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Post by sbell on Oct 21, 2011 15:00:47 GMT
Yes, the design of the bases is also quite different from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S, here they are oval and 80 mm long at the base. Since my tardigrade came with its original box I see that there are indeed ten figures altogether plus two secrets and I understand the seller we got them from that only the secrets were not included in our two sets and that these two were merely different colour variants of the Tsuchinoko and Alligator Snapping Turtle which are included in the basic set in their regular colours. So we wouldn't really be missing anything!  There are rarely times when the 'secrets' are worth the extra expense or effort--somehow, paying more for a different paint job seems like a bit of a scam. |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Oct 23, 2011 19:07:51 GMT
I recently got the tardigrade too but paid $45 on eBay...and it was worth every penny.
The Ranina ranina is nice; I have that species from one of Kaiyodo's 'Aquarium' series. Not familiar with the 'Study Room' series, though.
I have finally received all 2011 arthropods (except the 'trophy head' series--no interest there). Let me know what I'm missing:
Safari LTD: monarch life cycle; honey bee life cycle; 3 arthropods in Venomous Creatures Toob.
CollectA: bumblebee and coccinellid
Bullyland: green huntsman spider
Takara Tomy: scorpion set (minus the 'secret')
Also recently got he Homarus americanus and Daphnia pulex from Kaiyodo's fourth installment of the Shinigawa series but not sure what year they were produced (I still need the Tasmanian crab from Shinigawa Series 3).
Any news on arthropods for 2012? For the catalogue images posted, it looks like Safari is doing a fossil replica of a trilobite (wish they'd do the creature stand-alone and not in a fossilized substrate, oh well).
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Post by bmathison1972 on Oct 23, 2011 19:19:12 GMT
Ha! Right after I wrote that I went to eBay and bought the Kaiyodo Tasmanian Giant crab, as well as the Takara 'white lobster' (secret), and two crustaceans from the recent Toba Aquarium set: horseshoe crab and fire shrimp.
The Tasmanian Giant Crab and fire shrimp will be two new species for me!
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Post by brontodocus on Oct 25, 2011 23:00:32 GMT
Congrats, Blaine! I'd love to see photos of your new figures, especially the Daphnia pulex! I don't know of any new arthropod figures for 2012, unfortunately, but I will get quite a bunch of figures from Japan, soon, including figures from the Data Book series (which are, if I understood it right, rather casts than sculpted models). The "Trophy Head" series is a matter of taste, but it surely has superb detail. I recently bought the whole set and it came today, so here we go... Takara Tomy A.R.T.S 3D Capsule Encyclopedia Insect Head Series:  Locusta migratoria Linnaeus, 1758; Asiatic or Migratory Locust, scale approx. 3:1.  Vespa mandarinia japonica (Radoszkowski, 1857), Japanese Giant Hornet or Tiger Wasp, scale approx. 3:1.  Tenodera aridifolia (Stoll, 1813), Chinese Mantid, scale approx. 3:1 - 4:1.  Bombyx mori (Linnaeus, 1758); Domesticated Silkmoth, scale approx. 5:1.  Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata (Motschulsky, 1866), Large Brown Cicada, scale approx. 3:1.  Anotogaster sieboldii Sélys, 1854; Golden Ringed Dragonfly, scale approx. 2.5:1. See where it belongs?  ...so both the mantis and the secret are incomplete without each other. Unfortunately they are not 100% in scale with each other, Anotogaster sieboldii is a very large dragonfly and the head should be rather larger than that of the mantis, even though Tenodera arifdifolia is quite big itself but with a comparatively smaller head. |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Oct 26, 2011 0:41:08 GMT
that's a creative way to deal with the 'secret' figure--Kind of like the Sabuardo beetles, where each of the four figures came with one-fourth of the 'secret' piece.
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Post by brontodocus on Nov 12, 2011 16:17:43 GMT
Hey, quite some new arthropod figure additions here, I haven't photographed them all, yet, but for the moment, here are the water striders by Kitan Club / Nature Techni Colour. They can float (my pictures actually show them in water) and have a small hole at the end of their baseplate into which a drop of ethanol or detergent shall be placed in order to reduce the surface tension which would cause the figure to drift forward. All of them are approx. 1:1 scale. The series also included three frog figures but I was more interested in the gerrids, so here we go:  No. 1: Aquarius elongatus (Uhler, 1897); Giant Water Strider, male. Length 23 mm, leg span 97 mm.  No. 2: cf. Aquarius sp. Length 13.5 mm.  No. 3: Metrocoris histrio (Buchanan White, 1883); Striped Stream Water Strider. Length 6 mm. This is one of the short-bodied Halobatinae which are famous for some of their species being the only insects living on the surface of the open sea.  No. 4: Gerris lacustris latiabdominalis (Miyamoto, 1958); Common Pond Skater. Length 10 mm.  No. 5: Gerris (Gerriselloides) gracilicornis (Horváth, 1879); Red-backed Water Strider. Length 9 mm. Oh, and for instant fun, each figure comes with a small pipette for depositing the ethanol or detergent. More stuff soon...  |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Nov 13, 2011 2:30:09 GMT
nice gerrids. I just recently bought a set of 5 Bandai/Gekken insects as well as 5 of the Japanese National Monument arthropods (including 4 new species for me).
