HAOLONGGOOD - New For 2023

[Thialfi]

Love the colors and the base!

[Faelrin]

The instagram post mentioned it is Carcharocles. If this is in fact meant to represent the "Megalodon", then it is genus Otodus, and should be corrected.

Reconstruction looks too much like an extant great white shark as well. Granted Megalodon is super fragmentary, but I've seen other reconstructions where it had a different body shape from this (though I don't know how plausible or accurate they would be).

I think it is nice to see them branching out from dinosaurs, even if it is a play it safe type of fish that's got enough figures as is. The pose and base are a nice touch as well, and refreshing compared to the other figures of it out there.

[Gwangi]

I have the PNSO and the GIANT AAA great white so I'm good on MEGs. Base is ok, kind of reminds me of all those beach souvenirs?

The 23" AAA great white is a holy grail figure of mine. Used to have one as a kid. Makes for a great Meg since it's a rather inaccurate white shark. Just got the 23" AAA dolphin a couple weeks ago.

[Bread]

Reconstruction looks too much like an extant great white shark as well. Granted Megalodon is super fragmentary, but I've seen other reconstructions where it had a different body shape from this (though I don't know how plausible or accurate they would be).

I've seen thoughts on this species anywhere from being built like a Sand Tiger Shark


or as simple as a Great White...


Me personally, I find the Sand Tiger Shark to be a much more interesting take.

Yeah I am not too keen on this model in general. It's just an overdone prehistoric shark and I'd rather see even another Cretoxyrhina, even if PNSO's is already fantastic.

[Lynx]

Looks awesome! Surprisingly manages to not look like a Great White fairly well with the lighter shades and speckles. It might depend on the price for if or if not I get this figure.

[Remko]

The instagram post mentioned it is Carcharocles. If this is in fact meant to represent the "Megalodon", then it is genus Otodus, and should be corrected.

Reconstruction looks too much like an extant great white shark as well. Granted Megalodon is super fragmentary, but I've seen other reconstructions where it had a different body shape from this (though I don't know how plausible or accurate they would be).

There's a recent paper on the appearance of Otodus megalodon. From what I understood they now have a relatively clear picture of what it likely looked like in life.
Yes, most models show it as a big great white. Which it wasn't at all.

The current thoughts are a rather blunt nose, very large pectoral fins and dorsal fin. Much longer compared to body size than a great white for example.

I sort of like this figure, but will need to know the size first. I don't have any O. megalodon figures yet, basically because they are either too small, or just giant great whites.
Depending on size, this one could be interesting.

[Gwangi]

I've seen the "sand tiger look" for megalodon discussed before but the sand tiger's body plan is not ideal for hunting cetaceans. Sand tigers are generally sluggish and hunt at night for bottom dwelling fishes. A great white type body plan seems better suited for megalodon. But that doesn't mean it has to look just like a white shark, there are a lot of sharks with that sort of body plan. It certainly doesn't need to mimic the white shark's coloration as much as it does.

Haolonggood's figure certainly has a similarity to white sharks but it also differs enough that it shouldn't be confused with a white shark. Some artistic liberties are applied to the colors and patterns that make it look distinct enough, and the head anatomy doesn't resemble a white shark. Note the short pointed snout. I think this is a decent megalodon. Offhand I think it's right up there with CollectA's and better than those by Safari, Papo, and PNSO.

[Flaffy]

I'm not convinced by this O. megalodon reconstruction personally. Does not line up with Ferrón, H.G. et al. (2020)'s most recent conclusions on the titular shark's proportions. It just feels like a Great White with a weird head, similar to Safari's version.

"Silhouette models visualising †Otodus megalodon body dimensions based on our extrapolations at different total lengths." - Ferrón, H.G. et al. (2020)


Notice how different the proportions would've been, rather than just a scaled-up Great White shark. Not a fan of the way the articulated jaw is executed either, much like the PNSO version it looks rather unatural and is not true to how real sharks articulate. I'm very much in the camp of keeping fish models static whenever possible.

