Papo: New for 2023

[GojiraGuy1954]

I think Schleich has improved.  They're still not great, but their 2023 prehistoric figures look better than Papo's.

Really?

[Images removed]


At least the Papo Concavenator is only ugly in an unappealing way

Yes, really.  The Papo Concavenator is ugly due to being unrealistic too.  Its feathers look like tentacles and the brow scales are nonsense which don't match osteological correlates on Concavenator's skull.  Its brow scales and large belly scales are reminiscent of similar nonsense integument on the Papo Protoceratops, and Schleich's newest Carnotaurus.  The Papo Concavenator reminds me of Schleich because its integument just looks like fantasy, something Schleich used to do often.
I don't see anything wrong with Schleich's Monolophosaurus except that it has oversized feet, something some Papo dinosaurs suffer from as well.

And I'm going to disagree about Schleich's prehistoric figures for 2018 and 2019, I find their 2023 releases generally better and 2018/2019's poor, except for the Spinosaurus which was decent.

Papo conca is too far but pinhead edmonto is just fine

[Sim]

By pinhead do you mean microcephaly?  The Schleich Edmontosaurus's head looks to be the right size, I think what makes it look small is that it's looking straight ahead and the neck isn't thick enough and the feet are inaccurately tiptoeing which makes the head look lower.  The Edmonto is terrible but at least it looks more aesthetically pleasing than Papo's Concavenator.  Also, the Papo Einiosaurus looks like a small-headed individual.

The Edmontosaurus is the worst of Schleich's 2023 figures, the rest are all better, and I stand by what I said about them GENERALLY being better than 2018's and 2019's.

[Duna]

Oh, I feel really disappointed, from Carnegie times (and maybe excepting Favorite's) there's still no good figure of my favourite theropod, Concavenator? (No, I don't like Safari's at all). I could pass the mowhawk, the integument, the colour and even the arms ... but what's that Playdoh on the TAIL??  And those scutes on the belly??

[Concavenator]

Imagine having an Apatosaurus, cutting its tail an 80 %, its head and neck completely and putting a juvenile Einiosaurus head on it. That's basically the Papo Einiosaurus.

[Bread]

Oh, I feel really disappointed, from Carnegie times (and maybe excepting Favorite's) there's still no good figure of my favourite theropod, Concavenator? (No, I don't like Safari's at all). I could pass the mowhawk, the integument, the colour and even the arms ... but what's that Playdoh on the TAIL??  And those scutes on the belly??

Dilophosaurus too!

[Stegotyranno420]

Imagine having an Apatosaurus, cutting its tail an 80 %, its head and neck completely and putting a juvenile Einiosaurus head on it. That's basically the Papo Einiosaurus.

Deary me, I forgot about that discovery, this just makes the figure lose a shred of accuracy I thought it had...

[Ivántirrophus]

I hope Concavenator looks better in hand. it reminds me of Star Ace's Concavenator but cheaper versión

[MLMjp]

Yikes...

[SpartanSquat]

Well its a surprise, but the conca its not my cup of tea, looks like it was made by the same sculptor of the protoceratops, its noted due the large scute resembling ark dinos but worse.
The einiosaurus, I hope we will get better resolution pics, I dont know if its made by the korean sculptor.
BTW the korean sculptor did the new 2023 dragons, the wyvern and marine ones.

[Mellow Stego]

I think the Concavenator actually looks pretty decent. Just wish it didn't have those noodles all over it.

[PrimevalRaptor]

The new dragons are cool, looking forward to closer pics.
But those dinosaurs...oh dear.
The colors themselves are really nice, like the added red hues but good lord the sculpts. The Einiosaurus seems decent apart from the head looking a tad small (and the eye area being a bit...eh compared to e.g the Pentaceratops) but god the Concavenator. I would love the feathering if it didn't look like play-doh noodles and the scutes are just horrid, it's as if someone said "hey know how people give every theropod under the sun croc scutes? We can do worse".
It's...rough for sure, Einiosaurus may look better in hand but for the Concavenator I feel there's not much hope.

