HAOLONGGOOD - New For 2023

[Flaffy]

Can't wait to grab this when it lands in the UK. Hopefully it made the first shipment to ED. I see Haolonggood attract quite a lot of nitpicks for accuracy (maybe that's just the nature of this hobby) but I think it's equally important to remember that, as far as I'm aware, Haolonggood are not marketed as scientific models like Eofauna or PNSO and are in the same price point as your CollectA, Safari, Papo and schliech's. In fact, this Cartonaurus is cheaper than all of those bar one and is less than half the price of PNSO's. I never thought I'd see the day I'd replace a PNSO figure XD

Safari, Papo and Schleich's Carnotaurus are all cheaper than Haolonggood's though.

I don't think Haolonggood attracts any more nitpicking than other companies with a scientific lean. Moreover, some mistakes Haolonggood have made in the past are very big oversights: the Ouranosaurus's (now fixed) manus, and the lack of epijugals on the Pachyrhinosaurus are prime examples of that.

[SidB]

Just ordered a brown version of this new release from Lana. I'm thinking to display it as a compare and contrast alongside my old Sideshow-inspired Papo Carnotaurus, rather than simply retiring the latter. That's one advantage of not confining myself too tightly to having only one one-of-a-kind of each taxon (though I draw the line at the really big shelf hogs).

[Bread]

I love this model, I just placed an order for the Grey variant. I've been wanting a chunky Carnotaurus for a while now. Maybe down the road I'll add lips but I think in this case it looks fine without.

Safari, Papo and Schleich's Carnotaurus are all cheaper than Haolonggood's though.

This is not true. This really depends on where you are, and where you buy the model(s) from.

Let's say I am buying just a Carnotaurus model from any of these companies.
Safari's through their website of course, Papo from Happy Hen Toys, or Schleich through Happy Hen Toys. Haolonggood through LanaTimeShop or Aliexpress.

Safari's shipping is roughly $5 and I don't expect it to be higher just for 1 figure. So this model would roughly be about $20.

Happy Hen Toys is roughly the same in terms of shipping. Papo is about $28 as the figure is listed as $21, include a bit of tax, plus shipping is over $5 for sure. Schleich's most updated Carnotaurus is about $18 then just add tax and plus shipping so about $25.

I just ordered this Carnotaurus through Aliexpress, My Online Toy Store for a list under $20. Shipping was free so I only had to pay $2 in taxes. So it came out to about $22.

These are all estimates of course.

But all in all, they're close in price, Papo being the most expensive but Safari's being cheaper only by $2 from Haolonggood if my estimates are is right.

Edit: This is being a US customer. Prices may vary.

[Pliosaurking]

I do like this one, it's definitely an improvement over their Allosaurus, but I think they are better at herbivores. I think I like the brown version better, but both are nice looking.

[Flaffy]

@Bread I tend not to take into account shipping, taxes and import fees when discussing figure prices as they can vary so much depending on where you reside. For example, say a figure only costs $10, but shipping halfway across the world is $30, it wouldn't be fair to judge the production quality of said $10 figure with a $40 lens.

Since W @Wally-217 indicated that they're from the UK, I used prices on EverythingDinosaur:
Schleich: 11.89 GBP. ($14.97)
Safari: 11.99 GBP ($15.09)
Papo: 13.99 GBP ($17.61)
HLG: 15.36 - 15.92 GBP ($19.33 - $20.04)

And accounting for shipping and taxes;
Cheapest shipping from EverythingDinosaur: 3.15 GBP ($3.96)
Shipping from Aliexpress: 0.00 GBP
Tax from Aliexpress: 3.02 - 3.07 GBP ($3.80 - $3.86)

As a UK customer, it would therefore be inaccurate to say that HLG is cheaper than the other 3 companies in the list.

[Flaffy]

At first glance, these look nice! On closer inspection, I think I can discern some anatomical flaws:

- There is no evidence of Carnotaurus (and Aucasaurus, for that matter) possessing manual unguals (Agnolin & Chiarelli, 2010).

- Lack of lips and what appears to be a bit of shrink-wrapping going on the skull, as already comented.

- I'm not sure about the distribution of the feature scales. These should be randomly distributed (Hendrickx & Bell, 2021). I've been looking at the available pics and I'm not sure I can tell if they got it right or wrong. I'm seeing some linearity there, such as in prior reconstructions, but with some scale being the "outlier". That doesn't look very random to me, but I'm not sure about this aspect. 

