CollectA: New for 2022

[Gwangi]

There is a thread, New Dinotoyblog Entires, that is updated with every new review. It is pinned in the Dinosaur Toys (General) sub-thread. It's 208 pages long and has been there as long as the forum has.  Not trying to be a smart ass, ok, maybe a little. It would be nice if the forum had a link to the blog. It used to. Yes, the 2018 poll should definitely go away now.

http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7.0

I know that, but apparently that thread isn't helping the blog's visibility very much, so maybe another approach would be better to get people to notice new reviews.

I agree, and as I said, a permanent and visible link on the forum would help. Honestly I think it's just that people don't want to read reviews. Blogs have been "out of fashion" for awhile now. Social media has replaced forums, YouTube reviews have replaced written ones. Time to adapt, I guess.

I said this already in another thread fairly recently, but I very much prefer written reviews over video ones. The reviews and vast database of them were for me the main reason to visit this site; I learned that there was a (lovely!) forum attached only much later. Please never stop writing them, they're an absolute joy.

Well that's reassuring. The blog was my main motivation for getting into this hobby and joining the forum. I still like writing reviews but with the lack of member participation on the blog I sometimes wonder who I'm actually writing them for. If even just a small handful of people read them, that's motivation enough for me.

[Shane]

Never forget that the historic "pivot to video" was largely manufactured by Facebook based on falsified data 

As much as I do enjoy watching video reviews, I have a fondness for the written word and will never stop preferring reading blog style reviews over watching a video.

[stargatedalek]

Never forget that the historic "pivot to video" was largely manufactured by Facebook based on falsified data 

As much as I do enjoy watching video reviews, I have a fondness for the written word and will never stop preferring reading blog style reviews over watching a video.

No? Video reviews were the norm years before Facebook started hosting videos. Their "pivot to video" was in regard to their own platforms usage, and yes, largely falsified through Facebooks deliberate inaction regarding viewbotting.

I hate them too, but don't give them undue credit.

[Bokisaurus]

There is a thread, New Dinotoyblog Entires, that is updated with every new review. It is pinned in the Dinosaur Toys (General) sub-thread. It's 208 pages long and has been there as long as the forum has.  Not trying to be a smart ass, ok, maybe a little. It would be nice if the forum had a link to the blog. It used to. Yes, the 2018 poll should definitely go away now.

http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7.0

I know that, but apparently that thread isn't helping the blog's visibility very much, so maybe another approach would be better to get people to notice new reviews.

I agree, and as I said, a permanent and visible link on the forum would help. Honestly I think it's just that people don't want to read reviews. Blogs have been "out of fashion" for awhile now. Social media has replaced forums, YouTube reviews have replaced written ones. Time to adapt, I guess.

I said this already in another thread fairly recently, but I very much prefer written reviews over video ones. The reviews and vast database of them were for me the main reason to visit this site; I learned that there was a (lovely!) forum attached only much later. Please never stop writing them, they're an absolute joy.

Well that's reassuring. The blog was my main motivation for getting into this hobby and joining the forum. I still like writing reviews but with the lack of member participation on the blog I sometimes wonder who I'm actually writing them for. If even just a small handful of people read them, that's motivation enough for me.

The problem with the blog is that there is no way to track how many views a review had unlike a video on YouTube.
I personally prefer reading written reviews since I love reading and there are already so many videos out there.
If readers rate a review, that's the only way we can sorta have some measurements, so hopefully more will leave one.
Yeah, it sometimes get hard to be motivated to write a review when you have no idea if people are reading it or not, it's a constant challenge for me for sure to keep going sometimes.
For those that leave a rating, I just want to say thank you and that really helps with motivation.

FYI, CollectA also is having production challenges due to the lockdowns going on in areas where their products are made so expect more delays for the others.

