CollectA - New for 2024

[Renecito]

Dreadnoughtus. 1:100






Velociraptor 1:6

[Flaffy]

The Dreadnoughtus is stunning (despite the thumb claws). Vast improvement over the Ruyangosaurus in both detail and anatomy. The oversized scales on the Ruyangosaurus did no favours in conveying a sense of scale, something the 2024 Dreadnoughtus thankfully fixes. Can't help but feel that it uses the exact same colours as this year's Hadrosaurus though XD .

The same unfortunately cannot be said for their Velociraptor... I don't understand how or why they messed up the wing anatomy when CollectA did just fine with their previous dromaeosaur - Microraptor (granted it's not perfect, but still better than the Velociraptor). No company that primarily produces scientific reconstructions should be making the mistake of wrist-wings in 2023. I guess I'm just not a fan of how CollectA sculpts raptors. The scrawny barely-feathered aesthetic should've died in the 2010s.

[Faelrin]

My reaction to seeing that Velociraptor:



After the beautiful reconstructions from Safari Ltd, BotM, or from media like Prehistoric Planet, and numerous paleoart out there, this is just unacceptable for a 2024 release. CollectA please learn from this mistake and do not do dromaeosaurids like this in the future. Look at the papers describing fossil material from Zhenyuanlong, Microraptor, Wulong, Anchornis, etc for how paravian and dromaeosaurid wing anatomy is like.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Dreadnoghtus is probably my 2nd buy from CollectA next year then

[marisaura]

the dreadnoughtus is gorgeous. collecta's sauropods are always top-notch, and this looks like an improvement even over the previous ones.

the velociraptor, on the other hand... i guess we know now why they tend to avoid paravians

[Fembrogon]

And here I was all ready to be excited about a new feathered raptor toy at last...
The above criticisms are fair, though. The final product is miles better than anything put out by, say, Schleich, but it's also evidently not up to par with the better-researched products of Safari Ltd. and Creative Beast. Maybe if it sells well it will encourage more, improved dromaeosaurs in the future, though??

The Dreadnoughtus looks awesome, however. I'm delighted to see this genus getting a big replica.

[suspsy]

This new Velociraptor is decidedly inferior to the ones from Creative Beast and Safari, but it's still a big improvement over CollectA's old version, and it's better than anything that Schleich and Mojo Fun have put out. In other words, it's a step in the right direction, albeit not as big a one as we would like. I'm on the fence myself, but I'd definitely prefer for CollectA to continue making more dromaeosaurs and hopefully improve at it.

And I really like the Dreadnoughtus. No complaints at all there. 🙂

[SidB]

The Dreadnoughtus is stunning (despite the thumb claws). Vast improvement over the Ruyangosaurus in both detail and anatomy. The oversized scales on the Ruyangosaurus did no favours in conveying a sense of scale, something the 2024 Dreadnoughtus thankfully fixes. Can't help but feel that it uses the exact same colours as this year's Hadrosaurus though XD .

The same unfortunately cannot be said for their Velociraptor... I don't understand how or why they messed up the wing anatomy when CollectA did just fine with their previous dromaeosaur - Microraptor (granted it's not perfect, but still better than the Velociraptor). No company that primarily produces scientific reconstructions should be making the mistake of wrist-wings in 2023. I guess I'm just not a fan of how CollectA sculpts raptors. The scrawny barely-feathered aesthetic should've died in the 2010s.

Good point on the Dreadnoughtus scales @Flaffy , this is a major "fix". I wondered why the otherwise fine Ryangosaurus got a sort of free pass on this  issue earlier on the DTF, what with the heavy criticism unloaded on PNSO's earlier offerings (e.g., Winter Wilson), but this is a commendable improvement by CollectA. The thumb claws don't bother me - an easy fix if I decide to remove them.

[Nyrorosaurus]

Incorrect wings aside, I think what's really throwing me off about the Velociraptor is the size of its body. It's far too small compared to a skeletal (even acknowledging that the feathers make the tail look longer than the one in the skeletal), and barely has a pubis. I don't see any major issues apart from those two, though it could probably stand to be a bit fluffier. Nice that they included a propatagium on each arm.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

The Dreadnoughtus is very pleasing. It is in a Deluxe scale, which is fitting for this gargantuan. I learnt through Everything Dinosaur's post that one of the osteoderms on the tail regions has been damaged; probably through intraspecific combat. It's hard to notice but I really like it when CollectA implements such small details; gives the beasts more character. Fortunately no air sacs on the neck; it's a highly speculative feature which I'm not a fan of. The sculpt is very good but the paint job feels same-ish to this year Hadrosaurus'. Like this years' Ruyangosaurus with the Mamenchisaurus. CollectA's sauropod are always spot-on and this one is sure a home-run.

