PNSO: New for 2022

[The Prehistoric Traveler]

Terrible paintjob on the head.

[Faras]

My pleasure

@Thialfi Yup they own a big store in Beijing and several museums sell their stuffs. Hmm no info on those shops :'(Majority of age 15-50 folks would check prices online before buying expensive toys, my speculation is (could be wrong ofc ) they mainly sell minis to young children if there's no big discounts for big ones (heard one shop was selling minis for $0.8, tho doubt they'd make profits).

[SRF]

Terrible paintjob on the head.

I wouldn't say it's terrible, but if there's one thing that Wilson and other figures from that time have over the more recent releases, it's the quality of the paintjob. Especially on the head, the mouth and the teeth.

However I am very enthousiastic for the Zhuchengtyrannus. The coloration isn't very original, but it's decent and I like the sculpt and the pose very much. Also those feet are probably the best in any PNSO theropod to date. All in all, I think this one will be an instant favorite for fans of PNSO theropods and especially their Tyrannosaurs.

Some more images that I really like:

[Leyster]

Thank you, @Psittacoraptor , for sending along these videos. I've wanted, in particular, to see the Iguanodon one for quite a while now, since I'd heard that, despite it's detailed explanation of how and why the PNSO team had arrived at its decisions to construct the figure in its released form, nothing was said about the choice of a very Mantellisaurus-like head for the other-wise totally iguanodon sculpt. Sure enough, nothing was mentioned, which is a little frustrating as, admittedly, I'm somewhat fixated on this issue. It seems that they are are essentially ignoring the earlier re-classification separating Mantellisaurus from Iguanodon. They seem quite aware of all of the recent research, so the omission of any mention of this apparent choice NOT to separate the two genera is surprising in view of the detailed explanation of the process of design decisions.

Sorry, but wasn't this

S @SidB @Lanthanotus Since I got mentioned by Leyster in his post, here are the screen captures from the official PNSO video:






The specimen in the reference picture is pretty popular, here's another angle from an old postcard.


Being their only official statement about the head, at least the effort to give an explanation is something I appreciate, even though it's clear that using an unconventional head was a controversial choice, any way you look at it.


Whether they executed a convoluted plan to put a Mantellisaurus head on an Iguanodon body (adding Bertozzo and Nabavizadeh's latest proposals and ignoring the 2007's classification) thinking no one would have ever noticed, and then searched for a skull which could serve as a justification, or simply used another I. bernissartensis head, it's apparent they took a big risk.

enough of an explanation? The skull they choose is a bit more mantellisaur-like than others, but its undoubtely bernissartensis. It's like we're lamenting the skull of Winston because is not Stan or Sue... Also if you remove the nuchal ligament (added following Bertozzo et al. 2020) it matches more a traditional Iguanodon head...

[Shonisaurus]

What a hyper-realistic finish the zhuchentyrannus has! He is a scientific and top quality figure. Sincerely, the PNSO tyrannosaurs clearly compete with David Silva's BoTM with the difference that these are made of solid PVC and not excessively articulated. It's a great figure.

[Duna]

The real paint of the Zhuchentyrannus looks very good! I love that figure in a 99%. The other 1% is I would have preferred lips. The pose is brilliant, I may buy it in a sale.

[Flaffy]

Thank you, @Psittacoraptor , for sending along these videos. I've wanted, in particular, to see the Iguanodon one for quite a while now, since I'd heard that, despite it's detailed explanation of how and why the PNSO team had arrived at its decisions to construct the figure in its released form, nothing was said about the choice of a very Mantellisaurus-like head for the other-wise totally iguanodon sculpt. Sure enough, nothing was mentioned, which is a little frustrating as, admittedly, I'm somewhat fixated on this issue. It seems that they are are essentially ignoring the earlier re-classification separating Mantellisaurus from Iguanodon. They seem quite aware of all of the recent research, so the omission of any mention of this apparent choice NOT to separate the two genera is surprising in view of the detailed explanation of the process of design decisions.

Sorry, but wasn't this

S @SidB @Lanthanotus Since I got mentioned by Leyster in his post, here are the screen captures from the official PNSO video:

Spoiler

The specimen in the reference picture is pretty popular, here's another angle from an old postcard.

