Concavenator’s Collection (new 04/02/2025)

[Concavenator]

@Sim About Austroraptor, if it wasn't Safari or Creative Beast who released a good figure of it for the first time, I would be surprised.

As expected, it was Safari! Hope they have more dromaeosaurids coming, I would adore a Halszkaraptor and a Zhenyuanlong.

[Halichoeres]

I'm thinking next year a troodontid.

[Sim]

I'm thinking next year a troodontid.

I wish!  Unfortunately I don't see a troodontid coming from anyone.

[Halichoeres]

Oh, I really think it's inevitable.

[Concavenator]

Replaced most of the pics with pics taken with my camera - I do have one, but most of the time I'm too lazy to use it and just resort to the iPhone's.  Also, collection summary updated in post #1.

...

@Halichoeres @Sim Well, at least the BotM Stenonychosaurus and PNSO Mei exist, but the former is an action figure and the latter is a mini (also discontinued, unless I'm missing something) figure which also happens to have a paleomeme pose, so those may not be options for everybody. A static, non-mini troodontid figure is sorely missing. I feel like troodontids are relatively overshadowed by dromaeosaurids (which certainly don't get a ton of attention, either...).

@Halichoeres I feel the same way about troodontids as I do with Plateosaurus and Herrerasaurus. Creatures we always expect to eventually be coming from someone, except that moment seemingly never arrives (accurate versions I mean, and Kaiyodo Plateosaurus aside). If some major company ever releases a troodontid figure, my bet is it will come from Safari, and the genus I would deem more likely to be released is Stenonychosaurus, for being the biggest and probably the most famous.

[Sim]

When S @Shane said that the Safari Megalosaurus was designed to have a megalosaurid head rather than a generic theropod's I started wondering if companies, or Safari at least, is avoiding making a Herrerasaurus because they are worried it would look like a generic theropod?  Mattel's many Herrerasaurus and Schleich's doing well enough to get a repaint plus mini figure gives me the impression Herrerasaurus sells well, but maybe Safari isn't aware of that and is avoiding it for the reason I mentioned...?  Plateosaurus and Gallimimus continously not being made into figures mystifies me.

[Concavenator]

To me Herrerasaurus doesn't look generic. It probably doesn't get made as a result of a combination of factors - not particularly big (for a given species, a handicap when it comes to getting made or not into a figure these days...), not super famous, and companies simply have other preferences (just take a look at PNSO for example, they've shown they care more about creatures like Tyrannotitan, Mapusaurus, Zhuchengtyrannus and "Sinopliosaurus", than they do about even classic species like Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor).

I'm also stoked about Plateosaurus and Gallimimus, two iconic and important species known from good material, not receiving the attention they deserve. That said, we have indeed finally gotten a proper Austroraptor figure, and I deemed Austroraptor as more unlikely to be released than Plateosaurus and Gallimimus (and maybe Herrerasaurus too). So there's some hope.  HLG has clearly shown they care about what species their fans wish for, so they might be the ones to settle this! Well, this year they've released the Chasmosaurus, which was eagerly anticipated, and last year they did the same with a plethora of other highly-requested species (Megaraptor, Ouranosaurus, Apatosaurus, etc).

[Sim]

That said, we have indeed finally gotten a proper Austroraptor figure, and I deemed Austroraptor as more unlikely to be released than Plateosaurus and Gallimimus (and maybe Herrerasaurus too). So there's some hope.  HLG has clearly shown they care about what species their fans wish for, so they might be the ones to settle this!

That's a good point!  I would have thought Austroraptor was less likely to be made than Gallimimus and Plateosaurus, and Herrerasaurus too.  Hopefully these last three get a good figure in the near future.
I too don't feel Herrerasaurus looks generic, but I think some people think it does.

[Concavenator]

@Sim Not sure we'll necessarily be getting good figures of those 3 taxa in the near future, but I think they have decent chances of eventually having good figures to their names, whenever that might be. An animal like Zhenyuanlong definitely has it worse!

[Concavenator]

@Sim About Austroraptor, if it wasn't Safari or Creative Beast who released a good figure of it for the first time, I would be surprised.

 

[Concavenator]

Time to revive this thread! 