[stargatedalek]

The blog also lets you read reviews through email alerts.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Personally also prefer written reviews. If I have to endure a video review I always do it with the sound off as I found most human voices get on my nerves in these situations, plus I consume reviews whilst doing other things, which I can't do that way. Much prefer to read as I can do that and watch light TV if I want to.

[BlueKrono]

Personally also prefer written reviews. If I have to endure a video review I always do it with the sound off as I found most human voices get on my nerves in these situations, plus I consume reviews whilst doing other things, which I can't do that way. Much prefer to read as I can do that and watch light TV if I want to.

I second that.

[Everything_Dinosaur]

The image of the CollectA T. horridus that has been used in the marketing releases to date, is actually one of the prototypes.  This is why this figure does not have an articulated jaw. As we understand the situation, the actual model when it is released will have an articulated lower jaw. We make reference to this in our @Everything_Dinosaur blog post from back in November 2021.

Like many companies CollectA have been hit with production difficulties due to COVID-19, zero tolerance of COVID-19 by Chinese authorities has resulted in forced factory closures and delays at ports, this has somewhat stymied the production plans of many companies. The T. horridus production has been further compounded by Museums Victoria who will have their own figure, a colour variant matching the colour scheme of their murals associated with their new Triceratops exhibit.  As the museum where the Triceratops exhibit is housed has been closed (due to COVID-19), plans to produce these figures were thrown out of schedule as Museums Victoria did not want to take the figures until they were open and the exhibition was up and running.

Here is our blog post from November 2021 announcing the Triceratops figure: CollectA Models Part 4

We also made a video that provided more details on the model and explained the context, you can find our video on the @Everything_Dinosaur YouTube channel: CollectA Triceratops YouTube

For the record, whilst we know that CollectA production and shipments have been subject to delays, we do expect our next CollectA shipment which will include most of the new models (not the Triceratops) sometime later this month.

Hope this helps to clarify the situation.

[Thialfi]

Thanks for explaining @Everything_Dinosaur!

[Everything_Dinosaur]

You are most welcome, we try to help where we can.

[Shonisaurus]

Thanks for the info. Hopefully the Collecta triceratops's articulated jaw doesn't mar the figure like it does with the late model Doyle PNSO triceratops.

[Shane]

Never forget that the historic "pivot to video" was largely manufactured by Facebook based on falsified data 

As much as I do enjoy watching video reviews, I have a fondness for the written word and will never stop preferring reading blog style reviews over watching a video.

No? Video reviews were the norm years before Facebook started hosting videos. Their "pivot to video" was in regard to their own platforms usage, and yes, largely falsified through Facebooks deliberate inaction regarding viewbotting.

I hate them too, but don't give them undue credit.

I wasn't trying to tie video reviews directly to the pivot-to-video trend, apologies if it seemed I was lumping them all together.

Video reviews have definitely existed alongside written reviews for much longer than that trend existed.

I only meant that the idea that written reviews were somehow "dead" in favor of video reviews was something influenced by the phony pivot-to-video trend. A lot of review sites (thankfully not DTF) moved away from written reviews during this time in favor of video reviews, and I think both can co-exist peacefully.

[stargatedalek]

Never forget that the historic "pivot to video" was largely manufactured by Facebook based on falsified data 

As much as I do enjoy watching video reviews, I have a fondness for the written word and will never stop preferring reading blog style reviews over watching a video.

No? Video reviews were the norm years before Facebook started hosting videos. Their "pivot to video" was in regard to their own platforms usage, and yes, largely falsified through Facebooks deliberate inaction regarding viewbotting.

I hate them too, but don't give them undue credit.

I wasn't trying to tie video reviews directly to the pivot-to-video trend, apologies if it seemed I was lumping them all together.

Video reviews have definitely existed alongside written reviews for much longer than that trend existed.

I only meant that the idea that written reviews were somehow "dead" in favor of video reviews was something influenced by the phony pivot-to-video trend. A lot of review sites (thankfully not DTF) moved away from written reviews during this time in favor of video reviews, and I think both can co-exist peacefully.