[Flaffy]

Pretty much only the extants interest me, particularly that reissue of the Malayan Tapir.

The Concavenator looks absolutely horrendous. Sphagetti filaments aside, the out-of-place chest scutes are very reminiscent of this year's slightly less off-putting Protoceratops. The Einiosaurus's head is far too small. Doug's one still holds the crown for being the best one on the market, closely followed by CollectA's.

Not sure why they don't just commission Mr. Seo for their sculpts as usual, at least Mr. Seo's sculpts while monstrous, have an instantly recognisable Papo-flair, and are (mostly) pleasing designs. Not a fan of this new sculptor's work at all.

[Flaffy]

Concavenator is just awful
Reminds me of the conversation in the controversial opinion thread. I think this is what happens when you let 2 differeng sculptors, one experienced and one new work together. Or maybe the old Papo sculptor is just losing it.

I doubt Mr. Seo has lost his edge. Just take a look at the Kronosaurus and Mosasaurus. While not perfect, big improvements compared to his previous attempts at marine reptiles (plesiosaurus & tylosaurus).

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Pretty much only the extants interest me, particularly that reissue of the Malayan Tapir.

The Concavenator looks absolutely horrendous. Sphagetti filaments aside, the out-of-place chest scutes are very reminiscent of this year's slightly less off-putting Protoceratops. The Einiosaurus's head is far too small. Doug's one still holds the crown for being the best one on the market, closely followed by CollectA's.

Not sure why they don't just commission Mr. Seo for their sculpts as usual, at least Mr. Seo's sculpts while monstrous, have an instantly recognisable Papo-flair, and are (mostly) pleasing designs. Not a fan of this new sculptor's work at all.

It's possible they want more to release than he can manage at a given time frame.

[Jose S.M.]

I don't know what to say about the Concavenator honestly. Why are those filaments like that? Papo has done feathering well in the past so if they are supossed to be feathers or quills they should have done better. Also why the random scutes all over? there are like 5 different scutes types there and animals have different kind of integument sometimes but heere they don't blend organically, they look like afterthoughts made to make the figure more interesting maybe, but to me it backfired. It may look like I'm being a hater o over crtical of this figure but even if I've never being a fan of Papo before, I used to recognize the life-lke quality of their figures but this dropped the ball for me.
Einiosaurus looks fine, it might have better paint apps at least in the promo pic than the Safari one but Doug's wins in the posing and general look of the figure for me.

[Sim]

@Flaffy, I can't remember where I saw it, but I've read that the Papo Plesiosaurus and Tylosaurus weren't by Mr. Seo.

[Concavenator]

No question about it: these are pretty bad. However, credit for Papo for giving spaghetti feathers to the Concavenator, Elena Cuesta (who did her PhD thesis on it) believes it had some sort of external structure. Still, the versions by Carnegie and Safari completely obmitted this detail. If the Mesozoic Life version is finally released, we will see if they consider this.

I still think the Protoceratops is Papo's worst dinosaur ever though.

Safe to say I'm done with Papo at this point.

You're definitely not alone in this.

[Halichoeres]

Kinda feels like with the Concavenator they were aiming for a Todd Marshall look and missed.

@Sim you're right, Seo didn't sculpt the earlier marine reptiles: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3437.msg99406#msg99406

[GojiraGuy1954]

I don't understand being "done" with a company unless you disagree with their practices on some deep moral level and don't want to continue supporting them; surely you should judge on a figure to figure basis, rather than a brand as a whole? Even Schleich makes good things sometimes.

[Dyscrasia]

@Flaffy, I can't remember where I saw it, but I've read that the Papo Plesiosaurus and Tylosaurus weren't by Mr. Seo.

Yes, that is true. There is at least one or more sculptors involved in Papo's prehistoric creatures line aside from Mr. Seo.