This thread hasn't had enough action lately (probably because Replica Toy Fish Company has been delayed in their new offerings).
So instead--new Colorata Fossil Fishes box!
For those unaware, the old box came with 6 fish, and one was the Mekong Delta Catfish. Not a 'prehistoric' pedigree fish by any stretch of the imagination:
So this year they improved it, by dropping the catfish, and adding two fish with real prehistoric history.
One was an alligator gar:
It is pictured here with the only other alligator gar made that I know of (RTFC), as well as the only Japanese-made gar I know of (Toba Aquarium):
And it, indeed, rules.
The other new one is far more important as far as I am concerned. They made a decent Polypterus (bichir):
And posed it in a way that makes photos really difficult, just like real ones
. I used to keep these all the time, and as far as I am aware, there are at least two still alive in a public aquarium that would be pushing 20 years old now! As for other figures, there are only two others--two versions (normal, 'gold' or albino) from a Kaiyodo Pets series:
I look forward to the day when the rest of the family is made. I will not hold my breath though (although how can P. ornatipinnis have been ignored for so long?).
Anyway, I mostly did the compare shots above because I didn't want the bichir and gar to get lonely
. The following ones are the new and old figures, compared. Other than one (guess which) the paint jobs are drastically improved, although the sculpts and bases remain the same. Any change in orientation is from me bending the plastic rod (note: if you do this, don't do it with the rod in the fish or base, because they invariably break in the figure, and are really hard to pull out). Also, it turns out the new ones are always on the right. Go figure.
Coelacanth--they made this one look more alive, and less like a pickled museum specimen:
Chinese sturgeon--great improvement--I'm not sure if it is clearly visible, but they've even painted the gills to be red on the new one:
Australian Lungfish--some subtle paint change (why doesn't anyone make an African or American lungfish? Come on):
Pirarucu or Arapaima--they have really brought out the colours on this one, with an improved gold and red (and the flash on the camera make sit hard to tell, so I include a solo shot):
Asian arowana (again, why no African or American species? Just once?)--this one has really changed, to the point where it looks like a different colour morph (from gold to red). Of these re-done figures, this one may the most desirable in it's old form just because it stands out so much:
So now you ask, how can I get one? There are a few options--one, live in Japan, because Colorata won't sell outside of Japan (dammit). Two, have a friend in Japan (almost as good). Three, Jauce.com has them, but you will pay too much. Four, good ol' Ebay.
There are several sellers there. Some are fair, some are insane (there is one asking $25 EACH for each of the figures from this box--this is what the individuals would cost on jauce.com by the way).
I personally recommend ig88droid as a seller. That is where I got mine (and several other things, including the big Indonesian Coelacanth:
And a fossil-fish tie (sorry, no photo. YET!).
But I have also dealt with him several times, and things always go very well. Plus, he started carrying the Colorata sets on my recommendation (and as such has been a source for many of the ones I've got now). But more importantly, these are fish with a history that reaches into dinosaur time, and they belong in a collection of prehistoric figures (now with 100% less catfish)!
And hopefully, if the set proves really popular, it will provoke real fossil fish collections. Or at least other ancient fish (paddlefish, other lungfish, gars and arowana, etc).