For the more budget-conscious snake figure collector, I now present the Blue Baron’s Racer (philodryas baroni) by Animal Planet. This figure was CN¥428 and is the second figure in their “Realistic Nature Series”. Most of Animal Planet’s figures have a chibi quality, so this is a line of reptiles with realistic proportions.

As they’re a company that mass-produces, we get a pretty retail box:

The company name gets translated a few different ways so you may also see “Animal Heavenly Body” and “Animal Nebula”, but it will always be the same logo. It’s a very solid box, and we have some product photos so we know what we’re getting. The lid slides off, but due to the sturdiness of the cardboard it forms a strong vacuum seal so takes some effort and time to open. They do provide a couple of small cut-outs to grab the inner of the box, but they don’t give a huge amount of purchase.

Foam:

Interestingly the foam that contains the snake is on top and the base is underneath this. Most companies will put the base on top to make it obvious it’s in there. Wonder if they’ve had to field complaints of a missing base when it’s really just hidden underneath.

The hole in the top right is for the bonus item, for those that preordered.

Front:

The Baron’s Racer comes preassembled onto the branch and does not come off. It’s not glued on, so will move around a bit. Apparently I had him slid up the branch for most of the photos, but it does slide down and sit on it properly, which will be shown in a later photo. The branch attaches to the base via a peg moulded into the base. The attachment is sturdy – sturdy enough to make it feel OK to pick it up by the branch only, but I wouldn’t recommend doing this lest the base does detach itself.

I do like the dynamicness of the pose – it was the main thing that attracted me to buy this figure.

Face:

D’aww, what a cutie. Up close we can see how the paint is less precise than expensive small batch figures – the black line does bleed a bit but will still look great on your shelf.

Lookin’ atcha:

From here we can see where there’s darker colouration near its spine and the upturned nose. It’s definitely not letting go of this tree.

Tree view:

They’ve done a really good job of the bark on the tree. Definitely has a realistic feel to it. In the second photo above you can see where there is a join in the snake – as far as joins go on mass-produced items this is actually pretty well-hidden.

Back:

The belly scales are nicely sculpted and have been given their own shade of paint and dark wash. Close-up it is a bit uneven, but from a short distance it does the job. With the unevenness of the colour some bits look a little like it has picked up some dirt vs shading on the scales.

Tail:

At first, you may miss where its tail ends, but here it is. Looking at photos of Baron’s Racers (they’re not a snake I’m super familiar with) they do indeed have no real distinction between “arse” and “tail” – whilst snakes may look like one long tail, they do actually have a tail below where their cloaca is. On some snakes there will be a distinct size/shape/pattern difference between body and tail, others you have to flip them over to find their tail. On this model we can actually see where the tail starts – if you look at the top photo you’ll see a dark line – pretty sure this is a paint detail to show the anal plate (that’s where the stinky poos and wee come out of).

Looking at the inner part of the tree, I like the texture on it but the way they’ve painted the core makes it feel like a cartoon tree versus the rest of it. Whilst some trees do have a band between the lighter and darker parts, I feel it would have been better to either not have it or blend it in. It’s far from a dealbreaker though as this part isn’t really that much on show.

Couple of angles:

I love that they went for a tangled pattern around the branches and it is poised to potentially strike – it certainly gives the figure more interest versus a simple coil or pile. So what it may lack in paint detail it makes up for in pose and sculpt.

And now for that preorder bonus:

Aww, a hatching Baron’s racer! So cute! Does seem to have a bit of bug-eye but it’s not a real snake, so no need to worry about its genetics.

Some other angles:

I feel some artistic license has been used here to make it more aesthetically pleasing – snake shells are normally quite thin and snake babies normally cut a slit (or six..) so they don’t fold out as is shown here. But to model that would be a pain and potentially not show much of the snake head, so I think this is a reasonable compromise as this way you don’t get any seams on the egg. You wouldn’t get the egg yolk-looking stuff in the egg either – normally it’s mostly snake with some egg white. They may have some yolk left to absorb attached to their belly button (yep, they have them!).

When displayed, you don’t really see into the egg unless you plan to put it on a low shelf. The base has a velvet bottom so you can place it on the main base without damaging it:

The eggs bonus helps the large base look less featureless:

You can also enjoy the main Baron’s Racer being sat properly on its branch in this photo. When the egg is posed like this, it does look more like a slit in the egg rather than a large hole, so the artistic licence paid off. It’s also a bonus item that you technically paid less for, as the instock price for this figure is CN¥448, so preordering saved CN¥20 as well as netting this extra cutie.

I do like the way it adds detail to the base and stares up at moma? papa? Due to the way the main snake stretches out on the branch it needs a bigger base to counterbalance, so having something to add to the base does make the whole piece more aesthetically pleasing. For instock orders however, going to have to find your own snake-flavoured decoration if you want to add to the base.

Overall I like this figure – it’s pretty unique as far as snake figures go on the current market. In terms of improvements, I’d prefer if the tree ends were less cartoony and if the seam was a little better hidden, however the seam does show up less when not under photography lighting. For the price point, the paint detail and quality is as you’d expect. For anime collectors, it’s about the same price as a Pop Up Parade or a couple of prize figures. I feel it fits into that space of premium budget figures, but is a figure for snake lovers.