What's the right Dunkleosteus for you?

[Bread]

That top view does make it look pretty cool. My final decision may depend on price

$38.99 on their amazon store, same price as their Helicoprion.

This may kind of sway my opinion on picking this up now.... I'd rather order Favorite Co.'s and wait for the Hobby Link Japan store to restock it, however, I could also wait for PNSO's to become prime. Decisions decisions.....

[Lanthanotus]

Seeing images of it with its mouth closed I wonder if that is an accurate look. My son has the Schleich Dunkleosteus and I find it very cool how the teeth of the upper and lower jaw interlock in the very front. On PNSO's however the teeth seem to close behind each other. I wonder which setup is correct? Any ideas?

[Halichoeres]

Is there an elongated arthrodire that this might better represent?

I don't think so. There are surely plenty of elongated arthrodires, although since most don't preserve whole-body, we don't know how many. But there's too much of this that I think is Dunk-specific.

This begs the question as to whether or not these can even be labeled as rigorous scientific reconstructions in the first place. It's certainly a nice figure to look at, there's no doubt about it, probably one of the best Dunkleostues figures on the market; but isn't it disingenuous for PNSO to treat these as scientific reconstructions when even basic anatomy of the genus is not adhered to?

Yeah, I think PNSO does some research, but either seems to be a few years behind, or is making compromises for aesthetic reasons. The result is up to personal taste, but their figures are not the most rigorous on the market.

id prefer pointed down pectoral fins, so it can stand up, is that just me?

I would rather it just came with a stand, personally!

@Faelrin thanks for posting that photo. It looks better in dorsal view, and I think you're on to something that the dorsal fin being pushed so far back contributes to its looking too long. And of course, we only have a partial vertebral column for Dunkleosteus, so we don't actually know for sure how long its trunk was. But the degree of dorsoventral flexion looks like it's pushing the limits of what could be considered reasonable.

As for the jaws, I personally prefer no articulations, but I do think that if you're going to give it an articulated jaw, making both jaws mobile is a nice touch. Much more realistic.

Seeing images of it with its mouth closed I wonder if that is an accurate look. My son has the Schleich Dunkleosteus and I find it very cool how the teeth of the upper and lower jaw interlock in the very front. On PNSO's however the teeth seem to close behind each other. I wonder which setup is correct? Any ideas?

The plates forming the oral margin didn't occlude like molars; they worked more like scissors. The lower jaws should slide behind the upper jaws to shear prey, as in the PNSO model.

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks @Halichoeres

[Faelrin]

Aside from those few anatomical issues I have gripes with (too long body, too far back dorsal fin, etc), after watching a review that showcased how the mouth articulation works, I think this may be the definitive Dunkleosteus figure for me, I mean at least for the meantime. Sure I prefer the proportions of the Favorite, and I'll likely get around to getting it some day, but I don't think we'll see another with mouth articulation quite like this, as most other brands have a figure out there of it now, and they missed the chance to do something like this (if they had articulation at all to begin with anyways). They really went above and beyond on doing justice to that, and here I was just thinking it would have separate upper and lower jaw articulation only, and not a feature of this magnitude (although the feature itself is similar to the likes seen on some Mattel JW figures, it does appear to be a first for Dunkleosteus anyways). There's also still a lot they do well, such as in regard to the eyes, skin covering the armor, and the fluked tail, which is long over due after how long it has been since Favorite's released in 2014 (not counting Paleozoo's released in 2019 due to the delicate nature of the material used for it), or possibly CollectA's near attempt at it with their 2018 Deluxe figure, which I mentioned all before.

Honestly at this point the only main prehistoric brands out there that don't have a Dunkleosteus include Papo, Mattel, maybe Rebor, etc, give or take any brands revisiting and/or updating it in the future such as Safari Ltd. Still would love to see David attempt this in the future if he ever delves into doing prehistoric fish and non Mesozoic animals (Beasts of the Paleozoic maybe? A man could dream anyways).

[Faelrin]

Got another Dunkleosteus released this year (I think this is the third one?) from Eikoh, but it is pretty similar to the Favorite ones:

[stargatedalek]

To my eye the body of it looks quite good, then it has a dragon head and neck. Interested in the resident experts thoughts.

[SBell]

To my eye the body of it looks quite good, then it has a dragon head and neck. Interested in the resident experts thoughts.

I appreciate the attempt at representing the articulated skull bones. Although it's kind of weird looking.

[Halichoeres]

It's not too bad, although there's no evidence for a second dorsal fin in any arthrodire. The head looks a little disembodied, but hard to be sure how wrong it is with just the one angle. Some fish heads really do look like they're coming apart when they open their mouths all the way, like paddlefish: https://twitter.com/ohiodivwildlife/status/956965063268749312

But if you want a Dunk at a small scale, the Kaiyodo is still the winner in my book.

[GojiraGuy1954]

I only have the Schleich Dunkleosteus, but i'm gonna grab the PNSO when it comes out

[Thialfi]

I only have the Schleich Dunkleosteus, but i'm gonna grab the PNSO when it comes out

It's been out for a while now!

[GojiraGuy1954]

I only have the Schleich Dunkleosteus, but i'm gonna grab the PNSO when it comes out

It's been out for a while now!

not gonna import

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Aye, I always waut for ED to get PNSO, not buying from elsewhere when it comes here. Don't care hoe many extra months I have to wait.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Aye, I always waut for ED to get PNSO, not buying from elsewhere when it comes here. Don't care hoe many extra months I have to wait.

same

[Thialfi]

Makes total sense! I believe it's definitely worth the wait. That jaw mechanism!

[TheCambrianCrusader]

After having the pnso Dunk in hand I have to say, while it definitely has some anatomical problems, it has quickly become my favorite dunk out there. The way the jaw articulates is fascinating and it is just super fun to play with. I'll be honest when I say that I'll just spend tens of minutes just opening and closing the mouth and occasionally throwing the kaiyodo Cladoselache or Bothriolepis in there, its that fun to mess around with. And the way the head and armor is restored is absolutely beautiful.
Its definitely a shame about the placement of the gills, but the overall body plan is very interesting. Like its apparent they tried to steer very clear of another Coccosteus-esque restoration, but instead they gave us a body plan that seems much more akin to a sand-tiger shark than a pelagic species. I wonder why they would choose to restore it in such a way when most evidence would suggest something closer to a great-white or tuna.

[Strepsodus]

This is really a great discussion thread, and Tim's post at the beginning got me convinced to get Favorite's Dunkle, and I got it.

But i thought it was odd that it appeared to have something like claspers, anyone got an idea about that?

[TheCambrianCrusader]

This is really a great discussion thread, and Tim's post at the beginning got me convinced to get Favorite's Dunkle, and I got it.

But i thought it was odd that it appeared to have something like claspers, anyone got an idea about that?

Yeah those are def claspers. Claspers are known from a few of placoderms including arthrodires like Incisoscutum so its neat that they added them.

[Halichoeres]

That's right! One more reason I think the Favorite Dunk is the most thoughtfully made version on the market. We don't have Dunkleosteus pelvic girdle remains to the best of my knowledge, but claspers are known in both arthrodires and ptyctodonts. That also implies that crown-group gnathostomes had internal fertilization and live birth at their origins, which means that external fertlization as practiced by most actinopterygians and amphibians arose later!

[Shane]

I think the reason the Schleich version is so ubiquitous is that it's so prevalent in Google search results.

You need a Dunk picture for something, you Google it, you get a bunch of pics of the Schleich figure, looking big and good and menacing.

Unfortunate as that may be.