Travelling through the wonderful world of Oz (as the Aussies tend to call their country) one sure plans some things before starting. I deceided to cramp a few toy figures into a box to take on the chance to shoot some of them in their “natural environment” – at least kind of, Australia sure changed a fair bit since most of the represented animals went extinct.
Let`s have a look what I got for you first… first of its name on the blog and going by the tuneful name of Dromornis, or the “Demon Duck of Doom” as it is written on the tag that goes with the figure. Dromornis was a giant flightless bird of the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene and roamed the subtropical open woodlands of northern Australia. While the type specimen was found in Queensland, most remains were discovered in the Alcoota Fossil Beds, Northern Territory, alongside a great number of other species of Australias unique megafauna.
Alcoota, NT. probaly looked not much different in the Miocene.
Dromornis stood approximately 3 metres high and may have weighed up to 600 kg or more which is quite a handful for a bird even at that size. Surprisingly that behemoth stood on feet that seemed quite too small to hold all that weight. The beak on the other hand was enormous, fittingly for a member of the Gastornithiformes.
Yowie or Yowies are chocolate eggs with a surprise and are produced by Cadbury. The Lost Kingdom Series includes 3 series with a total of over 100 figures, mostly Australian species and quite a few that never ever were made into toy figures before and since. All the figures of the series require some assembly and some have a small play feature or articulated body part. The Lost Kingdom Series started in 2000 and is long discontinued. Yowies are still on sale in Australia but the current series is an US series (No.6) of recent animals and while the chocolate is not of my taste, the animal figures we found are of a quite high quality and nicely sculpted.
Though the Lost Kingdom series has its charme, a lot of figures are quite cartoonish or simplyfied in their appearance. That does not count for the Dromornis figure. While the assembly gaps sure draw some attention, the overall sculpt and detailing is well done for a figure that size and the paint job looks clean and natural. It sure does not rival Kaiyodo`s figures, but I guess Yowie can rightfully claim it to be the best Dromornis figure on the market. The figure measures 5.5 cm in height and length, stands well on its two feet and while that small toy sure lacks the greatness of the animal it represents, it still transports a sense of heavyness and regal serenity.
If you have a heart for collecting obscure series of prehistoric figures or if you don`t mind to own just single figure of series even far out of scale, this one is highly recommended.
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Man, I hope Yowie does prehistoric life again some day.
It’s wonderful seeing a review of this little figure after all this time. Gorgeous shots too. Hopefully their Dinornis/Giant Moa and Haast’s eagle, among many others can join in on being reviewed someday too.
Always nice to see any Aussie critter.