Giant Goldfish

from Goldfish Breeds and other Aquarium Fishes (1908)

The only appearance of giant goldfish in D&D that I am aware of was from module M4 Five Coins for a Kingdom.

Auratus: AC 7; HD 600; hp 2500; AT 0; D Nil; MV 120'; Save F36; AL N; THAC0 Nil.

The Aurati are colossal, hydrogen filled, 600–800' long orange and white telescope goldfish. They float through the air, and are used as a mode of transportation in the outer plane of Eloysia. Their temperament is described as docile and completely harmless.

A giant goldfish also appears in the Temple of the Jade Serpent in World of Warcraft.

The Talking Fish is a reference to a Chinese folktale.

The Talking Fish (as the goldfish is called) swims through the air in a watery ecosphere. It attacks with a Bubble Spray that inflicts cold damage.

The same model is also used for the goldfish pet in the WoW Pet Battle mini-game.

Most recently however, giant goldfish appeared in the manga Shibuya Kingyo (渋谷金魚). The story is essentially a zombie apocalypse story with giant goldfish in place of zombies. The Shibuya district of Tokyo becomes enveloped by a mysterious bowl shaped barrier infested with man-eating goldfish that swim through the air.

The goldfish make short work of the people in Shibuya, but it's lucky for the goldfish that the barrier was not centered around Tsukiji, or things could have easily been the other way around.

I know it might seem silly, but I think that they would certainly make for surprising and unexpected monsters if called up by a wizard with the Summon Monster spell.

I think that they would also make for unusual mounts (in the same vein as module M4) if you happen to run a more whimsical campaign.

金魚騎士只今推参！by 速水螺旋人

There are any number of models that can be used for miniatures, ranging from cheap rubber toys to the expensive gashapon from Yujin. The ones I own are just a couple examples of the wide variety of goldfish gashapon manufactured by Kaiyodo.

The first two models are Ranchu goldfish from the Furuta Choco Egg Pet Animals Collection (チョコエッグ・ペット動物コレクション no. 19 and 20).

The Ranchu are two piece models and come with a stand. They were made in clear plastic so the tail fins have a nice translucent appearance.

The next three models are Demekin goldfish from the Takara ChocoQ animaltales Pet Animals Series 3 (チョコQ・アニマテイルズ・ペット動物3 no. 86, 87, and 88).

The Demekin are four piece models and come with a stand. The tail fins are made in clear plastic, but I think the bodies are made with opaque plastic since the dorsal fins do not have the same translucency.

If I can find some really cheap plastic goldfish, I'm going to try my hand at adding some caparisons and saddles on a few of them for fun.

Giant Catfish

Tall tales of giant catfish have circulated in the American South since the 19th century, and were even propagated in the Northern states along the Upper Mississippi River.

Giant catfish, 1914
Hardin County, Tennessee

While modern US tabloids have reported attacks on people by giant catfish, it was the South Asian goonch that seemed to demonstrate that attacks on humans by giant catfish were possible.

In D&D, the giant catfish was introduced in the Creature Catalog under the category of Giant Fish. They were described as being 15 feet in length, with 8+3 HD. Instead of having spiked fins with poison, they were able to cause damage with their barbels (which I'm guessing is founded in the mistaken belief that catfish can sting with their whiskers).

I'd probably just change the stats a bit and say that the catfish can bite for 2D8 damage, and inflict 1D4 damage with each of two fin attacks.

To represent giant catfish, I have several different gashapon models, as well as a gigantic Reaper catfish that I just bought today.

The first two catfish are Lake Biwa giant catfish (Biwako-o'namazu; ビワコオオナマズ). Both are ChocoQ shokugan from Furuta – Choco Egg Classic (チョコエッグ・クラシック no. 047C), and Choco Egg Animals of Japan Collection series 2 (チョコエッグ・日本の動物コレクション第2弾 no. 047).