Binomial name: Stegosaurus stenops (Marsh, 1877)
Etymology: "Narrow-faced roof lizard" (Greek)
Classified as: Dinosauria -> Ornithischia -> Genasauria -> Thyreophora -> Stegosauria -> Stegosauridae -> Stegosaurinae
Period: Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian - Tithonian)
Fossils found in: Morrison Formation, present-day USA (North America)

Company: PNSO
Line: 1:35 Scientific Art Models
Sculptor: somebody from Zhao Chuang's atelier
Based on: USNM 4934
Year of release: 2021

Review:

Spoiler

The most famous stegosaurian (Maidment, Brassey & Barrett 2015). It is also one of the most famous species out of the ones that were named during Cope's and Marsh's "Bone Wars" (Brusatte 2019). Despite its iconic appearance, well-preserved Stegosaurus fossils are rare (Maidment, Brassey & Barrett 2015). Currently, there are two definitive Stegosaurus species: Stegosaurus stenops (Marsh, 1877) and Stegosaurus ungulatus (Marsh, 1879) (Galton, 2010). Differences between the two species include proportionally shorter hindlimbs in S. stenops, as well as differently-shaped plates (Galton, 2010).

Replaces Safari's 2019 version. Not a significant improvement IMO. Is this an improvement to begin with? I know they're based on different specimens, Safari's being based on Sophie, and this PNSO one on the holotype. There are some aspects I prefer on PNSO's, such as the longer, sleeker neck, the wider hips and the downward-pointing thagomizer. And the colors. And... that's pretty much it.

I'd been on the fence about this one for a while. I always liked it, but being one of those Musem Line figures, it was "paywalled", and since I was content with Safari's, I've never been in a rush to get it. However, due to the aforementioned reasons, the fact that it received a slightly improved paintjob last summer and, most importantly, that I got this while on a sale, I finally pulled the trigger. Well, I simply refuse to pay full price for a PNSO figure when there are sales from time to time.

It's a fantastic figure, but man, everything surrounding these Museum Line figures is just ridiculous. As others previously said, I hope they would just ditch this line altogether. The price (even when discounted) is a joke, hadn't it been on sale, I wouldn't even have considered it. Luckily, I managed to grab a coupon, and I sold Safari's Stegosaurus too, so I managed to further bring down the price, but even then, the price is excessive for something like this. It's rather evident they overcharge people with these Museum Line figures.

As with the Pachycephalosaurus, if I think I paid too much for a figure I will say it, and this one is such a situation.

Unfortunately, my copy's QC wasn't the best, as it came with some scuffs right off the box:

Spoiler

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And the thagomizer's spikes came a bit bent too:

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I'm a bit disappointed, because the figure is certainly not cheap.

The quantity of extras included is absurd too. And that's coming from someone who likes their figures to include some sort of extra... but I don't need an ocean of extras, please and thank you. On that score, the Prehistoric Animal Models' line's extras are more than enough already.

QC issues and ridiculous pricing aside, this one is currently my favorite Stegosaurus figure.

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[Crackington]

Beautiful figure, so we'll done on getting it at a more affordable price.

Still, you would expect a high priced, high-end figure to arrive safely and in pristine condition. Have you thought of complaining?

[Concavenator]

@Crackington Thank you! It really is a beauty.

I'm not sure I can open up a dispute, as I actually got this in December, but didn't get to unbox it until now. When I got it, I just checked the figure was there (to confirm the order was correct) and didn't look at it on close inspection. I guess it's my fault for not checking it more carefully back then, but I didn't have much time.

I don't understand how the figure came like this, because it admittedly was super well-packed... And then they say it's HLG's figures the ones with inferior QC because they're more affordable. 

I'll see if I can straighten its spikes with hot water, and I might do some minor touch ups to try to fix the scuffs.

[Sim]

As far as I've seen, all units of that PNSO Stegosaurus come with some warping.  In the case of mine which has the original paintjob, some of the plates had their ends warped.  It was easy to fix this, I just heated the plates with a blow dryer and pushed their ends into the correct position.  They have stayed in the correct position since.  I'm confident you'll be able to fix the spikes on your Stegosaurus.  It's an excellent figure, it's worthwhile getting rid of the warping!