[close]

Being their only official statement about the head, at least the effort to give an explanation is something I appreciate, even though it's clear that using an unconventional head was a controversial choice, any way you look at it.


Whether they executed a convoluted plan to put a Mantellisaurus head on an Iguanodon body (adding Bertozzo and Nabavizadeh's latest proposals and ignoring the 2007's classification) thinking no one would have ever noticed, and then searched for a skull which could serve as a justification, or simply used another I. bernissartensis head, it's apparent they took a big risk.

enough of an explanation? The skull they choose is a bit more mantellisaur-like than others, but its undoubtely bernissartensis. It's like we're lamenting the skull of Winston because is not Stan or Sue... Also if you remove the nuchal ligament (added following Bertozzo et al. 2020) it matches more a traditional Iguanodon head...

Does anyone have a link to the video @Mattyonyx took screenshots from?

[Mattyonyx]

@Flaffy here's the video, pictures at 17:35.

https://youtu.be/rdRwW198s2U

[SRF]

Some comparison shots between Wilson and the Zhuchengtyrannus:





The paintjob on Wilsons mouth is far superior to what we've seen on other theropods:


From the top:


And the big three Tyrannosaurs from PNSO:


And another shot of the big Asian Tyrannosaurs, outside this time:

[Psittacoraptor]

@SRF Wow, that's a big boy! I expected it to be smaller. I'm also happy to see that the colours are sufficiently different from Wilson. The green tint wasn't really visible on the promo shots.

And yeah, Wilson does look better painted. I guess that's what you're paying for with the museum line, not just all the extra stuff but a more refined paint application as well. While I agree with the common complaint about its oversized scales, to me, Wilson is better than the sum of its parts and still the most appealing T-rex on the market. It has shelf presence, it's not anorexic or shrink-wrapped, and it looks like an animal, not a monster.

[SidB]

Okay, thanks, L @Leyster , I think that you've finally convinced me. Like hammering a nail into a board, sometimes it takes several blows. To overcome my skepticism too, apparently. I believe!

[SRF]

@Psittacoraptor I completely agree with you on Wilson being better than the sum of its parts. Well said.

However, I don't think the better paint is just because of it being in the Museum Line. The only other theropod that PNSO has released in the Museum line after Wilson was Andrea, and I think she has the worst painted head of all the Tyrannosaurs that PNSO has released since late 2020.

The Zhuchentyrannus indeed seems to have more green colors than expected. With this coloration, it seems to be a love baby of Wilson and Gamba.   

[Faelrin]

@Faras Thanks for the detailed look at what's been going on. I guess the international prices are understandable, although I still lament about the recent dip in paint quality, such as the poor blending on the heads, etc of these most recent models, as for how much they cost over here I can find things with more detailed paints apps in the comparable price bracket (such as BotM figures). Didn't you mention there was a change in factory a bit back? Guess it could be why too. Could be changes in equipment or different techniques being used.

The side by side comparison between the Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus does show how the paint quality has dipped (nothing new), but at least it has a rather simplistic coloration that it doesn't detract too much from it, unlike the recent Centrosaurus. Styracosaurus was not too bad either, but still suffered from the poor blending on the head, etc, and loss of detail in some places such as the horns compared to the prototype pics. The mouth does seem to suffer the most on this new tyrannosaur though. I guess it could give us an idea of how the rumored and possible Acrocanthosaurus could end up like since I think this is the first theropod since the recent dip in paint quality or method?

Also thanks to folks for sharing the info about the Iguanodon head sculpt. So am I understanding correctly that the soft tissue reconstruction (such as the lack of traditional cheeks, etc) is causing it to look more like Mantellisaurus then if the skull used belongs to Iguanodon after all? I guess I can also do more digging on what specimen that is when I get home.

[CarnotaurusKing]

The three tyrannosaurini look gorgeous together. The Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus (using specimen AMNH 5027) both fit in 1/33.3 scale (by my measurements), and it looks like the Zhuchengtyrannus could squeeze in that scale too, using a higher estimate. Looks good with the Sinoceratops (1/30) too, looks like Zhuchy would be closer to Molina-Perez and Larramendi's estimate of 9.something meters at that scale. I got a similar length for the Tarbosaurus at that scale, and they look the same size.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Well it doesn't have the overtextured skin folks didn't like.  The pose is nice.