Time to start going back and hunting down gashapon figures, since it appears 2012 is going to be a weak year for arthropods by the major manufactuers in USA and Europe.
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Post by postsaurischian on Nov 13, 2011 14:51:26 GMT
.....here are the water striders by Kitan Club / Nature Techni Colour. No. 1: Aquarius elongatus (Uhler, 1897); Giant Water Strider, male. Length 23 mm, leg span 97 mm. No. 2: cf. Aquarius sp. Length 13.5 mm. No. 3: Metrocoris histrio (Buchanan White, 1883); Striped Stream Water Strider. Length 6 mm. This is one of the short-bodied Halobatinae which are famous for some of their species being the only insects living on the surface of the open sea. No. 4: Gerris lacustris latiabdominalis (Miyamoto, 1958); Common Pond Skater. Length 10 mm. No. 5: Gerris (Gerriselloides) gracilicornis (Horváth, 1879); Red-backed Water Strider. Length 9 mm. ;D Excellent set. Maybe you should put a video on YouTube. |
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Post by brontodocus on Nov 20, 2011 19:43:26 GMT
Okay, since I wrote "more stuff soon", here we go... ;D So here are some photos of my newly arrived World Insect Data Book Series by DeAgostini. These are apparently casts from real (and mostly exceptionally large  specimens and of superb quality. Some of the larger figures, e.g. Dynastes hercules and Megasoma mars even show a setation made from fibers that are glued on. All models came with a booklet (which I don't have) and were individually placed in acrylic boxes (they were screwed to the backside of the box). Of the 60 figures (a lot of them are Lucanidae) plus four secrets (females of four of the represented species) I bought a lot containing 29 different figures. So here are the non-lucanids I have from the series:  Anax parthenope julius Brauer, 1865; Lesser Emperor No. 12. Length 74 mm (excluding appendages), wing span 122 mm.  Cheirotonus jansoni Jordan, 1898; No. 14. Length 57 mm.  Scapanes australis (Boisduval, 1835); Melanesian Rhinoceros Beetle; No. 48. Length 56 mm.  Trichogomphus lunicollis lunicollis Burmeister, 1847; No. 17. Length 64 mm.  Eupatorus gracilicornis Arrow, 1908; Five-horned Beetle; No. 07. Length 86 mm.  Augosoma centaurus (Linnaeus, 1758); Centaurus Beetle or African Hercules Beetle; No. 10. Length 80 mm.  Dynastes granti (Horn, 1870); Western Hercules Beetle; No. 15. Length 66 mm.  Dynastes hercules (Linnaeus, 1758); Hercules Beetle; No. 02. Length 145 mm.  Xylotrupes gideon (Linnaeus, 1767); Siamese Rhinoceros Beetle or Fighting Beetle; No. 23. Length 76 mm.  Megasoma mars (Reiche, 1852); Mars Beetle; No. 04. Length 121 mm.  Chalcosoma atlas (Linnaeus, 1758); Atlas Beetle; No. 19. Length 95 mm.  Goliathus orientalis Moser, 1909; Eastern Goliath Beetle; No. 33. Length 90 mm. Lucanids soon! |
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Post by zopteryx on Nov 20, 2011 21:35:33 GMT
Really cool beetles and water striders. And that Metrocoris histrio is a amazing; I never knew that there were ocean-going insects!
