some Kaiyodo "puzzle" figures

schleich61 wrote:

Then there is the feared Amazonian catfish, the Candiru Asu. I would note that there is a much smaller version of this creature, as well.

Hideous hideous hideous. Seriously, Phil, this is the stuff of nightmares. I can absolutely guarantee that I will never take a swim in the Amazon. never.

scot(t) wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Then there is the feared Amazonian catfish, the Candiru Asu. I would note that there is a much smaller version of this creature, as well.

Hideous hideous hideous. Seriously, Phil, this is the stuff of nightmares. I can absolutely guarantee that I will never take a swim in the Amazon. never.

Taking a swim in the Amazon? Probably not the safest river to swim in...giant catfish, caiman, anaconda, various toothy pack fish...

sphyrna18 wrote:

Just a quick mention - that Peacock is not Kaiyodo. It's by Furuta; part of their Funny Animals sets that they released basically in direct competition with Kaiyodo when Kaiyodo began collaborating with Takara. Initially Kaiyodo collaborated with Furuta on the Animatales (Chocoeggs) series, but around series 5 Furuta and Kaiyodo parted ways and Kaiyodo continued the Animatales (ChocoQ) figures with Takara. Furuta continued its Chocoeggs line with two series of "Funny Animals" or "Amazing Animals". The peacock pictured earlier is part of Furuta's series - Kaiyodo had nothing to do with it.

Fun Fact for today

scot(t) wrote:

That's really interesting. Thank you!

Isn't the Baboon (with Baby) and the Tasmanian Devil part of the "Funny/Amazing" animal series as well? (I think I have several others from that series: the Armadillo and Meerkat, for example.)

Is the King Cheetah an actual Kaiyodo?

sphyrna18 wrote:

scot(t) wrote:

That's really interesting. Thank you!

Isn't the Baboon (with Baby) and the Tasmanian Devil part of the "Funny/Amazing" animal series as well? (I think I have several others from that series: the Armadillo and Meerkat, for example.)

Is the King Cheetah an actual Kaiyodo?

Yes, both the Baboon and Tasmanian Devil are Furuta, and you are correct about the Armadillo and Meerkat from your collection both being from that series. The King Cheetah is Furuta as well. One of the easiest ways to tell which is which: All of Kaiyodo's figures were "Animals of Japan," whereas, Furuta's were global. So all of Kaiyodo's can be found in Japan - whether they are native to Japan or not didn't seem to matter. Some of the species Kaiyodo produced were introduced species, but they were all regarded as, and thus included as animals of Japan.

Furuta produces the Chocoeggs figures - from animals to planes and ships - Furuta is the producer of Chocoeggs, which are literally little chocolate egg candies. Kaiyodo worked with Furuta to produce the first 5 sets of Chocoeggs Animals of Japan (aka, Animatales). Kaiyodo and Furuta parted ways following the release of Chocoeggs Animals of Japan Series 5, and Kaiyodo teamed up with Takara. Kaiyodo/Takara continued the Animals of Japan series under Takara's ChocoQ lineup, starting with Series 6 and continuing through Series 11.

Meanwhile, jilted ex-partner Furuta produced Chocoeggs Funny Animals/Amazing Animals Series 6 and 7 to directly compete with the Kaiyodo/Takara ChocoQ Animatales.

Such drama and suspense for toy companies!

Oh - and none of these figures are "Puzzle" figures. FameMaster produces those. Kaiyodo, Takara, and Furuta produce Capsule figures. They come in pieces so that they can fit inside really small capsules and then be sold blind in a vending machine. They could never fit a fully built figure inside one of those capsules. But they most definitely are not puzzles (most even come with directions for assembling them, in case it wasn't obvious). And, it's been my experience that the figures that hit the market in the first few waves have the tightest joints, some so much so as to be barely visible. As the production runs continue, the joints and seams tend to become much more obvious. Just my two cents.

