TNG Prehistoric Figures (Unending Tedium)

[Loon]

Hi everyone,

I've been seeing this Stegodon figure around social media quite a bit and only just realized that it was a mass produced figure.

After a little bit of digging, I found out it belonged to a company called TNG (I think).

They have a whole line of prehistoric figures that honestly don't look half bad, but quite a few look like either rip-offs of existing designs or straight up bootlegs.




The Stegodon seems to be based on this resin model by Huanghe Flumen. Yet, the product description mentions that artist by name, so I'm not completely confident that these are illegitimate. Maybe it's a haolongood and Gr Toys situation mixed with actual bootlegs?


Let me know what you guys know about this, please. Any help would be great.

[Faelrin]

Yeah this topic came up before, but was deleted I think? Definitely bootlegs in many cases. I know their Cryolophosaurus for example, is a modified version of the PNSO Yutyrannus.

[SidB]

The mammals seem to be 1/30 to 1/35 derivatives in PVC of the 1/20 and 1/35 resins of Musee and Dinone Studios, but at a fraction of their cost. They only differ in very minor details. The quality of detail and paint application appears to be done to a high standard. They come with CE stamps, or at least some do (maybe this is authentic). Perhaps someone else can speak to the derivation/ inspiration of the dinosaurs themselves.

Two thoughts occur to me: 1) likely enough, these are knockoffs, but done to a standard and quality that I've seldom seen before; 2) these are a budget line issued or sponsored by/ with the co-operation of the companies that produced the source figures. This is very unlikely, IMO.

Who is TNG? Is this "The Next Generation"? There is a TNG store in Moscow, I believe, but what connection could it have with these made in China products?

[RobinGoodfellow]

It seems that TNG line is The Next Generation of "bootleg": copying from others with small differences to avoid copyright issues.

Some random models they are "inspired" from:


M-See (Musee) Brontotherium (Embolotherium)



M-See (Musee) Elasmotherium




Dinone Stegodon





Sean Cooper Mammoth




GR-Toys Quetzalcoatlus (by M-See)




PNSO Yutyrannus



And all the other figures have "vibes" from existing models, so...

--

[Thialfi]

Their Elasmotherium, Megacerops and Mammoth are straight up copies as well. If they did get the rights to reproduce these models for a mass market you would think that's quite a big deal, their unique selling point and something they would communicate.

However, the fact that their Cryolophosaurus is basically a retool of the PNSO Yutyrannus is bad news. PNSO already being a mass market producer themselves would never allow such a thing. I am fairly confident this company is doing shady business.

[SidB]

I can see why they had to retool the PNSO Yutyrannus to derive the "inspired" Cryolophosaurus, since it's low price point really isn't radically lower than the Yutyrannus', relatively speaking. There has to be a readily visible difference to justify it as a saleable product, as far as I can see. Like @Thialfi , I'm a bit surprised that they would take on PNSO - even the boxes and box art are quite similar.

Looking at the mammals, they really seem to have found a seam in the market, a soft spot that they can exploit - can you see it? It is a sharp distinction that enables these figures to potentially to be very attractive pricewise - it's the material content: plastic. The formal content is virtually the same as the Musee and Dinone originals, with very minute differences. But the use of the PVC allows them to reintroduce each of these as a potential mass market item, even for children (breakability issue avoided) whereas the resin originals are both beyond the price range of most consumers AND highly breakable.

It's a clever tactic. It's a vulnerable spot, an opportunity to make some money, but I kind of doubt whether that can really be a big cash flow, as extinct mammals, on their own, aren't big sellers traditionally. HOWEVER, I couldn't help but notice the extant mammals spotted among the display items - they sell well, don't they. So perhaps the extincts can be commercially moved among them. Time will tell. To me, this hearkens back to the days of Salvat, mutatis mutandis (with appropriate changes in context).

[Lynx]

Yeah this topic came up before, but was deleted I think? Definitely bootlegs in many cases. I know their Cryolophosaurus for example, is a modified version of the PNSO Yutyrannus.

Yes, I made a thread that has since been deleted.

[Andysdinosaurreviews]

So I've been doing some digging on these TNG models because I've recently been shown images of the Musee models and the fact that they are straight up replicated here with the TNG models. So far I've been able to find out that one of the sculptors working for TNG is actually the original sculptor of the elasmotherium and brontotherium from Musee. That could also explain the Quetzalcoatlus. I'm still trying to find any info I can on the Stegodon and if it's also being released by the original sculptor.

[RobinGoodfellow]

..to be honest, it seems quite strange that so many different artists could be legally involved with TNG: M-See (Musee is a chinese paleo-artist), Dinone Studio, Sean Cooper, PNSO, Gr-Toys ...
China does not have any law about copyright.
And that seems more plausible.

[stargatedalek]

Does anyone have a link to store or anything such for these? That rattlesnake looks super cool.

I don't think these should be considered bootlegs, as they aren't literally copying existing molds, just taking distinct inspiration from the visuals of pre-existing models.

If these are bootlegs, so are Papo, Nanmu, some REBOR, etc.

