Join our zoo community

What species would you like to see figurines of?

Discussion in 'Zoo Memorabilia' started by Great Argus, 28 Nov 2018.

Tags:
  1. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    5,442
    Location:
    California
    For those who love collecting miniature animal figurines, like those made by Safari Ltd, Schleich, Papo, and the like, what species would you love to see made? From some of the other threads in this topic I know several people have extensive collections, but what species would make your collection?

    Personally, I would love to see them make a ground hornbill, Great Hornbill, Zebra Duiker, Great Argus, Saddle-billed Stork, Blue Iguana, Zebra Bullhead Shark, Red-shanked Douc, and Spectacled Bear. Among many others... :)
     
  2. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    3,975
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    I’ve been collecting for many years and I’d love to see more primates, especially macaques, doucs and snub-nosed monkeys.
    Some others would include small cats such as Serval and Fishing Cats (In my collection small cats are solely represented by a Papo Ocelot), agoutis, hornbills (100% agree), pittas, Superb Lyrebird, elephant shrews... the list goes on.
    Collect A always has a nice range available (e.g. African Civet, Diana Monkey, Red River Hog, Mountain Nyala, Maned Wolf, Shoebill, Secretary Bird etc).
    For something a bit more unusual, Southland Replicas (an Australian company) sell very accurate models of Australian animals such as Tiger Quoll, Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo, Dingo, Perentie etc.
     
    Jambo and Great Argus like this.
  3. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    13 Jun 2007
    Posts:
    23,440
    Location:
    New Zealand
    There's a company called Science and Nature Australia which does animal figurines.

    The website is here: Australian Animal Figurines | Australia | Free Shipping

    I will readily admit that the photos they use make their figurines look utterly dreadful (like bad cartoons), but the few I have are mostly extremely good. I have the Thorny Devil, Leadbeater's Possum, and both small and large Echidnas, and am happy with all of them. I also have the Giant Weta and Kiwi which are not much good, and the Tuatara which is okay. I have never seen their exotic animals so I can't say whether they are as bad as the photos make them look. They do seem to have a rather variable quality in terms of realism.
     
    WhistlingKite24 likes this.
  4. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    13 Jun 2007
    Posts:
    23,440
    Location:
    New Zealand
    The Southlands Replicas website: Southlands Replicas

    I really like the look of their work, especially the Thylacine and Tree Kangaroo!
     
    Great Argus and WhistlingKite24 like this.
  5. Andrew Swales

    Andrew Swales Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    7 Aug 2018
    Posts:
    1,743
    Location:
    none
    They are lovely, but very small. We now stock (and do well with) Papo - since Schleich became too difficult to trade with.

    Southlands would be perfect, but they look tiny on the shelves and our visitors will not pay the premium for what is a much smaller, albeit better, product.

    Safari supply via German wholesalers, not direct from the US, and their prices make them too expensive.
     
  6. Dassie rat

    Dassie rat Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    18 Jun 2011
    Posts:
    5,572
    Location:
    London, UK
    My brother had a plastic black bear that was wearing a pair of glasses. I don't think my brother had heard of a spectacled bear before.
     
  7. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    3,975
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    I have a habit of getting a few of these, whenever I visit the Queensland Musuem (coincidentally tomorrow!)
    I find Science and Nature to be of varying quality (also is one of the cheapest). However there are some nice figurines they have produced, particularly the Pukeko, Leadbeater’s Possum and Little Penguin. They also offer examples of species that are not otherwise represented amongst other brands which is always a plus.
     
    Great Argus likes this.
  8. Kakapo

    Kakapo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    3 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    2,581
    Location:
    Zaragoza, Spain
    As a person with increasing interest in animal figurines, this thread is quite interesting to me!
    Probably there are figurines of many of the wished species for each person. The only problem is not the existence of figurines but the availability of them! Many brands are only available via eBay opportunistic sales in most parts of the world. In my local stores there are very few to select and buying online is the only way to get rare and obscure species.
    Anyway I'm interested in any wild animal always that it have two requisites: a) being very realistic, and b) being more or less to scale (1:18 to 1:30 maybe, with larger cetaceans and sharks being reduced respecting smaller animals), but this means that most invertebrates and even birds, reptiles, amphibians and bony fishes are not interesting for me because the figurines are too large. So, by a size matter, I only collect large mammals and sharks!!

