Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

The Battat dinosaurs were also extremely vivid at times but I think what separates them from the Safari albertosaurus is how confidently Battat executed their color schemes, with sharper color shifts and hard boundaries. Newer Safari figures have thinner paint to bring out the scale detail and utilize airbrush techniques which I think makes them look cheaper. Especially since there are some angles the airbrush didn't hit because of the contour of the figure.

See the underside of the neck area and around where the arms attach to the body:



It's not the most obvious thing, but attention to detail in areas we might not think about really improves a figure. If the figure were painted the same colors but in the more solid style of Battat, it might not be very naturalistic, but I think it would look better-executed in terms of craftmanship.

I also think Safari toys would benefit from darker base colors. If it were green underneath with the white underside airbrushed on, I don't think the missed areas would be as obvious. A dark wash (as on the sauropelta) or a dry brush (like the nasutoceratops) could then be applied to the colored plastic to bring out the detail. Or you could compare the vagaceratops, which uses it's base color as the midtone, to the diabloceratops, where it's airbrushed with a dark color on a light plastic.

[Sim]

I don't understand the criticism of the Safari Albertosaurus.  It looks fine, no actually great.  Safari really needed to stop with all the yellow-brown figures and the Albertosaurus is a nice change.  In its environment it could blend in and approach prey better, with the colouration Safari gave it.  I don't believe the Albertosaurus's colouration is trying to mimic BotM and I think it's more likely to be natural development than inspired by BotM.

[dyno77]

Im a prehistoric fan ,but the Jurassic park series arent my favorites and i dont hold the first movie in such high praise,because even though i enjoyed it,it was to built up everywhere esp back then when dinomania was still around...
Im not taking away anything from it esp the cgi which was landmark for the time..and back when it came out there was nothing like it and the toy line was steps above any dino toy line ,and still holds up well even today...
jp lost world was a better movie since at that time no other dinosaur movie had so many on screen dinosaurs and it was one of the first i saw in cinema...the jw franchise movies are nothing more than b movies with big budget..and the toyline while it improved  over time is still not as good as the original trilogy toyline in my view....
Also pnso is also held in too high praise by every place that has a collectors forum...theres nothing wrong with them per say,well sculpted and accurate,and iv even got some recently ,but most of them have this blandness about them ,even when they are in various poses they still seem static and bland...its almost if they are trying to achieve the concept art but fall short making the final figure an distant approximation...

[suspsy]

I think Nanmu has become a sad joke. All they do is continue to churn out very marginally different statues of the T. rex and the Spinosaurus. I don't care if it's profitable for them, I still think it's a terrible waste of talent and I can't fathom why anyone would want several of the exact same design on their shelves. It's straight up boring.

[Carnoking]

I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's the Apple business model in that it's essentially the same product with a fancier presentation and I can see why that can wear thin for a lot of people, even fans of the movie monster designs they're partial to using to make their money.

That said, to Nanmu's credit, they have improved tenfold in their technical abilities as artists since they first started. I don't mind the occasional redo when there's obvious improvement (which there usually is) so I will usually pick up the newer stuff with the intent of replacing the more crude offerings. However, there will come a point where they won't be able to just coast on this do over model, or even be able to bank on the unofficial Jurassic products angle. Here's hoping they branch out before that though, cuz yeah, the whole 2.0 thing is getting to be a drag.

[suspsy]

It's Malibu Stacy with a new hat, nothing more.

[Eatmycar]

But this one TALKS!

In all seriousness, I agree regarding Nanmu a hundred percent, but the business model isn't going to change unless consumers vote with their wallets here. It's frustrating because the folks at Nanmu have talent, but the same Jurassic Park dinosaurs in the same few awesomebro ready-to-fight poses? Come on.

I feel they could, like PNSO but for the opposite reason, benefit from being bold and offering new things. Do a JP Rex sitting, idk. Just the same blood thirsty monster poses from them again, and again, and again...

[Joliezac]

I personally like that Nanmu is making 2.0 versions because I'm very new to this brand (My first Nanmu figure was the tiger stripe Giga) so I didn't have the original versions and their 2.0 figures are a very good improvement. I don't have a Jurassic Park accurate Roberta in my collection so I'm very excited for their 2.0 rex. I'd love to see some more raptors.

However, I don't like that the figures are more fragile now and they have eliminated articulated jaws. I was also very excited when they teased the Dominion Theri but that seems to have disappeared..

