“If you should wonder through the jungles of Colombia, watch out. If you see a quick object move through the brush, lose hope as you are in the realm of…….TITANOBOA!!!!!! See it’s 42 foot long body lunge from the water!!! Quake as it’s thick body constricts the life out of it’s prey!!!! Fear as it swallows them whole!! This summer, watch and beware…..TITANOBOA!!!!!!!!“
What I said above may sound like a cheap but enjoyable B-monster movie, but it does describe the genuine animal enough. Titanoboa was found in Colombia, existing in the mid to late Paleocene, hunting ancient mammals and reptiles in the swamps and jungles of the age. It is, as of this review, the largest known snake ever found. It was likely a constrictor, given the size of the species. This is the first figure made of this species, courtesy of Rebor. He is called Monty (Monty Python, gotta love that nod!)
Before I look at Monty, I want to look at the other figure of this set: a crocodillian. It has no name, but given the set, I shall call it Lunch. Identifying Lunch is tricky, as it just looks like a crocodile. With it’s short, slim snout, I would say it was Cerrejonisuchus, as it is considered a food source for Titanoboa and they are both from the Cerrejón Formation. It’s a decent size, measuring 7.4″ long and 1″ high, meaning it can fit in with larger lines. The pose is mainly there for being constricted, it can also work for a swimming pose, which works well. The detailing is incredible, sculpted beautifully, though can mask the teeth at times. The colour scheme matches a modern crocodile, which works really well.
As one might expect, Monty is something to behold! The colour scheme matches well to modern constrictors, especially the Green Anaconda, fitting for an animal that would need to hide in swamps and jungles. It measures an impressive 25.5″ long when stretched out and 0.8″ high, being appropriately long for this giant. It’s mostly made of a flexible rubber with a wire in the middle, meaning that possibility is only limited by your imagination. The only part that isn’t rubber is the jaw, which is a hard plastic, able to pose in an open or shut manner. It connects to the end of the wire, so isn’t too loose, but I do get a little nervous of using a small piece on a figure that is otherwise rubber. The sculpt is really good, especially inside the maw, which looks very similar to modern snakes.
Accuracy is a little tricky to gauge, as the main parts of the fossil that are preserved are vertebrae, showing this snake to be a constrictor. Most of the present features are based on modern constrictors like Boas and Anacondas, which works well, given the large size of the serpent. Not much to say, just that this is a brilliant sculpt.
Rebor has done a fantastic job recreating this monster snake and it’s dinner, being unique and utterly brilliant. Fossil snakes are unfeasibly rare, the only other one I can think of being the Giant Wonambi by Yowie. This figure is available on sites like Minizoo and BigBadToystore, and I highly recommend you grab it when you can. Between the beautiful sculpt and endless possibility, it really doesn’t disappoint.
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I’m desperate for Monty for my disabled son. Does anyone know where I might purchase it from??
No more. . .sorry
I cant find it for sale ANYWHERE just like the bandai premium realistic croc. Sold out everywhere. Sad too. Snakes and crocs are my favorites.
I assume the message on the back of the box goes to all collectors whose Monty is crumbling apart due to the chosen material.
yea i just noticed mine today has these crack all over where it has split luckily not to where the wire is when straitened out it dont look to bade they cant do anything for me but are sending this Rebor Monty Resurgent Maquette figure free as thanks for my support.
All it basically a model of a titanoboa leaping out the water with a crocodile half in its mouth looks good..
Would be awesome if it was made so you could push the crocodile in through the snake’s mouth, so lunch can actually be eaten. 🙂
Rebor’s titanoboa is a marvelous work of art, even the rubber texture of this gigantic reptile resembles snake skin in its viscosity. In recent years Rebor is making figures that exceed all expectations for those of us who are collectors and make this company one of the best in the market. One hundred percent recommended figure.
this is on my ‘to get’ list for sure!
After doing a bit of research I would say that the biggest fault with the figure is that it is not thick enough in the middle. Restorations of Titanoboa have it VERY thick in the middle, very noticeable. The is apparently because of its size. As snakes get longer they need to concentrate more mass in the middle of their bodies. I don’t know why this. You can see this in modern boas, pythons and anacondas and apparently it would have been even more exaggerated for Titanoboa.
No skull has been found but most restorations have the head relatively smaller to the body size, than Rebor has presented it.
These are selling on Ebay for over $200!
Another fair criticism. Also, never pay that price for this figure! That mark up price is insane!!
I’m not fond of Rebor’s dinosaurs, but this Titanoboa is quite impressive indeed.
Interesting figure. It’s described as 1/35 scale but at 25 1/2 inches long it’s more like 1/20 scale, which is fine with me.
I’ll be looking for this one….did you buy it or is this a pre-production sample you got from Rebor?
Follow up. I didn’t realize this has already been for sale. It’s sold out everywhere. That’s nuts. I’m not familiar with how Rebor does business….will there be more produced?
This is a premium edition, so maybe they will, or possibly a non premium version. Hopefully they bring out more.
It’s very cool, but it is also hard to see a very detailed 2′ long snake as much more than “toy.” Even wrapped around “Lunch” it could easily be taken for a 2′ long snake preparing to eat a baby croc.
Perhaps a static diorama, with some trees for scale, might have served better than a generic flexible constrictor whose otherwise awesome proportions require an active imagination.
I do see your point. It’s probably the reason prehistoric snakes are rare in general. Wouldn’t call Lunch a baby croc though, foes have enough morphological differences to show it’s an adult of a separate species. Something more stoic could have worked better, but can imagine this is a fantastic figure for those who do dioramas, allowing the imagination to be well used.