The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Concavenator]

One of the key features of Wuerhosaurus is the extra-long neural spines on the proximal caudals

TIL. For a fragmentary taxon like this one, it would be appropriate for companies (those interested in scientific accuracy) to ensure whatever material is known to be accurately depicted. And it's odd PNSO got the Wuerhosaurus' manus wrong, that's the sort of mistake I wouldn't expect to see from PNSO, more so at this point, also considering they did fine on that regard on their 2021 Stegosaurus and 2020 Dacentrurus.

Now that I think about it, there have been a few good Wuerhosaurus recently, between the PNSO, Haolonggood and Vitae.

The wait between successive iterations of theropod genera is rarely long, but yeah, this one was fast even by that standard.

Now let's see how long does it take for you to replace Schleich's Gallimimus!  I think it will be a good while, I get the impression ornithomimids are invisible for companies. You know a dinosaur is overlooked when it was featured in Jurassic Park (and in arguably one of the most iconic scenes, at that) and then receives this much attention. 

[Halichoeres]

One of the key features of Wuerhosaurus is the extra-long neural spines on the proximal caudals

TIL. For a fragmentary taxon like this one, it would be appropriate for companies (those interested in scientific accuracy) to ensure whatever material is known to be accurately depicted. And it's odd PNSO got the Wuerhosaurus' manus wrong, that's the sort of mistake I wouldn't expect to see from PNSO, more so at this point, also considering they did fine on that regard on their 2021 Stegosaurus and 2020 Dacentrurus.

Now that I think about it, there have been a few good Wuerhosaurus recently, between the PNSO, Haolonggood and Vitae.

You're talking about the third claw? Yeah, that is a bit odd, and maybe lends support to the idea that these aren't all sculpted by one person, even though the marketing seems to want us to think they are. It's true there are several decent Wuerhosaurus now; this was kind of a tough choice.

The wait between successive iterations of theropod genera is rarely long, but yeah, this one was fast even by that standard.

Now let's see how long does it take for you to replace Schleich's Gallimimus!  I think it will be a good while, I get the impression ornithomimids are invisible for companies. You know a dinosaur is overlooked when it was featured in Jurassic Park (and in arguably one of the most iconic scenes, at that) and then receives this much attention. 

Hey, there have been like a dozen Gallimimus figures in the last five years, so those count as successive iterations, even if most of those are just JP/JW merch. The wait between good versions can certainly be longer, of course. The best for its time is still the Battat, but feathers trump artistry for me in this case. Anyway, I think herbivorous/omnivorous theropods in general are more ignored than others: alvarezsaurs, most therizinosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, oviraptorosaurs, noasaurs...

On another note, the Euoplocephalus and Gastonia photos were embarrassingly out of focus, so I've deleted and replaced them.

[Concavenator]

Yeah I was referring to that extra claw. PNSO might have experienced a change of factory:

Rumours say PNSO changed factory before Parasaurolophus release

Don't know if that has anything to do with different sculptors being involved though. Could be a possibility.

It's kind of unusual there are these many good Wuerhosaurus, not even the more famous (and more complete) Kentrosaurus has received this amount of good figures. I can only guess it's because those versions happen to be made by Chinese companies.

About Gallimimus, of course I wasn't taking into account all those JP versions! After all, even the Schleich is a closer match to the real deal than those. 

[Halichoeres]

Dinosaurs of the Cretaceous!


Haolonggood Diabloceratops
Scale: 1:35
Released: 2024
Etymology: Spanish/Greek "devil horned face"
Haolonggood has improved its ceratopsians quickly, if slightly unevenly. This is a really lovely little sculpt. It replaces my already-excellent Safari version because it fits my scale preferences better and has more refined paint work.


Haolonggood Chasmosaurus
Scale: 1:35
Released: 2024
Etymology: Gr. "hollow [noun] lizard"
This seems to have a bit of extraneous paint on some of its fingers, but that's a pretty small deal. This is a better scale for me than the BotM Chasmosaurus, and doesn't have all those joints, so replaces it.


Haolonggood Edmontosaurus
Scale: 1:40
Released: 2024
Etymology: Gr. "Edmonton [Canada] lizard"
I have to admit I never expected Edmontosaurus to accumulate so many high-quality figures: Safari, CollectA, PNSO, and this one. I don't know whether to attribute the abundance to the little crest or just the association with Ty***nosaurus. I narrowly prefer this one to other Edmontosaurus figures, mostly on the basis of scale. Lovely paint job, too.


Eofauna trike for scale. With this batch, Haolonggood becomes one of the top ten companies by number of figures in my collection. That doesn't sound that impressive, but I have figures from more than 110 companies, so they climbed a pretty long ladder.


