CollectA: New for 2022

[Bread]

The postage from Australia would be an absolute killer I'm afraid, based on past experience.

That's what I worry. If anything, I'd rather just send the figure to an artist to really replicate this colorscheme because I find it rather satisfying.

Of course adding additional details, and even in the end it may be cheaper to do that.

[Lynx]

I am really hoping Dan or really any dinosaur figure seller manages to stock up on the repaint somehow, even if a limited stock.

[SidB]

The postage from Australia would be an absolute killer I'm afraid, based on past experience.

That's what I worry. If anything, I'd rather just send the figure to an artist to really replicate this colorscheme because I find it rather satisfying.

Of course adding additional details, and even in the end it may be cheaper to do that.

I concur - this is the approach that I may take with this figure. The possibility of enhancing the already effective modification is inviting.

[Halichoeres]

Does he work at the museum though?  I wasn't sure on looking at the Twitter post.  His profile says he's an avocational palaeontologist working on Morrison Formation sauropods.  I wondered if "our museum" meant that he was in the same town - he's based in Melbourne?

I dunno, I'd recommend you get in touch with the guy on Twitter shown above, who works at the museum and appears to be offering to forward copies to international buyers.

Hmm, perhaps not. Maybe just lives there as you suggest, but I think that's good enough for our purposes. It's also possible that he is not employed by the museum but does volunteer or collaborative work on his own time with people or material from the Melbourne Museum.

I like the way the stripes on the horns look, but I wonder if they're possible. I'm struggling to think of an animal that has something similar. Plenty of animals, like bongos, have horns that are a different color at the tip than at the base, but not in alternation.

Toucans and hornbills come to mind, though that still isn't repeating rings.

Yeah, and I think keratin accretion is a little bit different in that context. The casque on a hornbill is the most directly comparable thing I can think of on a bird, and I've never seen one with a complex pattern. A toucan bill can have a pretty complex pattern, but that growth is very close to the bone and hence a blood supply. If I'm not mistaken, ceratopsian horns, like a hornbill casque, could have extended pretty far past the bony core, in which case it's hard to think of a mechanism for a pattern like you see here.

[austrosaurus]

Hey guys, I'm the one who tweeted originally about the Melbourne Museum exclusive Triceratops! I was very shocked to come by check up on next year's releases only to find a screenshot of my tweets!
Just wanted to clear up a couple of things, in chronological order of comments on this thread:
1) As Duna mentioned, the new Triceratops is a factory paintjob produced by CollectA exclusively for Melbourne Museum
2) Postage is likely to be around $35-50AUD (~$22-32USD/Euro) depending on the shipping address
3) I suppose it kind of does look like a choc-caramel sundae! 
4) I'm not too sure how likely the striped pattern on the keratin is, but (as I said on Twitter) it's based on palaeoart produced by Raul Ramos for the museum's exclusive exhibition, Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs, so I'm sure it's at least plausible
5) The model has been available for almost a month now, I don't think any ebay scalpers have gotten to it yet
6) I am actually employed at the museum, although not in the palaeontology department as yet
7) This is a Melbourne Museum exclusive, meaning that it's exceedingly unlikely that it will ever be sold anywhere but Melbourne Museum (e.g. Dan's Dinosaurs, everythingdinosaur etc.).

If anyone has any interest in buying one, please feel free to contact me, although you're more likely to get a timely response on Twitter rather than here.

[ceratopsian]

Thank you for all this information A @austrosaurus - I hope you manage your move into the palaeontology department before too long!

Mine is already as of this morning winging its way (slowly I'm sure) to me, along with the exhibition books.  My Christmas treat to myself.  In the end I contacted the museum shop direct and explained that I couldn't just drop by and one of the people there very kindly sorted out a work-around to get the exclusive to me.  So people here have two potential ways, if they want to get hold of one.

I don't think the pattern on the keratin is very likely either - but I do like the model as a whole and hey, I'm a collector with a collector's instincts!

[ceratopsian]

A couple of in-hand photos of the Melbourne Museum exclusive:



And his two Museum books:

[Halichoeres]

I am mildly worried that this will set a precedent for CollectA variants only being available in select locations.

[ceratopsian]

I sincerely hope not.  I have a feeling that PNSO had a similar deal with a museum at one point a good while back for one of their models, so it's not unheard of.  Then of course there are several Japanese releases that were only available at a specific museum to go with an exhibition, and only available for people physically at the museum. I remember Brett organising how someone would go on the train and pick up models. Maybe that influenced Melbourne - they are in that general part of the world.

But in general, how many museums are going to want to commission a model/paint variant?  I imagine they would only go to that sort of effort and expense if they had acquired a very spectacular fossil, or a very spectacular exhibition that was going to be staged for a good length of time. 

Anyway, let's cross our fingers it's a one-off.  While it was fun (and I'll confess exciting) to track this Triceratops and the books down, it isn't something I want to have to do on a regular basis.

I am mildly worried that this will set a precedent for CollectA variants only being available in select locations.

[Faelrin]

@ceratopsian Wasn't Banjo the Australovenator pretty much museum exclusive (though I think Urzeitshop at least had it before it sold out)? At least it is available once again. Edit: Although that wasn't CollectA that made it. But I was mainly getting at that it isn't the only Australian museum exclusive I guess.

[ceratopsian]

You are absolutely right, @Faelrin.  Though I have a feeling it was intended to be part of a more extensive museum line that never actually happened.  It wasn't simply a repaint of a model made by one of the major companies but something they commissioned from scratch.

@ceratopsian Wasn't Banjo the Australovenator pretty much museum exclusive (though I think Urzeitshop at least had it before it sold out)? At least it is available once again. Edit: Although that wasn't CollectA that made it. But I was mainly getting at that it isn't the only Australian museum exclusive I guess.

[Fembrogon]

Apart from the exclusivity caveat, I actually like the idea of museum-themed variants a lot. I think this would be a win-win scenario for both parties: the toy company gets to sell an extra version of their product, and the museum gets some extra advertising and revenue for their exhibits.
Museum/toy company collaborations should be more of a thing than they are.

[Flaffy]

Does anyone have size measurments of the 2022 Edmtonosaurus's body scales?

iirc the real animal's scales were only 3-5mm large on average; smallest being 1mm, and largest being 1cm.

[Lynx]

Bit of an odd wish but I would have loved for the Triceratops colors to be the same as the old figure, with a couple alterations. Would put into perspective just how far they have come, for me, at least.

[DragonRider02]

Bit of an odd wish but I would have loved for the Triceratops colors to be the same as the old figure, with a couple alterations. Would put into perspective just how far they have come, for me, at least.

If the new Triceratops had the same colors as the previous Deluxe (and the corpse/1:15 figures), it would be an instant buy for me. I always really loved that color scheme, but I don't like the old sculpt it was applied on.

[Halichoeres]

All the 2022 CollectA figures I bought, the fewest of any year since I started collecting in 2015. Next year they definitely have more that's up my alley.

[Prehistory Resurrection]