The two catfish are multi-part plastic models manufactured by Kaiyodo. They are slightly different sculpts, each measuring 73mm in length. The Choco Egg Classic version comes with a base.

The next image is of a Lake Biwa giant catfish by Yujin from the Kitan Club Nature Technicolour Nature of Japan vol. 02 (奇譚クラブ・ネイチャーテクニカラー・日本のいきもん vol. 02 no. 19), and a red torrent catfish (Akaza; アカザ) from the Furuta Choco Egg Animals of Japan series 4 (チョコエッグ・日本の動物コレクション第4弾 no. 119).

The Yujin catfish is a single piece model made of PVC measuring 70mm in length. The torrent catfish is made by Kaiyodo, and measures about 64mm in length.

The last model is the Reaper Gulper (Bones Black 44038).

The Gulper seems to be modeled after the flathead catfish, though it is covered with spikes like the typical modern fantasy "dire" creature. It is made with the new Reaper Bones Black material, and measures 125mm in length.

All five catfish compared.

Yutyrannus huali

Yutyrannus dossier from ΛRK

Yutyrannus huali is currently the largest known feathered dinosaur to be discovered. There have been a few toys and models made of this therapod, but only two small scale versions exist.

One of the small scale models is an exclusive by Takara Tomy, made for the 2012 Dino Kingdom Expo. It was available from gashapon machines at the Expo for ¥300, but nowadays goes for about US$30 on the aftermarket. From what I have heard, it is supposed to be 1/100 scale, so I can safely pass on the model.

The other model is the Kaiyodo Yutyrannus from their Capsule Q Museum (カプセルQミュージアム) series. The Dinosaur Excavation Chronicles Tyrannosaurus (Kyōryūhakkutsuki Tyrannosaurus; 恐竜発掘記ティラノサウルス) was the first set in the series.

Each of the models comes with a human figure for scale comparison, but I can never be certain how big they are from the marketing pictures because they look identical despite being in at least three different scales.

In this particular set, the Tyrannosaurs are paired with 1/100 scale figures, while the Yutyrannus comes with a 1/60 scale figure.

The model is about 4" long, so it scales out to roughly 24 feet in 1/72, which is at the lower range of estimated size for Yutyrannus. If it were 1/60 scale, it would probably have to be considered a juvenile or sub-adult specimen.

Ogre Magi

The ogre mage or Japanese ogre of D&D is essentially an oni (which I guess has been the official designation since 4th edition).

Fuji Musume + Oni no Nenbutsu
by Kitagawa Utamaro

The typical oni that an adventurer might meet would be something like the ogre or giant of European mythology, but oni are also servitors in the Buddhist hells, and in this role bear many similarities to Abrahamic devils.

In art, they are portrayed anywhere from being slightly larger than a human to being gigantic in size. Most miniatures will tend to be of the later type when used with 1/72 scale figures.

I will start by showing some of the shokugan/gashapon figures that I own. The standing pair are from series 1 of the Collect Club Seven Wonders Compilation (コレクト倶楽部 七不思議編) released by UHA Mikakuto (UHA味覚糖), and are a red oni (赤鬼) and blue oni (青鬼) respectively. The crouching figure is the red (赤) version of a yōkai netsuke (妖怪根付) from the Hyakki Yagyō Yōkai Collection (百鬼夜行妖怪コレクション) released by Furuta (フルタ).

The series 1 UHA figures are single piece castings made of a dense polystone resin. The Furuta figure is made of PVC, and a painted version is also available.

       鬼 (赤)       |       鬼 (天然色)  

The subsequent series 2 figures from UHA are a black oni (黒鬼) and a green oni (緑鬼) respectively.

The series 2 figures are multi-part PVC, and require some assembly.

The next figures come from the Rising Sun boardgame produduced by CMON. They include the Oni of Plagues, a Turtle Clan Shinto, and two Turtle Clan Bushi.

