ZHONGXIN MADE Simulation Green Big Sword Mantis Plush Toy, Soft Mantis Stuffed Animal, 14 inch Soft Toy for Kids

I have a passion for entomology, and have a particular love for mantises and caring for these absolutely beautiful, intelligent, and complex creatures. They were always my favourite insects (in addition to moths, beetles, honeybees, and grasshoppers). I love all mantis species, so I ordered all of the available large plushies: the standard green praying mantis, the pink orchid mantis, the leafback mantis, and the brown dead-leaf mantis. All are phenomenal! They each have similar features, but are unique in their own way. I will elaborate on each kind below (along with the added photos of my collection for reference).The standard green praying mantis plush in a large-size is quite lovely — though I wish he was made a bit bigger to hug. Nonetheless, he is so gorgeous, cute and realistic, with perfect details, and very high quality. His raptorial forelegs are not inverted, the spines are made of thick brown felt and not prickly, and he holds them up before him in a very realistic stance; he can stand up on his own on his four back legs, which are thickly-stuffed and can be adjusted, and his sturdy thorax keeps him perked up. He has a cutely plump, segmented abdomen that has some plastic pellets in it for weight (though I personally wish his tummy was a bit plumper and squishier for hugs). I also love the adorable little brown felt mandibles, and big shiny compound eyes, with the black beads representing the mantis’ pseudo-pupils; he looks so inquisitive and adorable, yet extremely realistic in detail in proportions, from thin antennae to plump abdomen. His wings are vivid green and very sparkly, lying gracefully over his back and sewn against it, though due to the filmy, sleek type of single-layered material, they can get pretty wrinkled-up from the tight vacuum packing, unfortunately - but that’s the only criticism I can think of.The pink orchid mantis 🌸 is a bit heftier and of a different shape, such a graceful insect with an angular body all around, true to his species. His vivid light-pink colour with golden stripes amid the pink streaks are so pleasant to behold, and his neon-pink wings are sparkly and more sturdy than that of his green cousin, so they don’t get crinkled. His abdomen is plumper and has more thickly-stuffed than the other mantis plushies. He stands up very sturdily, with firmly-stuffed legs, and he is quite nice to hug!The two leafback mantises (green leaf 🍃 and brown dead-leaf 🍂 ) are different and fantastic! Both of these brothers have very unique textures and materials that differentiate them, and such realistic and lovely pseudo-leaves on their backs! Their leaves are much sturdier than the shimmery wings of the other mantis plushies. The green-leaf mantis has a rounder, wider “leaf” made of softer material, whereas the dead-leaf mantis has a sleeker more angular and thinner brown leaf-back with a firmer feel — both so true to their real-life counterparts! The green leaf-back has little bright-green mandibles, which differentiates him from the regular green praying mantis plush, along with his wide green “leaf” with gorgeous realistic folds and veins. Their abdomens are much fatter than the others, and they are bigger and easier to snuggle with than the thinner standard green mantis. They have very shiny eyes, and both are just as detailed, accurate, adorable, and amazing as the others! The only minor problem is that they don’t stand up, and lie flat due to their hefty leaf designs - the green one is especially limp. But I don’t mind, as they are very cuddly and not too firm.I enjoy collecting mantis plushies of all kinds, species, shapes, and sizes, and I highly recommend these particular plushies. Praying mantises are not only elusive in the insect world, but also difficult to find in plushie form due to not being such popular animals — but hopefully more people will find the beauty in them! The existence of these new mantis plushies makes me so happy and hopeful that there will be more!About a year ago, I ordered the small-size green praying mantis, and the small pink orchid mantis, both of which were available here at the time from the “ZHONGXIN MADE” company. Now, these incredible designers have created amazing larger sizes of these beautifully detailed, high-quality mantises, and I was elated to collect all of them! They are much more huggable than the small ones!If you love mantises, I highly recommend ANY of these large-size ones — or the small ones (if you prefer smaller plush toys), which are just as detailed, soft, realistic, cute, and lovely. I own sets of both large and small of each mantis, and can confirm that these are fantastic plush toys that will last a lifetime, and delight both children and adults alike. Seeing as they are so realistic, they can be used for educational purposes as well - e.g. a lovely gift for teachers of biology.

I bought this for my grand daughter and she loves it. It's so detailed, so well made, very sturdy. I think it will help to foster a love of bugs and science with her as she grows. I'm always on the lookout for cool science friendly toys and this one hits the target. Beautiful craftsmanship and a nice size, too!

I got 2 of these, one for each of my bug-loving 2 year old grandsons. They loved them! They are good sized and decently made, and realistic enough but still cuddly like a stuffed animal should be.

Large and very cute! My daughter loved it!

Good shipping and decent quality

My daughter made friends with a mantis that lived at our mailbox. He stayed for about two weeks and then left. Needless to say, we were heart broken. I found this little guy (his actual name is Little Guy) and my daughter loves him! Very nice quality and soft. Super cute! Picture doesn’t do it justice!

My son asked for a stuffy when we lost our praying mantis and this one is perfect. It looks just like it. Great quality!

I loved catching insects as a kid, and still do now. Praying mantises were always my favorite insect, and I used to find the egg casings on bushes in the winter and hatch and release them in the spring. I'm so happy I found this plush mantis. It feels high quality and looks like a real mantis. Its eyes and wings are sparkly. I was worried about this purchase at first with people saying they got the pinchers on upside down, but mine were perfectly fine and on correctly. I'm very happy with my new mantis.