Southlands Replicas

[Shonisaurus]

Then it will be a worthy Christmas gift.  It is perhaps the best prehistoric marsupial mammal figure made to date, it is even superior to its thylacoleo and thylacine.

[ItsTwentyBelow]

I would be very surprised if an Australian company were to manufacture a cane toad as part of its series of animal figures from the continent.

Cane toads are an aggressively invasive species introduced to Australia in the 1930s, and have since become a major factor in the breakdown of its native ecology. I doubt Southlands will want to be celebrating that history.

I'm glad we are still seeing movement on the Diprotodon figure. Did anyone ever see a painted prototype?

[Lanthanotus]

As much as I appreciate a company bothering with a recent goanna that is not a Komodo Dragon, I have to say that this Perentie has a way too short tail. SR is a great company and the figure of them I saw in person are great, but they sure should know their Aussie herp fauna better. I've seen several Perenties during my trips through Oz, some "pet" ones and several wild ones, some of them roadkilled which offered chances for exact measurements. Minimum tail length is around 120% of snout vent lenght up to 200%. That being said, a lenght of tail is more easily added with Fixit than too short a snout or body

[Southlands Replicas]

As much as I appreciate a company bothering with a recent goanna that is not a Komodo Dragon, I have to say that this Perentie has a way too short tail. SR is a great company and the figure of them I saw in person are great, but they sure should know their Aussie herp fauna better. I've seen several Perenties during my trips through Oz, some "pet" ones and several wild ones, some of them roadkilled which offered chances for exact measurements. Minimum tail length is around 120% of snout vent lenght up to 200%. That being said, a lenght of tail is more easily added with Fixit than too short a snout or body

Don't worry - we've done our research! The photo you've seen is on a terrible angle... here is an overhead view of our prototype. I'm sure you'll agree the proportions are correct. Full length 15.5cm.

BTW - we are not making a cane toad - funny how these things start 

[Ravonium]

BTW - we are not making a cane toad - funny how these things start 

I don't even know why I suggested a cane toad to begin with 


P.S. I see that a Aquila audax figure is currently in progress. It looks quite nice. I especially like the added snake prey 

[Reptilia]

I have to say that your line is very, very tempting, Southlands. Your tasmanian devil and dingo are beautiful, and so looks the eagle you have in the works. I wish you'd give us a dinosaur, or something prehistoric that's not a mammal. Looking forward to the finalized Diprotodon though.

[Shonisaurus]

Sincerely, the lizard (which fortunately still exists on our planet) does not interest me much, but the diprotodon ... it would be wonderful if they sold it at the end of the year. It promises to be the best prehistoric animal in Soutlands this year. 

[suspsy]

I'm glad we are still seeing movement on the Diprotodon figure. Did anyone ever see a painted prototype?

No painted version yet.

The perentie looks better in that new shot. I hope SR's next reptile will be the saltwater crocodile. Australian icons don't come much bigger than that. Prehistoric reptile-wise, Megalania would be the obvious choice, but I think I'd rather see Meiolania.

And as far as dinosaurs go, the most likely candidates strike me as Muttaburrasaurus and Australovenator.

[terrorchicken]

I think there's a cane toad in the Safari Ltd venomous creatures toob...I have a few of those figures and they are very well sculpted for minis.

Id like to see a bird for their next prehistoric creature...Id love a moa but I dont know if they lived on Australia too or just confined to New Zealand.

[suspsy]

Moas were indeed confined to NZ, but I imagine SR would be happy to do one. IIRC, their focus is on Australasian fauna in general.

[Reptilia]

I hope SR's next reptile will be the saltwater crocodile.

This!

[Lanthanotus]

[...]

Don't worry - we've done our research! The photo you've seen is on a terrible angle... here is an overhead view of our prototype. I'm sure you'll agree the proportions are correct. Full length 15.5cm.

[...]

Hello and thanks for your reply, I really appreciate a company entering a serious communication with its customers.
I am and will keep being a customer as I think the ammount of detail and the well applicated paintjobs are outstanding.

