Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Flaffy]

For my purposes of collecting minis the sauropod tube is fantastic but I can understand why people would dislike it. A tube themed to smaller animals is a great idea but honestly any themed tube is excellent.

For me it's not that the tube consists of [x dinosaur group], it's the fact that they're recycling their old and very much outdated sculpts instead of sculpting new accurate ones. One of the main reasons why I'm usually not excited for CollectA tubes. Of course the minis that are shrunk down from their recent releases suffer no such problems, the Mamenchisaurus and Brontosaurus minis are very nice.

There's a reason why the Prehistoric Sea Life tube is considered to be the best CollectA tube, it actually has new sculpts and unique species!

[crazy8wizard]

For my purposes of collecting minis the sauropod tube is fantastic but I can understand why people would dislike it. A tube themed to smaller animals is a great idea but honestly any themed tube is excellent.

For me it's not that the tube consists of [x dinosaur group], it's the fact that they're recycling their old and very much outdated sculpts instead of sculpting new accurate ones. One of the main reasons why I'm usually not excited for CollectA tubes. Of course the minis that are shrunk down from their recent releases suffer no such problems, the Mamenchisaurus and Brontosaurus minis are very nice.

There's a reason why the Prehistoric Sea Life tube is considered to be the best CollectA tube, it actually has new sculpts and unique species!

That was what I mean by understanding why people don't like it. The Brachiosaurus sticks out like a sore thumb next to their Brontosaurus. Another reason is how a lot of people are picky about scale and minis throw specific scaling out the window, especially with gargantuan sauropods like Mamenchisaurus and Argentinosaurus.

[Turkeysaurus]

I don't know if it's even controversial but i absolutely hate how PNSO's booklets are written like from the dinosaur's mouth. Also how to draw a cartoony dinosaur. It's just so lame.

It's weird they try to produce paleo accurate dinosaurs with tiny details and comes in a box says for 14 and above years old. That booklet is for 6 year olds.

"Hi, I'm Winston the Rex, i have big teeth, no lips and ashy skin.. i just ate my best friend Doyle the Trike at lunch but i feel bad about it"

Not gonna lie, I cringed when i read all that after seeing that huge classy box & great figure. I was expecting something like DK level at least.

[marisaura]

I don't know if it's even controversial but i absolutely hate how PNSO's booklets are written like from the dinosaur's mouth. Also how to draw a cartoony dinosaur. It's just so lame.

It's weird they try to produce paleo accurate dinosaurs with tiny details and comes in a box says for 14 and above years old. That booklet is for 6 year olds.

"Hi, I'm Winston the Rex, i have big teeth, no lips and ashy skin.. i just ate my best friend Doyle the Trike at lunch but i feel bad about it"

Not gonna lie, I cringed when i read all that after seeing that huge classy box & great figure. I was expecting something like DK level at least.

the pnso booklets are one of my favorite parts of the whole brand, lol. they make all of their "characters" so oddly insecure! there's something so endearing about them to me.

[Halichoeres]

For my purposes of collecting minis the sauropod tube is fantastic but I can understand why people would dislike it. A tube themed to smaller animals is a great idea but honestly any themed tube is excellent.

For me it's not that the tube consists of [x dinosaur group], it's the fact that they're recycling their old and very much outdated sculpts instead of sculpting new accurate ones. One of the main reasons why I'm usually not excited for CollectA tubes. Of course the minis that are shrunk down from their recent releases suffer no such problems, the Mamenchisaurus and Brontosaurus minis are very nice.

There's a reason why the Prehistoric Sea Life tube is considered to be the best CollectA tube, it actually has new sculpts and unique species!

That was what I mean by understanding why people don't like it. The Brachiosaurus sticks out like a sore thumb next to their Brontosaurus. Another reason is how a lot of people are picky about scale and minis throw specific scaling out the window, especially with gargantuan sauropods like Mamenchisaurus and Argentinosaurus.

Yeah, the reused sculpts aren't a great draw for me either! I've bought two of CollectA's mini boxes, the Prehistoric Marine Animals one Flaffy mentioned, and the Prehistoric Animals one, just for the tiny Estemmenosuchus. But I can see how they'd hit the spot for someone who is specifically into minis.

[crazy8wizard]

I can see how they'd hit the spot for someone who is specifically into minis.

That's me! 

[Elengassen]

Here's an opinion that may be controversial for some: I don't mind smaller sauropod figures. Don't get me wrong, the big 1:35 ones are great, but not everyone has the space or money for a whole herd of those. The Collecta Brontosaurus, for example, is a great figure despite its small size. I'd like to see more sauropods done well in the 1:50-1:70 scale range. Maybe even 1:100, as they'd go well with a lot of 'regular-sized dinosaur' minis from Kaiyodo, Collecta, Safari etc. which tend to fall around that scale.

[Sim]

The original Jurassic World Allosaurus looks better than the over-the-top excessively monstrous later version that is also a Papo rip-off.  Of course, Papo's Allosaurus is a rip-off too, of Brett Booth's Allosaurus, I think it's a shame this has got copied so much as I find the copies are rather ugly and annoying versions of Allosaurus.

[Flaffy]

Here's an opinion that may be controversial for some: I don't mind smaller sauropod figures. Don't get me wrong, the big 1:35 ones are great, but not everyone has the space or money for a whole herd of those. The Collecta Brontosaurus, for example, is a great figure despite its small size. I'd like to see more sauropods done well in the 1:50-1:70 scale range. Maybe even 1:100, as they'd go well with a lot of 'regular-sized dinosaur' minis from Kaiyodo, Collecta, Safari etc. which tend to fall around that scale.

