Gwangi's Collection (Updated 2/9)

[Gwangi]

Despite not being a "walk around" cabinet as I had the impression at first, it is nevertheless a very impressive piece of furniture. Bit too crowded for my personal taste, but the range of figures showcased is worth the tightness

@Lanthanotus, it's definitely too crowded but I'm determined to restrict this collection to that cabinet and although there are a few figures that could be culled from that bottom shelf I find it a difficult process to go through. A big cull has to happen eventually, I'm just not prepared for it yet.

[Fembrogon]

There's certainly some nice diversity in there; I recognize most of the figures but not all of them. Is that a Phorusrhacos from Mysterious Island on the top shelf?

Those Bullyland figures are very cool, especially the non-dinosaurs. I wish I had the opportunity to collect those back when they were new; that niche of Triassic toys is still largely vacant!

[Gwangi]

There's certainly some nice diversity in there; I recognize most of the figures but not all of them. Is that a Phorusrhacos from Mysterious Island on the top shelf?

Those Bullyland figures are very cool, especially the non-dinosaurs. I wish I had the opportunity to collect those back when they were new; that niche of Triassic toys is still largely vacant!

Yes @Fembrogon, that is the Phorusrhacos from Mysterious Island. It's resin and was made by X-Plus. I reviewed it on the blog many years ago.

A lot of the Bullyland toys were rare but not too hard to find when I got into the hobby. My Liliensternus actually came from DeJankins, about 8 years ago. He had the Arizonasaurus too but I foolishly didn't get it when I could. And then Bullyland actually re-released a lot of their retired stuff and there was a lot of fanfare over it. That was my chance to get the Mastodonosaurus but I squandered it, mostly because I just couldn't afford to collect as much as I wanted to and being new to the hobby I had higher priorities. I've learned over the years that it pays to pay attention to what's being retired, don't take the current availability of something for granted.

[Crackington]

What a fantastic cabinet Gwangi, very classy, Mrs Gwangi has done you proud!

It's interesting seeing it from the later picture angle. It really did look like it was in some vast room, as Lanthonatus pointed out, in the earlier snaps.

The bottom shelf is always a bit of a draw back for cabinets though, I find it's getting harder to get down to this level as I'm getting older! At least you don't  have to bend too far with the drawers below it though.

Thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing more of your collection.

[Shonisaurus]

What a collection you have, and how well housed in this cabinet, your wife has given you a gift of quality that is difficult to beat.

[Gwangi]

Thanks @Crackington and @Shonisaurus, my wife has indeed done me proud. Originally the display case was supposed to go upstairs but it wouldn't fit, so now it's the first thing you see when you walk through the front door. I'm fortunate to not only  have a wife that would gift me such a thing but one that is also willing to embrace displaying it in the house so prominently. Then again, I picked her for a reason, she was reading Raptor Red when I first met her.

The lower shelf has it's drawbacks, for one it's dark, but I'm thankful that I'm not displaying anything at ground level like I was with my last shelf. 

[Gwangi]

Time to look at Pachyrhinosaurus, it might be my favorite ceratopsian and it definitely makes the top 5. I have the figures by Papo, CollectA, Battat, and Safari. The Papo was one of the first figures I bought when I started collecting, so although I don't much care for it these days I can't bring myself to pack it away...yet. I understand it has become quite rare too. The CollectA figure I no longer display, it's packed away. The Battat figure is my favorite rendition of the genus but I absolutely hate its paintjob so for me the Safari is all around the best, I display them both. Despite having enough figures of the genus I do still plan on getting PNSO's.

[Pliosaurking]

Fantastic collection Gwangi I must say

[Fembrogon]

I think I echo your sentiments on the pachys; the Papo is nicely detailed, but seeing ceratopsians so skinny seems strange. The Battat is a great sculpt, but I've never understood the choice of color scheme; it looks like a candy cow or something. Safari ltd's figure strikes the best balance.

[Gwangi]

Thank you @Pliosaurking!

It's hard to believe @Fembrogon that for a while the Papo Pachy was really the only decent option for the genus. And it was sufficient during its heyday but aside from detail it has no real redeeming features. That's kind of how I feel about Papo in general these days.

[Gwangi]

Oh boy, lets look at some naked dromaeosaurs. Here they all are, with the exception of those by Mattel, Kenner, and Tyco that I also have. I avoid bald dromaeosaurs like the plague these days, they look as unnatural to me as a scaly eagle would. That said, I do keep a few and even display some of them. Unfortunately I have more scaly dromaeosaurs than I do feathered, mostly because most of the feathered dromaeosaur figures out there look abysmal. I would rather have a figure with no feathers than some half tarred and feathered concoction. So, no Carnegie or Papo feathered Velociraptor toys for me.