[SRF]

The three tyrannosaurini look gorgeous together. The Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus (using specimen AMNH 5027) both fit in 1/33.3 scale (by my measurements), and it looks like the Zhuchengtyrannus could squeeze in that scale too, using a higher estimate. Looks good with the Sinoceratops (1/30) too, looks like Zhuchy would be closer to Molina-Perez and Larramendi's estimate of 9.something meters at that scale. I got a similar length for the Tarbosaurus at that scale, and they look the same size.

C @CarnotaurusKing I've actually did some measurements on Wilson that I shared in the Rebor Kiss & Tusk topic. To my knowledge, Wilson fits almost perfectly in the advertised 1:35 scale. For the other two the exact scale will be a lot trickier to determine, since the Tarbosaurus isn't based on a single specimen while Zhuchentyrannus is well, quite fragmentary.

They do scale very nicely together indeed, but in that case at 1:35 the Tarbosaurus would represent an 11 meter individual. The Zhuchentyrannus is said to be 28.5 centimeters in length, but it seems that it will probably be over 30 centimeters as well with the tail stretched out. So in that case, that will be a 10 to 11 meter animal as well.

[Faras]

Just watched Zhuchengtyrannus vid, Zhao mentioned the jaw is robust, small arms are based off Tarbosaurus, leg bones from a different individual shows Zhucheng has longer legs than T. rex. The figure seems very stable without stand, got several careless touches in the vid and didn't fall.

Mine should arrive in about 2 days

@Didn't you mention there was a change in factory a bit back? Guess it could be why too. Could be changes in equipment or different techniques being used.

My pleasure Yup rumours say it was before Parasaurolophus, they only managed to keep close to promo pics for the first two releases, then it's almost always a downgrade.

The Zhuchentyrannus is said to be 28.5 centimeters in length, but it seems that it will probably be over 30 centimeters as well with the tail stretched out. So in that case, that will be a 10 to 11 meter animal as well.

Yeah on Chinese store pages they said it's based off an 11m individual.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I don't own Andrea but to me, I would pair this Zhuchengtyrannus with Andrea.  Aren't the larger birds of prey descendants of these animals?  Doesn't reverse sexual dimorphism exhibit itself in these species?  IDK, but it seems to me that this Zhuchengtyrannus would be a more adequate mate for Andrea if seen as a male T-rex.

[SRF]

I don't own Andrea but to me, I would pair this Zhuchengtyrannus with Andrea.  Aren't the larger birds of prey descendants of these animals?  Doesn't reverse sexual dimorphism exhibit itself in these species?  IDK, but it seems to me that this Zhuchengtyrannus would be a more adequate mate for Andrea if seen as a male T-rex.

You can do as you please of course, but Andrea is already much more robust than Wilson, which is based on a T. Rex specimen from the gracile morph. I think that the Zhuchengtyrannus would work better as a younger adult member of a pack of T. Rexes than as Andrea's mate specifically. 

[CARN0TAURUS]

I don't own Andrea but to me, I would pair this Zhuchengtyrannus with Andrea.  Aren't the larger birds of prey descendants of these animals?  Doesn't reverse sexual dimorphism exhibit itself in these species?  IDK, but it seems to me that this Zhuchengtyrannus would be a more adequate mate for Andrea if seen as a male T-rex.

You can do as you please of course, but Andrea is already much more robust than Wilson, which is based on a T. Rex specimen from the gracile morph. I think that the Zhuchengtyrannus would work better as a younger adult member of a pack of T. Rexes than as Andrea's mate specifically.

The size difference is up to 33% in some birds of prey with the males being 2/3 the mass and size of the female.  Andrea's body looks bulkier but her head/skull is not bigger than Wilson's and might even be smaller.  This new Zhuchengtyrannus in your overhead view has a head and neck that almost looks as massive as Wilson's but the rest of the body fits the profile for the difference in size that the male would be in comparison to Andrea.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that even this new Zhuchengtyrannus might be too big for Andrea if modern birds of prey are indeed modeled after these dinosaurs.  It's also possible that they were more like chickens where the Rooster is larger than the hens, I don't think anyone really knows.