PNSO: New for 2022

[SRF]

Appartently, AliExpress has a big anniversary sale going on in 4 days and 12 hours from now. Discounts are up to 20% for a lot of PNSO figures. Great time to pick up figures again.

I will at least finally pick up the Zhuchengtyrannus. Hopefully we'll see the international release of the Torosaurus before the sale ends as well, but I doubt it will be available at a discount right from its release.

[Brocc21]

I really think PSNO figures could use some sort of dark wash over the body to make the scales and detail pop more. The figure is obviously so immaculately sculpted but the detail just gets lost in the plastic. It leads to some body parts just looking a little... blah.

[Faras]

PNSO Torosaurus

All pics cept first one were taken in afternoon sun with a smartphone (might need to open img in new tab for better view on details).



Common issue: none (not many were sold due to domestic corona outbreaks).

It's a hefty figure, impressive paintwork (esp on frill), details are very sharp (pretty rare since Andrea tbh), brilliant pose which perfectly shows off the colourful frill. I'd only nitpick greasy paints on horns and bright colours on back of the frill with no transits.

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Closeup of the head. Normally the gap between head and articulated jaw would be less visible thanks to shadows:

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Torosaurus and new Triceratops: they have similar sizes, Torosaurus feels slightly bigger though due to pose and bigger head.

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IMHO Torosaurus has superior quality: paints are far more pleasing and brings out details better (on Triceratops somehow all scales feel less distinct). Size of scales on frill are increased to avoid detail loss, stamps on belly are clear (on Triceratops those stamps are nearly bootleg quality...), scales behind thighs are clear, the head looks more natural both with mouth opened and closed. So PNSO pretty much fixed everything that went wrong on Triceratops.

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Cute baby, though details on its belly are worse than on baby Stegosaurus:

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Therefore if you plan to get only one of them, I'd say grab Torosaurus: better details, great paints (personally I prefer greys over muddy colours), it stands out from my shelf of PNSO ceratops with it's dashing big frill. I paied $6 more for Torosaurus and I'm delighted for improvement in quality.

PS: The box is protected by plastic corners again, though no idea whether this is new norm for all museum line figures.

[SRF]

That Torosaurus is really impressive. I just might pay full price + VAT for this one when it releases. For me this is the best PNSO release in a long time.

[SidB]

Thanks, @Faras for the pictorial essay. Pictures really do replace  thousands of words in this instance. If I had any doubts about the new Torosaurus, this certainly dispelled them. I'm not going to let the long jaw seam put me off. It's a go for me. I like the comparison shots, BTW, of the baby ceratopsians.

[JohannesB]

@Faras I think you may have convinced me to buy this figure. It seems even bigger and heftier than Triceratops. And even more impressive. I also like the colour scheme better on Torosaurus than Triceratops. I may get it at discount.

Speaking of discounts (but a bit off-topic - sorry), when the sale starts on monday, I will certainly get the Lambeosaurus - certainly the epitome of beauty and grace (like the Invicta Lambeosaurus, with which I will compare it, when it arrives. I think they will complement each other very well, even though they are separated by almost three decades).

[Flaffy]

@Faras Question, how much does the Torosaurus + box/package weight? I'm trying to see if it'll be cheaper importing these from China directly, or if I should just buy from a local source but with international prices.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I really think PSNO figures could use some sort of dark wash over the body to make the scales and detail pop more. The figure is obviously so immaculately sculpted but the detail just gets lost in the plastic. It leads to some body parts just looking a little... blah.

To each his own I guess, I'm no expert but I'd probably approach this one differently.  IMO, it's already dark enough as it is.  A dark wash is not going to bring anything out in the dark areas it's just going to make the piece a lot darker.  I think a more targeted approach using "pin washes" is what PNSO has used on some of their promo images.  It would  be ridiculously expensive and time consuming to do that on production versions tho.  Give it a series of light tan pin washes on the dark brown and green areas to make the scales pop, then maybe dry brush the lighter areas with a very light brown to make him look a little dirty on his underside where he gets dusty and mud splashed from walking or laying down.  The production models are already fantastically painted with the basic fading, shading, and blending but with a few more hours of detailing you can make them look more like the promo pictures without starting from scratch and simply adding subtle layers of detail.  Some of them re also missing the gloss the nostrils and mouth.