[bmathison1972]

given that all we have is teeth and a few vertebrae, who's to say really. That 2020 interpretation could easily be out-of-date within a few months, for all we know

[Gwangi]

I would have preferred something more like what that study concluded but let's be real, we only have teeth from the thing. Maybe vertebrae. I'm not gonna be that picky and as long as it is not identical to a white shark or can be mistaken for one, and still makes sense anatomically, I'm content.

[Flaffy]

given that all we have is teeth and a few vertebrae, who's to say really. That 2020 interpretation could easily be out-of-date within a few months, for all we know

@Gwangi @Blade-of-the-Moon  I think having ~170 preserved vertebrae counts for more than just "a few". Not to mention close relatives & extant taxa in which we can infer anatomical traits from.


Source: https://incertaesedisblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/megatooth-shark-skeletal-specimens/


@Evoincarnate's Megalodon skeletal is definitely worth a shout too. It's very rigorous to my knowledge, and is pretty much the best representation of O. megalodon we have at the moment based on current knowledge.



Comment by @Apexzious discussing the skeletal in question
"This skeletal took a lot of work for Evoincarnate to make and they discussed and adjusted the skeletal based on feedback from researchers of O. megalodon. The jaws were based on Carcharodon (great white shark) whereas the snout is based on a fossilized otodontid rostrum which is identified in Greenfield et. al 2022 as being similar to the Lamna genus (porbeagle and salmon sharks) which matches what the researcher said about how O. megalodon would look like (the face of a porbeagle).

Additionally the GDI for a 20 meter specimen for this skeletal came out to be:

Volume of: 115.2093 m^3

Based on Cooper et. al 2022, the density multiplier is 1.060. Jack Cooper (a prominent O. megalodon researcher) acknowledged this skeletal as having similar results to his own paper based on the 3d modelling of a partially complete O. megalodon vertebrae column."

[Fembrogon]

A megalodon is definitely a surprise, albeit a "safe" surprise. I'm probably not going to end up getting it, but if this is a test to open the gates for more marine life, I certainly hope it sells well. More prehistoric fish on the market would be very welcome.

[Concavenator]

I actually like the figure and would be the one I get in case I was looking for an O. megalodon. However, I'm definitely not interested in such a taxon. In my opinion, it's the single most boring prehistoric animal ever (and why not, the most boring animal ever, extant ones included). The excessive attention it receives doesn't help, either. Good news for O. megalodon fans, though!

Can't find the exact post right now on Baidu, but I saw Haolonggood say their next release would be a herbivore. Looking forward to find out which. With how much they've shown to care about fans' wishes, and considering how many people have asked for one, I think a Kentrosaurus seems likely. Or/and maybe the rumoured Chasmosaurus. There's also the confirmed Edmontosaurus, too.

[Gwangi]

@Flaffy I don't know how you can infer anatomical traits from what are still mostly just teeth and vertebrae but from different species.

I'm not saying that the 2020 paper is not of value or that I don't appreciate the science involved. In fact, I stated that I would prefer something more like what the study concluded. But we didn't get that. And I'm not going to lose sleep over it or disregard the figure, because again...all we have are teeth and vertebrae. I love paleontology and science but there needs to be some humility here too. We don't know what megalodon looked like. If all we had were teeth and vertebrae from a hammerhead we would never know about its cephalofoil. Or that the longfin mako has longer pectoral fins than the shortfin mako. Or that angelsharks are flat. So, sorry, but it really doesn't matter to me that much if this toy matches up with "Ferrón, H.G. et al. (2020)'s most recent conclusions".

[Bread]

Can't find the exact post right now on Baidu, but I saw Haolonggood say their next release would be a herbivore. Looking forward to find out which. With how much they've shown to care about fans' wishes, and considering how many people have asked for one, I think a Kentrosaurus seems likely. Or/and maybe the rumoured Chasmosaurus. There's also the confirmed Edmontosaurus, too.