Sphyrna, I'm sorry but I can't agree with you.

It's true KAIYODO worked with TAKARA and FURUTA but, indeed, KAIYODO made the models and The others sold them in their eggs, a bit like Kinder is selling eggs in Europe with something made by another company inside the egg. TAKARA and FURUTA are the egg's owner and maker and KAIYODO is the "something in the egg" maker. Sometimes it is only wrote FURUTA, sometimes FURUTA-KAIYODO or TAKARA-KAIYODO but both are KAIYODOS.

About the Amazing animals serie, they were made by KAIYODO for TAKARA and not for FURUTA. The King cheetah is a KAYODO and was made for TAKARA as it is wrote on the leaflet

So... When you say it is easy to know it it is a FURUTA or KAIYODO because KAIYODO only produced "animals of Japan" is false and confusing. KAIYODO produced "animals fo the world" for FURUTA and also for TAKARA. KAIYODO also produced dinos of course for UHA.

The two Funny animals were made for FURUTA without the KAIYODO logos in 2002 and 2003. With some more pets in 2003, It was the last FURUTA new animals. They reedited some of the first series as "classic" in 2009, but nothing new. FURUTA also sold an original dino serie in 2008.

schleich61 wrote:

scot(t) wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Then there is the feared Amazonian catfish, the Candiru Asu. I would note that there is a much smaller version of this creature, as well.

Hideous hideous hideous. Seriously, Phil, this is the stuff of nightmares. I can absolutely guarantee that I will never take a swim in the Amazon. never.

Taking a swim in the Amazon? Probably not the safest river to swim in...giant catfish, caiman, anaconda, various toothy pack fish...

I couldn't bring myself to watch the video you posted Phil I'm too scared!
I swim in the rivers near my house, we get a variety of fish including Salmon and trout. Have you heard of people paying to have minnows eat the dead skin off their feet? Well in my river if you sit still, loads of little minnows will come up and start nibbling your feet. They're the only creatures that come anywhere near you though, everything else (I nearly said runs!) swims for it's life.

Kikimalou wrote:

sphyrna18 wrote:

Just a quick mention - that Peacock is not Kaiyodo. It's by Furuta; part of their Funny Animals sets that they released basically in direct competition with Kaiyodo when Kaiyodo began collaborating with Takara. Initially Kaiyodo collaborated with Furuta on the Animatales (Chocoeggs) series, but around series 5 Furuta and Kaiyodo parted ways and Kaiyodo continued the Animatales (ChocoQ) figures with Takara. Furuta continued its Chocoeggs line with two series of "Funny Animals" or "Amazing Animals". The peacock pictured earlier is part of Furuta's series - Kaiyodo had nothing to do with it.

Fun Fact for today

scot(t) wrote:

That's really interesting. Thank you!

Isn't the Baboon (with Baby) and the Tasmanian Devil part of the "Funny/Amazing" animal series as well? (I think I have several others from that series: the Armadillo and Meerkat, for example.)

Is the King Cheetah an actual Kaiyodo?

sphyrna18 wrote:

scot(t) wrote:

That's really interesting. Thank you!

Isn't the Baboon (with Baby) and the Tasmanian Devil part of the "Funny/Amazing" animal series as well? (I think I have several others from that series: the Armadillo and Meerkat, for example.)

Is the King Cheetah an actual Kaiyodo?

Yes, both the Baboon and Tasmanian Devil are Furuta, and you are correct about the Armadillo and Meerkat from your collection both being from that series. The King Cheetah is Furuta as well. One of the easiest ways to tell which is which: All of Kaiyodo's figures were "Animals of Japan," whereas, Furuta's were global. So all of Kaiyodo's can be found in Japan - whether they are native to Japan or not didn't seem to matter. Some of the species Kaiyodo produced were introduced species, but they were all regarded as, and thus included as animals of Japan.

