Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
Wild Republic, the makers of this mammoth figure, appear to be a US-based company established since 1979 and producing primarily plush toys and plastic realisations of extant animals. They also market a couple of dinosaur sets comprising the usual suspects and sold in polybags. Just to confuse the issue, I have also seen these listed as ‘K&M’ and that is what is stamped on the underside of this figure, along with the date 2006.
The subject of this review is part of a set of Ice Age mammals, five in total, sold in either a window box or blister pack. They can also be bought individually at some retailers. I picked up this mammoth and a woolly rhino at Everything Dinosaur a few years back. Just for the record, the other three in the set include a Smilodon, a giant sloth, and a glyptodont. As you may have guessed from the stylized appearance, the target age group for these figures is a somewhat younger demographic than those produced by the brands that we generally see reviewed here on the blog. Stand it next to the Eofauna steppe mammoth and pick the more academic sculpt!
When looking at prehistoric animals, the woolly mammoth shares an iconic status among mammals similar to that bestowed on the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops for dinosaurs. It’s hard to tell exactly which species of mammoth this figure is meant to represent, given its generic approach, but I imagine that fact is of little interest to the potential purchasers. It’s clearly a woolly mammoth, end of story. The most likely suspect would be Mammuthus primigenius, which lived during the early Pleistocene and died out during the Holocene era. Its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. Frozen individuals, including those with preserved stomach contents, plus depictions in cave paintings have provided a wealth of material for those studying this recently extinct animal.
Getting back to our subject here, it is in keeping with an unofficial sizing that seems to apply across the parameters undertaken by nearly all manufacturers of mammoths, to the extent that if you line them all up, there is very little size variation between them. This makes for a quite uniform appearance if they are all displayed together. It stands 140mm/5.5 inches tall and measures 190mm/7.5 inches from tusk tip to tail. Colouration is a reddish-brown, paler at the extremities (feet and trunk tip) with very dark fur on the top of the head and running down the back, and wavy vertical stripes along its sides. The tusks are brown where they meet the body and cream thereafter. Shiny black eyes peer out from beneath the pale eyelids, imparting a slightly sleepy look to the figure.
The sculpt depicts all of the requisite features of this animal despite the slightly childish approach, with the characteristic domed head, small ears, shoulder hump, and long curved tusks. Nicely rendered fur detail covers the figure all over. The legs are relatively thin, a trait shared with modern elephants and not the ‘tree trunks’ supporting a lot of other mammoth figures. It is depicted in a walking pose with one foot in front of the other, the trunk hanging down and curled to one side. Nothing overly dramatic here. There are three black-painted toe nails on each foot, which I’m not sure is strictly accurate.
I quite like this woolly mammoth, and it has a bit more character than some of the more scientifically accurate figures that I have no reservation in displaying it along side on the shelf. While not exactly a mammoth completist, I didn’t hesitate to add this one to the herd when I had the chance, as I felt it to be a worthy effort in terms of figures of this animal. The opinions of others, of course, will vary.
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K&M International is the parent company of the Wild Republic line.
Until about 2005 or so, Wild Republic referred specifically to their line of plush animals with long arms and velcro, for clinging onto things.
The rest of their lines were under the K&M International brand original animal models in bin and ‘regular’ size, plus other merch. It was of a much higher quality than what they sell now.
As for the mammals, they and the similar dinosaur set was originally a box set made in conjunction with the British NHM, and there were two different Smilodon sculpts!
Didn’t know about the second Smilodon sculpt – have to keep an eye open for it.
Thanks for the additional background here, I certainly never knew any of this and comments such as this really add to the encyclopedic nature of this site.