I'm not enthusiastic about the fancifully ornate weapons of the Oni of Plagues, but I liked the figure because it reminded me of Tsuchigumo from Nurarihyon no Mago. As for the Turtle Clan miniatures, I don't think they are actually supposed to be oni, but they are horned and fanged, so look close enough to be oni for me.

I particularly like that the monk on the Shinto figure is close in size to the similarly posed figure from the Arcane Legions game. However, I find the use of the term "shinto" for this class of characters by the game writers odd, and I'm thinking the word they should have used would be kannushi (but what do I know).

In the next image, we have the Oni of Blood which is also from the Rising Sun game, while next to it is a DDM Oni Night Haunter (Lords of Madness #35).

The Oni of Blood is a very elaborate sculpt, and I'd be really interested in seeing the production mold for it because it seems to have been made as a single piece.

I did a quick earthen wash over the pants of the Oni Night Haunter because I didn't like the original bright yellow color. The base was also replaced with a metal washer because it was so warped that I could not flatten it out using either hot water or a blow dryer.

The next two figures are the D&D Miniatures Icons of the Realms Ogre Mage (Classic Creatures #5), and a Reaper Female Oni (Bones 77486).

I like this CMG ogre mage because it has a single horn, which is sorely underrepresented in miniature oni. The turquoise and magenta skin of these two oni go well together, and are a nice variation on the traditional blue and red oni.

The next section covers all of my metal oni. The first three miniatures are a Ral Partha Ogre Mage (AD&D Monsters 11-405), a Ral Partha Dai-Oni (Bushido 53-912), and a Ral Partha Japanese Ogre (Children of the Night 13-039).

The last two figures are supposed to be armed with naginata, but I seem to have lost the weapons at some point.

The next image has an armed pair of Ral Partha Oni (Bushido 53-908), a Ral Partha Dai-Bakemono (Bushido 53-911), and an Asgard Oriental Ogre (Fantasy Monsters FM22).

The dai-bakemono is supposed to have a large tetsubo, but again, I seem to have lost the weapon. The Asgard miniature is the earlier version of their oriental ogre. It was probably originally holding some sort of weapon, but I'm not sure what type it was (the later resculpted version of this miniature carries a large two-handed mace).

The next image shows some old Reaper miniatures. The larger figure is a Bakemono (Daimyo 4027), while the three smaller ones are Oni (Daimyo 4028). The Daimyo Oni are sized like 15mm figures, and I get the feeling that they were originally supposed to be "oriental goblins". Certainly when these miniatures were first released by Texas Miniatures, they seem to have all been called bakemono, so they didn't start out as oni.

In any event, I'm grouping all the creatures called bakemono with oni because they look close enough going by looks alone. My understanding of the word "bakemono" is that it is a generic term like "monster", so using the word to indicate a specific type of creature is vague and confusing (I blame the Bushido RPG for this).

Along those lines, I'm counting the Grenadier Oriental Goblins (Fantasy Lords 184) shown in the next image among my ranks of oni.

Even so, these goblins don't have features that are particularly oni-like, and wear their hair in a chonmage, so I'll probably need to do a little modification to turn them into proper oni.

In the Legend of the Five Rings RPG, it seems that oni are called ogres, while demons are called oni. This is reflected in the AEG Clan War miniatures, with the Ogre Bushi (Shadowlands 13-103) looking like an oni, and the oni lord Kyoso no Oni (Shadowlands 99-002) looking like a demon.

The Lesser Oni (Shadowlands 13-113) are also very demonic, and look nothing like traditional oni at all. In fact, I would probably classify them as generic bakemono.

The final section covers 15mm oni from Alternative Armies, and Battle Valor Games.

The Alternative Armies figures are part of their Sengoku Japanese Fantasy line. In the first image (from left to right) – Oni with Claws (SGF04), Oni with Large Blade (SGF05), Oni with Large Blade (SGF06), Armoured Oni with Large Blade (SGF85), Armoured Oni with Claws (SGF86).

