BULLYLAND mammals

[kustom65]

Are the Bullyland mammals/megafauna still in production??

[sbell]

Sept 19, 2008 3:38:20 GMT kustom65 said:

Are the Bullyland mammals/megafauna still in production??

The vast majority--meaning, almost all of the most original stuff--was discontinued a few years ago.

What's left can be seen here:
www.bullyland.de/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=52&Itemid=26

Although some stores do have a couple of odds and ends (the chalicothere, the gomphothere) still kicking around. Yet sadly, the terrible cave bear is still in production.

[kustom65]

Thanks, looks like most of them have been wiped out. Are there any other decent commercial megafauna sets? I've only seen the Schliech line, which is NOT good... very poorly proportioned. Even the Bullylands aren't really that great.

[tomhet]

Have you seen the Safari mammals? They are awesome.

[kustom65]

I must not have... can you link to pix? Thanx!

[tomhet]

You can see them here (you just need to scroll down):

www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/WSafari.htm

Not to mention the great Missing Links line:

www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/MiscSafari.htm

All in all, I think Bullyland's is still the best line of its kind, some of them (like the aforementioned bear) are not very well done, but others are unique, like the Gompotherium or the Chalicotherium. Schleich's is great IMO but they made very common choices

[sbell]

Sept 19, 2008 15:58:42 GMT @tomhet said:

You can see them here (you just need to scroll down):

www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/WSafari.htm

Not to mention the great Missing Links line:

www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/MiscSafari.htm

All in all, I think Bullyland's is still the best line of its kind, some of them (like the aforementioned bear) are not very well done, but others are unique, like the Gompotherium or the Chalicotherium. Schleich's is great IMO but they made very common choices

I actually got into collecting more from the beginning for prehistoric mammals (also my area of research). The first ones that you might have an easy time finding would be the MPC and Marx mammals--the MPC Ceratogaulus probably being the best one.

Another great set of mammals was produced by Lido for Nabsico (after a similar set of dinos/reptiles was so successful). A set of 8, including such luminaries as Barylambda and Aepycamelus (formerly Alticamelus) can usually be found for about $20 or so.

Next down the line (I'm skipping some of the rarest stuff) would be the Starlux series. While some of their dinosaurs are...lacking...their mammals are generally very good, and there is a great variety of them. Be warned--they are out of production, and made from a very brittle material, so many of them are broken, and some like the Synthetoceros can be very expensive when it is in perfect condition. Assumin ghtye come up, they seem to hit Ebay in waves. You can see them here:
www.rubberdinosaurs.com/starlux.htm

After that, yeah, Bullyland is the best overall line (except for their cave bear, and the dire wolf is lacking as well). Lots of variety--the usual Smilodon, sloth and Mammoth, plus rhino, gomphothere, deinothere, nimravid, early horse, Irish elk, Diatryma, Andrewsarchus.

There are others--the brief, and over-sized, Missing Links from Carnegie/Wild Safari is the best known one, as well as the Schleich set (their Cave Bear is WAY better); the current Wild Safari set is great, and quite diverse as well. AAA also has some mammals--rhino, mammoth, smilodon, of course--plus (until recently) a hyaenodon and enteldon straight out of Walking with Beasts.

If you have the patience and budget, one set that is highly sought after, and hard to find, is the large scale Habitat Earth mammals. There were 4--Andrewsarchus (looked more like Hyaenodon), Palorchestes (marsupial tapir), Smilodon and Eobasileus. Fairly well done, went extinct with the rest of the Habitat Earth (AKA Play Visions) cool stuff, and don't show up very often. I've seen individual figures go for close to $100 on Ebay, mainly because they are not very common (and probably didn't sell well!). Habitat Earth also sold a set of small 3" figures of mammals, also fairly sought after for their diversity (Prorastomus? Really? and a Smilodon that is clearly Homotherium) but not seen all that much.

Of course, there are many others (Kaiyodo did several, Safari toob, K&M Ice Age, Dino RIders Ice age, etc) but that's a pretty quick list of what could be out there.

[kustom65]

Thanks very much, sbell and Tomhet. The Bullylands do seem to be the best of the larger figures, but they're all (or mostly) just copies from Zdnek Burian's paintings. Some of the Safaris look good, others not so good... ditto for the Starlux range. There just isn't much consistency, it seems. The proportions and detailing on many of them is rather poor.

The best mammals by far are the various Japanese candy premiums, such as the Kaiyodos you mention sbell. But they're so TEENSY!!

I guess the other option is to pay a fortune for the garage kits (many are excellent) but that's not really affordable....

[bokisaurus]

Ah, one of the hardest figures to collect! Bullyland released the most diverse line of prehistoric mammals and a bird. I have them all except for the deinotherium ( it's now up with the Battat diplo in price!). Schleich did a good series, but unfortunately also stopped producing them. AAA also released some excellent figures based on the WWPB series, but unfortunately quickly went extinct.
some from my collection:
[img][/img]

[kustom65]

That Entelodont is pretty good... the Arsiniotheirum is atrocious though! I do have the Bullyland Deinotherium, along with the entire set. I was just wondering if they were making more for the range, but apparently not.

I know it's a bit off topic, but does anyone make a decent line of modern-day animals? The last good ones that I've seen are the Britains from the 70s. Everything I've seen since has been absolutely appalling.

[tomhet]

What's wrong with the Arsinoitherium?

[kustom65]

Sept 20, 2008 6:42:22 GMT @tomhet said:

What's wrong with the Arsinoitherium?

Well, it really should have a huge shoulder hump, it's way too broad and squat; it doesn't even have a neck and it's just all out of proportion ... the detailing just looks like random slicing with a blunt kitchen knife.

I have a Dinotales Arsinio, which is just superb but way too tiny. Any other Arsinios around?

[kustom65]

I'm reluctantly going to sell my Bullyland mammals now, still no job on the horizon. I'll be putting them individually on eBay within a couple of days, but if anyone here would like to make an offer on any particular specimen please do so -- I believe I have the entire set, including the Deinotherium.