Animal Life: Toy Story meets the zoo, only in Japan
This figure collection sounds like a documentary. And looks like a hidden camera show you’d see on TV.
The ‘Animal Life’ gacha toy series, from Union Creative, is the ‘secret’ world of pets and zoo animals. What do they do when we’re not looking? What are their lives really like? And are you gonna regret wanting to find out?
When the humans are away, the animals play
Each set of 6 animals does something different: yawn, dance, sleep, do yoga, roll around on the floor. You may never get a chance to see them do that in real life. Except the yawning, maybe.
Remind you of anyone? We’ve seen kids make the same face as that koala before…
Every animal has a different pose, making them all unique. They’re sets of 6, but boxed randomly (like many gacha prizes and collectibles), and sometimes sold in 8-packs. Randomness is part of the fun! You don’t know which pet you’re getting… unless you find 1 being sold by itself.
Most Animal Life figs have flat bases, for standing on a desk or shelf. Arrange your menagerie however you like. Some others are kawaii ‘baby hug’ pencil/mug/finger toppers. Cup Fuchiko who now?
We love that baby seal! It looks so happy and content. See, if you’re an animal lover, these’ll get you hooked.
Every fun design holds a lot of detail, when you take a closer look. Union Creative’s remembered the fur, feather and scale textures, the claws, the teeth, and every wrinkle down an elephant’s trunk.
The paint job’s not complicated, but it does a great job of bringing out shadow and contrast. And they’re not too realistic, either. No animal… underparts… to be seen. In any pose. That’s a relief.
It’s a dog’s life
Hello Kitty’s got competition. Out of all the animals in the Animal Life series, dogs have shown up the most times. At least 2 sets are nothing but canines. They’re the ones doing all the yoga stretches.
We don’t do any exercise, and we know none of these are the ‘downward dog’. That’s a missed opportunity! At least they’re not doing the ‘cat pose’ either, that would’ve been real awkward.
UPDATED DEC 2018: the ‘Baby Yoga Dog’ set does have a ‘downward dog’ figure in it! Maybe someone who designs for Animal Life read this post…
More than the poses, the presentation makes you wanna take these animals home. The product pics keep getting more ambitious. Look how they photographed the ‘dancing dog’ collection.
They’ve thought of everything – breakdancing, air guitar, Michael Jackson… these doggies are superstars!
Where the ‘dancing’ set takes it a (dance) step further is the accessories. A dog in a hat’s never gonna be not funny. Although our fave might be the flamenco, with that rose in the teeth. Ole, Fido!
Go wild – find the Animal Life to match your own
That’s Animal Life for you: the pets you never have to feed, or clean up after. (Hey, that’s even better than a Tamagotchi! Those things take a dump all over the screen…)
When new Animal Life toy sets come out, you’ll find them on DEJAPAN. We can also help you look for Re-ment collections, gacha toys, keyrings, Bearbricks, and other mini figures.
