Faras' Collection (Mainly PNSO)

[Concavenator]

Need more sauropods to fill the space behind Allosaurus :p

Wish granted!    (According to the newest PNSO rumours, of course).

[Faras]

@ceratopsian Real shame those stamp books are not available globally, print quality is fairly good I'm years late in collecting them, luckily they didn't sell well so there are still stocks at low prices. Yeah the Miragaia is a star in my display, guess it would get worse paints if it was released later with upgraded details

@Concavenator Hihi yeah right in time to pause my plan of getting Eofauna Diplodocus

[Libraraptor]

Great collection, presented in a very nice display! Congratulations!

[Faras]

@Libraraptor Thank you!

[Faras]

Cabinet with open back: pros - tails can stick out, cons - so much dust

Dynamic stability irl is often achieved via balanced instability imho, a figure with dramatic pose can be somewhat dynamic even when muscles are stiff, but it won't feel like a real animal in action. PNSO post bankruptcy Ornithopods are on a higher level - they look active in calm poses. What I love most is these figures capture the moment when pose is about to change. Currently they are my favourite PNSO group despite I'm not really into Ornithopods.

Lambeosaurus: one of their good early attempts on small scales, details are not perfect yet either due to thick paints or shallow scales on mould. Limbs are too slim, luckily this didn't cause stability issue (on display since mid Nov. 2020, room temperature is 22-30℃). Pose of the body (especially left forelimb) matches head perfectly.



PS: paint design received overwhelming criticism domestically and got the figure a nickname - Hamimelonsaurus

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Tsintaosaurus: I'm not too happy with its mould quality as there are big patches of detail loss and bad seams. Good paints though, overall it's not as vibrant as 2020 releases but suppose it's more realistic. Mine has some black paint on the neck, I'll pretend it's bite scars Well-fed, healthy animal with proper bulk. Something on the left must have got her attention during walking, she almost look startled when right hindleg is hidden behind other figures.




Small Tsintaosaurus: outdated crest, I'll pretend it's a growth stage as it actually has an "playful child" pose.

Iguanodon: controversial head reconstructions and dark paints aside, I really like this figure. It has imo one of PNSO's best musculatures - powerful forelimbs, splendid neck and dark drybrush to bring out details, together with confident striding pose they give the figure an imposing aura. Mould quality is brilliant, no detail loss etc.




Parasaurolophus: still their best Ornithopods when all things are considered (well if you don't mind slender neck and wound on spine). Top mould, details are super sharp. Pleasant colours, vivid pose. Generally he seems to be shaking head or changing direction, in certain angle he looks curious.



Original bronze statue:

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Build quality of Parasaurolophus is nearly perfect aside from lines which, to my understandings, formed when plastic was cooling off in mould. Nearly all PNSOs have them on random spots, can be really annoying on figures with light paints or smooth surfaces (on the bright side, they nearly cured my obsession lol). Hope PNSO reduce these lines in the future:

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Speaking about quality, PNSO QC is nonexistence, several buyers also reported repacking and selling of returned figures (one even received figure with return notes from previous buyer) on Chinese forum. I doubt PNSO has packing facilities oversees so problem would be less severe, so just another reason (aside from paint deterioration) to buy things early *just in case*.

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Corythosaurus: very elegant, especially when looking from above. Successful early attempt on fine details, though again scales slightly too shallow. This time slender limbs caused mine to fall to right side in a month (right forelimb bending under weight) so had to let it lean on the back of cabinet. Bright paints make it stands out in display, though crest is darker in comparison so body steals the show. Decent patterns on the body, though some brown spots are hollow (seems like paint failure?).



Ouranosaurus mini: hmm unrealistic paints, sculpt is great though (honestly most minis have nice sculpt for their sizes). Hope they release it in prehistoric line soon.

Olorotitan mini: decent figure, good pair with bipedal big one.

Olorotitan: imo their most elegant Ornithopod, its graceful long neck surely gives me swan vibe. Paints are darker than Iguanodon, so I have some problem seeing details from a distance. Lovely unstable bipedal pose which looks like he's just lifted forelimbs from the ground, clearly empathise this is a quadrupedal animal that can temporally walk on hindlegs. Its tip of the tail needs to touch the ground for stable stand, here I used stand from "Nano" to keep it from falling.