Furuta produces the Chocoeggs figures - from animals to planes and ships - Furuta is the producer of Chocoeggs, which are literally little chocolate egg candies. Kaiyodo worked with Furuta to produce the first 5 sets of Chocoeggs Animals of Japan (aka, Animatales). Kaiyodo and Furuta parted ways following the release of Chocoeggs Animals of Japan Series 5, and Kaiyodo teamed up with Takara. Kaiyodo/Takara continued the Animals of Japan series under Takara's ChocoQ lineup, starting with Series 6 and continuing through Series 11.

Meanwhile, jilted ex-partner Furuta produced Chocoeggs Funny Animals/Amazing Animals Series 6 and 7 to directly compete with the Kaiyodo/Takara ChocoQ Animatales.

Such drama and suspense for toy companies!

Oh - and none of these figures are "Puzzle" figures. FameMaster produces those. Kaiyodo, Takara, and Furuta produce Capsule figures. They come in pieces so that they can fit inside really small capsules and then be sold blind in a vending machine. They could never fit a fully built figure inside one of those capsules. But they most definitely are not puzzles (most even come with directions for assembling them, in case it wasn't obvious). And, it's been my experience that the figures that hit the market in the first few waves have the tightest joints, some so much so as to be barely visible. As the production runs continue, the joints and seams tend to become much more obvious. Just my two cents.

Sphyrna, I'm sorry but I can't agree with you.

It's true KAIYODO worked with TAKARA and FURUTA but, indeed, KAIYODO made the models and The others sold them in their eggs, a bit like Kinder is selling eggs in Europe with something made by another company inside the egg. TAKARA and FURUTA are the egg's owner and maker and KAIYODO is the "something in the egg" maker. Sometimes it is only wrote FURUTA, sometimes FURUTA-KAIYODO or TAKARA-KAIYODO but both are KAIYODOS.

About the Amazing animals serie, they were made by KAIYODO for TAKARA and not for FURUTA. The King cheetah is a KAYODO and was made for TAKARA as it is wrote on the leaflet

So... When you say it is easy to know it it is a FURUTA or KAIYODO because KAIYODO only produced "animals of Japan" is false and confusing. KAIYODO produced "animals fo the world" for FURUTA and also for TAKARA. KAIYODO also produced dinos of course for UHA.

The two Funny animals were made for FURUTA without the KAIYODO logos in 2002 and 2003. With some more pets in 2003, It was the last FURUTA new animals. They reedited some of the first series as "classic" in 2009, but nothing new. FURUTA also sold an original dino serie in 2008.

You are correct - I misspoke about the King Cheetah. I forgot that was part of the CHOCOQ series AMAZING ANIMALS. Sorry about that. However, the CHOCOEGG FUNNY ANIMALS were not produced by KAIYODO for FURUTA.

Kaiyodo's involvement in Furuta's Chocoeggs ended when Kaiyodo began producing figures for Takara ChocoQ. The Funny Animals sets were released by Furuta and had no input from Kaiyodo. The Funny Animals series was not sculpted by Kaiyodo either.

Kaiyodo's primary animal figures were the Animatales figures - the Animals of Japan. All of the Animals in the Animatales line are Japanese. The ChocoQ Amazing Animals was produced by Kaiyodo for Takara, and was featured animals not found in Japan. But it clearly delineated from the Animatales figures that preceeded its release. Furuta introduced the Animatales ("Animals of Japan") as their Chocoeggs series, which grew steadily to include Disney characters, military vehicles, and all sorts of other releases. Since Furuta is a candy/confectionary maker and distributor, they contracted with Kaiyodo to produce the Animatales figures. It was Kaiyodo who decided which species to produce as well as to make the prototypes and oversee their production. Since Kaiyodo was in charge of production, they had copyright over the sculpts. If Kaiyodo had anything to do with Furuta's Funny Animals sets, they would have had copyrights to those sculpts as well, and it would be indicated on the packaging. Kaiyodo is many, many things, but willing to go uncredited they're not.