I'll concede that these are an improvement over the Allosaurus though, but I still think Haolonggood's better at herbivores in general (but the Dilophosaurus and the Megaraptor were looking mighty fine in those teasers!).

The upcoming Creative Beast version is still the number 1 Carnotaurus in scientific accuracy (ignoring its nature as an action figure). What I'm not sure about is if should I go with this Haolonggood or just wait for the Cyberzoic. I like this Haolonggood Carno, but it can get better than it accuracy-wise, as the Cyberzoic/BotM shows (despite also being bigger and more expensive). According to dinotoycollector.com, Carnotaurus is the 9th most frequently made prehistoric animal in the figure market, so I'm leaning to just wait for the moment.

Also, looking forward to the Dilophosaurus and the Megaraptor! Hopefully there will be some more herbivores too, especially overdue ones like Maiasaura.

D. Watson, quoting Carrano 2012, would disagree with you regarding the absolute certainty of the lack of distal unguals on these two genera.

The issue is, even IF Carnotaurus had clawed digits (I personally find this very unlikely based on the highly reduced nature of it's forelimbs, same goes for Majungasaurus), HLG's take on it is still inaccurate for the simple fact that the 4th "digit" is actually an elongate conical metacarpal spur (according to RUIZ et al., 2011, but iirc there are different interpretations). No phalanges were present on this spur, therefore including a 4th claw makes the manus of the HLG Carnotaurus inaccurate. Moreover, no dinosaur has clawed digits past digit 3, so another point in favour of not painting/sculpting the 4th digit with a claw.




Moreover, quoting RUIZ et al., 2011:
"The hand of Carnotaurus shares several features with those of Aucasaurus and Majungasaurus, but the hands of the latter genera also display autapomorphies, indicating that the diversity in abelisaurid hand structure is similar to the diversity of cranial protuberances of these dinosaurs."

In this instance, I don't think it's a good idea to overly infer speculative anatomical traits between different abelisaurids as the morphology is highly variable it seems. Must be judged on a case by case basis, and in Carnotaurus's (and Majungasaurus) case, I am not convinced they had well developed claws on their digits.

[Flaffy]

Some more pics courtesy of Paleofiguras

Brown ver.

Spoiler

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Grey ver.

Spoiler

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[Faelrin]

Are the hand claws sculpted or painted on? Because if they are painted on, they could just not be in future batches. A simple fix (akin to Safari Ltd's Iguanodon). I'm more concerned if they got the skin based on the 2021 paper right, or if they used an older reconstruction (like they did with the Allosaurus). Can't really tell with the available images.

Granted I already have the Safari Ltd, which has lips, albeit dated in its skin, but was sculpted and released years before that paper came out, and I'm planning on getting the Cyberzoic one which also has lips and updated skin. That said there is no Carnotaurus with updated skin on the market so if this one got this right I may consider it. Otherwise as far as the previous reconstruction goes I am still fully satisfied with my Safari Ltd one.

That said I think this model is pretty nice although it has some shortcomings (no lips, claws, maybe shrinkwrapping on the head, maybe the skin). The coloration is simple but nice, although I think it continues a paleo trend of Carnotaurus being red or warm colors. A green one (for example, came to mind because I've been playing Ark again) would have helped break that trend I think, but it is no big deal.

[Bread]

@Bread I tend not to take into account shipping, taxes and import fees when discussing figure prices as they can vary so much depending on where you reside. For example, say a figure only costs $10, but shipping halfway across the world is $30, it wouldn't be fair to judge the production quality of said $10 figure with a $40 lens.

Since W @Wally-217 indicated that they're from the UK, I used prices on EverythingDinosaur:
Schleich: 11.89 GBP. ($14.97)
Safari: 11.99 GBP ($15.09)
Papo: 13.99 GBP ($17.61)
HLG: 15.36 - 15.92 GBP ($19.33 - $20.04)

And accounting for shipping and taxes;
Cheapest shipping from EverythingDinosaur: 3.15 GBP ($3.96)
Shipping from Aliexpress: 0.00 GBP
Tax from Aliexpress: 3.02 - 3.07 GBP ($3.80 - $3.86)

As a UK customer, it would therefore be inaccurate to say that HLG is cheaper than the other 3 companies in the list.