You misunderstand entirely. The pivot to video happened a long time ago, in the late 2000's. Facebook wouldn't host videos until long after.

[bmathison1972]

I just realized, is the Smoke a digitrade? Shouldn't it (especially if it's being reconstructed as a raisuchian) be plantigrade?

Now that I have it in-hand, I don't think it's digitigrade. I think it's an 'action pose' in movement.

Hard to say if it's a quadruped or a biped (facultative or obligatory) hunched over.

Side-by-side, it has a lot of similarities to Safari's Prestosuchus. Not that it copied or was influenced by that figure mind you, but it makes me think CollectA followed the 'prestosuchid' theory of Smok's phylogenetic relationships.

It also reminds me a lot of this painting: https://twitter.com/serpenillus/status/1453739661415776270

Maybe this has already been discussed here, I don't follow every post on the DTF :-)

EDIT: It is digitigrade! I was mis-interpreting where the heel was (halichoeres and I were chatting offline about it).

[Shane]

Never forget that the historic "pivot to video" was largely manufactured by Facebook based on falsified data 

As much as I do enjoy watching video reviews, I have a fondness for the written word and will never stop preferring reading blog style reviews over watching a video.

No? Video reviews were the norm years before Facebook started hosting videos. Their "pivot to video" was in regard to their own platforms usage, and yes, largely falsified through Facebooks deliberate inaction regarding viewbotting.

I hate them too, but don't give them undue credit.

I wasn't trying to tie video reviews directly to the pivot-to-video trend, apologies if it seemed I was lumping them all together.

Video reviews have definitely existed alongside written reviews for much longer than that trend existed.

I only meant that the idea that written reviews were somehow "dead" in favor of video reviews was something influenced by the phony pivot-to-video trend. A lot of review sites (thankfully not DTF) moved away from written reviews during this time in favor of video reviews, and I think both can co-exist peacefully.

You misunderstand entirely. The pivot to video happened a long time ago, in the late 2000's. Facebook wouldn't host videos until long after.

I think you're thinking of a different "Pivot to video". The phrase is commonly associated with a trend around 2015 that absolutely was instigated by Facebook pushing fraudulent metrics. It caused a huge wave of various sites cutting staff and budget for written form and "pivoting to video" based on Facebook's falsified data on how users responded to and engaged to video. Since most of this data was made up by Facebook, a lot of these websites suffered as it turns out users don't actually prefer video to written form. Many websites folded and went under directly as a result of this.

Video reviews for products have obviously existed well before the established Facebook inspired "pivot to video" and obviously there are different benefits and drawbacks to written and video form reviews.

But video content across the entire internet exploded in the time around 2015 due almost entirely to falsified data pushed by Facebook that influenced the way practically everyone made content.

Not interested in getting into a debate over a brief tongue-in-cheek comment I made, and as I acknowledged video reviews have existed since before that and have their place. But the 2015 "pivot to video" absolutely happened and had an effect on how much of the internet created content.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

https://youtu.be/KRzavw0v4CA

[SRF]

That Triceratops is huge if you compare it to the Eofauna one. Probably bigger than the PNSO Triceratops and Torosaurus as well. Something is of with this one. The tail seems to be too long and the whole figure seems to be elongated.

[Psittacoraptor]

For 40€ the paint job leaves a lot to be desired.

[SidB]

I have to say that the articulation is better than I was concerned that it might be. I'm not put off by the color scheme or quills, as these are regular CollectA features. Size-wise, I wasn't expecting it to be smallish, I.e., 1/35 'scale or smaller, so, again, I'm not disappointed. All in all, I consider it to be a definite positive release.

[suspsy]

It's a great-looking Triceratops, but I don't think I need another one. If it were Torosaurus or Titanoceratops or Bravoceratops or Pentaceratops or some other relatively rarely represented genus, I'd have been all over it.