Loch Ness Monster (AAA)

Welcome one and all to the Monster Toy Blog, the brand new sister site to the famous Animal Toy Blog and Dinosaur Toy Blog! As this is the first review written specifically for the Monster Toy Blog I wanted to pick something special, and few monsters are as iconic and well known as the Loch Ness Monster. So, I figured I’d kick things off with a Nessie review! I’ve also been joined here on the Monster Toy Blog by a fantastic and enthusiastic team of seven authors, all eager to sink their gnashing teeth into this website. So, to make this a special bumper launch, we’ll be posting plenty of new monster toy reviews in the coming days.

First, though, you may have noticed the site is already populated with a handful of older reviews. These are legacy reviews migrated over from our sister sites because they fit here. So, you may have read some of them already, but do go and take a look. I’ll probably also be migrating some Jurassic Park/World franchise figures over here in due course as well – thosre toys that represent completely fictional species such as ‘Indominus‘ and ‘Indoraptor‘. The question “what is a monster?” may fuel a lot of debate as the Monster Toy Blog grows. However, there’s no associated Monster Toy Forum for such discussion. I can easily set one up if it turns out there’s a demand, but let’s see how the blog goes first. In the meantime I’ve set up a monster section on the Animal Toy Forum where we can talk about monster toys and related topics. Okay, now onto the AAA Loch Ness Monster toy…

The Loch Ness plesiosaur?

Readers already familiar with me from the Dinosaur Toy Blog may know I’m a plesiosaur palaeontologist. As such, I’m ofter asked about the Loch Ness Monster: could it be a living plesiosaur? I’ve considered all the evidence and outlined my thoughts about this on my plesiosaur website. The short answer is “no”, but Nessie, in most of her incarnations, does at least share many characteristics with long-necked plesiosaurs. The AAA as a good example, as it has the iconic long neck, a short body and tail, and four flippers. Many Loch Ness Monster toys are essentially plesiosaurs, so there’s an argument that some of them could, or should, be reviewed on the Dinosaur Toy Blog. Indeed, before the Monster Toy Blog existed, some were. However, the AAA Loch Ness Monster would be a difficult sell there, as it has anatomical characters that clearly differentiate it from plesiosaurs.

Why the long face?

The vaguely horse-like head is completely different to the reptilian style head Nessie is often portrayed with. This long face is possibly inspired by the legend of the horse-like water kelpie in Scotland, or Caddy the ‘Cadborosaurus’ in Canada. Horses don’t have horns, though, and the AAA Loch Ness Monster has two long antenna-like protrusions on the top of its head. A better comparison for these structures might be with ossicones, the horn-like structures in giraffes and okapi. Ossicones differ from horns and antlers because they are permanently covered with skin and fur. The protrusions in the AAA figure do appear to have scaly skin, and they certainly aren’t in the conventional position to be weird shaped ears. Some historical Nessie sightings have described her with horns. Cryptozoologists have suggested these sightings were probably misidentified deer with budding antlers.

This sculpt has long thin nostrils and heavy drooping eyebrows, but the overall joyous expression isn’t going to frighten any fishermen. Well, I say “joyous”, but there’s also a hint of sadness from certain angles, and from the front it looks just plain weird and suddenly rather ugly!

Flipper anatomy

Cryptid fans will be familiar with the famous Nessie flipper photographs of 1972, the most convincing evidence for a plesiosaur-like monster in Loch Ness. Darren Naish has written extensively on these photographs, which turned out to be doctored fakes. However, prior to being debunked, they were used to establish a now defunct scientific name for Nessie in a Nature paper in 1975: ‘Nessiteras rhombopteryx’. The ‘photographs’, showing diamond shape flippers with a rim running down the centre, influenced post-1972 depictions of Nessie. There’s no date on the toy so I’m not sure how old it is. I suspect it is from the 1980s, but it could be from the 70s, or even the 90s. It has four diamond-shaped flippers, but each flipper lacks a central rim, and is also embellished with parallel striations. So I’m not sure this toy has been influenced by the infamous flipper photos. All four flippers point straight down in this toy so it can stand on them, rather awkwardly.

One hump or two?

‘Nessiteras rhombopteryx‘ was reconstructed with two humps in 1975, but sightings have described Nessie and other ‘sea monsters’ with a full gamut of humps from none through many. The AAA Loch Ness Monster has a single pronounced dromedary camel-like hump, and this differentiates it from many other Loch Ness Monster toys. The neck and tail are very spindly in this toy, which doesn’t seem very convincing to me, it is so narrow there wouldn’t be enough space for vertebrae, ribs, or food and wind pipes. The neck forms a swan-like ‘S’ pose, so if you’re playing with the toy in the bath you can periscope her head out of the water (you know you want to!). Nessie is often portrayed with a broad barrel shape body, but this toy is rather narrow from side to side. It’s also a rather large toy, about 36 cm (15 inches) long, but the plastic is soft enough that the narrow neck and tail, as well as the flimsy flippers, are flexible.

Bright eyes

The colour is mostly drab olive green all over, except for the bright blue eyes, red nostrils (an unusual choice!), red tongue, and white teeth. I’ve heard that other variants are slightly yellower. Despite the horse-like head and camel-like body, the green skin is textured with scales rather than fur, so it wouldn’t be easy to classify this creature as either a mammal or a reptile.

UK Design Pending

The words “Made In China” form a ring between the fore flippers. In some versions of the figure the AAA logo also sits within this ring, but my version lacks the company logo. I’ve also seen another version with the logo that say “Made in Hong Kong”. In all these versions, the words “UK Design Pending No. 976989” are marked between the hind flippers. This hints at an interesting story, but I don’t know what it is! If any readers know, please comment below. There is no name on the figure so I’m assuming it represents the Loch Ness Monster based on the anatomy, but that’s a bit of a guess on my part. Technically it could be a generic sea monster. If anyone has an AAA catalogue from yesteryear that would help put the matter to bed. There’s a circular hole in the middle of the belly and on the top of the hump, which appears to be an artefact of the casting process. This detracts from the overall appearance.

Sightings are rare…

Apparently the AAA Loch Ness Monster is rare, so it can be difficult to find, and is highly sought after by collectors. I was fortunate to find mine in a lot of random ‘Chinasaurs’ on Ebay, and I didn’t have to pay much for it. So, keep your eyes peeled, be patient, and you may eventually experience your own sighting of this classic and rather unusual Loch Ness Monster figure.

I’m sure there will be plenty more Loch Ness Monster toys to come on the Monster Toy Blog, and lots more to say about Nessie, so come back soon!