[Lynx]

Everytime I see a picture of a t-posing "prototype" of a Nanmu Rex, I can never tell the difference. I get that Nanmu is trying to be hyper-accurate to the screen designs, but I don't think any Jurassic Park fan will notice a singular scale on a rexes belly being out of place

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

That reminds me of a potentially controversial opinion I have: I do not like unofficial Jurassic Park figures. Originally it was just Papo, but a few new brands have sprung up recently, primarily from the East.

What I would like to see is Schleich get the license. This might not seem like the best idea, but I would imagine Universal would provide the 3D models like they've done for other licensed merchandise. Mattel's toys are great action figures, but it would be nice to see an official 1:40 line of static Jurassic Park figures. Schleich would be my choice since they've made plenty of licensed figures for the Smurfs, DC Comics, and now Harry Potter, and those lines were really well-done, even if they aren't IP's that interest me.

[Stegotyranno420]

wasted talent, they could spend that talent making some nice Sauropods

[CityRaptor]

This is schleich we are talking about. I have yet to see a nice Schleich Sauropod.

That reminds me of a potentially controversial opinion I have: I do not like unofficial Jurassic Park figures. Originally it was just Papo, but a few new brands have sprung up recently, primarily from the East.

Same here.

What I would like to see is Schleich get the license. This might not seem like the best idea, but I would imagine Universal would provide the 3D models like they've done for other licensed merchandise. Mattel's toys are great action figures, but it would be nice to see an official 1:40 line of static Jurassic Park figures. Schleich would be my choice since they've made plenty of licensed figures for the Smurfs, DC Comics, and now Harry Potter, and those lines were really well-done, even if they aren't IP's that interest me.

Not Schleich. Schleich is already producing JP knockoffs in their Dinosaurs range...and most of them aren't very good.

[Bread]

Nanmu knows what sells. It's a JP Tyrannosaurus...

Me personally I don't like the 2.0 line either, but at the same time I don't blame Nanmu for doing this. They know it will sell well compared to their other models.

[Fembrogon]

What I would like to see is Schleich get the license. This might not seem like the best idea, but I would imagine Universal would provide the 3D models like they've done for other licensed merchandise. Mattel's toys are great action figures, but it would be nice to see an official 1:40 line of static Jurassic Park figures. Schleich would be my choice since they've made plenty of licensed figures for the Smurfs, DC Comics, and now Harry Potter, and those lines were really well-done, even if they aren't IP's that interest me.

You know what? I'd actually be interested in seeing this. I'm not a Schleich fan, usually, but they HAVE displayed the potential for producing good designs, and their figures are always play-friendly. I'd genuinely like to see what Schleich could/would do if they were making genuine JP dinosaurs, not just copyright-safe imitations.

[Eatmycar]

Everytime I see a picture of a t-posing "prototype" of a Nanmu Rex, I can never tell the difference. I get that Nanmu is trying to be hyper-accurate to the screen designs, but I don't think any Jurassic Park fan will notice a singular scale on a rexes belly being out of place

I wish I agreed but watching people mod the Jurassic World Evolution T. rexes to be 'film accurate', there's always some nitpick or kvetch that people have. Meanwhile nobody really cares about the other species except for maybe the raptors? People are incredibly nitpicky about the JP 1 rex. 

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I say Schleich since (as you said above, @CityRaptor) they're already doing Jurassic Park designs. Universal supplying the official models for printing, plus the standards they'd have to meet for studio approval, would mean that they'd at least be doing it right.

[Sim]

I don't understand the desire for more Jurassic Park stuff.  And if Schleich were making a JP line I highly doubt they'd make it in 1:40 considering the sizes they are already making their prehistoric figures and how the Velociraptor would be too small.  What I'd like is for Schleich to make a decent Velociraptor.  All their versions of it are lame JP knockoffs.

[Eatmycar]

I really wish we'd move away from JP stuff period. Jurassic is VERY well represented. Let's not get more Jurassic please.

[Sim]

I forgot to mention, if Schleich was making official JP figures, they'd probably still give them oversized feet like Mattel has done and like Schleich's own dinosaur range.

I too would like the prehistoric animal community to not be so affected by the Jurassic Park franchise.  If you like animals that appeared in the films, why not make/get accurate versions of them?  The film designs that people seem most eager for, aka the carnivores, tend to be pretty poor.  So I don't get wanting models of them.  And if you really want models from that franchise, there are options for that.

[suspsy]

I can't imagine Mattel would be at all pleased about Schleich also having the license.