August 4, 2023

This update is mostly about the Wiltopia wave 2 animals.

First though there is some news about newly found or announced animals.

This frog is from set 71332 the school bike training set, 30 64 1138.

Also from the school series is this pink butterfly 30 63 8798, in the big school set 71327 

From the second wave of this year's farm series are these two butterflies in the big farm set 71304. They have ETNs 30 63 8568 and 30 63 8578 but we don't know yet which is which or how they are different from other butterflies.

In a Korean exclusive set 71313 is this sleeping striped cat. The set will be difficult to get as it is limited quantity through a South Korean source.

From a French food seller Intermarché  are two new sets. 70860 is a pirate set with this caiman that seems to be new.

There is also a zoo themed set 70863 with deer and otters. One of the deer has a new part number so may be a variation.

That's it for the latest animal news, now here is a detailed view of the Wave 2 Wiltopia sets.

This series consists of 6 sets. All use existing molds, but all have animals in new colors and paint jobs making them unique.

The first is 71287 the Alligator. It comes with collector card #38

The alligator is a new coloration and a very nice paint job. It comes with a sea anemone acting as a plant group to hold a reed plant. The sea anemone is so close to identical to the existing one of this color that I haven't given it a page of it's own at this point. If a part number becomes known then I may add it, but right now holding it and the pre-existing one of this color next to each other I can't tell the difference.

71288 is the Sea Lion. It's collector card number is 39.

The sea lion is a lighter brown with grey overpaint and white spots on it's back. The most detailed looking sea lion yet made.

It comes with two of the Wiltopia herring and a set of 8 seashells in a bag. The shells bag number is 30 94 8216 and they are a light white with none of the shinyness associated with the usual shell sets, making them unique to this set so far.

The sea lion with previous versions

Set 71289 is the African Donkey. It's card number is 40.

This is a great new paint job for the existing donkey mold. It comes with a little vegatation and is a great addition to the animal world.

All the donkeys together

Set 71290 is a Kangaroo and Joey set. Collector card number for them is 41

This is the first painted kangaroo and they have done an interesting job with it. The colors are unique for both parent and baby 

The kangaroos and Koalas

Set 71291 is a Beaver. It's card number is 42.

This and the Koala come in a new packaging for the Wiltopia series - the old Special sized box.

The little tree detail is a fun scenery piece. The color of this beaver is different from all previous ones, including the one in the Wiltopia Advent Calendar.

The beavers

The final set is 71292 Koala and Baby. Collector card number 43

It's difficult to get the koala to hold onto the tree branch. The color is the light grey of the first koala but slightly different. The baby koala is actually easier to tell from the original since the first version has painted eyes and nose. See the above photo with the kangaroos for comparisons. This version is to the right of the other grey koalas. 

This release wave are nice additions to the existing line. The larger animals particularly are great since they have added paint details not seen before. The current Wiltopia releases in total are a great way for people to add many wonderful animals to their collections that may not have been in recent release. The African series is coming soon and will add more new color variations and make a few addition animals available again.

They could easily do a second wave of African animals in the Wiltopia theme. Okapi family, hippopotamus family, African buffalo, rhinoceros adult, the gnu, and the chimpanzee all haven't appeared yet and would be great additions with existing molds. There is always the possibility of new molds in the future as well. Yak anyone? It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for this line and it's expansions into the farm and horse realms.

Thanks for reading - Tiermann

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