Meng Zhuchengtitan
Scale: 1:60
Released: 2024
Etymology: Gr. "Zhucheng [Shandong, China] titan"
Adding one more company to the total. I'm interested to see what Meng puts out in the future. If they stay in 1/72, I'll probably only buy their sauropods or other gigantic animals (might I suggest ichthyosaurs, fish, mosasaurs?). But if they made some larger scales they'd get more of my attention.


The feet line up perfectly with their cutouts in the base. By contrast with the Mesozoic Life Spinosaurus, this is clearly the work of an experienced model company. It also helps that this is much less massive, so there's probably less warping once it emerges from the mold.


The belly print.


With a hadrosaur from a nearby place and a nearby time.

[Elengassen]

The small Haolonggood ceratopsians are really cute and well-done! I don't plan on getting either the Diablo or Chasmo as they don't fit into how I organise my collection, but it's always great to see pictures of them, especially with other figures.

[Primeval12]

I'm interested in the Meng Zuchangtitan though it's quite small for the size sadly I also need to get those ceratopsians. (BTW, your Edmontosaurus is a picture of the Diabloceratops again)

[ceratopsian]

Something went wrong with your inserting photos, @Halichoeres.  Instead of the individual shot of the Edmontosaurus (3rd photo), I'm seeing a repeat of the Diabloceratops.  A shame, as its particularly attractive paint scheme deserves showcasing!

Meng is a firm to watch for. I'm particularly impressed by the look of this Zhuchengtitan.  It was worth the effort in tracking one down.  I had a little more trouble than you fitting the model to the base but patience paid off.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for alerting me to the error! There should now be an Edmontosaurus photo above.

The small Haolonggood ceratopsians are really cute and well-done! I don't plan on getting either the Diablo or Chasmo as they don't fit into how I organise my collection, but it's always great to see pictures of them, especially with other figures.

Yeah, I am much looser about formations, which means I'm less constrained by scale matches with other figures.

Meng is a firm to watch for. I'm particularly impressed by the look of this Zhuchengtitan.  It was worth the effort in tracking one down.  I had a little more trouble than you fitting the model to the base but patience paid off.

It's good to have another datum on the base fit! I ended up resorting to eBay for this one, but I'm glad I did. The Meng figures remind me a lot of Colorata, but classed up a bit.

[ceratopsian]

Edmonto now has his/her place in the spotlight.  I too had to turn to eBay for this Meng model. My others came through AliExpress.

[Flaffy]

With a hadrosaur from a nearby place and a nearby time.

Thanks for the comparison! It's larger than I thought it'd be given how small the other Meng offerings are. I had the impression that they'd all be Kaiyodo-sized. How rigid/flexible is the plastic? Similar to any existing companies on the market?

Just ordered it on eBay as well, not my preferred choice but hey I couldnt find another way to acquire it. For some reason Aliexpress refuses to ship this particular item to the UK, even though other Meng dinosaurs are perfectly fine to be purchased.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for the comparison! It's larger than I thought it'd be given how small the other Meng offerings are. I had the impression that they'd all be Kaiyodo-sized. How rigid/flexible is the plastic? Similar to any existing companies on the market?

Just ordered it on eBay as well, not my preferred choice but hey I couldnt find another way to acquire it. For some reason Aliexpress refuses to ship this particular item to the UK, even though other Meng dinosaurs are perfectly fine to be purchased.

They seem like they're trying to keep them in fairly true scale to each other, so they really do vary in size! That might be why Aliexpress isn't shipping them; this box is considerably larger than the others based on photos I've seen (this is my only one so I have no firsthand experience). As for the plastic, it's most similar to Colorata, Favorite, or Safari. Just a bit pliable where the plastic is thin, neither bendy nor brittle.

Page 1 updated!

[Concavenator]

I wonder if Meng will be releasing more dinosaurs after this initial batch... Hopefully they will stick to small species, as figures of those are getting increasingly rare in the current 1:35-centric collecting panorama. Another advantage of releasing figures of small species is that people won't discard them by virtue of being too small. 

I also got HLG's Chasmosaurus (and planning on getting the Diabloceratops too), I think they're great! And I'd been debating whether on getting HLG's or PNSO's Edmontosaurus. After some consideration, I reached to the conclusion that I'd go for the PNSO, mostly on a matter of size, but after further consideration, I think I won't be getting either, because I'm waiting for the inevitable Eofauna Edmontosaurus instead.  Come on, they've already made Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and now Ankylosaurus. In my mind there's no way their first ornithopod is going to be none other than Edmontosaurus annectens. 