However, when it comes to the proportions on the Perentie I think different than you. Sure thing is that the sculpt is instantly recognizable (at least for those who know ohter monitors than a Komodo) and also there are Perenties out there looking very close to your sculpt in terms of tail lenght and width. I dare say so though, that those are captive animals. From all self collected data (and those of several people I know who had the luck to see wild Perenties in their natural environment) I depict Perenties as lean, gount and often even desiccated looking animals (despite being found in the vicinity of water bodies and - in case of road kills - having well developed fat bodies). If compared to the body compositions of human athletes, Perenties would be marathon runners, not football players. I attached an image with a few self collected examples, the lowest picture showing the significant difference between free ranging monitors and captives (in fact, most captive monitor lizards in zoos worldwide are well overfed). In addition, toe length on the hind feet differs greatly from toe to toe (it's indicated in the sculpt and maybe such features can't be made more delicate de to the production method?) and last but not least I hope that the figure boasts the famous reticulated pattern that's typical for Perenties, but I am aware that this can not be seen from the angle the sculpt is shown



All that said, I will definetly buy one of those lizards (or two or three) as despite my concerns it looks good and it is probably the first ever other monitor lizard toy figure in that scale other than a Komodo (I know there are AAA and Safari made a cross hybrid Green Tree Monitor with an indicus/salvator tail for some reason, but all those are way bigger). Eagerly awaiting more news on this to come

[Southlands Replicas]

I've based my sculpt on a maximum sized adult male Perentie. I note that most of the images you've presented depict smaller, possibly juvenile examples.

Here is my inspiration for dimensions and pose:



Also worth considering are the sculpting and moulding limitations of the thin whip-like tail endings in the examples you've shown. Just not practical when creating a 1:15 scale figure as the tip would be way to thin and easily broken. Also an extended tail adds significant size and cost to the creation of the steel mould. I hope our model can be seen as a fair and reasonable depiction of the species when all is weighed up.

[Reptilia]

To me the figure looks very well proportioned compared to the picture you provided. Great sculpt indeed. I'd like to know if you have more prehistorics already planned for future release.

[suspsy]

I think that perentie looks quite nice indeed. Lots of specimens are missing the tips of their tails anyway due to fighting or escaping predators anyway.

[Shonisaurus]

Dinosaurs such as muttaburrasaurus, minmi, rhoetosaurus, leaellynasaura and australovenator I hope that one day the Soutlands company will make them. They are very important dinosaurs in the history of paleontology.

On the other hand I am eager to see the diprotodon (the largest Australian terrestrial marsupial mammal existing to date). It is a figure (the magnificent prototype). On the other hand it is appreciated that a company like Soutlands Replicas enters the debates of the forum is a deference and honor that makes the overall members of DTF outstanding.  Although that same can be said of other brands or sculptors such as Eofauna or Doug Watson.

My best wishes to Soutlands Replicas.

[terrorchicken]

Moas were indeed confined to NZ, but I imagine SR would be happy to do one. IIRC, their focus is on Australasian fauna in general.

neat! I just find it really odd that none of the animal figure companies has ever made one since its the most commonly known of the more recently extinct species, along with the dodo.

[Lanthanotus]

[...]
I note that most of the images you've presented depict smaller, possibly juvenile examples.

[...]

I hope our model can be seen as a fair and reasonable depiction of the species when all is weighed up.

Smaller indeed, juvenile/subadult being just the one on the 4th photo. However, the in literature often repeated 2,40 or 2,50 metres for V. giganteus is based mostly on estimations though some exceptionally big specimen evidently measured are up to such sizes (Horn & King 2004), females in general rarely exceed 130 cm and males also often do not reach 2 m in total. The road kill on pic 3 was indeed the biggest we've encountered with 183 total, another one in WA may have reached (on estimate) 170 to 180....

...though, doesn't matter really, I see you sculpted the figure very close to the animal that stood model and I can fully understand and accept the limitations and trade-offs for the technical and economical production of a toy figure and as I said before I really appreciate the offering of another monitor lizard than a Komodo and another Aussie lizard than a Frillneck and I'll eagerly await the release of that figure

[Shonisaurus]

According to the comments of the producer of soutlands replicas, the diprotodon will be made of vinyl and not of PVC, I pass the comment of soutlands replicas on facebook:

Another view of our resin model. We have received the quote for the steel mold to create the model in PVC. Unfortunately, due to size and posture, it is prohibitively expensive, so we are exploring the vinyl production option (similar to PNSO Elephant and Rhino). I would like to hear your thoughts and comments on this development, please.

The PVC model would be very expensive, so soutlands replicas will make the figure of the diprotodon for what I have read on their facebook page with a vinyl material.

I give you the link:

https://www.facebook.com/southlands/photos/a.271085636628288.1073741830.197560100647509/368267890243395/?type=3&theater

That will not take away from the equally great figure as the PNSO vinyl figures are but the cost will be cheaper. You have to look at the positive side of the matter. 

[Halichoeres]

I didn't realize PVC molds were so expensive. I can't imagine anyone will refuse to buy the Diprotodon on the grounds that it's hollow vinyl rather than PVC.