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Post by brontodocus on Nov 22, 2011 21:13:08 GMT
Really cool beetles and water striders. And that Metrocoris histrio is a amazing; I never knew that there were ocean-going insects! Thanks, zopteryx! Well, Metrocoris histrio itself is a fresh water species but there are several species of Halobates within the same subfamily that live on the open sea (and look very similar, too). As promised, here are the Lucanidae I have from the DeAgostini World Insect Data Book series:  Phalacrognathus muelleri MacLeay, 1885; male and female; Nos. 01 and Sp-01. Lengths 57 and 44 mm.  Allotopus rosenbergi (Vollenhoven, 1872); Golden Stag Beetle; No. 08. Length 72.5 mm.  Dorcus hopei hopei (Saunders, 1854) = Dorcus curvidens hopei; No. 05. Length 70 mm.  Dorcus (Serrognathus) titanus titanus Boisduval, 1835; No. 22. Length 95 mm.  Prosopocoilus (Metopodontus) bison cf. cinctus (Montrouzier, 1857); Bison Stag Beetle; No. 24. Length 75 mm.  Prosopocoilus dissimilis Boileau, 1898; No. 20. Length 62 mm.  Prosopocoilus (syn. Cladognathus) giraffa Olivier, 1789; No. 13. Length 102 mm.  Hexarthrius parryi Hope, 1842; No. 11. Length 85 mm.  Lucanus hermani deLisle, 1973; No. 16. Length 76 mm.  Lucanus maculifemoratus Motschulsky, 1861; No. 03. Length 77 mm.  Homoderus mellyi Parry, 1862; No. 21. Length 51 mm.  Odontolabis burmeisteri (Hope, 1843); Burmeister's Stag Beetle; No. 09. Length 93 mm.  Odontolabis stevensi cf. duivenbodei Deyrolle, 1865; No. 49. Length 82 mm.  Cyclommatus elaphus Gestro, 1881; No. 06. Length 82 mm.  Cyclommatus giraffa Möllenkamp, 1904; No. 18. Length 73 mm.  Cyclommatus metallifer (Boisduval, 1835); No. 35. Length 81 mm. |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Nov 27, 2011 17:00:14 GMT
I'd invest more in these figures if there was more taxonomic variety. I like scarabaeoides but all but 1-2 of them are lucanids or dynastines...even if they were all beetles there are lots of other families to choose from...
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Post by brontodocus on Nov 27, 2011 18:35:06 GMT
That's right, they could have offered a wider range of insects and not just focus on Dynastinae and Lucanidae. The rest of the series is just the same (I'd still probably get the others, too) and just one dragonfly among 59 scarabaeids is a little onesided.
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Post by sbell on Nov 27, 2011 19:37:52 GMT
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Post by bmathison1972 on Nov 27, 2011 21:09:42 GMT
Hi Sean, yeah that's the K&M Wild Republic set. I have all but the monarch. I bought them from a toy store years ago that sold them all individually. They are pretty nice. There is one wierd beetle-thing that doesn't look like a match for any real taxon but the rest are nice. They are fairly large (more in-line with Safari's Hidden Kingdom Insects).
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Post by primeval12 on Nov 28, 2011 0:21:55 GMT
One of those gian water bugs bit me while i was looking for frogs. Surprisingly it didn't hurt.
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Post by brontodocus on Nov 28, 2011 9:41:52 GMT
I think I need that Wild Republic set, too. Just need to find a seller in Europe to avoid too high shipping costs. I'm sure they are quite commonly found but often enough neither labelled Wild Republic nor K&M. One of those gian water bugs bit me while i was looking for frogs. Surprisingly it didn't hurt. Lucky you! :)I guess the mouthparts didn't penetrate your skin, otherwise it must have been a painful experience. I've only once been bitten by a very tiny namibian naucorid (a distant relative of giant water bugs) which was no longer than approx. 5 mm but it was still very painful. They inject digesting saliva that destroys tissue so a successful bite will always hurt. |
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Post by primeval12 on Dec 6, 2011 23:25:14 GMT
I have been biten by a backswimmer, That sucked!  |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Dec 13, 2011 0:41:11 GMT
I have been biten by a backswimmer, That sucked! actually yes, it did...because their mouthparts are adapted for piercing-sucking ;D |
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Post by bmathison1972 on Feb 3, 2012 2:10:00 GMT
I just received the Kabaya/Furuta Insect Science set (you can see it for sale here: toybox2006.ciao.jp/insectscience.html). Actually really nice figures (although it helps to use a little glue when attaching the legs). The coccinellid is quite small but overall the figures are nice. I glued to coccinellid to the flower as one figure and left the butterfly separate (as I display my figures taxonomically, I had to keep them separated-haha). |
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specimens and of superb quality. Some of the larger figures, e.g. Dynastes hercules and Megasoma mars even show a setation made from fibers that are glued on. All models came with a booklet (which I don't have) and were individually placed in acrylic boxes (they were screwed to the backside of the box). Of the 60 figures (a lot of them are Lucanidae) plus four secrets (females of four of the represented species) I bought a lot containing 29 different figures.
