HAOLONGGOOD - New for 2024

[oscars_dinos]

I assume a reviewer might go over this but until then I just want to put it out there, is the head of the argentinosaurus like kind of huge? I just look at that one pic of it with all the other sauropods and think dam. Especially compared to the mamenchi, but then again maybe mamenchi just has a small head?

[Rayeknor]

I don't know how much if any skull fragments from large titanosaurs there is found but in general the "small" around 30-40ton ones have skulls looking roughly the size of a horses head, the giraffatitan in Germany is a good example. Then the massive ones like alamosaurus, argentinosaurus, patagotitan etc likely had heads similar to the size of an elephant's head, if so this figure looks accurate.

[thomasw100]

I just checked the sizes of the remaining ceratopsids and Utahceratops and Styracosaurus should be larger than Haolonggood's Chasmosaurus, so I expect they will be released on their own.  Einiosaurus however is smaller and I think it too might not be released on its own.  Maybe with Brachiosaurus?  And if Haolonggood makes Kentrosaurus it could be released together with Giraffatitan, since those two coexisted and I don't see Haolonggood stopping with the large sauropods...

Honestly, I hope that Haolonggood will not repeat this exercise of making a small figure exclusive to pre-orders of a really large one. And I have a few reasons to believe so. First, they received now a lot of criticism and I think their customer base in general has not taken this move well. Second, I cannot think of anyone purchasing the huge 200 USD Argentinosaurus just to get the Huayangosaurus. So they gain nothing from making the Huayangosaurus exclusive but only loose individual purchases of this nice small figure. Third, Haolonggood has now established themselves as producer of large sauropods and the market has taken up these giants very well. So no need to do special promotion to get good sales figures. Fourth, Brachiosaurus is much smaller than Argentinosaurus and therefore a lower risk product for Haolonggood. The same applies to many sauropods they could still think of producing.

What I actually believe was that they were maybe still a bit concerned if this huge figure would sell well and therefore they wanted to minimize the risk of this investment. The molds must be very expensive and the material costs per piece are also very high, four times that of the Alamosaurus. The most important economic data for Haolonggood will be how well the Argentinosaurus will sell after the pre-order phase. This will tell them if their customers are willing to buy this giant without the exclusive extras.

[thomasw100]

I assume a reviewer might go over this but until then I just want to put it out there, is the head of the argentinosaurus like kind of huge? I just look at that one pic of it with all the other sauropods and think dam. Especially compared to the mamenchi, but then again maybe mamenchi just has a small head?

I think the head appears also a bit larger because the mouth is open. But you can compare for example to the model of Paleokhris:

https://www.instagram.com/paleokhrisgallery/p/C_RLeAfvQPI/?hl=de

[oscars_dinos]

I assume a reviewer might go over this but until then I just want to put it out there, is the head of the argentinosaurus like kind of huge? I just look at that one pic of it with all the other sauropods and think dam. Especially compared to the mamenchi, but then again maybe mamenchi just has a small head?

I think the head appears also a bit larger because the mouth is open. But you can compare for example to the model of Paleokhris:

https://www.instagram.com/paleokhrisgallery/p/C_RLeAfvQPI/?hl=de

guess these things where just huge, It'll be interesting to see more comparisons, I had a similar thought with HLG's mamenchi vs the pnso camara, I feel like the mamenchi "looks" bigger maybe because its proportions but the camara is actually bigger.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I don't mind the dinos being included as bonus items or bases, ect..but I really haven't a use for posters or playing cards.  Artist sketches signed are cool, but maybe a backdrop or two for posters instead of images of the figure? something we can use with multiple displays?

[thomasw100]

guess these things where just huge, It'll be interesting to see more comparisons, I had a similar thought with HLG's mamenchi vs the pnso camara, I feel like the mamenchi "looks" bigger maybe because its proportions but the camara is actually bigger.

For one thing, the head of the PNSO Camarasaurus is pretty much of the same size as the head of the Haolonggood Camarasaurus when you hold them next to each other. This applies both to the medial-lateral and the dorsal-ventral dimension. More difficult to compare along the anterior-posterior, because of the somewhat different head orientation.

[Flaffy]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

[thomasw100]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

Very nice eye paint as well. Where does this picture come from?

