PNSO : New for 2023

[Faelrin]

C @CarnotaurusKing Maybe it might have something to do with the way it is numbered? Yangchuanosaurus is 77, but this new figure is 75. Megalosaurus was 74. So seems like there's at least one more that's yet to release, so who knows if that will have the species name or not either. If it does, then it might be a new trend going forward. If not then you might be right about them doing the other species of Yangchuanosaurus as well.

[Paleo Flo]

I think, that could be one of PNSO's best offerings. It looks very promising and will be a perfect stand in for my beloved Allosaurus.

What a pitty that I will cut back from serious collecting after my final acquisition with the final models has knocked on my door.

[Lynx]

Weird the Saurophaganax isn't listed with its species name, but Yangchuanosaurus was. Makes me wonder whether we'll get a "Y. magnus" soon.

In my very quick skimming of some papers on Yangchuanosaurus, there was little indication that "Y.magnus" was actually older than the holotype (CV 00215). Carrano et al (2012) mentions an additional fenestra on the maxilla of "Y.magnus" being a potential signal of maturity, however Rauhut et al (2005) finds that juvenile Allosaurus have more pneumatized skulls than adults. The sacrum is fused in both the holotype and "Y.magnus", and the maxilla and mandibles are also fused (Zhiming et al 1983), indicating both were similarly mature. Carrano et al (2009) mentions ventral keels on "Y.magnus" cervicals which are absent in the holotype, though they mention it "may be a function of comparing different positions within the column" (I'm not sure what they mean by this, any clarification would be welcome). So if the holotype is an adult, that would suggest either an unprecedented amount of individual variation in Y.shangyouensis, or that "Y.magnus" is a separate species. Or PNSO just felt like releasing a model with a full scientific name, who knows.

I am probably completely wrong about all of this. Any clarifications/corrections are welcome.

The Saurophaganax is gorgeous. Big fan of the pose and the color scheme (though it's maybe a bit dull, based on these images). Glad to see lips might be here to stay. Could also work as a 1/25-1/30 scale Allosaurus.

Probably because Sauro only has one species, unlike Yangchuanosaurus which has two.

[Bread]

Man I cannot help myself, this figure is really nice and I am hoping to have a repaint of it.



Something to really make this model pop.

Just a disclaimer, I don't mind the earth tones, I just like the use of bright colors to display amongst my shelf.

[Leyster]

In my very quick skimming of some papers on Yangchuanosaurus, there was little indication that "Y.magnus" was actually older than the holotype (CV 00215). Carrano et al (2012) mentions an additional fenestra on the maxilla of "Y.magnus" being a potential signal of maturity, however Rauhut et al (2005) finds that juvenile Allosaurus have more pneumatized skulls than adults. The sacrum is fused in both the holotype and "Y.magnus", and the maxilla and mandibles are also fused (Zhiming et al 1983), indicating both were similarly mature. Carrano et al (2009) mentions ventral keels on "Y.magnus" cervicals which are absent in the holotype, though they mention it "may be a function of comparing different positions within the column" (I'm not sure what they mean by this, any clarification would be welcome). So if the holotype is an adult, that would suggest either an unprecedented amount of individual variation in Y.shangyouensis, or that "Y.magnus" is a separate species. Or PNSO just felt like releasing a model with a full scientific name, who knows.

Hindlimb bones seemed to be less ossified in CV 00215. Plus all of the supposed apomorphies are not so if you consider they are traits known to be ontogenetic or to vary within the same species.

[Medzo]

Meh, at this point I just hope PNSO would stop producing their old lipless theropods so at least they'll have some value on the secondary market.

[SidB]

Meh, at this point I just hope PNSO would stop producing their old lipless theropods so at least they'll have some value on the secondary market.

I'm suspecting that there is still a large market out there that is unaware of or oblivious to the lip versus non-lip debate. They would be a candidate market until stocks are used up or production of lipless theropods ceases.

[Faelrin]

There does also seem to be a minority (at least judging from the likes and comments on PNSO's instagram posts for a while now), that is fully against lips on theropods.

