HAOLONGGOOD - New for 2024

[postsaurischian]

 To me it's not a competition between HAOLONGGOOD and PNSO. Some might know that I do collect them both .... and lots of others, too!  
 I'm a collector of beautiful things and figures, I like the fact that different companies have different styles.
 I like combining the different styles. I have no self-torturing collection limits or rules. This hobby is just for my pleasure.

....... I've been a collector for quite a while now, and considering the historical backdrop of these collectibles, even a slight drop in the quality of paint application seems quite excusable in the context of the thousands of products to have entered the market. .......

 This!
 (I'm always glad when someone who is more capable than me of mastering the English language writes exactly what I'm thinking.)

[Ludodactylus]

Ha! Yes, the predictable negativity from the usual quarters is tiresome and one has to be careful not to be worn down by it. I've been a collector for quite a while now, and considering the historical backdrop of these collectibles, even a slight drop in the quality of paint application seems quite excusable in the context of the thousands of products to have entered the market.

I'm struggling with this right now myself, and I think I'm going to have to just start staying out of the "New for 2024" threads because it feels like every single new figure that's released is getting met with a lot of negativity and a lot of it feels excessively nitpicky to me.

We're in a golden age of dinosaur toys that I think even 15 years ago would have been nearly unimaginable. If you don't like a figure, scroll past it.

[Gwangi]

Ha! Yes, the predictable negativity from the usual quarters is tiresome and one has to be careful not to be worn down by it. I've been a collector for quite a while now, and considering the historical backdrop of these collectibles, even a slight drop in the quality of paint application seems quite excusable in the context of the thousands of products to have entered the market.

I'm struggling with this right now myself, and I think I'm going to have to just start staying out of the "New for 2024" threads because it feels like every single new figure that's released is getting met with a lot of negativity and a lot of it feels excessively nitpicky to me.

We're in a golden age of dinosaur toys that I think even 15 years ago would have been nearly unimaginable. If you don't like a figure, scroll past it.

Even 10 years ago this was unimaginable! I started collecting about 14 years ago and back then you had either high end resin statues and kits or literal toys. Safari and Carnegie and retired Battat toys were the cream of the crop. CollectA was just starting out. Bullyland and Kaiyodo were the only companies making anything remotely obscure with any frequency. And the only company even approaching the level of detail and realism we have today was Papo, who were basically making Jurassic Park toys. This hobby has changed for the better so much in so little time. People either weren't collecting that long ago or don't remember what it was like and have since taken things for granted. 

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

One other thing people have to understand with the paint scheme is that this is really a tiny model, it's only 12 cm or 4.8 in long! Of course it will have a less detailed paint job than models like the stegosaurus that are over twice that length! For reference, that's 6 cm or 2.2 in shorter than even their recent Gastonia!

[Faelrin]

Just in case folks aren't already aware, both the new Stegosaurus trio and Diabloceratops duo are now available on their Amazon store. If I had to guess they are probably available on Aliexpress as well.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

One other thing people have to understand with the paint scheme is that this is really a tiny model, it's only 12 cm or 4.8 in long! Of course it will have a less detailed paint job than models like the stegosaurus that are over twice that length! For reference, that's 6 cm or 2.2 in shorter than even their recent Gastonia!

I just checked and this actually makes this their smallest ceratopsian by a cm!

[Turkeysaurus]

Everybody should express their opinion. If it's fine with your standarda, just buy it. No need to suggest others to keep criticism to themselves. What's the point of having a forum or toy reviews if we are gonna act like hivemind?

HLG themselves made small ceratopsians with better quality with similar prices. Anything else just making excuses.

[thomasw100]

In view of some comments that were coming up, I thought I should check what Haolonggood states about their models. So I had a look at the latest box that I got, the brown-red Maiasaura.

This is what is written there: "This product is a 1:35 scientific recovery model, which can be used for teaching, scientific research and lover´s communication. For research purposes, it is prohibited for children under 3 years old."

This states the philosophy of Haolonggood with their own words. Their ambition is obviously quite the same as the ambition of PNSO. Therefore, any statement that the Haolongood models should be rather compared with simple toys like Schleich or Safari is obviously not correct.

I think that Haolonggood has the ambition to produce high-quality scientifically accurate models, but at the same time they want to make them really affordable. The problem is that to some extent these two aims are mutually exclusive. They will have to find out which way they want to go.

[Carnoking]

Whereas I think this figure looks much better in natural lighting (seriously, what went wrong with those studio shots?), my initial impression is that it's still easily the least of the lineup when compared to HLG's other ceratopsians so far (all of which ARE similarly priced).
Even with the refined integument, older sculpts like the Nasuto and Penta were at least bolstered with some impressive paint apps, while this one feels a bit simplistic both in design and application.

In a vacuum, yes, it's an amazing figure, especially for the price. But I have a feeling that once in hand, it will pale in comparison to the herd.

Of course, this is all a snap judgement based on a few promo images of varying quality. I've ate crow on such subjects before and I wouldn't be surprised if I have a second helping here.

[Sim]

The yellow one is still the one I like best, but the blue-green highlights on the frill have a somewhat unnatural color tone, reminding me of these weird blue and green colors they used on the Pachyrhinosaurus.

