PNSO : New for 2023

[Chasmosaurus]

it is because his skull was found in better condition than that of other carcharodontosaurid

[Duck]

What is so special with Meraxes ?
For me it's just a smaller Giga, but I'm a noob, and I don't know the story about it.

It's much more complete, and it's also from an awesome formation in Argentina

[CARN0TAURUS]

Not gonna lie, with every latest release I'm a bit surprised they haven't done a 1:35 scale Cerato... thinking back on their recent releases it's such a mystery to me
Why they haven't done that animal yet. Same with Dilophosaurus for that matter...

Yes many medium size popular theropods like Ceratosaurus, Herrerasaurus (a crime), Megalosaurus (a crime too) Dilophosaurus and Cryolophosaurus (although we got the Safari models, but the Dilo is a bit outdated).

Luckily for us fans, Ceratosaurus has been done by other companies.  I own several, the collectA, the Mattel one, the papo, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting about.  Yes, PNSO has only ever made the giant one which for lack of space I never purchased it.  But at least us Ceratosaur fans have options, but what about Megalosaurus?  IMO, it should be one of the theropods EVERY company makes.  PNSO makes high quality theropods.  So personally, I'd LOVE to see them make a Megalosaurus.  I'm sure it would instantly be in the running for best ever, it surprises me that they haven't done one yet.

There's options for Megalosaurus too, mainly CollectA's and Toyway's...  But as much as I like British dinosaurs (I'm British) and megalosauroids, I don't want PNSO or anyone else to make a Megalosaurus for the simple fact that its appearance is unknown.  There's not much point in making dinosaur like that in my opinion.

As for Ceratosaurus, it's true there are options for it but none appeal to me and I consequently don't have a Ceratosaurus in my collection.  I would like to have a Ceratosaurus.  I'm sure the BotM version will be good but at 1:18 scale it will be too big for me.  So I'd like PNSO to make a 1:35 Ceratosaurus.

I too am surprised PNSO hasn't made a 1:35 Ceratosaurus and a Dilophosaurus yet, a Velociraptor too.  And I think Deinonychus should be made by every company due to its popularity and importance in changing the perception of dinosaurs from tail draggers to very active animals, and showing that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Nothing to do with being british these animals roamed areas that were one or two big continents way before any nation existed they don't have national ties of any sort.  But purely from a historical POV, I'd think making a Megalosaurus figure would be almost a foregone conclusion from ANY figure company.

How many dinosaurs have been put in figure form with even less material to go on?  I think we have a pretty good idea what a Megalosaurus might've looked like from combining finds of other Megalosauridae.  It wouldn't be that unusual as it has been done for so many other figures already.  I would argue that PNSO made a Zhuchengtyrannus based on less, and what about that Sinopliosaurus (?) thing that nobody knew what it was and is based on a pair of teeth?

I think from a purely historical point of view Megalosaurus is just such an incredibly important subject and the sheer lack of figures does that history a massive disservice.  I have the tiny collectA figure but we need a proper 1/35 scale version from PNSO.

[Sim]

Prehistoric animals do have ties to where they were found in the present.  I think it's a pretty widely held opinion.

You're right that figures have been based on less remains than Megalosaurus.  But I would rather not see more fragmentary figures.  Megalosaurid skulls show quite a lot of variety so I don't think it's possible to have a good idea what Megalosaurus's skull looked like.  The image below shows a selection of megalosaurid skulls.

  (Image source)

Of course though it's up to PNSO whether they make a Megalosaurus and wishes for it are valid.

[SenSx]

Yes ok, but I still agree that Megalosaurus deserves a figure for its historical legacy as the first dinosaur classified as such.
It's ok to give it an interpretation, that could change later if we discover more about it.
But I understand now why other more complete species could be a priority for some people though...

[Carnoking]

What is so special with Meraxes ?
For me it's just a smaller Giga, but I'm a noob, and I don't know the story about it.

Can't forget the cassowary style toe claw. Pretty awesome feature and to my layman's memory, fairly distinct

[CARN0TAURUS]

What is so special with Meraxes ?
For me it's just a smaller Giga, but I'm a noob, and I don't know the story about it.

Can't forget the cassowary style toe claw. Pretty awesome feature and to my layman's memory, fairly distinct

Did it move or retract that toe up like a raptor?  I mean it had to have affected or modified the way that it walked somehow, right?

[CARN0TAURUS]

Yes ok, but I still agree that Megalosaurus deserves a figure for its historical legacy as the first dinosaur classified as such.
It's ok to give it an interpretation, that could change later if we discover more about it.
I understand now why other more complete remains could be a priority for some people though...

Exactly!  And it seems to me that there is as much if not more material available than what PNSO used to make Zhuchengtyrannus.  Talk about speculative!  Someone at PNSO was bound and determined to make a Chinese version of T-rex, LOL!!!  It's almost as if Tarbosaurus wasn't awesome enough already, gimme a break! 

