Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Faelrin]

@Elengassen I bought that figure because I thought it was a good dromaeosaurid reconstruction (certainly Kaiyodo's best yet), but I'm not the biggest fan of the controversial choice of Dakotaraptor, so I'm glad to see it could work as a 1:35 Deinonychus instead! The anatomy isn't far off I think. My alternatives are the Rebor ones, which are too large if I recall.

[Concavenator]

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.

I would say there is a bit of a difference indeed. Especially apparent with bigger sauropods like Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, etc. Sure, one thing is the advertised scale and another the actual scale. What you say there is true, just as a lot of figures currently advertised as "1:35" are really more like 1:30 (or even bigger!).

[Elengassen]

@Elengassen I'm glad to see it could work as a 1:35 Deinonychus instead! The anatomy isn't far off I think.

Well, I'm not a paleontologist, but if you showed it to me and said it was a Deinonychus I don't think I would question you. On close inspection I think the head looks most like a Dromaeosaurus:

I would say there is a bit of a difference indeed. Especially apparent with bigger sauropods like Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, etc.

Fair enough! I suppose every inch of shelf space counts 

[Concavenator]

Fair enough! I suppose every inch of shelf space counts 

For some collectors, it sure does!

[crazy8wizard]

Well, I'm not a paleontologist, but if you showed it to me and said it was a Deinonychus I don't think I would question you. On close inspection I think the head looks most like a Dromaeosaurus:

Take that with a grain of salt though because nearly the whole upper half of Dromaeosaurus' skull is not preserved. This reconstruction gives it a tall, boxy look based on what's preserved of the maxilla.

[Elengassen]

Take that with a grain of salt though because nearly the whole upper half of Dromaeosaurus' skull is not preserved. This reconstruction gives it a tall, boxy look based on what's preserved of the maxilla.

Fair enough, didn't know that. As I said I'm not a paleontologist 
Anyway at that size the difference isn't very obvious – I think the figure would work as any generic dromaeosaurine.

[Sim]

Take that with a grain of salt though because nearly the whole upper half of Dromaeosaurus' skull is not preserved. This reconstruction gives it a tall, boxy look based on what's preserved of the maxilla.

I don't think it's just based on the maxilla.  Dromaeosaurus's lower jaw is also robust as can be seen here: http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Theropods/Dromaeosaurus.asp  It would be very strange if the rest of Dromaeosaurus's skull wasn't robust.  I think what we're seeing in these Dromaeosaurus reconstructions is the minimum depth of the skull.  It could be taller and boxier based on Utahraptor.  Also Dromaeosaurus's possible descendant Atrociraptor has a deep, robust skull.

Regarding Dakotaraptor possibly being an unenlagiine, its tail remains have the double-bony rod system that is only found in rhamphorhynchids, and certain dromaeosaurids which don't include any unenlagiines.

As for the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor, in addition to working as Dakotaraptor, I also think it could work as Dromaeosaurus, Atrociraptor, Achillobator...  There are two types of Deinonychus skulls shown in the second edition of the Princeton field guide to dinosaurs, the larger one is what we see in e.g. the Wild Safari Deinonychus and Creative Beast Deinonychus.  The other skull is a little smaller and less elongated and I think the Kaiyodo Dakotaraptor can work as this form of Deinonychus.  I don't know if the smaller Deinonychus skull is of a different species to the larger one, Paul considers them both Deinonychus antirrhopus.  It might just be different growth stages then..

[Halichoeres]

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!

This is maybe a bit silly, but in general I only collect 'miniatures' if they're above 1:50, but 'standard'-size figures I'll keep even if they're at a smaller scale than that. Essentially, I just don't want miniatures of gigantic organisms. Obviously they're all miniatures in a way, except when we're talking about arthropods and so forth, but when I say miniature I'm talking about things like Kaiyodo, Safari Toobs, CollectA mini boxes, etc. So I'll accept a smaller scale for sauropods, trees, or the largest marine animals, as long as the figure's size isn't 'miniature.' I have some trees that could work at 1:300, but figures of prehistoric trees are so rare and precious that I'm not going to turn my nose up at them.

[thomasw100]

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!

This is maybe a bit silly, but in general I only collect 'miniatures' if they're above 1:50, but 'standard'-size figures I'll keep even if they're at a smaller scale than that. Essentially, I just don't want miniatures of gigantic organisms. Obviously they're all miniatures in a way, except when we're talking about arthropods and so forth, but when I say miniature I'm talking about things like Kaiyodo, Safari Toobs, CollectA mini boxes, etc. So I'll accept a smaller scale for sauropods, trees, or the largest marine animals, as long as the figure's size isn't 'miniature.' I have some trees that could work at 1:300, but figures of prehistoric trees are so rare and precious that I'm not going to turn my nose up at them.