Safari, Papo and Schleich's Carnotaurus are all cheaper than Haolonggood's though.

This is not true. This really depends on where you are, and where you buy the model(s) from.

Like I said it depends on where the person is located and where they buy from.

But how can you not take into account shipping and taxes? Others rely on this and I've seen many times where people are swayed by the products shipping and taxes cost. Shipping cost or taxes are too high, people sway away from the product.

For example, having shipped items to Martin Garratt before, I've used LanaTimeShop due to Everything Dinosaur being a little more expensive due to shipping cost. Then again, ED caries some items Lana doesn't, vice versa. But anyways, if I were to ship HLG items to Martin, I'd choose Lana, but for other items like collectA figures I of course have to use ED.

Another example would be shipping items to dinosaur_models_artworks. Shipping to Spain, I was warned that ED would be the more expensive option but Lana and Aliexpress the cheaper option due to shipping. So if I were to start having HLG products ordered to dinosaur_models_artworks I would use HLG or Aliexpress.

My point being that this really depends on location. So to say HLG Carnotaurus is the most expensive of the options available is not at all true.

[edu]

Beside the lips, this reconstruction looks really similar to the BOTM one. A bit bulkyer (i like it). The head doesn't look shrinkwrapped to me, it's just those vertical folds over the mouth, also present in the Allo. And for the skin, from the pictures posted by @Flaffy , it looks up to date. I like it a lot.

[Flaffy]

Are the hand claws sculpted or painted on? Because if they are painted on, they could just not be in future batches. A simple fix (akin to Safari Ltd's Iguanodon). I'm more concerned if they got the skin based on the 2021 paper right, or if they used an older reconstruction (like they did with the Allosaurus). Can't really tell with the available images.

Granted I already have the Safari Ltd, which has lips, albeit dated in its skin, but was sculpted and released years before that paper came out, and I'm planning on getting the Cyberzoic one which also has lips and updated skin. That said there is no Carnotaurus with updated skin on the market so if this one got this right I may consider it. Otherwise as far as the previous reconstruction goes I am still fully satisfied with my Safari Ltd one.

That said I think this model is pretty nice although it has some shortcomings (no lips, claws, maybe shrinkwrapping on the head, maybe the skin). The coloration is simple but nice, although I think it continues a paleo trend of Carnotaurus being red or warm colors. A green one (for example, came to mind because I've been playing Ark again) would have helped break that trend I think, but it is no big deal.

Straight from the 2021 paper; most up to date consensus on Carnotaurus's integument.



Noticeable discrepancies would be the presence of large osteoderms scales on the neck region. And depending on how pedantic you are the presence of dorsal midline osteoderms feature scales (probably would've preserved with the fossil if it had them).

The only real inaccuracy would be the lack of cornified covering on the nasal region. Fred's artwork clearly demonstrates the difference between a pre-2021 and post-2021 reconstruction. I'd say the HLG falls into the pre-2021 category, while the BotM is clearly a post-2021 reconstruction.



One thing people haven't mentioned yet is the caudefemoralis muscle, which in Carnotaurus is infamously robust. I feel like HLG's take is rather conservative and could've been thicker, which is odd as the tail doesn't match the body's bulk. Hopefully a proper top-down view of the figure will clear this up.

[edu]

Ok, i hadn't noticed all those details, @Flaffy. Thanks.

[Faelrin]

@Flaffy Thanks for your insight. I was having a hard time getting a look at the finer details due to the angles and lack of up close shots of the sculpt in the images. Good point about the tail as well. That actually slipped my mind earlier, since I just had woken up at that point, and was still pretty groggy at that point.

[bmathison1972]

Nice Carny but I am more than satisfied with the most recent Safari version!

[Sim]

Oh my gosh yes, Carnotaurus!  I've been wanting a Carnotaurus that I like for a long time, the Creative Beast one being too big for me and the available Carnotaurus figures not satisfying me.  I like the Haolonggood Carnotaurus already!

It's nice to see Chasmosaurus I think it is being teased by Haolonggood again!  I hope a figure of it is coming soon from Haolonggood!