This is why all the nationalistic stuff needs to be removed from these animals.  As an American I take zero pride in T-rex being considered one of the top LAND predators of all time.  What does it have to do with us?  Absolutely nothing!  We need to think about what the globe looked like during those times, weren't all the continents connected?  Didn't everything start from one large continent?  It seems really silly to me to take pride or ownership over something that had nothing to do with our modern concepts of borders or territories etc.  where I live right now was thousands of feet under water a couple hundred million years ago, LOL.

If I was British I WOULD take pride in Megalosaurus but not because of the fossils themselves, but because of the historical legacy which basically kicked off the study of these amazing animals.  Even the naming systems were established there at that time and THAT is WAY more important than where the animals are found IMO.

[Faelrin]

@CARN0TAURUS I think it was just longer really (edit: was sharper compared with the other foot claws too)? The thread here has some more information on it, for anyone that missed it last year:

https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=10324.0

And the skeletal from the paper:



What's interesting is this is from the same formation as Mapusaurus as well. It wouldn't surprise me if PNSO does a figure of that genus as well. Skorpiovenator is another really good pick from that formation, and another I'd like to see from them.

And in case it would be helpful for those that like to do scale comparisons the skull was measured to be 127cm long (with the new Giganotosaurus skull estimate being between 157.8 and 168.8, or 163.4 cm).

[Fembrogon]

The toe isn't as proportionally large as that of a cassowary or a dromaeosaur; in fact it probably wouldn't have been that obvious in life.



https://www.deviantart.com/iofryy/art/Meraxes-gigas-Focus-of-the-left-and-right-foot-922353497

Still, it's just enough bigger for one to wonder what purpose it served. I don't know if the publication addressed this question at all.

[Ludodactylus]

Seems like there's really an untapped market of midsize carnivores that PNSO could dive into with a lot of success - Dilophosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Megalosaurus, Eustreptospondylus, Monolophosaurus.

I've dialed way back on theropods in my collecting, but I'd leap at a PNSO Megalosaurus or Ceratosaurus.

[thedeadlymoose]

Oh! this is beautiful. Exactly the sort of approach I had hoped for from PNSO's next theropod, too. 💙

[Duck]

if it had lips it'd be near perfect for me

Still, lips (or lack thereof) still don't concern me too much and I'll absolutely be trying to get this fella

[CARN0TAURUS]

if it had lips it'd be near perfect for me

Still, lips (or lack thereof) still don't concern me too much and I'll absolutely be trying to get this fella

Oops!  LOL

[Duck]

 

[Paleo Flo]

What is so special with Meraxes ?
For me it's just a smaller Giga, but I'm a noob, and I don't know the story about it.

Me too.

[Quiversaurus]

Not gonna lie, with every latest release I'm a bit surprised they haven't done a 1:35 scale Cerato... thinking back on their recent releases it's such a mystery to me
Why they haven't done that animal yet. Same with Dilophosaurus for that matter...

Totally agree with this ^

Most of the other companies afaik haven't really come up with Ceratosaruses, the closest of which is Rebor's, and that one seems to be discontinued. Papo's is another, but that one seems much too stylised for me. Others that I've seen are high-end resin models with bases, which aren't really what I'm looking for...

But fingers crossed to see what else PNSO is gonna come up with next, every release just has me so hyped. Can never get enough of the amazing sculpt work and paint jobs, even though many palettes and patterns - especially on theropods - are considered boring by many people (and which I don't necessarily agree with).

-----

BTW, has anyone here heard of another rumoured 2023 list of PNSO upcoming models floating around? Similar to 2022's which predicted the Acro, Sucho, etc?

[Stegotyranno420]

What is so special with Meraxes ?
For me it's just a smaller Giga, but I'm a noob, and I don't know the story about it.

Like pretty much all of the South American Carcharodontosaurids, they just are very similar but slightly different proportions.
Meraxes stands out for relatige completeness, which shows unique crest and cephalic structure, smaller hands that indicate a possible trend of shrinking, something about it's pods, and most interestingly in my opinion we have an approximate age of the animal when it died, around 40 years old if memory serves, which is older than what we thought of Tyrannosaurus age, 30 usual and 50 rare. So it is interesting to see the different rates of aging. Meraxes serves as a nice reference for reconstruction too.
In life, it is plausible to speculate these beasts would have been distinguished by colour, territory, and possibly some more "unknown unknowns".

[SRF]

The Meraxes is number 69 in the Prehistoric Animal Models line. The Suchomimus has number 67, so we're up for a surprise what number 68 will be.

[CARN0TAURUS]

The Meraxes is number 69 in the Prehistoric Animal Models line. The Suchomimus has number 67, so we're up for a surprise what number 68 will be.

Is their another announcement pending soon?  In the past I would've assumed a prehistoric line figure would be a smaller less expensive piece but after Lingwulong I can't rule out a Sauropod in the $70 range.