    Southern ground hornbill is made by Yowies USA:
    http://toyanimal.info//images/b/b1/Yowies_Southern_ground_hornbill_1.jpg

    Great hornbill from Bandai:
    http://toyanimal.info//images/thumb...nbill_1.jpg/800px-Bandai_Great_hornbill_1.jpg

    Zebra duiker by Play Visions:
    http://toyanimal.info//images/thumb...ker.jpg/800px-Play_Visions_Striped_Duiker.jpg

    Zebra bullhead shark by Play Visions:
    http://toyanimal.info//images/thumb/b/ba/Pv_zebra_bullhead.JPG/800px-Pv_zebra_bullhead.JPG

    Spectacled bear by Colorata:
    http://toyanimal.info//images/thumb...ctacled.JPG/797px-ColorataBearsSpectacled.JPG

    Kaiyodo Yokohama Zoorasia made a douc langur (unspecified colour of shanks!) but forming part of a set, and looks like there is no images of it.

    Looks like Great Argus and Blue iguana has never have been made into figurine! This quite surprises me... Same for saddle-billed stork, altough I myself made a figurine of saddle-billed stork when child, with Epoxy, that after went broken and go to thrash bin...
     
    Great Argus likes this.
  9. Kakapo

    Kakapo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    3 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    2,581
    Location:
    Zaragoza, Spain
    You will be happy to know that Safari LTD is producing (new for 2019) a monkey toob that includes proboscis monkey, Japanese macaque and Coquerel's sifaka amongst others. And, also new from same brand, a golden snub-nosed (normal sized, not toob) that in my opinion is much better quaility than the previous figurines made to this species from other brands.
     
    WhistlingKite24 likes this.
  10. Dassie rat

    Dassie rat Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    18 Jun 2011
    Posts:
    5,572
    Location:
    London, UK
  11. birdsandbats

    birdsandbats Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    17 Sep 2017
    Posts:
    11,469
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I have an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker made by Yowie. I was very surprised to learn they make one!
     
  12. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    5,442
    Location:
    California
    Interesting finds! A few of those look a little low quality for my preference though... may well go do some research regardless!
    I do actually own that Zebra Duiker, it is very small though, being only about an inch long. Been hoping someone will make a larger one...

    I actually own two of those Aquatic Genets. :) They came as part of a set of civets/mongooses that included several rarer species.
     
  13. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    5,442
    Location:
    California
    Mojo makes Sulawesi Crested Macaque and Proboscis Monkey, have you seen those?
    Agree would love to see a Fishing Cat. I have seen Serval from a few different companies recently. Bobcat and Lynx are readily available here in the states, but maybe not down under?
     
    WhistlingKite24 likes this.
  14. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    3,975
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Yes I do have the Sulawesi Crested Macaque and Proboscis Monkey, however Mojo is very hard to come by, with the exception of online shopping.
    Completely forgot about bobcat and lynx, I will look into it!:eek::D I remember Schleich released a lynx and kitten a few years ago.
     
    Last edited: 28 Nov 2018
    Great Argus likes this.
  15. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    3,975
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Sounds excellent- Thank you for the information!:D
     
    Last edited: 28 Nov 2018
  16. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    3,975
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Just looked at Schleich’s 2019 releases, some highlights include Tarantula , Lynx, Opaki, Komodo Dragon and Quokka.
    However, the quokka model reminds me of a puppy and a cartoon character....
    Schleich 2019 Releases | Schleich Australia
     
    Last edited: 28 Nov 2018
    Alopex7 and Great Argus like this.
  17. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    5,442
    Location:
    California
    Might get a Quokka when they become available! Agree it reminds me of a cartoon character, but real quokkas kinda do too. :p
     
    WhistlingKite24 likes this.
  18. ZooBinh

    ZooBinh Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    2 Sep 2017
    Posts:
    3,370
    Location:
    Ohio
    Oh, what a nice thread! My collection currently stands at only 67-68ish animals. I'm aiming for 200 by the end of the decade! I'll upload a lit of my collection tomorrow.
     
    Great Argus likes this.
  19. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    5,442
    Location:
    California
    Nice! Hoping to hit 200 standard figures by 2020 too, we'll see if I can! I have like 400 of the minis so haven't focused there much for a few years.
    Interested to see what you have!
     
  20. Ebirah766

    Ebirah766 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    21 Sep 2016
    Posts:
    2,230
    Location:
    The Valley of the Wind
    Probably not needed here, but I actually have a megamouth shark figurine.
     
    ZooBinh likes this.