I was unaware that this is your first review, Marcel! :-O 😀 And so shortly after I rejoined, too…

Fantastic review as expected. I went and bought the entire set about two months ago and they weren’t really expensive. As far as i know, the current record size for Dynastes hercules is, according to be-kuwa magazine, 181 or 182 mm (I’m not sure about the date, could be 2021/2022). So this is probably my only (negligible) complaint with the set – why not go all the way and add just these few extra millimeters?

Wait a minute… apparently I have version 2 of this set… I’ve never cared for the pamphlets but I think those that came with mine look different. I also measured my figures at 171 mm… At first, I didn’t see any difference to yours, my figures also have this very thick horn – but I think it’s probably less curved.

For those who haven’t seen live specimens of Dynastes hercules: The black version actually depicts how the animals look under humid condition. Once taken out of their enclosure, the elytra will change to brownish or (rarer) bluish grey within minutes but this is infinitely reversible.

I remember when I got them with the capsules still enclosing the figures. Yes, the capsules are quite big but still one would not expect a figure of this size coming out of it. Everything was really tightly packed, leaving almost no space!

So far I am quite impressed with these So-Ta Animalier figures. I have this set, all four Goliathus (obviously), the Breviceps adspersus & Phyllomedusa sauvagii set, the Scarabaeus/Kheper & Coprophanaeus set and only one of the Jackson’s Chameleons. The Goliathus figures, however, were an absolute nightmare to assemble as they kept falling apart constantly. I’ve never glued any gashapon figure before but this time it had to be done. The Hercules beetles don’t seem to have this issue, though.