As you mention trees, do you know any source of high quality prehistoric plants, possibly some 3D printable models? As I am getting this huge base from Haolonggood in summer, I would like to enrich this a bit with some larger plants. These aquarium ferns the base comes with are not exactly what I would like there.

[Halichoeres]

As you mention trees, do you know any source of high quality prehistoric plants, possibly some 3D printable models? As I am getting this huge base from Haolonggood in summer, I would like to enrich this a bit with some larger plants. These aquarium ferns the base comes with are not exactly what I would like there.

I'm writing the following on the assumption that you're looking for things to fit a 1:35 display.

• The Araucaria trees from the Beasts of the Mesozoic accessory packs work pretty well at that scale. The Microraptor pack is probably most versatile in this respect because it doesn't have a dusting of snow.
• It's out of production, but Safari's "cycad" could work at 1:35
• CollectA's plants are out of scale
• If you want something that doesn't take up too much space but enriches the background, Berliner Zinnfiguren, Schmalkalder, and Mignot have various prehistoric plants available as flat pewter figures (they require painting). Some of the larger ones would work, although some are much too small.
• This user on MyMiniFactory (https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Don%20Whitaker?show=store) has several prehistoric plant prints; they are not especially rigorous but some of them look nice. I think the Williamsonia and Sigillaria are the best of them.
• Model train shops might have some nice HO or O scale conifers or magnolias that you could use as-is or lightly modify to fit in to your display.

[Elengassen]

I think the BOTM ceratopsian and tyrannosaur series (at least the larger species) should have been made in 1:35 scale instead of 1:18. That way, they'd have been more affordable, less space-consuming, and for scale nerds like me, they'd fit in better with figures from other brands. Plus, for the bipeds, this might have helped mitigate the stability issues.

[Turkeysaurus]

Haolonggood should stop making blue dinosaurs.

[Baryonyx]

Haolonggood should not make any more figures in the walking straight ahead pose, it makes them look the same which is unfair to the excellent quality otherwise.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Haolonggood should stop making blue dinosaurs.

They literally make two or three versions per figure what is the problem lmao

[Sim]

Haolonggood should stop making blue dinosaurs.

I hope to see more blue dinosaurs from Haolonggood!  I don't see a problem with it since they offer each figure in more than one colour scheme.

Haolonggood should not make any more figures in the walking straight ahead pose, it makes them look the same which is unfair to the excellent quality otherwise.

I too feel Haolonggood has used this pose too often, but I'm still happy with their figures.  I wouldn't want them to stop using a walking pose completely, just use it less often.

[Turkeysaurus]

Haolonggood should stop making blue dinosaurs.

They literally make two or three versions per figure what is the problem lmao

People want different colors but when "vivid" option is blue thats very odd and striking color in a dinosaur collection.

If you already bought blue Alamosaurus, it will be weird to get blue mamenchisaurus.So you have tonget classic Brown or Green dinosaur... With New Stegosaurus release green Stegosaurus is only choice because other Two variants are mostly blue.

HLG needs to understand blue is very odd and unrealistic color especially for large land animals.

How many large blue land animals exist in nature today? Its even rare for any animal.

[Faelrin]

Well that could be controversial, or not. Not sure how the general consensus here feels.

Anyways, I think if you don't like it, don't buy. Even if it might be unrealistic, we have no way to know what colors most dinosaurs were. These are ultimately toys at the end of the day. If someone wants a bright blue giant sauropod for their shelf, where's the harm? No reason to stop producing certain colors, and options just because some don't like them. Plenty of others do.

[Carnoking]

Only one of the stegosaurus variants is blue?

Unless you're counting the accent plate color on the red/geeen "fruit" variant, which seems silly to me, might as well say the blue variant with red tipped plates makes two red variants.

[Sim]

The amount of blue on large land animals might be affected by the facts that 1. most large land animals are hairy and hair can't naturally be blue, and 2. most large land animals are colourblind mammals.  Primates that aren't colourblind sometimes have blue on their skin (since hair can't be blue, they can only be blue on bare skin).

Blue isn't an unrealistic colour when there are animals alive today that are blue.  I think purple is the less realistic colour, it's rarer than blue among animals.

[Elengassen]

For anyone who hasn't watched the DinosDragons video, I think the issue with blue dinosaurs brought up in that video was that blue isn't a pigment that animals' bodies can manufacture, so they have to get it from their food somehow – and it would be unlikely that large animals such as big dinosaurs would be able to get enough to allow them to have a mostly blue coloration, as apparently even small animals struggle with this.

In light of this, the blue accents on the red/green Stegosaurus's plates are more realistic IMO. If you consider those as being specifically a display structure, it makes sense that they'd be highlighted in such a rare, eye-catching colour.