It will be interesting to see these two theropods with lips do compared to the previous ones. The next thing they need to work on is more variety in both species and colorations. I was looking at D @Dino Scream3232 recent post (edit: on instagram) comparing Haolonggood's releases for the past 6 months and PNSO's for a year (literally all theropods since the Deinocheirus, but at least that one feels unique compared to the onslaught of allosauroids and tyrannosauroids this year, ditto with the coloration). Aside from winning with the variety of species, Haolongood has a diversity of coloration (and even has multiple options to pick from unlike PNSO). Since PNSO's offerings have only theropods and among those I'd dare say only the Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus stand out, perhaps the Suchomimus as well. As far as colorations go, only the Deinocheirus, Suchomimus and Meraxes stand out to me, and maybe the Gorgosaurus with its light base color and unique striping, as well as the use of blue and red on the head. The rest easily all blend together and I think could easily get lost on a shelf together.

[Dino Scream3232]

Thanks for the shoutout @Faelrin. Lingwulong was the last herbivore PNSO did which was over a year ago. Only one not pictured is Sinopliosaurus. I'm actually glad I didn't pick up Cameron since we all know rex will be the first one to get a redo with lips.

[oscars_dinos]

Man I cannot help myself, this figure is really nice and I am hoping to have a repaint of it.



Something to really make this model pop.

Just a disclaimer, I don't mind the earth tones, I just like the use of bright colors to display amongst my shelf.

personal preference and this is a topic that has been over done but I will say a big predator being that brightly colored ain't my cup of tea, just my opinion tho.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

As far as colorations go, only the Deinocheirus, Suchomimus and Meraxes stand out to me, and maybe the Gorgosaurus with its light base color and unique striping, as well as the use of blue and red on the head. The rest easily all blend together and I think could easily get lost on a shelf together.

While I mostly agree, I have to add that lythronax (and to some extent Mapu) definitely stand out in terms of coloration, lyth especially may well be my favorite pnso color scheme of all time, plus the sculpt is amazing (if only it wasn't oversized!)

[Skorpio V.]

Saurophaganax, the best dinosaur name no doubt. This is a great model, but like with their Allosaurus, the way the neck connects to the body looks odd to me.

The paint is alright, kinda reminds me of the Rebor Yutyrannus.

The cranial anatomy looks amazing aesthetically, definitely based on A. jimmadseni. Def would have benefited from a splash of vibrance.

[postsaurischian]

....... I was looking at D @Dino Scream3232 recent post (edit: on instagram) comparing Haolonggood's releases for the past 6 months and PNSO's for a year (literally all theropods since the Deinocheirus, but at least that one feels unique compared to the onslaught of allosauroids and tyrannosauroids this year, ditto with the coloration ... aso

Considering PNSO's first years, you can also see great diversity. Dozens, if not a hundred non-theropod figures. Now it's their time for theropods. Why not?
What the photo especially shows is that PNSO is doing the best theropods on the Dinosaur toy market . I feel a bit bad for the people who cannot enjoy these beauties.
Adding "lips" is a good move and I'm glad they don't give them those Dino Dana colours. No.76 will in all probability also be a theropod. Let's see what comes next.

I'm also a fan of HAOLONGGOOD and I don't want those companies to do the same or to have the same style. I'm pretty happy with the way it is at the moment .

The Saurophaganax will be another instant buy!

[Bread]

Man I cannot help myself, this figure is really nice and I am hoping to have a repaint of it.



Something to really make this model pop.

Just a disclaimer, I don't mind the earth tones, I just like the use of bright colors to display amongst my shelf.

personal preference and this is a topic that has been over done but I will say a big predator being that brightly colored ain't my cup of tea, just my opinion tho.

Oh that is 100% fine and honestly factual, and in reality these therapods were probably close to the original colorschemes PNSO gives them. I just like to apply extant animals coloration onto prehistoric animals, especially to add diverse colors on my shelves.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

@postsaurischian I strongly agree, tbh I feel like, looking at this image, the color schemes are actually pretty diverse and unique, the only figures I'd really class as fully brown are dasp, Yang, and mega. And even then, they all have very different patterns with dasp also using very different shades of brown. If anything, the most common color of these figures seems to be grey, with 5 grey figures, 3 brown, 2 green, and then one each of blue and white.

[Faelrin]

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here? They had plenty of theropod figures in years past too, but the key thing is they also had other things too, and now they don't for whatever reason.

2022 had:
-7 theropods (excluding Spinosaurus repaint)
-3 ceratopsians
-1 ornithopod
-1 sauropod (and since then we have only gotten theropods)

2021 had:
-8 theropods
-2 marginocephalians
-2 thyreophorans
-1 sauropod (excluding Amargasaurus repaint)
-3 ornithopods
-3 fish
-1 mammal (whale)

I dare say that was their best year since 2018 with the great variety the Little Dinosaurs had (and which I have bought a good deal of).

