What Is the Animal Toy Forum and How Do You Join the Community?

The Animal Toy Forum (animaltoyforum.com) is a free, open community forum for people who collect and discuss animal figures and collectibles — the kind of models made by brands like Schleich, Bullyland, and Mojo. You can browse it as a guest without an account, or register for free to post, vote in polls, and switch between light and dark mode. A paid membership (about £10 / $13 per year) removes ads and adds perks. If your interest is specifically in animal figures rather than dinosaurs or monsters, this is the matching community; the same network runs separate forums for those.

What you'll find on the forum

The forum is organized around discussion topics rather than a shop. Its own description frames it as "a friendly open community dedicated to the discussion of animal collectibles and all creatures great and small."

Its scale, as shown on the index page:

The busiest threads give a good picture of what people actually do there:

• Recent acquisitions — 1,118,549 views, 3,550 replies. Members post what they've just bought or received.
• Mathison Museum of Natural History — 434,655 views, 3,493 replies. A long-running showcase thread.
• New AnimalToyBlog entries — 379,425 views, 2,519 replies. Links to the forum's companion blog.
• Visual counting game (animal edition!) — 147,631 views, 1,896 replies. A lighter, game-style thread.
• ATB Review Schedule — 254,344 views, 1,655 replies. Tracks upcoming figure reviews.
• New on Ebay — 331,297 views, 1,240 replies. Members flag listings they spot.
• Safari Ltd. - New for 2023 — 109,353 views, 625 replies. Brand-specific release discussion.

There are also taxon-focused threads, such as Chondricthyans (sharks and rays, 424,309 views), Turtles (315,077 views), Coleoptera - Beetles (250,854 views), Lovely Salamanders (231,690 views), and Go Jump in a Lake! Freshwater Fish! (260,294 views). So the forum mixes brand news, personal collection photos, species-themed threads, and review scheduling.

The index also links out to a wider network: AnimalToyBlog, DinoToyBlog, MonsterToyBlog, DinoToyForum, MonsterToyForum, and Fauna Figures. If your collection leans toward prehistoric or fantasy creatures, those sibling sites are the better fit.

How to join

1. Browse first, no account needed. The index states you can "explore the forum as a guest." You'll be able to read threads and view the stats above without signing up.
2. Register for free. The welcome text says: "register for free to join in the animal-discussions, vote in polls, and switch between light and dark mode." Registration is what unlocks posting and poll voting.
3. Log in and post. Once registered, use the Log in link at the top of the page. New members typically introduce themselves and start posting in threads like Recent acquisitions.
4. Optionally, become a paid member. The forum offers a one-year subscription at £10 ($13). According to the site, paid members "enjoy the forum ad-free and benefit from several other perks." The exact perk list isn't spelled out on the index page, so check the membership page before paying if a specific benefit matters to you.

A note on the numbers: the member count (1,120) is small relative to the post count (52,687), which is typical of long-running niche forums — a core group of regulars does most of the posting. The top poster, bmathison1972, has 12,325 posts; the tenth-place poster has 1,630. If you're looking for a high-traffic community, this is a slow-and-steady one rather than a fast-moving social platform.

Supporting the site without paying

The forum also earns money through affiliate links. Its disclaimer reads: "you can also easily support the Animal Toy Forum by using our links to Ebay and Amazon. Disclaimer: these are affiliate links so we make a small commission on any items sold." So if you're buying figures anyway, clicking through from the forum's links supports it at no extra cost to you. This is separate from the paid membership.

What to check before committing

• Confirm the current subscription price and perks on the membership page — the £10/$13 figure and the ad-free benefit come from the forum's own welcome text, but perk details may change.
• Decide whether you need an account at all. If you only want to read reviews and collection threads, guest browsing covers that.
• Check the sibling forums if your interest is dinosaurs or monsters rather than extant animals; the network runs dedicated sites for those.

If you collect animal figures and want a place to show them off, ask identification questions, and follow brand releases, registering a free account is the low-commitment starting point. Upgrade to paid membership only if ad-free browsing and the listed perks are worth £10 a year to you.