[Faras]

That Torosaurus is really impressive. I just might pay full price + VAT for this one when it releases. For me this is the best PNSO release in a long time.

Yup overall quality is pretty much PNSO's best since Andrea, and it's a rare case when actual figure exceeds prototype.

Thanks, @Faras for the pictorial essay. Pictures really do replace  thousands of words in this instance. If I had any doubts about the new Torosaurus, this certainly dispelled them. I'm not going to let the long jaw seam put me off. It's a go for me. I like the comparison shots, BTW, of the baby ceratopsians.

My pleasure Really nice to hear my posts are helpful

@Faras I think you may have convinced me to buy this figure. It seems even bigger and heftier than Triceratops. And even more impressive. I also like the colour scheme better on Torosaurus than Triceratops. I may get it at discount.

Yeah I'd definitely recommend Torosaurus, it has non of Triceratops' flaws. Pics can't present all its charm in person tbh.

@Faras Question, how much does the Torosaurus + box/package weight? I'm trying to see if it'll be cheaper importing these from China directly, or if I should just buy from a local source but with international prices.

@Flaffy Total weight is: 1614.56g
Package (incl plastic corners): 225.57g; box: 564.46g; posters etc: 432.88g; figures: 390.65g.

[CARN0TAURUS]

PNSO Torosaurus

All pics cept first one were taken in afternoon sun with a smartphone (might need to open img in new tab for better view on details).



IMHO Torosaurus has superior quality: paints are far more pleasing and brings out details better (on Triceratops somehow all scales feel less distinct). Size of scales on frill are increased to avoid detail loss, stamps on belly are clear (on Triceratops those stamps are nearly bootleg quality...), scales behind thighs are clear, the head looks more natural both with mouth opened and closed. So PNSO pretty much fixed everything that went wrong on Triceratops.

@Faras
Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love it when you post all these things, it's basically a review of the figure!  Thank you for taking the time to do these.  I'm so happy I didn't buy the triceratops, you're correct, the difference is significant.  My one hang up is the back of the frill which I will fix on mine to make the transition look more natural, but it's always going to be displayed frontally so...

I think they are using a robot or some kind of decal to paint the frill, from all the different photos they are all completely identical.  All slightly off centered to the right, it must have something to do with the limitations of the devise they used to hold them in place during painting that didn't allow the robot to center perfectly on the frill.  Overall the paint application is so much more detailed and subtle on the Toro, it's fantastic and I think I'll get over the articulated jaw as long as I keep his mouth closed.

I disagree with you on one thing, the baby is much more sophisticated than the baby stego, he has a wash application and dry brushing that the baby stego doesn't have.  To me that matters a lot more than the belly because you will see it everytime.  They've applied some of the realism painting techniques to the baby that they didn't do on the other two small figures.  This is a fantastic sign if they decide to redo the mini line which I'm really hoping that they do.

[ceratopsian]

Thank you @Faras.  That is really helpful.  I find I do definitely need a Torosaurus, and I'm beginning to think that my first thoughts on the Triceratops (Don't buy, I have enough of this genus!) were correct.  A shame about the plain back of the frill - but it won't be visible in a model that demands a frontal view.

[Mattyonyx]

As always, thanks you @Faras!
I had a live stream about the Triceratops with Paleontologist Alessandro Carpana (who worked with Jack Horner) and paleoartist Fabio Manucci, and while praising the model, we talked about the scales on the frill being slightly smaller than expected (there's not so much published material, though), and the bigger scales on the body being not enough "nipple-like", so I'm glad to see these aspects have been improved on Torosaurus.

[Psittacoraptor]

@Faras Thank you again for your extensive reviews of PNSO models.

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PNSO Torosaurus

All pics cept first one were taken in afternoon sun with a smartphone (might need to open img in new tab for better view on details).



IMHO Torosaurus has superior quality: paints are far more pleasing and brings out details better (on Triceratops somehow all scales feel less distinct). Size of scales on frill are increased to avoid detail loss, stamps on belly are clear (on Triceratops those stamps are nearly bootleg quality...), scales behind thighs are clear, the head looks more natural both with mouth opened and closed. So PNSO pretty much fixed everything that went wrong on Triceratops.

