Fukuisaurus (ANIA by Takara Tomy)

Today I venture into uncharted waters and review a figure by a company I’ve never covered, or bought products by, before. Although I’ve long been aware of Takara Tomy, they’re a Japanese company, making their offerings somewhat difficult to get in the U.S. Also, since their prehistoric figures mostly cover well known genera, or represent Jurassic World animals, they also just weren’t of much interest to me. That is until I came across their Fukuisaurus on eBay for what appeared to be a reasonable price.

Fukuisaurus is a genus of ornithopod that lived in Japan during the early Cretaceous. It was discovered in the Fukui Prefecture and described in 2003. The genus has been reproduced a few times over the years. Favorite produced a museum excusive soft model and a mini figure and there are also a couple by Sega. Recently CollectA made a figure that’s a fair bit more accessible and affordable for western collectors. I personally didn’t care for the CollectA figure, especially its paintjob, so this one by Takara Tomy seemed to be a satisfactory alternative.

First off, this figure is much smaller than I had anticipated but an astute collector will already know what to expect here. Takara even advertises these figures as “palm sized animal action figures” so being a bit blindsided by the size, that’s on me. In length the toy measures 4.75” and when posed bipedally stands about 1.5” to the top of the head. Fukuisaurus was a modest sized animal, estimated to having been about 14’ in length. That puts this figure at 1/35 in scale.

Despite its small size this is a surprisingly nice little figure, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. In overall anatomy and proportion, I find it more attractive than CollectA’s take, and it’s not shrink wrapped like Favorite’s soft model. The figure is textured with various wrinkles and skin folds. I especially appreciate the slight visibility of the shoulders under the skin, stretched tendons in the neck, folds of skin along the torso, the ridge along the back, and the execution of the head in general.

This figure comes in two paint jobs, this standard one and another that was produced as a museum exclusive for the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. A Fukuiraptor was produced as well, also in two different paint schemes, but I didn’t feel compelled to get it as I already have and quite like the CollectA figure of that animal. Both figures were released in July 2020 to coincide with the 20^th anniversary of the museum’s opening.

The figure is painted lime green that fades to pale on the underside. A darker green stripe is painted running down the back of the head, spine, and tail. The darker green bleeds down the sides of the figure and additional green blotches are painted around the torso, arms, and legs. The eyes are yellow with black pupils, and the beak and nails are painted gray. This is a basic paint job but one I enjoy immensely, especially on small ornithopods. It’s very similar to the paint job on the Favorite soft model which I also enjoy on that figure. The paint application is well executed too, especially when taking the small size of the toy into consideration.  

In terms of accuracy, the figure has that standard basal ornithopod body plan that could honestly work for a number of genera in diorama settings. Painted claws are present on 4 of the 5 digits and each digit is individually differentiated. I’m not sure what the consensus is on ornithopod hand anatomy. It was believed that digits 2, 3, & 4 were incased in a fleshy mitt of sorts, but now it seems as though that mitt may have had a hoof as well. Whatever the case, the individually sculpted and painted fingers are the only potential anatomical flaw I can find on the toy.

Some articulation is present, the legs can move back and forth allowing the figure to be positioned bipedally or quadrupedally although getting it to stand upright takes some precision. The tail is also articulated on a ball joint that allows it to swivel around. The articulated tail is visually distracting and my only complaint about the toy in general, I really don’t think it needs to be there at all, but this feature is common in Takara Tomy toys.

Buying it on eBay this figure cost me about $18 (that includes shipping) which isn’t terrible but certainly more than I would like to pay for something so small. If I had realized how small it was I may have just opted for the CollectA figure instead. That said, I like it well enough that I don’t regret the purchase. There are some sellers on eBay listing it for $40+, and the museum exclusive color variant is listed at $80+. If you’re like me and don’t really like CollectA’s figure or don’t want to pay big money for Favorite’s, this is an acceptable alternative.