Papo: New for 2023

[Carnoking]

I don't care what Papo does so long as it's good, and their good is few and far between as of late.
That said, yes, there's a lot of Jurassic options to choose from, but Papo's quality was and still is unmatched at that particular price point. Conversely, we're spoiled for choice on the lifelike scientific model side of things between the likes of PNSO and HAOLONGGOOD, and I don't see Papo matching their levels of scientific rigor anytime soon. I'd say their best bet is to go back to where they excelled with the unofficial Jurassic product or get that old sculptor back on their dinosaurs if they want to keep doing their stylized takes.

On some level I'm well aware that there are more fans of pop culture dinosaur figures than of paleo-oriented ones (with obviously plenty of overlap between the two groups). Still, I'm genuinely startled to see the latter described as spoiled for choice. I guess the way I see it, with the JP/JW franchise, there are what, maybe 200 potential subjects for figures, between the human characters and the few dozen species in the books, movies, etc. Maybe a dozen companies are making merchandise of those subjects, in various formats and at various price points. That's a lot of production effort relative to the available material. Meanwhile, if every company that makes paleo figures focused on nothing but new species every year for 20 years, they wouldn't even be close to running out of potential subjects. I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but I'm just struck how having different priorities can give someone a different outlook on the state of the market. I guess since I mostly favor non-dinosaur prehistorics, I don't really see us as being spoiled for choice.

Fair point, I was speaking more in terms of dinosaurs specifically but perhaps that outlook is a bit too narrow. Obviously there's a lot more to the fossil record that remains untapped and very probably never will be in some cases but I still feel that what we had to choose from in this hobby when I first started vs where we are now feels like a strong shift in the right direction.
Back in 2016 or so when I first started getting back into it, there was really only four brands I knew of to look into, Papo, Safari, CollectA, and Schleich, and each released an average 4-6 figures or so a year that you may or may not have been interested in.
Now on top of those old (and sometimes reliable) brands, we have PNSO which came back from the dead, HAOLONGGOOD coming out of seemingly nowhere to give them a run for their money, Vitae came and went, Eofauna is still at it slowly but surely, and then you have Beasts of the Mesozoic doing something totally different with scientifically accurate action figures. Not to mention that the work both technical and scientific from each company seems to get better and better with each year.
And yes, all of those companies still prioritize dinosaurs which does result in a limit of options for those with different interests but it does still feel like nowadays there are more accessible choices for scientific figures than movie replicas.

[SpartanSquat]

I hope Mr Seo come back to dinosaurs, because last dinosaurs were really mid. Glad he did marine reptiles and the dragons from this year

[Concavenator]

I don't care what Papo does so long as it's good, and their good is few and far between as of late.
That said, yes, there's a lot of Jurassic options to choose from, but Papo's quality was and still is unmatched at that particular price point. Conversely, we're spoiled for choice on the lifelike scientific model side of things between the likes of PNSO and HAOLONGGOOD, and I don't see Papo matching their levels of scientific rigor anytime soon. I'd say their best bet is to go back to where they excelled with the unofficial Jurassic product or get that old sculptor back on their dinosaurs if they want to keep doing their stylized takes.

On some level I'm well aware that there are more fans of pop culture dinosaur figures than of paleo-oriented ones (with obviously plenty of overlap between the two groups). Still, I'm genuinely startled to see the latter described as spoiled for choice. I guess the way I see it, with the JP/JW franchise, there are what, maybe 200 potential subjects for figures, between the human characters and the few dozen species in the books, movies, etc. Maybe a dozen companies are making merchandise of those subjects, in various formats and at various price points. That's a lot of production effort relative to the available material. Meanwhile, if every company that makes paleo figures focused on nothing but new species every year for 20 years, they wouldn't even be close to running out of potential subjects. I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but I'm just struck how having different priorities can give someone a different outlook on the state of the market. I guess since I mostly favor non-dinosaur prehistorics, I don't really see us as being spoiled for choice.

Fair point, I was speaking more in terms of dinosaurs specifically but perhaps that outlook is a bit too narrow.

When it comes to dinosaurs, it is the same groups that always gets the attention - tyrannosaurs, allosauroids, spinosaurids, hadrosaurids, ceratopsids, ankylosaurs, stegosaurids... there are several dinosaur groups that receive 0 or near 0 attention: troodontids, scansoriopterygids, anchiornithids, ornithomimids, noasaurids, basal sauropodomorphs, basal ornithopods... not to mention that some other groups receive very few figures too (i.e. dromaeosaurids, especially unenlagiines and halszkaraptorines, abelisaurids...). We might have better luck waiting for a given allosauroid (say Asfaltovenator) to get made for the first time or waiting for an up-to date version of overdue hadrosaurids like Maiasaura or Brachylophosaurus to be released than waiting for something along the likes of Buitreraptor, Halszkaraptor or Aucasaurus to get made.

And this is just the very tip of the iceberg, obviously the representation of non-dinosaur prehistoric animals in the figure market is beyond worse compared to Dinosauria as a whole.

Still, I see where you are coming from. Even though it is basically always the same groups that get the attention, it admittedly still feels nice to see some new figures of certain, relatively overlooked animals within said popular groups (for example, Suchomimus within spinosaurids, Ouranosaurus within ornithopods, Edmontonia within ankylosaurs...) show up. An important part of those paleo-accurate figures are just Tyrannnosaurus/Spinosaurus/Giganotosaurus figures, after all.

When this thread is concerned though, I would like to see Papo improve. But given the record, it wouldn't surprise me to see yet another heavily cursed model like the Concavenator, Protoceratops or Amargasaurus. A Kentrosaurus from them could be very interesting, if properly handled, of course.