Even though it was Furuta's idea to produce/market the Animals of Japan, since Kaiyodo did the sculpts and designs, Kaiyodo was able to take the concept with them when they worked with Takara, which is a rival confectionary company of Furuta. Furuta continued to release animals in their Chocoegg series with the Funny Animals sets, and they numbered them numbers 6 and 7. Meanwhile, Kaiyodo was working with Takara on the ChocoQ Animatales and they, too, continued the numbering for each set, so Takara's first Animatales set was set number 6.

Kaiyodo has worked with many companies over the years, from Suntory (a drink company) to Glico (another confectionary company). Regardless of who they work with, they are always credited. They sculpt the prototypes and retain ownership of them, and they oversee the production of the final products. They have a strong reputation for being superior artists, and therefore it is in their collaborators' best interests to prominantly display the Kaiyodo logo on the product sheets. Since Furuta did not do that for their Funny Animals series, it is a pretty quick give away that they are not Kaiyodo sculpts.

And for those who have been following along - the plot thickened for animal figure collectors when Takara combined with Yujin and formed Takara-T.O.M.Y. Arts (or T-ARTS, for short). Since Yujin had a vast catalog of animal figures, we've seen quite a few re-issues of Yujin figures now as part of the T-ARTS lineup.

HKHollinstone wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

scot(t) wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Then there is the feared Amazonian catfish, the Candiru Asu. I would note that there is a much smaller version of this creature, as well.

Hideous hideous hideous. Seriously, Phil, this is the stuff of nightmares. I can absolutely guarantee that I will never take a swim in the Amazon. never.

Taking a swim in the Amazon? Probably not the safest river to swim in...giant catfish, caiman, anaconda, various toothy pack fish...

I couldn't bring myself to watch the video you posted Phil I'm too scared!
I swim in the rivers near my house, we get a variety of fish including Salmon and trout. Have you heard of people paying to have minnows eat the dead skin off their feet? Well in my river if you sit still, loads of little minnows will come up and start nibbling your feet. They're the only creatures that come anywhere near you though, everything else (I nearly said runs!) swims for it's life.

No need to view the video, Harriet, as it's not required viewing... :) Flesh-eating minnows? Sounds like Amazon-upon-Tyne! Just wondering, but what will these minnows do when they are all grown up?

sphyrna18 wrote:

You are correct - I misspoke about the King Cheetah. I forgot that was part of the CHOCOQ series AMAZING ANIMALS. Sorry about that. However, the CHOCOEGG FUNNY ANIMALS were not produced by KAIYODO for FURUTA.

Kaiyodo's involvement in Furuta's Chocoeggs ended when Kaiyodo began producing figures for Takara ChocoQ. The Funny Animals sets were released by Furuta and had no input from Kaiyodo. The Funny Animals series was not sculpted by Kaiyodo either.
It was Kaiyodo who decided which species to produce as well as to make the prototypes and oversee their production. Since Kaiyodo was in charge of production, they had copyright over the sculpts. If Kaiyodo had anything to do with Furuta's Funny Animals sets, they would have had copyrights to those sculpts as well, and it would be indicated on the packaging. Kaiyodo is many, many things, but willing to go uncredited they're not.
Kaiyodo has worked with many companies over the years, from Suntory (a drink company) to Glico (another confectionary company). Regardless of who they work with, they are always credited. They sculpt the prototypes and retain ownership of them, and they oversee the production of the final products. They have a strong reputation for being superior artists, and therefore it is in their collaborators' best interests to prominantly display the Kaiyodo logo on the product sheets. Since Furuta did not do that for their Funny Animals series, it is a pretty quick give away that they are not Kaiyodo sculpts.

Very interesting point ! I understand your reasoning.
Maybe you have information from a good source ?

sphyrna18 wrote:

And for those who have been following along - the plot thickened for animal figure collectors when Takara combined with Yujin and formed Takara-T.O.M.Y. Arts (or T-ARTS, for short). Since Yujin had a vast catalog of animal figures, we've seen quite a few re-issues of Yujin figures now as part of the T-ARTS lineup.