In the back we have the big Safari Velociraptor sculpted by Greg Wenzel, and his involvement with this piece is the main reason I keep it around. I believe it came out in 1992-93 and this is an absolutely phenomenal piece for its time. I actually have two of them and I don't display them, mostly due to size.

In front of that one is the 2007 Wild Safari Velociraptor. This thing had no business being released in 2007, right around the time that the Carnegie feathered dinosaurs were released. I have it because it was a gift but I don't display it. Despite its obvious inaccuracies it's a nice sculpt, I'll give it that much credit.

Behind that one there's the Papo Velociraptor. I have it because I'm a Jurassic Park fan and I display it with other Jurassic Park/World toys. It fills the role of representing the franchise's raptors well enough and so I have no interest in other franchise inspired raptors from other companies. When I first saw Jurassic Park I fell in love with the raptors, they became my favorite dinosaur for a long time. These days I've grown mighty tired of the JP style raptor. Like I said, scaly eagles just don't look right, no matter how menacing they are.

Lastly we have the Carnegie Deinonychus trio and Bullyland Deinonychus. Both of these are displayed in my cabinet and they are the only scaly dromies that will ever have a spot there. I'm nostalgic for the Carnegie trio, having had it as a kid, and the Bullyland figure is a beautiful work of art. They clearly have Bob Bakker influences too which makes them historically significant and another reason to display them.



Next up, Euoplocephalus. I know, two of those figures were marketed as Ankylosaurus but let's be honest about what they really are. The Favorite Ankylosaurus still has a place in my cabinet but its days there are numbered. The Battat Euoplocephalus has been relegated to storage but it is among the best mass produced Euoplocephalus out there. The reason I don't display it is because I have the resin statue by Galileo Hernandez. I don't collect resin statues because of their fragility but I got this one for a good price from a forum member. It fills my need for a Euoplocephalus for the foreseeable future. After that there's the adorable Carnegie Euoplocephalus which I don't display but is among my favorites of the older Carnegie toys. Lastly there's the Papo Ankylosaurus which I'm not terribly fond of but it was a gift and so I display it with the Jurassic Park stuff.



Lastly, Carcharodontosaurus. I remember when news dropped in the mid-90's about a theropod "bigger than T. rex" and still being quite young at the time got pretty excited about it. One of the educational channels of the time, A&E I think, was airing a documentary about it. It was the PaleoWorld documentary titled African Graveyard and it followed Paul Sereno and his team as they unearthed remains of Carcharodontosaurus. The documentary, with no CGI or dinosaur reconstructions, simply followed the team and documented what it was like being a field paleontologist at the time. I loved it in its honest simplicity and realism. They don't make documentaries like that anymore. I miss PaleoWorld.

Anyway, because of that documentary I now have a soft spot for Carcharodontosaurus, despite by general disinterest in the Carcharodontosauridae family. When CollectA and Safari released them, I had to have them...both. Now I have the PNSO Carcharodontosaurus and as far as I'm concerned it's the last one I'll ever need. It puts me in a difficult position because now I don't know what to do with the other two. Only the PNSO Carcharodontosaurus has a place in my display cabinet now. The PNSO Carcharodontosaurus, along with the PNSO Tarbosaurus, are my absolute favorite PNSO theropods, and the only two theropods I have from the company. I can't wait to see what treatment they give Acrocanthosaurus though!

Excluded from the group shot is the Mattel toy, which I also have.

[SidB]

Boy, memories sure gather around these figures - thanks for these displays. Sometimes I have a few regrets about selling or giving away most of those shown in your pictures, but at the end of the day, a certain simplicity seems best, especially when storage space is at a premium.

[Libraraptor]

I still love those "naked" Dromaeosaurs.

[Fembrogon]

Certain "naked" dromaeosaurs can rock the look pretty well; I think Stan Winston's JP designs are robust enough, for example, that they don't look strange without the feathers (although I certainly do wish to see more feathers in the franchise).
I'm not sure I was aware Greg Wenzel had sculpted that big Safari figure; that's cool to know. I've got one as well, currently in storage.

"Bigger than T-rex" has been a pretty popular title, hasn't it? I was introduced to Giganotosaurus (and Carcharo as an aside) through a book by the same name, illustrated by Robert Walters and discussing Giga's discovery. I think NatGeo also produced a documentary by the same name a few years ago, this time focused on Spinosaurus and the Ibrahim publications. It's going to get confusing sooner or later!