Original bronze statue (first appeared in a livestream in 2020):

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Ankylosaurus: honestly I feel it's still their best ankylosaurs, as others' poses are too similar so when I display them next to each other they look somewhat boring. It would be a perfect figure of its price range if they didn't add grey wash. Vivid pose allows interaction between multiple figures.


There are three paint versions so far, first version is the best, second has excessive grey wash and simplified patterns on head and limbs, third (current) version reverted back to similar amount of greys as first version, but kept second version's simple paints on head/limbs. Lighting have serious impact on amount of greys in photos, so actual figure probably won't look as fancy as in some pictures (I picked photos that present true colours here).

Mine: third version on the left, second on the right.


Pics from Tieba: second version on the left, first on the right.


Pic of 1:1 statue in exhibition:

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Pinacosaurus: bold paints, not as vibrant as promo pics but I feel the actual figure it's more realistic. Weird there's no panel line wash on spikes despite there are plenty on limbs, imo those spikes could use extra layers to be realistic.


Sauropelta: paints lack some complexity: again no wash on spikes, this time the end result is worse as spikes look like plastic instead of real keratin. Usually PNSO does decent poses, this time tho I prefer Safari Sauropelta's more active, head-up pose.
 

Borealopelta: too greasy, imo too much dark brown wash on limbs especially when the back is shinny and has little to no wash (probably cause wash colour is close to back colour). I suppose they were trying to present preservation state of the fossils so unexciting pose is tolerable (yet ending up with 3/4 ankylosaurs in similar poses is meh). Oversized scales and chunk made muscle/bone structures in limbs barely visible.


Bronze version, musculature seems better:


Pachycephalosaurus: it's a cute little figure, details are not very sharp, but still good. I really like the paint design (like it so much that I bought second one recently - they have identical patterns on the body and slightly different paints on the head. Differences are minimal so first batch probably haven't run out of stock yet). Only shortcoming of this figure is imo grey paints on jaws that look like "beard".




Small Gigantoraptor: fair sculpt, meh paints, materials are soft so it bends towards right side after a few weeks (doesn't fall though, heard first version tend to fall to sides, so maybe they made some adjustments).


Nanmu John Hammond: I don't own Nanmu figures, only got this one as size reference from Chinese equivalent of Ebay. Nanmu human figures tend to be oversized like their dinos, Hammond is probably smallest of them all and most in line with 1:35 scale.

[ceratopsian]

Neat melon joke! I'm unfamiliar with the bronze Olorotitan so good to see it.

[SidB]

I'm enjoying your ongoing commentary, @Faras .

[KeU]

Love the little tidbits of info about PNSO.
Thank you Faras.
Keep them coming.

[Halichoeres]

These photos and writeups make me appreciate my own figures anew.

In another way, I suppose that mangled Qianzhousaurus does too!

[Faras]

Thanks everyone! Apologize for slaking, maybe I should change the way I'm updating this thread so I can use fragmented time as well.

Updated previous post, sorry about short comments... not too thrilled with PNSO ankylosaurs so I'm less motivated

[Concavenator]

@Faras I was inspired by how nice your setup looks with those display risers and ended up getting some for myself, and it's a very nice change! Unfortunately I couldn't find "shoe stands" as you said and ended up getting regular figure stands that are very overpriced (I got a pack for 26 €  ). Of course some are more expensive than others, but they are clearly overpriced. That said, they really do enhace the display, but it still irritates me a little to pay that much for something like that. 

BTW, after seeing that bronze Olorotitan, I vaguely remember seeing another bronze statue of a baryonichine spinosaurid, which after the new PNSO rumours you posted I'm thinking it probably was a Suchomimus.  Even if it was indeed Suchomimus, do you think all these upcoming PNSO releases are new sculpts or some could be based on some of those original sculpts? The Olorotitan is a miniature of that statue, whereas their recent Styracosaurus is different than the acompanying artwork, which I believe was another sculpt (I'm very happy with the last batch of PNSO releases myself, I think they're at their prime in general, when it comes to detailing, paint apps, poses...).

[Faras]

@Concavenator That's good to hear! Guess shoe stores there don't use stands to display shoes? Those ~20cm shoe stands cost 2-3€ per piece here, pretty overpriced too consider average wages (I spent couple of hours searching for better deals and farming coupons, probably not worth it tbh :p).

Couldn't find pic of bronze baryonichine spinosaurid, does this one look similar to what you saw?


