Although I might have to cave in once the ibis is released...

Even in Europe, Papo and CollectA are in short supply. We have almost three months before the end of the year

movable parts but a nice figure

Kikimalou wrote:

Even in Europe, Papo and CollectA are in short supply. We have almost three months before the end of the year

Papo has been the most exciting for me these past years, I hope the rest come soon. The eagle owl was just released though

Kikimalou wrote:

I too was enthusiastic about it, but I have to admit that I was disappointed by the encounter, just a little, but still.
To me, the golbal shape looks more like the Smooth-fronted caiman or the Spectacled caiman than Cuvier's dwarf caiman. The neck area is quite satisfactory for a Smooth-fronted caiman. If it were not for the problem of the tail, I would choose this species.
I find the Baby Croc much more presentable as a Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, at least as far as the head is concerned.
The lack of clear identification and the lack of attention to detail with regard to the mouth and teeth leave me with a bittersweet impression.

Although I greatly appreciate the Papo figure, I cannot shake off this feeling of a missed opportunity.
I have the Safari caiman. It is a model that presents an interesting quality and whose identification is relatively evident, but it does not possess the level of mastery of the Papo model. I agree that the baby crocodile has a head that closely resembles that of a dwarf caiman.

Thank you Christophe for these wonderful and useful pictures!

I am not a caîmans specialist but when I scaned pictures of Spectacled caïmans, none had these strange colours. Well that did not empeach me to by two ones!

Joliezac wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

Even in Europe, Papo and CollectA are in short supply. We have almost three months before the end of the year

Papo has been the most exciting for me these past years, I hope the rest come soon. The eagle owl was just released though

I will wait that MPV sell more 2024 Papo and ColelctA before buying, the Eagle owl will wait a bit.

Roger wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

I too was enthusiastic about it, but I have to admit that I was disappointed by the encounter, just a little, but still.
To me, the golbal shape looks more like the Smooth-fronted caiman or the Spectacled caiman than Cuvier's dwarf caiman. The neck area is quite satisfactory for a Smooth-fronted caiman. If it were not for the problem of the tail, I would choose this species.
I find the Baby Croc much more presentable as a Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, at least as far as the head is concerned.
The lack of clear identification and the lack of attention to detail with regard to the mouth and teeth leave me with a bittersweet impression.

Although I greatly appreciate the Papo figure, I cannot shake off this feeling of a missed opportunity.
I have the Safari caiman. It is a model that presents an interesting quality and whose identification is relatively evident, but it does not possess the level of mastery of the Papo model. I agree that the baby crocodile has a head that closely resembles that of a dwarf caiman.

Although it has an interesting paint job and details (the teeth), I don't really like Safari Ltd. If it's a black Caiman, it doesn't look adult to me at all. In fact my favourite is the toob, smaller but closer to the real thing.

Caracal wrote:

Thank you Christophe for these wonderful and useful pictures!

I am not a caîmans specialist but when I scaned pictures of Spectacled caïmans, none had these strange colours. Well that did not empeach me to by two ones!

You're welcome Alain Only Two ???

So what Wikipedia says about the colours ? The upperside of the species is mostly brownish-, greenish-, or yellowish-gray colored and has dark brown crossbands, with a lighter underside. Not so far even if it's not obvious when you google.

Surprisingly very low quality for a figure from Papo. Especially with the reptile figure

MartinH wrote:

Surprisingly very low quality for a figure from Papo. Especially with the reptile figure

Yes, after a good start with the Capuchin and Guinea fowl, it's the first incident of the year for Papo. I hope it will be the only one.

Kikimalou wrote:

MartinH wrote:

Surprisingly very low quality for a figure from Papo. Especially with the reptile figure

Yes, after a good start with the Capuchin and Guinea fowl, it's the first incident of the year for Papo. I hope it will be the only one.

Same. Papo is my no.1 and this one is pretty scary to me

Amazing pictures

Amazing photos of all these fascinating animals! I am not a big fan of these species but however they don't hurt my eyes. Didn't know there were so many great types out there, wonderful for any collector!

Very impressive photos, with lots of details. With your photos you really bring the animals to life with all their energy and wildness.

Thank you very much for your kind words Shanti and Yvette I'm glad you enjoy the show!

Joliezac wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

Even in Europe, Papo and CollectA are in short supply. We have almost three months before the end of the year

The eagle owl was just released though

Where can I find owl figurine? Have you seen any pictures of the Papo eagle owl figurine?

It is available at MPV but I don't know any decent picture.

I have seen photos of both of these Caymans on this forum, and they appear to have different colors. Is this true, or could it be due to the use of different camera lenses or lighting conditions?

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Of course, I can't certify anything because I only know my model, but I'm leaning towards the use of different lenses, lighting conditions and image editing.