[Shonisaurus]

Beautiful photographs of your collection. Sincerely, the PNSO carcharodontosaurus is far superior to its Safari and Collecta counterparts, with the Collecta being the one with the lowest artistic quality.

On the other hand, it is nice to photograph the same prehistoric animal species from different collections together. You have some good herds of animals. My congratulations for your photographs are great.

[Halichoeres]

That Hernandez Euoplocephalus is a treasure! I wouldn't mind a company taking another crack at either Euoplocephalus or Scolosaurus in the near future.

I think if that PNSO Carch had come out like a week earlier I might have bought it, but iirc I had already preordered the GR Toys version when it was revealed. No way was I going to drop over $100 on Carcharodontosaurus in a single year.

[Gwangi]

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Yes S @SidB, I agree. Earlier on my my collecting career I was mostly just interested in bulking up the collection quickly, now I'm taking on a less is more approach. Some of these figure I still retain are from those earlier years. That does seem to be a trend with hobbies in general and lately I've been seeing the less is more approach becoming more popular on the forum.

@Fembrogon, I agree that the JP style raptors "rock the look pretty well" too. They're distinct enough from the actual animal, and we're certainly used to them by now too. The look doesn't translate as well to otherwise accurate dromaeosaurs, like that brown Safari Velociraptor, if that makes sense.

@Shonisaurus, the CollectA and Safari Carcharodontosaurus were good for their time but the PNSO one definitely makes them largely obsolete, although I still quite like the Safari one. Anyway, I definitely have no need for another Carcharodontosaurus.

Some company or other definitely needs to make a Euoplocephalus @Halichoeres, it's been some time since we've gotten a good one. For those not into resin, the Battat really is still the best. I'm not even sure if a decent Scolosaurus even exists. Either way, time to give Ankylosaurus a break.

[Gwangi]

One of the coolest things about following dinosaur pop culture trends is seeing which new species catch on, and which ones don't. The dinosaur popularity contest, if you will. Us older collectors all know the classic dinosaurs from our own youth; Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops etc. but younger generations have a whole crop of "new classics". Carnotaurus is one of them. Described in 1985 it's description is about as old as I am. I didn't grow up with Carnotaurus, but now it's among the most popular of all theropods. And when I started collecting, over 10 years ago now, Carnotaurus toys were few and far between and of generally questionable quality. Now you have an embarrassment of choice, to the point where I think it might need a break for awhile.

I have to many Carnotaurus figures, but I like them all and still display them all. I have, however, sworn off of Carnotaurus, I won't be getting anymore. Sorry PNSO and CollectA. The Battat Carnotaurus was the first great Carnotaurus figure, and one I coveted for years before its re-release. The Papo Carnotaurus is one of my favorite Papo figures. Carnotaurus lends itself well to Papo's aesthetic. It's far from flawless but it's dynamic and fun. The Carnegie Carnotaurus is my hands down favorite Carnotaurus. If I had to display just one, it would be the Carnegie. I'm not a huge fan of the pose but it's otherwise a phenomenal piece with one of the best paintjobs of any Carnegie figure.  I probably wouldn't have bought the newer Safari Carnotaurus but it was a gift, thankfully of the 3 recent Carnotaurus (Safari, CollectA, PNSO) it is my favorite. I really like the bulk of it, and the paintjob too aside from those markings on the flanks. The little blue Schleich Carnotaurus, well that one is just fun. I like its stalking posture, sinister smirk, and blue-green paintjob. I'm the kind of toy collector that sometimes like toys just because they look like toys, if that makes sense.

Not included in the picture is my Mattel Carnotaurus.

[Grimbeard]

The Carnegie Carnotaurus is still the best depiction of Carnotaurus in my opinion as well and CRAZY far ahead of its time. 

Even today you rarly gets treated with such a attractive color scheme. It also captures the "this is a FAST predator that will run you down" vibe in its sculpt better than any other figure, maybe with exception of the PNSO one (which has a far more boring paintscheme and way too large scales, even for a Carnotaurus). The Papa one is decent, even one of their Top 3 theropods (together with the Gorgosaurus and the Ceratoraus), the Safari one also has really nice colors, but the sculpt is a tad too beefy for my taste.

Great little carno pack!

[Shonisaurus]

Undoubtedly, the best carnotaurus is Carnegie's without hesitation, closely followed by PNSO and its counterpart from Collecta in that order. I really like the clever solution that Safari/Carnegie did back in the day by tripodizing that carnivorous Argentine abelisaurid theropod from the Cretaceous so it avoided clown feet.