The new Velociraptor sculpt is okay. I have the older version. Definitely better than the older version.


In comparison with the older version.

However, it is too thin-looking; it could be more beefier. The colors also could be more striking.

[Tracewyrm!]

Dreadnoughtus. 1:100

Love to see the trend of Collecta's sauropods continuing! Great to have one that isn't plain grey, too, even if the green body, yellow underbelly color scheme isn't what I would personally pick for a sauropod. I trusted that the Dreadnoughtus would look good and CollectA still surpassed my expectations! They always hit the mark when it comes to sauropods, dont they?

Unfortunately the Velociraptor isn't as great, but I wasn't going expecting something like the Safari figure, either.

[Carnoking]

Give me the gular sacks, cowards!!

[DragonRider02]

It looks like they included a propatagium-a detail that the Microraptor was missing-but somehow got wing attachment wrong. Really odd.

[Jose S.M.]

The sauropod looks amazing as usual with CollectA. Velociraptor is not horrible but it looks like it belongs to a time when feathered figures were starting to appear more in the market, like a release from a couple years after their deluxe one. I was looking forward to see how they tackled another dromeosaur and it could have been better honestly.

[Tracewyrm!]

Give me the gular sacks, cowards!!

Makes me wonder which of the major companies will be the first to really jump off into making figures with out there speculative soft tissue structures that aren't dewlaps or that Parasaurolophus crest sail thing.
I know there's probably a few examples but none of the companies have really embraced the idea as far as I know. (Not to say I don't understand why, but most of the reconstructions for figures are fairly conservative besides the ocassional fun coloration)

[PrimevalRaptor]

That Dreadnoughtus is stunning, looks really imposing and I can't wait to see more photos of it. The detailing on this one is really nice and helps to convey the sheer scale of this animal too.
Sadly the Velociraptor isn't quite there, a vast improvement from most of the toy offerings but the Safari one will still reign supreme. Still at least nice to have another more properly feathered dromaeosaur on the market (flaws aside this is still leagues ahead of Schleich)

[Flaffy]

Incorrect wings aside, I think what's really throwing me off about the Velociraptor is the size of its body. It's far too small compared to a skeletal (even acknowledging that the feathers make the tail look longer than the one in the skeletal), and barely has a pubis. I don't see any major issues apart from those two, though it could probably stand to be a bit fluffier. Nice that they included a propatagium on each arm.

Good call on the pubis (or lack thereof). Knew the proportions looked off but couldn't tell exactly what from the initial pics. And it's not like good references aren't widely available either... Very disappointing release from CollectA. It's incredibly odd that they focused on getting the propatagium correct but completely neglected to double check the rest of the figure's anatomy.

Breakdown of dromaeosaur wing anatomy by The Time Duck. I neglected to mention that Digits II and III would've likely been fused by soft tissue as well, a feature no Velociraptor on the market captures.

[Flaffy]

New HD pics courtesy of ED.

Dreadnoughtus



Velociraptor

[Gwangi]

The Dreadnoughtus is fine but much like how people are tiring of PNSO theropods I'm kinda feeling the same way about CollectA sauropods. We've gotten a sauropod from CollectA for the last three years and they're all similar in many respects. It's a great model but with shelf space at a premium the three of them are all too similar for me to want all of them.

The Velociraptor is atrocious. I guess we know why CollectA has been avoiding maniraptorans, they don't know how to do them. Just having feathers is not enough to cut it anymore. This Velociraptor reminds me a lot of the Mojo Deinonychus.

CollectA appears to have done what so many others have done in the past, sculpt a featherless dinosaur and then just add a feathered texture to it. I don't know why it is so hard for companies and artists to reference actual birds when making these things. CollectA can sculpt birds, there is no reason they cannot sculpt a dinosaur to look like a bird and then add the parts that birds don't have. This thing is gangly looking, is missing the pubic boot, has wrist-wings, and even the feather anatomy is wrong.  Huge disappointment!

So far, I'm not interested in anything prehistoric CollectA has to offer, but I have high hopes for the Diprotodon and Placerias.

[bmathison1972]

I plan on getting the Dreadnoughtus. Will look good next to last year's Ruyangosaurus and this year's PNSO Alamosaurus.

I've moved my tall sauropods from the cabinets to the top of the cabinet unit, where I have about 38-40 cm of space LOL   

With regards to the Velociraptor, I have never liked CollectA's theropods period. Besides, I have Safari's.