Yeah recent new sculpts are much better in general methinks. Hmm if that's indeed a Suchomimus, I suppose they'd at least change the pose and update details (pretty old pic) when using this model. On the bright side, new Triceratop looks very different from bronze version which was released earlier. High chance Lingwulong figure uses new sculpts as Zhao Chuang haven't release any Lingwulong drawing it seems (tho I suspect Zhao and his team received Lingwulong request from museum a while back and thought they might as well release it in PVC).

[Concavenator]

@Faras Well, based on what I found, shoe stands over here aren't like those you are using, but more like these:

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So I can't use them for displaying figures. And well, I would have bought the same stands you use without a doubt if I had the chance.  Those I bought are particularly expensive, but they were the ones I needed in term of measurements, on average I'd say they go for about 13 €/ pack as average (usually containing 3-6 pieces) from Amazon and they're usually cheaper on AliExpress from what I can tell (there, they are usually sold individually rather than in packs). And yikes, I also spent a few hours searching for some adequate ones...

Yeah, I think that's the sculpt I was thinking of (for some reason I thought it was bronze, my bad), though looking at it now I think it might be Baryonyx itself, as it seems to lack the longer snout and taller neural spines of Suchomimus. And hey, I'm also spying a Concavenator there! Between that sculpt, some artwork I saw from Paleofiguras Group:

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And this video:

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I think they might release a (bigger) Concavenator figure at some point.

Yep, I think they really nailed this latest batch of figures in terms of overall quality, generally speaking. But looking at that pic and also that video of their workshop you shared:

Those pics came from this vid: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1nY411s75K?from=search&seid=1104167378555175811&spm_id_from=333.337.0.0 (interview of PNSO's boss, plenty of stuffs to see as it took place in PNSO's workshop)

I find myself preferring some of the original sculpts over the final figures they released afterwards (i.e. the Sinoceratops) and also the Sinosauropteryx pair fighting over the limited edition bronze statue they released last year (?).

BTW, in terms of display, I would make a suggestion. Since you appear to organize your display based on taxonomy I would place the Torvosaurus with the Spinosaurus (as they're both megalosauroids), the Allosaurus and metriacanthosaurids (Sinraptor, Yangchuanosaurus) with the carcharodontosaurids (as they're all allosauroids), the Carnotaurus with the Ceratosaurus (they're both Ceratosauria), and the Daspletosaurus and Gorgosaurus posters with the tyrannosauroids.  Just a suggestion.

Looking at your display, despite having a lot of figures you still have an aesthetic looking display, which is not so easy. And I also spotted the Safari Deinonychus, a great choice! 

[Faras]

@Concavenator Aha I see, bought one in second/third picture thinking I'd use it for marine figures, ended up using action figure stands instead since stuffs kept slipping off Yeah right stands are particularly hard to find, nice to hear you got what you needed！

No worries Aye it seems more like a Baryonyx, tbh PNSO certainly will release more carcharodontosaurids sooner or later, species with unique looks such as Concavenator would a great pick (I hope they'll add some proper feathers...).

Yeah their original designs are often more dynamic and attractive, guess compromises are inevitable when figures go into mass production (especially when they are not targeting resin statue collectors). Hmm on the other hand, I think they are shifting to calmer poses over the years. Pre bankruptcy figures have the most dramatic sculpts, 2020 figures are more dynamic than 2021-2022's (seems Zhao and other two top Chinese dino sculptors started to favour calm poses around 2021, maybe they exchanged some ideas). imo good, dynamic calm poses are harder to make, but gotta say I'd love more Zhuchengtyrannus style poses.

Hihi yeah it's a mess atm. I'd like to keep risers behind Allosaurus empty for now and slowly fill them with sauropods; old Spino is too big so need to keep it on stand or it would block other figures. Whole allosauroids might look slightly too crowded on either shelf when risers are taken (PNSO will surely release more, especially carcharodontosaurids), allosauroids look great next to sauropods but that oversized Giganotosaurus would dwarf 1:40-45 figures; megalosauroids and abelisauroids in one shelf leaves space that could take a long time to fill... So I broke taxonomy groups and used geological period instead, but it won't work in the long run as PNSO releases far more Cretaceous dinos (guess I'll need to rethink about the arrangement soon as I see little extra space left for Suchomimus, grr headache ). Hmm what do you think about spinosaurs and carcharodontosaurs on one shelf, then the rest on another shelf with future sauropods?