@Faras

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Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love it when you post all these things, it's basically a review of the figure!  Thank you for taking the time to do these.  I'm so happy I didn't buy the triceratops, you're correct, the difference is significant.

I agree. Good things come to those who wait. The Triceratops does look great as well, but the Torosaurus is just more impressive. My display space is limited, and choices must be made.

[Faras]

The pleasure is all mine

@CARN0TAURUS Yeah luckily both the articulated jaw and back of the frill can be hidden well. Hmm when I display it frontally, open mouth actually look pretty neat (it's on lowest shelf tho, only ~50cm above the ground). Guess patterns on frill is far too complicated for consistent manual painting, maybe it's what they've learnt with Tsingtaosaurus - there's been some complains about paints on the crest. Yeah you are correct that Torosaurus baby has far better paint than Stegosaurus, it's just me being overly obsessed with detail

@ceratopsian Indeed, major flaws on this one be hidden easily by changing the angles. Promo pic really captured the worst views on this figure.

@Mattyonyx Cheers for the info, indeed I thought the scales on frill were too small compared to pics Zhao showed (or drew, can't remember) in Triceratops vid. Losing those details on frill kinda defeats their goal of showing scales instead of keratin. Scales on Torosaurus figure might be slightly too big, though I suppose it's the only way to show scale size differences on frill without losing them at edges.

Hmm sorry I forgot to mention the faint yellow and blue metallic paint in the "eyes" on frill - nicely done, blend in well with rest of the frill and not overly attention grabbing:

[Flaffy]

Thank you so much! @Faras

[CARN0TAURUS]

Appartently, AliExpress has a big anniversary sale going on in 4 days and 12 hours from now. Discounts are up to 20% for a lot of PNSO figures. Great time to pick up figures again.

I will at least finally pick up the Zhuchengtyrannus. Hopefully we'll see the international release of the Torosaurus before the sale ends as well, but I doubt it will be available at a discount right from its release.

@SRF

I have questions...

Out of curiosity I opened up their website and the sale prices are listed already, and it says add to cart before sale.  So does that mean we don't have to wait until March 28th?  It's kind of confusing and different items have different sale percentage from 5% to 26% off was the highest I saw.  It also says $3 off for every $30 spent, so is that an additional discount on top the sale price?  IDK I've never shopped on Aliexpress before so I don't know how their sales work.

[Medzo]

Appartently, AliExpress has a big anniversary sale going on in 4 days and 12 hours from now. Discounts are up to 20% for a lot of PNSO figures. Great time to pick up figures again.

I will at least finally pick up the Zhuchengtyrannus. Hopefully we'll see the international release of the Torosaurus before the sale ends as well, but I doubt it will be available at a discount right from its release.

@SRF

I have questions...

Out of curiosity I opened up their website and the sale prices are listed already, and it says add to cart before sale.  So does that mean we don't have to wait until March 28th?  It's kind of confusing and different items have different sale percentage from 5% to 26% off was the highest I saw.  It also says $3 off for every $30 spent, so is that an additional discount on top the sale price?  IDK I've never shopped on Aliexpress before so I don't know how their sales work.

I'm pretty sure you have to wait til Monday. But the previous sale was kind of a disappointment, since they've revoked free shipping from Zhuchengtyrannus so eventually it was more expensive than without the sale.

[SRF]

@CARN0TAURUS the sale starts on March 28. AliExpress is just advertising to start filling up those shopping carts before that. They do give some additional discounts, but those are different for users in different parts of the world I think. I get an additional discount of 2 euros for every 25 euros spent.

[bmathison1972]

My PNSO Olorotitan and Tsintaosaurus just arrived today. When the two critters are side by side, they look like they belong together. The only difference is the excessive packaging, base, and extra art work and booklet that comes with the latter. I can see why this would be frustrating for cost-savvy buyers.

[Psittacoraptor]

@CARN0TAURUS the sale starts on March 28. AliExpress is just advertising to start filling up those shopping carts before that. They do give some additional discounts, but those are different for users in different parts of the world I think. I get an additional discount of 2 euros for every 25 euros spent.

It depends on the currency. Aliexpress doesn't like € very much, it seems. You can change the currency to USD, your orders will be cheaper in the end (unless your card charges fees when paying in foreign currencies, mine doesn't).