[Concavenator]

@Sim Didn't know about that, again, I don't get how is it that such a well-packed figure experiences any form of warping. 

Glad that you got your Stegosaurus' plates into their correct position, as you say, a figure like this deserves to be in perfect condition, even more so accounting for its price!

My copy's plates are fine, it's just the spikes that are bent. I'll try the blow dryer tip and see if I can correct the spikes.

[Concavenator]

Binomial name: Zuul crurivastator (Arbour & Evans, 2017)
Etymology: "Zuul [a character from Ghostbusters], destroyer of shins" (Latin)
Classified as: Dinosauria -> Ornithischia -> Genasauria -> Thyreophora -> Ankylosauria -> Ankylosauridae -> Ankylosaurinae
Period: Late Cretaceous (Campanian)
Fossils found in: Judith River Formation, present-day USA (North America)

Company: PNSO
Line: Prehistoric Animal Models
Sculptor: somebody from Zhao Chuang's atelier
Based on: ROM 75860
Year of release: 2023

Review:

Spoiler

The first ankylosaurine preserved with a complete skull and tail club, and the most complete ankylosaurid ever found in North America (Arbour & Evans 2017). Zuul is known from a single, amazingly well-preserved specimen (ROM 75860), which preserves in situ osteoderms, skin impressions and potentially even keratin (Arbour & Evans 2017). In a further description of the holotype, evidence of intraspecific combat was found, which led the authors to propose the idea that ankylosaurine tail clubs evolved as sexually-selected traits (Arbour, Zanno & Evans 2022).

Replaces Kaiyodo's version. PNSO's was announced after I ordered Kaiyodo's, and I was hesitant to sell Kaiyodo's as soon as I got it. After comparing both figures, I came to the conclusion that Kaiyodo's has the more accurate skull shape and the wider body (which seems to be accurate for Zuul), whereas PNSO's has the more accurate osteoderms and manus anatomy. So accuracy-wise, they have their prons and their cons. PNSO's figure's skull not being quite accurate for Zuul's is a bit of a bummer (the snout shouldn't be as down-turned and the frontonasal caputegulae should be imbricated). Kaiyodo's is too small for me (and I'd rather avoid figures that are mounted on a base when possible), so it's out and PNSO's is in.

From an aesthetic standpoint, this Zuul is among my favorite PNSO models, it is so beautiful.

And here's the Zuul next to another ankylosaurian fellow, CollectA's Borealopelta:

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[SidB]

Great image, @Concavenator . And this figure is absolutely one of my top PNSO's as well. I really think that it's an underrated sculpt and deserves more recognition. Thanks for highlighting it here.

[Concavenator]

S @SidB Thanks! Glad to see Zuul receiving attention, its fossil is so good it's definitely the appropriate type of species to make figures of.

[Concavenator]

Binomial name: Diabloceratops eatoni (Kirkland & DeBlieux, 2010)
Etymology: "[Jeffrey] Eaton's devil-horned face" (Greek and Spanish)
Classified as: Dinosauria -> Ornithischia -> Genasauria -> Neornithischia -> Marginocephalia -> Ceratopsia -> Neoceratopsia -> Coronosauria -> Ceratopsoidea -> Ceratopsidae -> Centrosaurinae
Period: Late Cretaceous (Campanian)
Fossils found in: Wahweap Formation, present-day USA (North America)

Company: HAOLONGGOOD
Sculptor: @zeroes_zee (Instagram)?
Variant: Bao Xu
Year of release: 2024

Review:

Spoiler

The basalmost centrosaurine (Ishikawa, Tsuihiji & Manabe 2023). It is known from two specimens: UMNH VP 16699 (the holotype) and UMNH VP 16704, both being partial skulls (Kirkland & Deblieux 2010). It is morphologically similar to the younger Machairoceratops (Lund et al. 2016).

Replaces Safari's version. Safari's is bigger, that's the main rationale behind this replacement. I prefer Haolonggood's version's color scheme and paint job too. Plus I'd like as many of my ceratopsids to be in scale with each other.

Here it is next to HLG's Chasmosaurus:

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[Halichoeres]

These are both great additions. I also opted for the HLG Diabloceratops in part for scale reasons. I don't quite have all my ceratopsians in the same scale, but a decent fraction thanks to HLG!