Otodus megalodon is a troublesome shark for me to get enthusiastic about, regardless of my love of cartilaginous fishes. Though charming in idea (a huge whale-hunting shark with 7” tooth) there aren’t sufficient stays of it to actually…properly…sink your tooth into. Simply tooth and vertebrae. We don’t actually know what it appeared like, regardless of the very best efforts of paleontologists. Because of as soon as being included within the Carcharodon genus, together with the nice white, the vast majority of megalodon reconstructions, together with toys, simply find yourself wanting like white sharks.
Not desirous to show what’s principally an important white in my prehistoric animal cupboard, I’ve handed on all earlier megalodon figures. However because the world’s most well-known prehistoric fish, with an honest fossil document in my house state of Maryland, I felt prefer it was lastly time to collapse and get one. I used to be initially going to get and overview Haolonggood’s however I don’t like jaw articulation on toy sharks, so I made a decision to check out Schleich’s, new for 2025. Afterall, Schleich did produce two of the very best nice white shark toys lately, so they need to have the ability to nail megalodon too. Let’s have a look and see in the event that they did.
First off, we will’t actually consider the accuracy past the tooth right here. A current paper titled Physique dimensions of the extinct large shark Otodus megalodon: a 2D reconstruction used some intelligent calculations to try to deduce the dimensions and proportions of megalodon. It gives about as knowledgeable an inference as doable as to what megalodon appeared like and I’d have favored it if somebody made a mannequin matching the illustration we see in that paper however alas. Schleich’s toy is actually an important white shark.
Now, in protection of the white shark mannequin, megalodon does belong to the Otodontidae household, which seems to be intently associated to the Lamnidae household that white sharks belong to. So, they’re nonetheless intently associated sufficient to Lamnid sharks that these are the very best species to deduce their look from. However there’s no purpose to not deviate from white sharks and draw some inspiration from different Lamnid species. For my part, it leans a bit too closely into the white shark look.
For a white shark the toy is correct sufficient that it might stand in for one in a set of extant animals. It even contains some much less apparent whitey options, just like the keel on the caudal peduncle and black tips about the underside of the pectoral fins. Issues which are usually forgotten on toys of precise white sharks. The snout seems blunter, and the dorsal fin is proportionally smaller than you’ll see on a white shark although.
The scale of megalodon is nearly as speculative as what it appeared like. All we actually know is that it was massive. Dimension estimates vary between 47–80’ (14.2–24.3 meters). The examine talked about above advised a size of 52’ (16 meters). The Schleich megalodon measures 11.42” (29 cm) in whole size, it’s bigger than I anticipated, being about the identical measurement as my PNSO Livyatan. We will give you quite a few scales for this factor. Scaled down from 47’, it’s 1/52. Scaled down from 52’, it’s 1/54. Scaled down from 80’, it’s 1/84.
Whereas we’re right here let’s scale it down from a white shark, only for enjoyable. Nice white sharks attain a most size of 21’ (6.4 meters) however have a mean size between 11-16’ (3.4-4.9 meters). Females develop bigger than males, and this determine will be recognized as a feminine as a result of lack of claspers hooked up to the pelvic fins. Scaled down from the utmost size the determine comes out to be 1/22 in scale. Scaled down from 16’ the determine comes out to be 1/16.8 in scale. So, when you want a 1/18 scale nice white, this could be a determine to think about.
Trying on the wonderful particulars it behooves us to begin with the top. The mouth is agape and full of rows of triangular tooth set inside properly textured gums. The final row on the underside jaw is sculpted folded again, towards the gums. A couple of tooth are deliberately lacking and the alignment of some is off, exhibiting some good consideration to element. There’s an odd-looking gap behind the throat and the toy is hole. I assume a child might fill it with water and dump it out whereas enjoying within the pool or tub.
Small creases of pores and skin are sculpted alongside the higher lip, and the tooth and gums are prolonged ahead. Further creases are sculpted alongside the again of the top, illustrating how the snout tilts again when the shark is opening its mouth. In sharks, the higher jaw shouldn’t be fused to the skull and is as an alternative hooked up through ligaments, permitting the jaw to increase outward and away from the skull. I really feel just like the determine does a great job of illustrating how shark jaws work. Numerous makes an attempt at articulated jaws for megalodon simply give it a generic flappy jaw and till somebody figures out how one can do it proper, I’ve no real interest in articulated shark toys, even when these by Haolonggood and CollectA produce other issues going for them that this one doesn’t.
Small black dots will be seen alongside the underside of the snout, and these are the shark’s ampullae of Lorenzini, electroreceptive organs that detect {the electrical} fields produced by different animals. Only a few shark toys embrace them, however Schleich notably included them on their 2018 nice white shark. It’s a pleasant contact.
5 lengthy gills are sculpted on all sides, forward of the pectoral fins and the pectoral, first dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins all have jagged edges. The determine is nearly completely easy however there’s some properly sculpted musculature alongside the underside and the faint define of the decrease jaw below the pores and skin. The determine is roofed in an extreme quantity of scars which are made worse by being highlighted in black. The gills are additionally highlighted in black. I don’t like the quantity of scaring we get right here, and outlining the scars and gills in black cheapens the in any other case wonderful sculpt.
The determine is painted like an important white and is grey dorsally with a white underside and a pointy demarcation between the 2 alongside the flanks. A darker shade of grey would have been good, or maybe a completely unique however knowledgeable paintjob that didn’t match the nice white so intently. The gums are painted with a pleasant mix of pinks and reds, and the tooth are white. The eyes are black and glossy.
The Schleich megalodon is one more nice white doppelganger however does an admirable job of paying shut consideration to shark anatomy and is without doubt one of the higher massive, non-articulated, megalodon figures accessible. That it might additionally move as an honest nice white determine may also make it interesting to some. The quantity of black highlighted scars actually is off-putting although, and the toy suffers for it from an grownup collector standpoint. The paintjob is flat and uninteresting when in comparison with megalodon figures by PNSO, Haolonggood, and CollectA however these figures have their very own faults, like bizarre and ugly jaw articulation and unfastened pores and skin within the case of the bigger PNSO. This determine is presently in manufacturing and extensively accessible, it retails for about $25.
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