More Alternative Armies figures (from left to right) – Oni with Claws (SGF87), Oni Shamen [sic] (SGF88), Oni with Tetsubo (SGF89), Oni with Tetsubo Beckoning (SGF90)

The armored oni are human-sized, while the unarmored oni are shorter. I wish the unarmored oni had been made the same height as the armored ones.

The Battle Valor oni are figures from the Samurai fantasy skirmish Kickstarter by Philip Mann. I pledged at the Oni Lord level to get an Oni Army Set.

The first image is of the Oni Command (SAM126).

Next are the Dai Oni (SAM127).

Then the Oni (SAM128).

Last are the Small Oni (SAM129).

There are a lot of similar poses between the oni and dai oni, but the later are more suitable as 1/72 oni. I don't see the oni on the Battle Valor website at this time, but I imagine they will appear at some point in the future. Hopefully the Dai Oni Command set which was not unlocked during the Kickstarter campaign will be produced as well.

A final comparison shot of the various 15mm oni (and a Daimyo oni).

The 15mm dai oni are just about right for roughly human-sized oni. The others will either need to be converted to increase their height, or used as some other type of small yokai.

In closing, I'd like to mention the Dixon oni from their Legends of Nippon line (which I do not have). The Dixon website never really had any pictures of the oni, so I was hesitant about buying them because I didn't care for the overly thick, chunky style of the Dixon samurai.

However, they recently(?) posted a PDF file with illustrations of their oni and bakemono, which was very encouraging, since the miniatures look pretty faithful to the appearance of traditional oni. I will probably have to order some of these miniatures in the near future.

Coelacanths

Known to the locals of the Comoro Islands by the names of "Mame" or "Gombessa", the coelacanth was brought into public awareness after a specimen was discovered in the catch from a fishing trawler by museum curator Marjorie Courtenay Latimer in 1938.

The coelacanths are members of an order of ancient lobed-finned fish with primitive lungs, the majority of which became extinct in the Late Cretaceous period.

Modern coelacanths are about 2m long, but prehistoric specimens like Mawsonia could reach 4–6m in length.

Kaiyodo makes a model of Axelrodichthys in their UHA Dinotales line (series 1), but the fish of this genus are pretty small (~40cm long). However, I think these models can easily pass for the similar looking, but much larger Mawsonia which belongs to the same family of coelacanths.

The brown coelacanth is the standard color miniature, while the blue coelacanth is the alternate color version of the miniature.

Modern coelacanth models can be used to represent Megalocoelacanthus dobiei, a giant Cretaceous coelacanth which is thought to be anatomically similar to modern Latimeriidae. One model that is of suitable size comes from the second series of the Kaiyodo Deep Sea Odyssey line (海洋堂 深海生物フィギュアコレクション ２).

The model is just a bit over 2" long, which scales out fairly closely to the size of M. dobiei. Kaiyodo has at least one other similarly sized model, as does Epoch, but they are a lot more expensive.

Archelon

Archelon ischyros

Archelon was a giant sea turtle of the Late Cretaceous period. The first fossil of the creature was unearthed by G.R. Wieland, who shares a somewhat dubious reputation like his two mentors, E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh. Archelon is probably not the most exciting of creatures, but it did make an appearance in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C.

Some liberties were taken with the movie version of Archelon, the most obvious being that it is portrayed as being five time bigger than the actual creature, but I guess nobody claimed that the film was scientifically accurate.

Two models of Archelon are made by Kaiyodo. One is part of the Capsule Q Museum series (left), while the other is from series 3 of the UHA Dinotales line (right).

The Capsule Q turtle is billed as being 1/72 scale, and has multiple ridges on its back similar to a leatherback turtle. The UHA turtle has a smooth shell with a central ridge like more typical depictions of Archelon found in dinosaur art. The UHA turtle is also about 10% larger than the Capsule Q turtle, but can still represent a larger specimen of Archelon.

Harryhausen's design is based on the green sea turtle.