2020 had:
-5 theropods (including baby Tyrannosaurus, and excluding the old Wilson model repaint)
-4 ceratopsians (including the baby Sinoceratops)
-2 ornithopods
-4 thyreophorans
-1 marine reptile

2023 has had 11 theropods so far. Nothing else. And it's not just the fact they've done only theropods, they've also had poor variety among them, with 4 among Allosauroidea (3 carcharodontosaurids), and 5 tyrannosaurids. All the theropods this year have been of the scaly variety, toothy (most lipless, but they are heading in the right direction now), carnivorous variety. The last two (or three) that didn't apply to that were Deinocheirus, Therizinosaurus (and perhaps the Suchomimus, a piscivore). Most have had rather conservative colorations, with only a few deviating from that.

Where are the oviraptorosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, dromaeosaurids, troodontids, or perhaps other therizinosaurs? Even abelisaurids, which the above scaly, toothy, carnivorous nature applies too have been neglected this year so far too. Will they be doing an onslaught of them next year, or will the Carnotaurus (excluding the 2 mini Little Dinosaurs ones) remain as the only one? My post here also shows they have a strong preference for doing allosauroids and tyrannosauroids, over the years with very little else here and there, especially since 2020.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

@Faelrin not sure if ur replying to me but I do completely agree in terms of diversity, I was only pointing out that, at least to my eyes, there has been a good variety of colors this year.

[Concavenator]

When counting the number of theropods PNSO has released in a row, I've seen some people exclude Deinocheirus, Therizinosaurus, and sometimes the Suchomimus and that other spinosaurid. But let's not forget these are theropods as well, even if they deviate from the concept of the average theropod and even despite all of them (at least the feathered dinosaurs) being more unique than any genus PNSO has tackled this year. Like, even if their next figure is a something like an anchiornithid, scansoripterygid, dromaeosaurid, troodontid or alvarezsaurid (which I'm pretty confident won't be the case) it will still be the 16th theropod in a row. That's not to say I would be upset if they make a figure of any genus from those groups, actually, the other way around, I would love if PNSO made figures from animals from those groups that haven't received a good figure already. I would skip animals like Deinonychus and Utahraptor because Safari's already exists, but I would adore something like an Austroraptor, Zhenyuanlong, Halszkaraptor, Anchiornis, (a bigger) Yi, Gallimimus...

@Faelrin another genus I could see them releasing is Asfaltovenator. That's something I would like to see: it's the basalmost allosauroid, has pretty good remains to work with and it's a recent discovery. I think I'm basically the only person on the forum who wants to have a figure of it though lol

[Faelrin]

@DefinitelyNOTDilo No sorry I forgot to add earlier that response was mainly towards @postsaurischian. You do make a good point that Mapusaurus and Lythronax do stand out a bit as well. The Lythronax is the only one with spots, and Mapusaurus has a really unique pattern, and is one of the few without primarily being yellow, oranges, and brown. It's not that any of the figures have bad colorations per se, and on an individual level I found most appealing, but there is definitely quite a bit of the same or similar warm tones being used, with like only this year's Meraxes really deviating from that strongly. Haolonggood by comparison has a lot more greens, blues, and purples, alongside the warmer yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. They also have the advantage in that they offer multiple colorways (at least two), so if one is unsatisfactory, there's always an alternate option that might be more preferable for one. PNSO doesn't do this, and I sort of wish they would. Rebor and Nanmu also do this as well, and now it seems BotM/Cyberzoic will be doing it going forward as well, aside from a few of the earlier fan's choice instances that expanded the options.

@Concavenator You know, despite me griping about them doing too many allosauroids it has surprised me they haven't done that one yet. It's actually a genus I've wanted for a bit now, at least since it was described in 2019, so I might be pleasantly surprised if they were to do one (like they did with last year's Lingwulong, and this year's Meraxes). It still does not have any figures surprisingly. It has reasonably decent remains as well, mostly just lacking the hips and tail. Another I'm surprised they have yet to offer (besides the mini Little Dinosaurs figure) is the one in your namesake. Another carcharodontosaurid sure, but it has some rather unique morphology among them, at least those we have decent remains for now. It's also a smaller theropod. It's also a genus I've been wanting a figure of for some time (Mattel aside).

[Carnoking]

PNSO's work is still much more lifelike to me even if a bit duller in the color department. HAOLONGGOOD has produced an amazing variety of highly affordable and well-made models in a short amount of time, but I think they've still got a ways to go before they completely dethrone PNSO, especially when it comes to producing theropods.