There are extant lizards with the same turqouise colour as on the Diabloceratops so the tone isn't unnatural.  The Pachyrhinosaurus's colouration is also found in living animals, so it isn't weird.  Plus, I think the Haolonggood Pachyrhinosaurus have the best colour schemes of any prehistoric animal figures, and you calling them weird makes it seem like it's wrong to like them...

I don't get the complaints about how prominent the scales are made.  The figures the compalaints are aimed at have extremely well-done scalation, including older figures like the Haolonggood Nasutoceratops and older PNSO figures.

[Gwangi]

This is what is written there: "This product is a 1:35 scientific recovery model, which can be used for teaching, scientific research and lover´s communication. For research purposes, it is prohibited for children under 3 years old."

This states the philosophy of Haolonggood with their own words. Their ambition is obviously quite the same as the ambition of PNSO. Therefore, any statement that the Haolongood models should be rather compared with simple toys like Schleich or Safari is obviously not correct.

I think that Haolonggood has the ambition to produce high-quality scientifically accurate models, but at the same time they want to make them really affordable. The problem is that to some extent these two aims are mutually exclusive. They will have to find out which way they want to go.

The companies philosophy or ambition is meaningless. I mean, seriously, PNSO's is "a dream and vision for children" or whatever. What matters is the money and HLG figures are in the same price bracket as Safari and Schleich, not PNSO. Besides, the stated goals of all these animal figurine companies is basically the same. Education. And if you want to regard HLG as something more than a toy, and something more than Safari or Schleich, then you should be thrilled that you're getting a "scientific recovery model" for the same price as a mere toy.

[shahinos]

Also, often it's the painting and patterns that draws criticism. Since those are factors mostly unknown, that really has nothing to do with the figures being scientifically accurate or not.

[Sim]

The bottom line is that while I am sometimes not convinced by Haolonggood models and even regret some purchases or have to send some figures for repaint, I have never anything to complain about each and every PNSO model. Their run of this year so far has been outstanding. This is of course also a reflection of the price difference.

And I am sometimes not convinced by PNSO models, among ones I bought are for example the Borealopelta, Tuojiangosaurus, Torvosaurus...  I also disagree that PNSO's lineup so far is outstanding, I've found it highly disappointing.  The Lufengosaurus is one of PNSO's best figures and stands out and makes it automatically a not awful year, the Edmontosaurus is extremely good but is yet another hadrosaurid while PNSO doesn't make figures of animal groups that need it more, the Wuerhosaurus is a poor choice to make into a figure and if it was really so low to the ground I doubt it had such a long neck, and the Tyrannotitan is cynical at best.

It really is of value to do even a bit of reading and research before levelling unfair criticism at others.

I agree.  To relate it to a criticism that has often been made, there are extant reptiles with prominent scalation.

[Sim]

Machairoceratops borealopelta pachyrhinosaurus tuojiangosaurus etc. 19 dollars with free shipping on aliexpress.

I bought my PNSO Ankylosaurus around that price.

If you ask me I'd say all of these except the Ankylosaurus have worse paintjobs than Haolonggood figures, and I've owned all but one of these too.  The Ankylosaurus is extremely good value for money, and it has been discussed on this forum that PNSO was taking a hit with some of their cheap but very good earlier figures.  I wouldn't be surprised if that was true for Haolonggood too.

HLG did better before with similar prices. It's not a cost issue.

So, as I described above it's possible Haolonggood was not profiting as much from their earlier inexpensive figures with extremely good paintjobs.

[Sim]

Their ambition is obviously quite the same as the ambition of PNSO. Therefore, any statement that the Haolongood models should be rather compared with simple toys like Schleich or Safari is obviously not correct.

Safari's figures are not "simple toys".  They are extremely good figures on par with Haolonggood and PNSO overall.

[Pinbacker]

HLG themselves made small ceratopsians with better quality with similar prices. Anything else just making excuses.

So this Diabloceratops is "lower quality"? Kind of a bold statement to make based on a few promotional shots. Maybe actually buy the model and then treat us to an informed opinion once you have it in hand?

[suspsy]

It is perfectly fine to call Haolonggood's products "toys." They are toys when it comes down to it. Same goes for PNSO's products, save for the bronze statues.

[Turkeysaurus]

PNSO even has warning over suitable over 14 and up.

These companies don't aim for kids. They aim for collectors.

Nobody puts this much effort on a toy if their main target can't understand or even care scientific accuracy nor quality. Not to mention they are more expensive and less durable compared to the ones made for mainly kids.

They are called toy because they are made of plastic.

So both quality and accuracy wise they can't be put in same standard of schleich or safari.

More importantly HLG showed time after time they are able produce top quality toys with relatively cheap price tag. So why go backwards with this one?

 

[Faelrin]

Did I miss something? Is this the Dinosaur Toy Forum or not?

Toys are fine. Lots of people here collect them from different brands. I don't think it really matters or disparages the quality if Haolongood's products are called models or toys. Let's not have any form of elitism here putting subjective personal preferences for certain brands above anyone elses.

[Turkeysaurus]

It's not elitism. Not everything called "toy" aims same demogragraphic. There are sex toys too.

There are dinosaur toys aim for what 8 year olds think of a dinosaur. Also practical reasons like clown feet, tripod pose, soft horns, durability etc.

Most of us put Haolonggood almost similar (a bit less because cheaper) to PNSO and Rebor standard in terms of quality because they have already proved they can deliver that.