The issue is, even IF Carnotaurus had clawed digits (I personally find this very unlikely based on the highly reduced nature of it's forelimbs, same goes for Majungasaurus), HLG's take on it is still inaccurate for the simple fact that the 4th "digit" is actually an elongate conical metacarpal spur (according to RUIZ et al., 2011, but iirc there are different interpretations). No phalanges were present on this spur, therefore including a 4th claw makes the manus of the HLG Carnotaurus inaccurate. Moreover, no dinosaur has clawed digits past digit 3, so another point in favour of not painting/sculpting the 4th digit with a claw.

I think it's possible the fourth finger of Carnotaurus had a claw.  It's actually not true no dinosaur had claws past the fourth finger, Darren Naish said on Facebook that there's an ornithopod, I think it was that type of dinosaur from what I remember, with a claw on the fourth finger.

Noticeable discrepancies would be the presence of large osteoderms on the neck region. And depending on how pedantic you are the presence of dorsal midline osteoderms (probably would've preserved with the fossil if it had them).

The larger scales of Carnotaurus are not osteoderms as they don't have a bone core.  It's possible Carnotaurus had midline large scales that weren't preserved.

[Takama]

Excelent choice with the Carnotarus V @vampiredesign

But may I ask if the Dilophosaurus and Megaraptor are still comeing eventually?

 

[Flaffy]

The issue is, even IF Carnotaurus had clawed digits (I personally find this very unlikely based on the highly reduced nature of it's forelimbs, same goes for Majungasaurus), HLG's take on it is still inaccurate for the simple fact that the 4th "digit" is actually an elongate conical metacarpal spur (according to RUIZ et al., 2011, but iirc there are different interpretations). No phalanges were present on this spur, therefore including a 4th claw makes the manus of the HLG Carnotaurus inaccurate. Moreover, no dinosaur has clawed digits past digit 3, so another point in favour of not painting/sculpting the 4th digit with a claw.

I think it's possible the fourth finger of Carnotaurus had a claw.  It's actually not true no dinosaur had claws past the fourth finger, Darren Naish said on Facebook that there's an ornithopod, I think it was that type of dinosaur from what I remember, with a claw on the fourth finger.

Claims require evidence, and all evidence we have points towards a clawless digit IV on ceratosaurians as a whole. Carnotaurus having 4 clawed digits is possible, like how a Tyrannosaurus with neon pink fuzz is possible. Moreover using an ornithopod, a dinosaur belonging in an entirely different clade, as evidence to support the hypothesis of Carnotaurus having 4 clawed digits is not the way to go imo.

I'm very curious which genus of ornithopod Naish is referencing. Would like to read more about it.

Noticeable discrepancies would be the presence of large osteoderms on the neck region. And depending on how pedantic you are the presence of dorsal midline osteoderms (probably would've preserved with the fossil if it had them).

The larger scales of Carnotaurus are not osteoderms as they don't have a bone core.  It's possible Carnotaurus had midline large scales that weren't preserved.

Ah my mistake, I keep forgetting that osteoderms specifically refers to stuff with bony cores.

[Lynx]

No lips are understandable since these figures are so small, but regardless these look nice. I already have a carnotaurus, being the Carnegie version which is good despite being large, so I'm not interested in picking it up. Definitely a nice figure though!

[Sim]

I don't think using an ornithopod is unreasonable, since the often circulated claim is that no dinosaur has claws past the third finger.  I can't remember which ornithopod it was, I suggest asking Darren Naish about it if you'd like to learn more about it.

[Eatmycar]

All of me knows this is a definite improvement over their Allosaurus and the PNSO and Papo Carnotaurus. Like, I'm wholly aware of that. The Grey one is gorgeous to boot.


But I still... idk. It's the lips, man. I'd pick Safari's Carnotaurus over this because of that. I also like that the Safari one seems more thick as well.

Actually, the more I think about it the more I dislike it. The color options could be more dramatic, for one. I feel this is far too conservative on *both* paint jobs. I mean a red-brown on Carnotaurus? Wow. What's next?

Red plates on a green Stegosaurus?

Sincerely, an entirely brown animal would be more distinct than red on Carnotaurus to avoid that boring trope.

I sincerely don't want to be harsh, Haolonggood has been nothing but hits this year, but this Carnotaurus is leaves a lot to be desired because the competition for this animal is just so damn good. Safari set a high bar in the statue realm, and BoTM and the Hammond one are going to be gorgeous as well.

It's good don't get me wrong. It's damn good. But it could and should be better.

The nasal corning should also be present. That's from 2021.

The caudofemoralis should be thicker as well.