[Halichoeres]

Sure, within dinosaurs proper it's certainly very uneven. I'd be fine with every company taking a ten-year break from the twenty or so most made genera. Obviously the market says otherwise, but the market is sometimes a little dumb.

If Papo is feeling a little lost without JP to lean on, they could do worse than taking inspiration from Prehistoric Planet designs.

[Flaffy]

@Halichoeres i get what you mean by feeling like there hasn't been much choice for non-dinosaur focused collections.

With the release of the Mosasaurus and Kronosaurus, hopefully this opens up the possibility of more figures in the Papo marine reptile line. Thiugh admittedly I am getting a bit sick of Mosasaurus, Kronosaurus and Elasmosaurus hogging the limelight, when there are plenty of other interesting taxa with basically complete remains waiting to be made.

[thomasw100]

@Halichoeres i get what you mean by feeling like there hasn't been much choice for non-dinosaur focused collections.

With the release of the Mosasaurus and Kronosaurus, hopefully this opens up the possibility of more figures in the Papo marine reptile line. Thiugh admittedly I am getting a bit sick of Mosasaurus, Kronosaurus and Elasmosaurus hogging the limelight, when there are plenty of other interesting taxa with basically complete remains waiting to be made.

Have a look at the portfolio of Dinosauria Creatures and then also of Miniature Museum. Many exciting species. The Miniature Museum release of this month are mainly Permian to early Triassic species. In June and July that produced about 50 models of species that featured in Prehistoric Planet. Before that, a large number of feathered dinosaur species. Essentially everything available in 1:35, and for the smaller species also in a different scale. They have by now a bit less than 300 models.

[Eatmycar]

Sure, within dinosaurs proper it's certainly very uneven. I'd be fine with every company taking a ten-year break from the twenty or so most made genera. Obviously the market says otherwise, but the market is sometimes a little dumb.

If Papo is feeling a little lost without JP to lean on, they could do worse than taking inspiration from Prehistoric Planet designs.

Your last sentence really makes me frustrated with this whole situation. While I have to thank Papo for getting me into toy collecting as a joke, they were always a bit of a bootleg company when it came to designs.

And right now, there is a wealth of new dinosaur designs out there for them to copy. Literally, the possibilities are limitless. 65, Prehistoric Planet, Walking With Dinosaurs, Retreading Jurassic's designs. So much possibility. Say what you will about 65's T. rex or the Jurassic Park Allosaurus, whatever - there's a multitude of designs for them that people like and willbuy because there is no alternative. Papo could literally corner the market like they did when Hasbro has their heads up their asses with Jurassic.

Especially with Prehistoric Planet of all bloody things! The only options out there are Marco Makes' t-posed rubbersaurs, and while I don't doubt they're well made, his poses leave so much to be desired. Papo just squanders this opportunity...

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Ivántirrophus]

Kronosaurus is the Best of Papo this year.
We need same sculptor for all 2024 dinosaurs.

[SpartanSquat]

Same opinion ivan! Dinos needs Mr Seo!

[Lanthanotus]

With all the nice birds they release the last years and the reissues of the Wooly and the Archaeopteryx in mind, I hope they reissue their long lost Dodo eventually.

[suspsy]

I would definitely snap up the dodo.

[JimoAi]

is the Papo kronosaurus more accurate than pnso?

[Lynx]

is the Papo kronosaurus more accurate than pnso?

Edit: Reply below is far more accurate

[Bread]

is the Papo kronosaurus more accurate than pnso?

It has the same issues the PNSO one has, as the PNSO one is not accurate either. The teeth should be aligned vertically, not splayed out, and should therefore be covered by lips. Though the Papo gets the tail fluke in the right orientation which the PNSO does not.

For anything more detailed (flipper anatomy, proportions, skin texture), I differ to our resident expect.

Credit to @stargatedalek who posted this assessment a few pages back.

I still find CollectA's superior (imo).

[suspsy]

I like the CollectA one best out of all of them.

[Leyster]

The orientation of the tail fluke (and its presence) is still matter of debate.

[Sim]

The presence of lips on Kronosaurus is not known.  And the CollectA Kronosaurus has unrealistic skin.

[Flaffy]

The presence of lips on Kronosaurus is not known.  And the CollectA Kronosaurus has unrealistic skin.

What's wrong with the integument on the CollectA Kronosaurus?

Also chiming in with Safari's fantastic rendition, which has the most accurate dentition out of all options on the market. I've also recently been made aware that Kronosaurus's rostral mandible is wider than the premaxilla, meaning the premaxilla should somewhat "slot" into the lower jaw when closed. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, then I wonder what that means in the ranking of accuracy between the Safari vs CollectA figure.

The PNSO and Papo Kronosaurus are certainly lagging in terms of accuracy, but I can see why people may like them better due to the less toyish presentation.

[Lynx]

The presence of lips on Kronosaurus is not known.  And the CollectA Kronosaurus has unrealistic skin.

What's wrong with the integument on the CollectA Kronosaurus?

Also chiming in with Safari's fantastic rendition, which has the most accurate dentition out of all options on the market. I've also recently been made aware that Kronosaurus's rostral mandible is wider than the premaxilla, meaning the premaxilla should somewhat "slot" into the lower jaw when closed. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, then I wonder what that means in the ranking of accuracy between the Safari vs CollectA figure.

The PNSO and Papo Kronosaurus are certainly lagging in terms of accuracy, but I can see why people may like them better due to the less toyish presentation.

Maybe the placement of the "warts" on the skin? It's speculative for sure, but I don't think its a bad thing.