I'm keeping Ceratosaurus in an "oversized" shelf as 1:2-10 stuffs look weird next to 1:20-40 ones. Aye one more figure then I'll have to use risers and remove posters (being mean atm, making ceratopsians live under Tyrannosaurs' shadows ). Would have problem seeing T. rex skeleton with posters behind it (getting Triceratop from the series in a few months for the left side of risers), so probably gonna store them behind bookstands.

Puzzle posters looked nice when I had less figures Now they tend to make display feel chaotic (especially the other side with drawings).

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Thank you! Yeah Safari figures are nice, if only I had more space... The Deinonychus is lovely (really like the paints, Eurasian tree sparrow is one of my favourite birds), nearly in scale with 1:10-12 human figures too. Wish it was made of softer marital tho, dropped it off the table and broke the tail

[Concavenator]

@Faras Well, displaying carcharodontosaurids alongside spinosaurids would of course break the taxonomy based display, but FWIW it would work for a Early Cretaceous theropod themed shelf, since they were the dominant predators during the Early Cretaceous until they eventually got replaced by abelisaurids and tyrannosaurids towards the Late Cretaceous. So it would work for a period-based organization. If you go with that organization that would simply take the Carnotaurus (and those are the mini Majungasaurus? can't really tell from the picture) out of the shelf? The abelisaurids would be the only Late Cretaceous intruders there!

If lack of space becomes a big problem, have you thought of a possible solution?

Poor ceratopsians must feel stressed with those tyrannosaurs around! 

And yeah, the Safari Deinonychus is super brittle. And from what I heard Safari even made the plastic stiffer on their newer releases, trying to prevent warping and stability issues. I think PNSO's approach is the best when it comes to stability. IMO bases are obstrusive, even if they look nice, and oversized feet are the worst possible solution I'd say since not only they compromise the figure's accuracy but they don't guarantee stability either (some Rebor figures have huuge feet and they don't stand anyways).  In this aspect I wish more companies went the PNSO route, those acrylic stands they include with their bipeds aren't very obstrusive at all, and well, you can use them or not if you're so bugged about them. Granted, some people have said the stands didn't guarantee the figures' stability in some particular cases either, but at least it's certainly better than nothing!

[Faras]

@Concavenator Yeah was displaying Carnotaurus with tyrannosaurs until I got the skeleton, guess I'll put it back while waiting for Triceratops. Honestly I think space for Cretaceous theopods will run out soon, biggest problem with acrylic stands is they put severe limitation on arrangement of theopods if I want to use space underneath, I'm thinking about getting some glass to replace them (probably gluing them into glass stands).

Hihi yeah they probably want to bite me for those posters

Aye I agree, PNSO's choice is the best solution. Stiff plastic and resin legs kinda defeats propose of "PVC toys" as they would become too dangerous for children (thinking about how I handled toys as a kid... brittle stuffs won't last a week ), plus high chance they'd still wrap in summer anyways. Big feet look so annoying, usually it's wrapping toes causing stability issue so oversized feet only work when toes are super thick. Base often fails unless both feet are firmly plugged onto it (eyes PNSO Yangchuanosaurus and Giganotosaurus), and yeah I find them taking up way too much space/interfere with other figures.

Hmm placing stands perfectly can be tricky. At first I just pushed it under figure, then after 2-3 months I noticed the stand raised Qianzhousaurus too much, putting extra pressure on its left side and caused feet wrapping (it had perfect feet). Been extra careful with stands since then, kinda why I'm reluctant to move theopods

[ceratopsian]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who finds it tricky to position PNSO's stands perfectly!  I am in agreement that they provide the best solution. I dislike super-sized feet intensely.

[Bokisaurus]

Beautiful as always, you really displayed your PNSO models the way they are intended to be and created one unique display that is always a joy to check out😃

[Faras]

Aaaah I love Torosaurus, so starting from the right this time

Vinyl Triceratops: not bad for its time, somewhat outdated (both reconstruction and style) now. Big figures have presence which smaller ones usually lack. The figure isn't suited for young children as horns are tough. Hmm honestly I wouldn't recommend it unless there is a price you can't refuse.