Oh my goodness! I knew there was confirmation for an Edmontosaurus soon, but if its right around the corner I'll be thrilled.

[TlatolophusJuanorum]

I actually like the figure and would be the one I get in case I was looking for an O. megalodon. However, I'm definitely not interested in such a taxon. In my opinion, it's the single most boring prehistoric animal ever (and why not, the most boring animal ever, extant ones included). The excessive attention it receives doesn't help, either. Good news for O. megalodon fans, though!

Can't find the exact post right now on Baidu, but I saw Haolonggood say their next release would be a herbivore. Looking forward to find out which. With how much they've shown to care about fans' wishes, and considering how many people have asked for one, I think a Kentrosaurus seems likely. Or/and maybe the rumoured Chasmosaurus. There's also the confirmed Edmontosaurus, too.

Let it be the Edmontosaurus (Annectens) pleaaaase, I'm reluctant on buying any CollectA's or Safari's, hoping there is a 1:35 Haolonggood's soon. Although the Kentrosaurus is definitely an excellent step up from their Wuerhosaurus tbh.

[Faelrin]

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but on Haolonggood's instagram page, they added more pics of the Otodus megalodon. I see they corrected/updated the name too. There's also size dimensions as well: 14cm tall by 22cm long (or roughly 5.5 inches tall, by 8.7 inches long). Any idea what scale that could put that at and/or how it would compare to other O. megalodon figures on the market, such as CollectA's or PNSO's? Or say like their Apatosaurus, etc? Edit: They responded to my instagram comment saying it is about 1:72 scale.

I take back about what I said about it looking too much like a great white shark. With the first batch of images, I thought that when initially looking at it first thing as I got up this morning, and like maybe I need to hold off on doing such things in the first place, or rather give it a bit more time to reflect on it. Looking at these recent pics, the snout shape does seem rather blunted, and it actually seems a bit chunkier then your typical great white shark, which is easiest to see in the image with the measurements. It doesn't look too off from the reconstructions @Flaffy shared off above, at least to my untrained (and tired) eyes.

Also the 2020 reconstruction was the one I was thinking of above, and I appreciate folks chiming in about that.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I have the PNSO and the GIANT AAA great white so I'm good on MEGs. Base is ok, kind of reminds me of all those beach souvenirs?

The 23" AAA great white is a holy grail figure of mine. Used to have one as a kid. Makes for a great Meg since it's a rather inaccurate white shark. Just got the 23" AAA dolphin a couple weeks ago.

I saw it at SeaWorld back in highschool, kicked myself ever since for not getting it. It really feels and looks like a monster..something i think most imagine when thinking of Megalodon, and the huge size really sells it too.  I think there is a killer whale too?  Wish they had made a giant Moby Dick like sperm whale too..

[thomasw100]

I actually like the figure and would be the one I get in case I was looking for an O. megalodon. However, I'm definitely not interested in such a taxon. In my opinion, it's the single most boring prehistoric animal ever (and why not, the most boring animal ever, extant ones included). The excessive attention it receives doesn't help, either. Good news for O. megalodon fans, though!

Can't find the exact post right now on Baidu, but I saw Haolonggood say their next release would be a herbivore. Looking forward to find out which. With how much they've shown to care about fans' wishes, and considering how many people have asked for one, I think a Kentrosaurus seems likely. Or/and maybe the rumoured Chasmosaurus. There's also the confirmed Edmontosaurus, too.

It is a Dacentrurus. There are already many pictures on the website of Lana Time Shop (New Arrivals). It is available for order (I believe this is pre-order). There will be a green and a red variant:
https://lanatime-shop.com/collections/new-arrial/products/hao015

[Stegotyranno420]

Dacentrurus is awesome. Maybe if i get the chance I will get this.
Absolutely awesome