My Newest Dunk Model: Attractive if Not Realistic

Made in China for an animal-figures company called JOKFEICE, this is an interesting Dunk that falls mainly into the “cool toy” bin, but has some flair. 

It’s a slightly chunky-looking vinyl Dunk about 21 cm long. It’s not a paragon of scientific realism, but the artist put some work into the details. The armor, shown as external and painted silver-gray, has some bumps and scratches indicating the animal took the predator business seriously.  The armor/mouth detailing is carried on under the head to the throat, which low-cost Dunk models often skimp on. The fish has the open-mouth posture required, apparently by international treaty, for all Dunk figures regardless of origin. The artist avoided the temptation to oversize the biting plates: indeed, they strike me as a smidge undersized. 

The body has a pebbled texture above and a slightly dappled blue-green color that would facilitate lurking around waiting to ambush prey. After that, it gets a bit weird. The large dorsal continues back to the upper lobe of the tail. The tail has an unusual look like the splash of a wave, or maybe a mermaid’s tail. It’s unrealistic but pretty and blended into the body in a sweeping curve that makes the whole fish attractive. To achieve that, the spines of the dorsal are raked too sharply backward.  (The only real piscine analogue I can come up with is, of all things, a koi.) The pectoral fins are also weird: not only are they unreasonably small, but they have a fleshy core with rays fringing it in all directions.

So it’s a handsome addition to the collection. If I don’t think it realistic, I do think it cool.