[dinofelid]

I don't see any very specific features tying their mammoth to Sean Cooper's Star Ace Toys mammoth, if it's inspired by something it seems to me it could just as easily be the Signatu Studios mammoth by J Miguel Aparacio, in the Pleistocene section here (they are both posed with their left front foot raised for example). But a lot of mammoth sculptures are fairly similar so it's hard to say. Comparison images for all three:

Spoiler

TNG:



J Miguel Aparacio/Signatu studios:



Sean Cooper/Star Ace Toys:

[close]

[RobinGoodfellow]

It's a mix from Sean Cooper and Miguel Aparicio. Even worse.


Others:

TNG


M-See



TNG


M-See



TNG


Dinone




TNG


GR-Toys


----

(Digitally scanned originals, modified into a 3d software and recasted )

[SidB]

So I've been doing some digging on these TNG models because I've recently been shown images of the Musee models and the fact that they are straight up replicated here with the TNG models. So far I've been able to find out that one of the sculptors working for TNG is actually the original sculptor of the elasmotherium and brontotherium from Musee. That could also explain the Quetzalcoatlus. I'm still trying to find any info I can on the Stegodon and if it's also being released by the original sculptor.

Very, very interesting, A @Andysdinosaurreviews , I really suspected that there was some 'concrete' connection. This makes a great deal of sense. Lett us know what you find out, if you can dig deeper.

[SidB]

Thanks, @RobinGoodfellow , it's good to have these direct comparisons available and handy.

[Lynx]

Does anyone have a link to store or anything such for these? That rattlesnake looks super cool.

I don't think these should be considered bootlegs, as they aren't literally copying existing molds, just taking distinct inspiration from the visuals of pre-existing models.

If these are bootlegs, so are Papo, Nanmu, some REBOR, etc.

The difference between TNG and Papo, Nanmu, and REBOR, is that they don't directly take existing molds. It's not even inspiration. It's completely ripping it.

[dinofelid]

It's a mix from Sean Cooper and Miguel Aparicio. Even worse.

Yes, the artist could have looked at both for inspiration, though I don't think this is particularly bad as long as it's not too direct a copy of either (a lot of art is basically a remix of some different works that inspired the artist). The thing about mammoths is that their life appearance is much better known than most prehistoric animals because we have all those frozen ones and cave paintings, so there's bound to be a lot of similarities in any well-researched sculpture, look at how similar all those models look to the life-size one here for instance, or this sculpture from Charles R. Knight (which might be another reason a lot of mammoth sculptures look similar, they are taking inspiration from the grand old man of paleo-art, whose prehistoric mammals are often not outdated in the same way his dinosaurs are--this article mentions at the end that Knight's woolly mammoths were based on close study of cave paintings).

[stargatedalek]

Does anyone have a link to store or anything such for these? That rattlesnake looks super cool.

I don't think these should be considered bootlegs, as they aren't literally copying existing molds, just taking distinct inspiration from the visuals of pre-existing models.

If these are bootlegs, so are Papo, Nanmu, some REBOR, etc.

The difference between TNG and Papo, Nanmu, and REBOR, is that they don't directly take existing molds. It's not even inspiration. It's completely ripping it.

They aren't ripped though. Look closer at the Quetz for example. The wings are completely different, the hands and feet are different, the head is different... the only thing that's the same is the pose. Every individual detail is different, therefore not lifted from the sculpt.

These are lazy, sure, but no different from when Papo did the sitting/rearing JP rex directly from a film screenshot.

*edit*
The Stegodon is even more clearly not a recast. The pose is completely different as is all of the texture detail! The only significant similarity is the trunk leaning on the tusks, and I don't know enough about elephants to know whether or not that is realistic, but if it is, that's an incredibly petty thing to accuse a company of copying over.

[dinofelid]

accidental double post, please delete

[Lynx]

Does anyone have a link to store or anything such for these? That rattlesnake looks super cool.

I don't think these should be considered bootlegs, as they aren't literally copying existing molds, just taking distinct inspiration from the visuals of pre-existing models.

If these are bootlegs, so are Papo, Nanmu, some REBOR, etc.

The difference between TNG and Papo, Nanmu, and REBOR, is that they don't directly take existing molds. It's not even inspiration. It's completely ripping it.

They aren't ripped though. Look closer at the Quetz for example. The wings are completely different, the hands and feet are different, the head is different... the only thing that's the same is the pose. Every individual detail is different, therefore not lifted from the sculpt.

These are lazy, sure, but no different from when Papo did the sitting/rearing JP rex directly from a film screenshot.

*edit*
The Stegodon is even more clearly not a recast. The pose is completely different as is all of the texture detail! The only significant similarity is the trunk leaning on the tusks, and I don't know enough about elephants to know whether or not that is realistic, but if it is, that's an incredibly petty thing to accuse a company of copying over.

Taking a sculpt from resin artists and editing very minor details is not original work. You can tell from mainly the mammals that most of these definitely aren't their own works. Once again, Papo didn't directly take the mold. They made it. Perhaps I am incorrect but this has already been called out by multiple users before.

[Lynx]

Look at these figures. Altered they may be, but that doesn't make it the companies sculpt. Even if we do pretend they didn't rip those couple of sculpts from various companies, if you look at their products, the few that aren't very obviously ripped are significantly lower quality, not to mention the sculpting style varying greatly.