I personally feel that 1:50-60 is a good scale for large sauropods. e.g. a 1:60 scale Argentinosaurus would be (at minimum) ~50cm long.

Smaller sauropods can be made in 1:35 no problem like Amargasaurus.

[Elengassen]

I personally feel that 1:50-60 is a good scale for large sauropods. e.g. a 1:60 scale Argentinosaurus would be (at minimum) ~50cm long.

Smaller sauropods can be made in 1:35 no problem like Amargasaurus.

Yes! A 1:60 Argentinosaurus would be as big as or bigger than many 1:40 sauropod figures 

[Turkeysaurus]

I don't mind as long as my dinosaurs scaled correctly to each other. I really don't like off scale dinosaurs next to eachother. I had to sell all my small collecta sauropods the moment i got my first 1/35 sauropod.

[SidB]

One way around the discrepancy is to use some of the smaller scale ones as subadults, where possible.

[Elengassen]

One way around the discrepancy is to use some of the smaller scale ones as subadults, where possible.

Yup, that's what I'm doing with my Carnegie Brachiosaurus (at least until the Haolonggood one comes along  )

[GojiraGuy1954]

I don't know if it's even controversial but i absolutely hate how PNSO's booklets are written like from the dinosaur's mouth. Also how to draw a cartoony dinosaur. It's just so lame.

It's weird they try to produce paleo accurate dinosaurs with tiny details and comes in a box says for 14 and above years old. That booklet is for 6 year olds.

"Hi, I'm Winston the Rex, i have big teeth, no lips and ashy skin.. i just ate my best friend Doyle the Trike at lunch but i feel bad about it"

Not gonna lie, I cringed when i read all that after seeing that huge classy box & great figure. I was expecting something like DK level at least.

the pnso booklets are one of my favorite parts of the whole brand, lol. they make all of their "characters" so oddly insecure! there's something so endearing about them to me.

Maybe its our fault

[Halichoeres]

I like smaller sauropods fine (like the ~1:60 CollectA Dreadnoughtus), but I keep them on a separate shelf from my 1:35/1:40 sauropods. I have a conveniently scaled forest diorama for them.

[Concavenator]

Personally, I'd rather have my sauropods in 1:40 than in 1:35, just in order to save space. That applies to smaller sauropods like Amargasaurus and Shunosaurus too, but those being smaller I don't really have a problem with them being made in 1:35.

@Halichoeres I recall you said you were going to get rid of Kaiyodo's Dakotaraptor because you said it was too small for you (around 1:50 - 1:60). Starting from which scale would you consider a figure to be "too small"?

For huge sauropods, I see why you would be okay with 1:60 or so. If they're big figures at that scale, at 1:35 they're absolutely massive. Not that this is any problem for Haolonggood, though!

[Sim]

On the subject of the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor, I think it's around 1:35 scale if Dakotaraptor is Deinonychus-sized which is one interpretation suggested by Andrea Cau based on the Hell Creek dromaeosaurid tail, alternatively Dakotaraptor could be larger with a smaller tail like Utahraptor...

[Elengassen]

Personally, I'd rather have my sauropods in 1:40 than in 1:35, just in order to save space. That applies to smaller sauropods like Amargasaurus and Shunosaurus too, but those being smaller I don't really have a problem with them being made in 1:35.

Is there really much of a noticeable difference between those scales? A lot of the old '1:40' figures were closer to 1:35 anyway.

On the subject of the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor, I think it's around 1:35 scale if Dakotaraptor is Deinonychus-sized which is one interpretation suggested by Andrea Cau based on the Hell Creek dromaeosaurid tail, alternatively Dakotaraptor could be larger with a smaller tail like Utahraptor...

We don't really know what Dakotaraptor looked like anyway. I think I saw somewhere that it might have been a unenlagiine?
I think the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor actually makes a pretty decent 1:35 Deinonychus 

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

Personally, I'd rather have my sauropods in 1:40 than in 1:35, just in order to save space. That applies to smaller sauropods like Amargasaurus and Shunosaurus too, but those being smaller I don't really have a problem with them being made in 1:35.

Is there really much of a noticeable difference between those scales? A lot of the old '1:40' figures were closer to 1:35 anyway.

On the subject of the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor, I think it's around 1:35 scale if Dakotaraptor is Deinonychus-sized which is one interpretation suggested by Andrea Cau based on the Hell Creek dromaeosaurid tail, alternatively Dakotaraptor could be larger with a smaller tail like Utahraptor...

We don't really know what Dakotaraptor looked like anyway. I think I saw somewhere that it might have been a unenlagiine?
I think the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor actually makes a pretty decent 1:35 Deinonychus 

Definitely gonna write that one down, especially with the smaller Ornithomimisaur as well, this may be my first kaiyodo...

[crazy8wizard]

We don't really know what Dakotaraptor looked like anyway. I think I saw somewhere that it might have been a unenlagiine?
I think the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor actually makes a pretty decent 1:35 Deinonychus 

Yeah, the description of Hesperornithoides in 2019 restores it as a unenlagiine because of the rather small humerus. Of course this is assuming the humerus is indeed from the same individual of Dakotaraptor and not a smaller individual or different genus.

I plan to paint my extra one as an Acheroraptor.