[Samrukia]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

Very nice eye paint as well. Where does this picture come from?

from Paleofiguras, i suppose

also, below are snapshots of the earlier posted video, HLG-131 head is also quite good

[Torvosaurus]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

I tend to agree with Mark Witton, that larger sauropods had bland coloration, like larger modern tetrapods, simply because the amount of nutrients needed to maintain the coloration can be used elsewhere. I agree that they had breeding coloration, probably through the head and neck, but it's not likely to be as bright during the non-breeding period. Smaller sauropods may have had brighter, camouflage-type colors, depending on the size of the carnivores in their region, but for the most part they likely would have followed the same suit.

Torvo

[Flaffy]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

I tend to agree with Mark Witton, that larger sauropods had bland coloration, like larger modern tetrapods, simply because the amount of nutrients needed to maintain the coloration can be used elsewhere. I agree that they had breeding coloration, probably through the head and neck, but it's not likely to be as bright during the non-breeding period. Smaller sauropods may have had brighter, camouflage-type colors, depending on the size of the carnivores in their region, but for the most part they likely would have followed the same suit.

Torvo

Could you link me Witton's blog on the subject matter? Would love to read it!

Seems directly contradictory to the 2010s renaissance of speculative features/colouration. I recall there being counter theories that because adult sauropods wouldn't need to hide from predators, sexual display will therefore be a more important factor than cryptic colours & patterns. Something akin to flamboyant "walking billboards".

[Samrukia]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

I tend to agree with Mark Witton, that larger sauropods had bland coloration, like larger modern tetrapods, simply because the amount of nutrients needed to maintain the coloration can be used elsewhere. I agree that they had breeding coloration, probably through the head and neck, but it's not likely to be as bright during the non-breeding period. Smaller sauropods may have had brighter, camouflage-type colors, depending on the size of the carnivores in their region, but for the most part they likely would have followed the same suit.

Torvo

Could you link me Witton's blog on the subject matter? Would love to read it!

Seems directly contradictory to the 2010s renaissance of speculative features/colouration. I recall there being counter theories that because adult sauropods wouldn't need to hide from predators, sexual display will therefore be a more important factor than cryptic colours & patterns. Something akin to flamboyant "walking billboards".

probably this

i remember this topic was discussed by DinosDragons in Mamenchisaurus video (8:34)

however, he updated the description with the following

Spoiler

𝐄𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐦: 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐙𝐚𝐜 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐌𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬!

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𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐦: 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝟔𝟑𝟑𝟐, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐢 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞! 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.

𝘒𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰 & 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘪, 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢 & 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵 & 𝘏𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘸𝘢, 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘪. (2020). 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦, 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴: 𝘌𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 8. 232. 10.3389/𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘰.2020.00232

[close]

[Manospundylus gigas]

For one thing, the head of the PNSO Camarasaurus is pretty much of the same size as the head of the Haolonggood Camarasaurus when you hold them next to each other. This applies both to the medial-lateral and the dorsal-ventral dimension. More difficult to compare along the anterior-posterior, because of the somewhat different head orientation.

Comparing both, I just realized that they are both based on or at least heavily influenced by the skeletal reconstructions of Gregory S. Paul, HLG on lentus and PNSO obviously on supremus. The first shows a long tail and the gentle long "kink" of the GSP lentus skeleton due to the shorter non-T-shaped caudal neural spines, the second shows the proportionally shorter  tail and the well marked kink of GSPs supremus reconstruction. These features are very clear in the GSP skeletons, but are not that obvious or are even absent in other reconstructions. Based on this I think HLG Camara is most probably lentus.

[Wally-217]

I just checked the sizes of the remaining ceratopsids and Utahceratops and Styracosaurus should be larger than Haolonggood's Chasmosaurus, so I expect they will be released on their own.  Einiosaurus however is smaller and I think it too might not be released on its own.  Maybe with Brachiosaurus?  And if Haolonggood makes Kentrosaurus it could be released together with Giraffatitan, since those two coexisted and I don't see Haolonggood stopping with the large sauropods...

Honestly, I hope that Haolonggood will not repeat this exercise of making a small figure exclusive to pre-orders of a really large one. And I have a few reasons to believe so. First, they received now a lot of criticism and I think their customer base in general has not taken this move well. Second, I cannot think of anyone purchasing the huge 200 USD Argentinosaurus just to get the Huayangosaurus. So they gain nothing from making the Huayangosaurus exclusive but only loose individual purchases of this nice small figure. Third, Haolonggood has now established themselves as producer of large sauropods and the market has taken up these giants very well. So no need to do special promotion to get good sales figures. Fourth, Brachiosaurus is much smaller than Argentinosaurus and therefore a lower risk product for Haolonggood. The same applies to many sauropods they could still think of producing.