Which re-issues ?

schleich61 wrote:

HKHollinstone wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

scot(t) wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Then there is the feared Amazonian catfish, the Candiru Asu. I would note that there is a much smaller version of this creature, as well.

Hideous hideous hideous. Seriously, Phil, this is the stuff of nightmares. I can absolutely guarantee that I will never take a swim in the Amazon. never.

Taking a swim in the Amazon? Probably not the safest river to swim in...giant catfish, caiman, anaconda, various toothy pack fish...

I couldn't bring myself to watch the video you posted Phil I'm too scared!
I swim in the rivers near my house, we get a variety of fish including Salmon and trout. Have you heard of people paying to have minnows eat the dead skin off their feet? Well in my river if you sit still, loads of little minnows will come up and start nibbling your feet. They're the only creatures that come anywhere near you though, everything else (I nearly said runs!) swims for it's life.

No need to view the video, Harriet, as it's not required viewing... :) Flesh-eating minnows? Sounds like Amazon-upon-Tyne! Just wondering, but what will these minnows do when they are all grown up?

I didn't realise they were baby fish, I thought they were always that small. I guess if anything they're trout, so they're harmless

I just wanted to share a couple photos of some recent acquisitions. After Andreas began the '[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]' discussion, and Christophe posted some shots of the King Cheetah, I realized I couldn't wait any longer to get, price be damned. A good thing too, because it was totally worth it. Gorgeous model. (But we already knew this from many pictures by forum members. Here is mine:)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I also picked up this Shiba Inu model, which is very nice.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Congratulation Scott

If you find enough time, it would be cool to see a "family"pic of your KAIYODO now

Kikimalou wrote:

If you find enough time, it would be cool to see a "family"pic of your KAIYODO now

Yes yes!!

Congratulations on the king cheetah and Shiba Inu dog, they're beautiful.

They're beautiful ! Congrats.
The photos are also very nice

Thank you Christophe, Harriet and A-J!

I will take a "family" shot today and post it. That's a good idea.

Caiyodo is a clever choice. Unless you are always sure that you have magnificent figures in your hands. Thanks for showing, both are great!

Roger wrote:

Caiyodo is a clever choice. Unless you are always sure that you have magnificent figures in your hands. Thanks for showing, both are great!

very true Roger; thank you!

So here is a group shot. Even after scouring all my corners, I still missed a couple, so it's not entirely complete. (I even missed the Shiba Inu I just posted about!) But I'll throw in some pictures of the stragglers as well.

The entire group:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and in addition to the Shiba Inu a few posts above, here is one that missed the school picture (as well as the Kaiyodo Bongo):

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I realize that some of these are Kaiyodo/Furuta, some are Kaiyodo/Takara and some are just Furuta. I hope it's understood why that I'm grouping these all together and that I'm using 'Kaiyodo' a bit loosely.

Beautiful collection of Kaiyodos Scott!
I love the picture of the whole group of them Thank You for sharing, it is real pleasure to watch

Thank you very much for those wonderful school pics

You have a very nice collection Scott And I'm sure it is only a beginning !

Wow! You have a gorgeous collection Scott! I love the Corgi!!!

WOOOOW !

Wonderful collection! you call that ''some'' .
Thanks for sharing these nice photos

...A-a-a-a-a-a! Scott, I want all of them!!!

Anna, Christophe, Harriet, Susanne, Anne-Joke, and Sergey: Thank you all for your kind comments. I really appreciate them and it is a delight to share.

Harriet, which Corgi do you like (there are two), the one with its foot lifted? or the older one? (or the one on the left or the one on the right? or even better: the one next to the snakes, or the one next to the young wild pig?) just curious.

What a nice group shot!!!

Thanks Ken!