Titanis (Dinotales Series 6 by Kaiyodo)

Although only known from isolated skeletal elements, Titanis walleri is an important fossil animal. It is the only known species of terror bird to have lived in North America, and it only went extinct about 1.8 million years ago. It is thought to have evolved from decedents that island hopped to North America before the Great American Interchange that saw species move between North and South America with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Also, it is one of the largest known phorusrhacids. Described in 1973 and named after one of its discoverers (Benjamin Waller), Titanis has been found in Florida, Texas, and California.

Like other terror birds, and prehistoric birds in general, figures of Titanis are rare. ToyAnimalWiki only catalogs the Dinotales figure by Kaiyodo and another by Eikoh. DinoToyCollector includes figures by Nol Corporation and Paleo-Creatures. Here on the DTB there’s a review of a highly stylized Titanis action figure by Jurassic Clash. Today we’re looking at the Kaiyodo Titanis. This figure has long been a holy grail of mine but every time I looked for them on eBay, they were only available overseas with high shipping prices attached. Patiance paid off and I was finally able to locate one in the United States with free shipping.

The Kaiyodo Titanis is dynamically posed on an earthen base. The puny wings are spread out to the sides, and the head is angled to the left, looking down with the mouth open. The left leg is raised. It looks like some unforeseen prey animal is about to meet its end. The figure comes in five pieces that need to be assembled; the head and neck, both wings, the right leg, and the base.

The figure stands about 2.25” (5.72 cm) tall. The actual Titanis is estimated to have stood 4.6-6.6’ (1.4-2 meters) tall. Using height gives us a scale of 1/24-1/35.2. That means the 1/35 crowd should love it! But take my estimate with a grain of salt, I’m never very confident determining the scale of bird figures and this one is dramatically posed.

We don’t have enough of Titanis to determine what it looked like, but it belonged to the Phorusrhacinae sub-family so probably most closely resembled related genera, like Devincenzia and Kelenken. Either way, all the terror bird hallmarks are here; a long, large head with a laterally thin, hooked beak, small forelimbs, and long hindlimbs.

The figure has clawed digits on its forelimbs, and it was popular to reconstruct terror birds in this way in the early 2000’s but it has since fallen out of favor. I remarked on this in my CollectA Phorusrhacos review, a far more recent toy that makes the same mistake. The only other inaccuracy I can see is that the second toe claw isn’t enlarged when it should be.

Veteran collectors and blog readers should be familiar with Kaiyodo and their high level of detail, something that should be more appreciated as time goes on. Although their accuracy doesn’t always hold up today, their craftsmanship certainly does. This bird is beautifully detailed with a full, dense coat of long, wispy feathers. On the wings there are individually defined primary flight feathers, and the anatomy of the hands can be clearly seen on the underside of the wings, looking spot on like little chicken wings.

The tail is stubby and the legs are long and lean, with sculpted tendons and tarsal scutes. The claws are finely sculpted and sharp. The beak is smooth, with sculpted nostrils over the well-defined cere, and a tongue inside the open mouth. The eyes are piercing and hawk-like and a relaxed feather crest sits atop the head.

This figure is available in two different colorways, black and yellow. I went with the yellow version, which looks more naturalistic to me. It has a lot going for it. The beak is gray and glossy, and the inside of the mouth is pink. The eyes are orange with black pupils and black patches are painted over the orbits and trail off down the neck. The crest on the head is black, and the dorsal surface of the neck is gray. The underside of the neck is white with a faded gray patch on the throat.

The body is yellow along the back and brown along the flanks and thighs, with black and white stripes. The tail is tipped in black with white stripes, and the underside of the body is white. Below the knees the legs are gray, and the claws are black and shiny. The finger claws are bone colored. The base is brown with a dark brown wash over it that brings out the details of the dirt and rocks. The black variant of the toy is mostly black, with white markings on the neck, chest, and tail, and blue around the eyes, and with a yellow beak and legs.

The Kaiyodo Titanis is a beautifully sculpted and dynamic little piece that should appease fans of terror birds, Cenozoic animals, and scale conscious collectors alike. The figure is not as common as many other Dinotales but is still widely available. Prices appear to vary between $15-55, without factoring in the shipping fees. If you want one on the cheaper end you might have a long wait on your hands, like I did, but it’s worth it.