BTW, I noticed you said you estimate Safari's Pachyrhinosaurus to be in 1:40 scale. Are you sure about that? I haven't taken any measurements, but Safari's version represents P. lakustai, and after some quick research, I found it's estimated to have been about 5 m long.  So bigger than Chasmosaurus belli, but not by much. I mention C. belli because Safari's Pachyrhinosaurus dwarfs Haolonggood's Chasmosaurus, and thus, I would find it odd that a figure of a given animal, in a presumably smaller scale (Safari's Pachyrhinosaurus), dwarfs another figure of a similarly-sized animal, in a bigger scale (HLG's Chasmosaurus, in this case).

I get the impression Safari's Pachyrhinosaurus could be in the neighbourhood of 1:20 - 1:25 or so (but I might be wrong).

[Sim]

I think I won't be getting either, because I'm waiting for the inevitable Eofauna Edmontosaurus instead.  Come on, they've already made Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and now Ankylosaurus. In my mind there's no way their first ornithopod is going to be none other than Edmontosaurus annectens. 

Eofauna seems determined to make Magnapaulia and fans want it, which I think is unfortunate...

[Concavenator]

They could have considered it, but at the end of the day, I would be surprised if Magnapaulia really turned out to be their first ornithopod. Eofauna's latest dinosaur species choices have made it clear it they're focusing on making the most mainstream species. Add to that that they already made figures of other (big) popular neighbours from the Hell Creek Formation, and I think an Edmontosaurus annectens by them is guaranteed at this point. It was also featured in this illustration by them:



Spinosaurus is there too, which I think Eofauna will inevitably be making at some point too. That aside, all the other species have been produced as figures by them, save for Gargoyleosaurus (I guess they made Ankylosaurus instead for popularity reasons).

Even though Edmontosaurus has received a number of great figures lately, I'd rather Eofauna made yet another one, if that means they don't choose Magnapaulia. As I once said, I see no point in making a figure of a hadrosaurid without a known appearance when there are other members of the group that are both known from more complete material and are more popular as well (Saurolophus or Brachylophosaurus come to mind). Edmontosaurus annectens may not be the most exciting choice (considering it's already well-represented in figure form), but unlike Magnapaulia, it has good remains at least (well, excellent ones, at that!). It's more popular as well, so it would be a safer bet.

I've seen some people claim they're interested in a Magnapaulia here and there, but I'm not sure if enough people to motivate them to go and make it, especially over a genus as popular as Edmontosaurus. I get the feeling that what those people who claim to want an Eofauna Magnapaulia really want is not a Magnapaulia per se, I think they simply want Eofauna to make a hadrosaurid, regardless of the species.  I could be wrong, though.

[Sim]

Half of the species in that picture being made by Eofauna doesn't seem to be a strong indicator they will make the ones they haven't.  Especially Gargoyleosaurus which I'm not expecting from Eofauna anytime soon due to being a small animal.  I think that's why Ankylosaurus was chosen instead of it, the former is big and the latter is small and this reflects relevant preferences.  I do think Eofauna will make Spinosaurus, although I think it will probably be the new species with the scimitar shaped head crest.  As for Edmontosaurus, I don't think there's much demand for it now that PNSO and Haolonggood have made it, and Eofauna has expressed interest in making Magnapaulia more than once now..

[Concavenator]

the former is big and the latter is small and this reflects relevant preferences.

For Eofauna, PNSO and Haolonggood (more so for the first two), absolutely, which is a shame, because right now, for them, it seems like it doesn't matter how important, interesting (or popular!) a species may be, if it's small it's got no business with them...

Safari and CollectA at least do consider animals that are not big.

[Flaffy]

I do think Eofauna will make Spinosaurus, although I think it will probably be the new species with the scimitar shaped head crest.

I certainly would be up for an Eofauna Spinosaurus if and only if they go for the new species.

[Primeval12]

I was just thinking, Should the Kaiyodo Maip be listed here as a reference since it's a mini?

[Halichoeres]

I do think Eofauna will make Spinosaurus, although I think it will probably be the new species with the scimitar shaped head crest.

I certainly would be up for an Eofauna Spinosaurus if and only if they go for the new species.

Only if it has a fish! But knowing EoFauna, it wouldn't.

@Concavenator @Sim I actually think they're most likely to do a Parasaurolophus if they make a hadrosaur.

I was just thinking, Should the Kaiyodo Maip be listed here as a reference since it's a mini?

If somebody had asked me if my list included the Kaiyodo Maip, I would have said "yes" without checking, so sure would I be that I had already added it. But you're right, it should be there, so I've just added it. I think someone will make a larger version in 2025, though, so its time will be short.

[Sim]

I think someone will make a larger version in 2025, though, so its time will be short.

Please no!