I do think people are being a little harsh on the preorder bonus. From VampireDesign's comments, it sounded like the Huayangosaurus was too small to be a viable product. In which case the alternative is no Huayangosaurus at all, as opposed to an individual release. I imagine everyone here is a drop in the ocean compared to the mass market. I do hope they can make smaller models economically viable but a free gift is still a win over no release.

[Torvosaurus]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

I tend to agree with Mark Witton, that larger sauropods had bland coloration, like larger modern tetrapods, simply because the amount of nutrients needed to maintain the coloration can be used elsewhere. I agree that they had breeding coloration, probably through the head and neck, but it's not likely to be as bright during the non-breeding period. Smaller sauropods may have had brighter, camouflage-type colors, depending on the size of the carnivores in their region, but for the most part they likely would have followed the same suit.

Torvo

Could you link me Witton's blog on the subject matter? Would love to read it!

Seems directly contradictory to the 2010s renaissance of speculative features/colouration. I recall there being counter theories that because adult sauropods wouldn't need to hide from predators, sexual display will therefore be a more important factor than cryptic colours & patterns. Something akin to flamboyant "walking billboards".

probably this

i remember this topic was discussed by DinosDragons in Mamenchisaurus video (8:34)

however, he updated the description with the following

Spoiler

𝐄𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐦: 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐙𝐚𝐜 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐌𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬!

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𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐦: 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝟔𝟑𝟑𝟐, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐢 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞! 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.

𝘒𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰 & 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘪, 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢 & 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵 & 𝘏𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘸𝘢, 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘪. (2020). 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦, 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴: 𝘌𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 8. 232. 10.3389/𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘰.2020.00232

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That was part of it, yes. But I'm  sure there was more on sauropods. I just can't find it right now.

Torvo

[thomasw100]

I do think people are being a little harsh on the preorder bonus. From VampireDesign's comments, it sounded like the Huayangosaurus was too small to be a viable product. In which case the alternative is no Huayangosaurus at all, as opposed to an individual release. I imagine everyone here is a drop in the ocean compared to the mass market. I do hope they can make smaller models economically viable but a free gift is still a win over no release.

They produced the Kosmoceratops, Chasmosaurus and Diabloceratops already which are 12.7 cm, 13 cm and 12 cm long, respectively. Huayangosaurus is estimated at around 4 to 4.5 meters and should therefore be about 11 to 13 cm long in 1:35 scale.

[Leyster]

@Flaffy we discussed the matter of bright colouration on dinosaurs on Paleo-Nerd, even asking researchers working on the topic, and our conclusions were quite... interesting.

[Cretaceous Crab]

I'm slowly being converted to the more conservative colour schemes (maybe). Close up shot of 129. Looks very nice.

I tend to agree with Mark Witton, that larger sauropods had bland coloration, like larger modern tetrapods, simply because the amount of nutrients needed to maintain the coloration can be used elsewhere. I agree that they had breeding coloration, probably through the head and neck, but it's not likely to be as bright during the non-breeding period. Smaller sauropods may have had brighter, camouflage-type colors, depending on the size of the carnivores in their region, but for the most part they likely would have followed the same suit.

Torvo

Could you link me Witton's blog on the subject matter? Would love to read it!

Seems directly contradictory to the 2010s renaissance of speculative features/colouration. I recall there being counter theories that because adult sauropods wouldn't need to hide from predators, sexual display will therefore be a more important factor than cryptic colours & patterns. Something akin to flamboyant "walking billboards".

Besides coloration, I am intrigued by the speculation of saggy, excessive flesh & skin folds around on the neck. The long neck is somewhat of a liability, being a relatively easy target for predators, and the skin folds may act as a foil, similar to a lion's mane; i.e. a predator grabbing it but only getting a mouthful of flexible/elastic tissue and not getting to anything vital.

[Leyster]

@Cretaceous Crab the neck is less of a liability than you might think. Sauropods have cervical ribs and the vertebrae themselves are thick, being wider than the animal's head. Not to mention that the neck itself was muscular. Think of it more as a continuation of the torso than some frail junture.