Old Triceratops: highly dynamic pose (heard it caused some stability issue in earliest batches, seems it was fixed in 2020), paint design is not the most impressive (probably why they released special version later), reconstruction is somewhat outdated.

There are four paint versions (credits to Tieba):

Pre bankruptcy:


Factory leaks is roughly the same as pre bankruptcy version (some have unpainted mouth):


Mine is post bankruptcy version, the base has worse paints:


"Wrong paints" version, temporarily available during March - July 2019:


10th anniversary limited edition (100 pcs iirc, all hand painted by 捂脸猴), temporarily available around June - July 2020:



Prices of wrong version and limited version are so high atm that getting regular version and paying for repaint is more reasonable choice.

1:1 staute （credit to https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5796347438):



Triceratops mini: its style matched old Doyle's perfectly. Not as detailed as new Torosaurus/Stegosaurus babies... but it can balance on two feets!


New Triceratops: mould isn't PNSO's best as details on thighs are visibly shallow. Scales on the frill are too fine by design and got partially lost during production. Articulated jaw looks slightly weird. That being said, its sculpt, musculature and details are still vastly superior to majority of ceratops figures. I like it's crouch pose (can be interpreted as gazing or defending). The skull is highly detailed, although personally I'd prefer a baby.



Mine has slightly misplaced left horn:


Qalia lying Triceratops: so lean that I feel the animal is dying (the whole set is shrink wrapped tbh). Huge seams on the right side (tail is separate part). Okish details and paints for the price. I bought it mainly for the pose.




Torosaurus: imo PNSO's best ceratops and one of their highest quality figures - scales on frill are bigger to prevent detail loss, patterns on frill are printed to avoid outliers in hand painting (some Tsingtaosaurus' crests have excessive black paints), articulated joints are better hidden in shadows, they fixed nearly every problem in previous releases (PNSO staffs must be stalking various forums and groups...). Some minor issues like hardly visible seams, bad transition at back of the frill and shrink lines on the hips. This figure is one of my favourites, I would definitely recommend it over PNSO's new Triceratops.



Imposing frontal view:


Toro and new Trike:



Styracosaurus: my biggest complain is hornlets on frill - no detail (they all have growth rings in promo pics), look like plastic with orange/yellow paints. Pose is maybe slightly too conserve for a Styracosaurus (imo it's probably the best candidate for display pose). Nevertheless it's decent and probably one of the best Styracosaurus figures, just my expectations might be a tad too high


Centrosaurus: shame the muddy tone overs up complex layers of colours, dark paintjob is the major flaw of this figure (though this also gives the figure a 1980s vibe). Personally I feel the neck could be adjusted slightly for more natural sideview (living animals do sometimes leave neck in head down position while raising their heads, but this pose makes the neck feel weirdly short on ceratops figure).



Love this angle:


Spinops: their most dramatic ceratops, pose is masterfully executed. Again the scales are about the same size as recent releases but lost due to technical problems. Musculature, skin folding, details and style (this figure's reminds me of rhino) have changed so much in last two years, this Spinops almost look like product of a different company.

Two paint versions (second one came out around mid 2020). First version has more layers, second version don't have messy dark wash on the face:




Original resin model (from Tieba):


Machairoceratops: weird stripes, apparently no clear structures or musculatures with oversized, deep scales. I like it for the roaring pose and cute size.


Pachyrhinosaurus: it's a solid figure with good sculpts (visible musculatures even with oversized scales), good paints (masterfully painted head, slightly greasy body and I detest straight lines on the back) and good price. Not my favourite but I can understand why folks love it.

Later(current) batch has worse paints:



Sinoceratops: why did they add gloss to the whole head? Aside from that the paint design is great. Its pose and colours pairs up nicely with Zhuchengtyrannus/Yutyrannus. Hmm honestly I'd take the pose over updated details (it probably would have a plain walking pose if they release it now).


Original design:


Ceratops minis: adorable companions of big ceratops. Details, paints, sculpts and anatomy are great for their sizes/prices. My two Spinops have different paints on feet, Einiosaurus can't stand (probably wrapped inside of package).

[SRF]

Great collection @Faras and it's very interesting to read your take on the PNSO figures, especially the ones I own myself. I fully agree with you on the Torosaurus being one of the best PNSO figures in general. It's one of my favorites too.

I'm looking forward to reading your take on the different Tyrannosauroid figures PNSO has released the last couple of years as well.