Papo - New for 2024

[Sim]

That being said, Papo's clearly out of their depth with the market heading towards HLG and PNSO levels of quality. The latter two company's Edmontosaurus just emphasises the vast difference in sculpt quality. Papo is no longer the top player as it once was back in the early 2010s.

I think it's just the worse Papo sculptor that's bringing Papo down.  The Suchomimus looks as good as PNSO and Haolonggood's figures.  There isn't justification for terribly inaccurate figures being sculpted though and I think whoever is responsible for them should strive to make good figures.  So no more Papo dinosaurs with weird integument, no more unguligrade Schleich horrors, no more bizzarely inaccurate Safari figures like their toob hatchetfish and viper fish.

I think it's the same case as with their "Ankylosaurus" which is in fact based on Euoplocephalus here.

Its head is that of Ankylosaurus, the torso is based on Scolosaurus (considered a synonym of Euoplocephalus in the past), its tail is fantasy.

[SpartanSquat]

Things changed this new decade. Chinese companies took the top. Im still collecting papo due I started in 2006 as a teen. Near the half of my life. I was sad papo lost his touch in this decade but last year and this year gave me the vibes of 2010s papo!

[Halichoeres]

Just as I had suspected, the sculptor was using Hypacrosaurus referecnes when sculpting this "Corythosaurus" That distinctive triangular hump, along with the smaller crest that doesn't extend behind the skull is characteristic of H. altispinus.


@Halichoeres reckon you'll be replacing the Safari Hypacrosaurus in your collection? Or have the two figures represent separate Hypacrosaurus species? (or not get the Papo one at all)



That being said, Papo's clearly out of their depth with the market heading towards HLG and PNSO levels of quality. The latter two company's Edmontosaurus just emphasises the vast difference in sculpt quality. Papo is no longer the top player as it once was back in the early 2010s.

Nah, I think I'll skip the Papo. I can see the argument for it being a better fit for Hypacrosaurus than for Corythosaurus, but I try not to get too much into what was intended versus what was produced. That, and hadrosaurs, especially lambeosaurines, are among the most frequently made dinosaur groups, so I think in time one of the other companies will make a nicer Hypacrosaurus before too long.

[Concavenator]

I think Papo must have a different fanbase from the companies that deliver scientifically accurate figures (Eofauna, PNSO, Haolonggood, Wild Past, Safari, CollectA, BotM, etc), because generally speaking, their figures have been pretty bad in recent years yet they still (seemingly) thrive. It's probably due to the reputation they've achieved from their early days.

However, I agree with @Sim . If they keep producing stuff as good as their Suchomimus, I don't see why they couldn't have their place in the competitive, scientifically accurate prehistoric animal figure market. They've already shown they can deliver something that's genuinely good. Whether or not they continue, it's up to them.

[Takama]

Let me remind you all that Papo (like Safari) cators to kids while PNSO NANMU and even HGOOD cator to ages 14/15+ (and it says on the very packageing they come in)

[Lynx]

hopefully the tone in this doesn't seem too aggressive, this is moreso just a genuine question because I've seen it a lot over the years on this forum.

why do children's brands (not saying they can't be high quality or accurate/high standards, but rather because the chances of it being as high of quality compared to teenager/adult figurines is low due to production) get compared to models not intended as toys so often here? There's pretty clearly a different intended audience, and thus production is going to be vastly different.

 I don't think Papo is going to be 'competing' in that sense with PNSO or HLG, that's the market for a vastly different intended audience. It's like comparing a product at a small farmers market to that of a large-company grocery store. The farmers market products may be of higher quality, but they also are more likely to be bought by a smaller audience and be generally slightly more expensive (and vice versa).

There's also the sculptor thing someone already brought up, the same happened (and still happens) with Schleich.

So yeah, to circle back to the actual question, why do these brands get compared so much? I dunno if it has to do with figure quality or popularity or whatnot.

[Halichoeres]

@Lynx you're good, that didn't come across aggressive at all. Part of the reason is that for us old guys, Papo was long the closest thing to a dinosaur collectible for adults that we could get. Now that actual adult collectibles are reasonable abundant, I think some amount of comparison is inevitable.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

To me as a younger person it's more that these mass produced models are a lot of the time one of the general public's main idea of how dinosaurs look, take the infamous Papo tyrannosaurus for example. So the quality and accuracy of these figures directly impacts how the public sees dinosaurs and at least to me that makes a high standard of accuracy very important.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

And for the record safari, which is the brand I most commonly see out in the world aside from Papo, is doing amazingly on that front, but I do think Papo has some catching up to do.

[SpartanSquat]

The problem is not papo did the infamous walking v-rex wannabe its how people outside of people overused. I preffered this would be more beefy like the v-rex but I still have fond memories when I bought it in 2012.

[Primeval12]

The fact that it's Hypacrosaurus makes me want it more.

[Quiversaurus]

So yeah, to circle back to the actual question, why do these brands get compared so much? I dunno if it has to do with figure quality or popularity or whatnot.

I think it's because PNSO and HLG have risen very quickly in the past few years amongst dinosaur model companies, and in fact have become the "Standard" for many collectors such as ourselves on this forum. So when other model companies make dinosaur figurines/models, the instinct is to compare them to "The Standard", especially based on what we personally favour (be it scientific accuracy, paint and patterning, scale/sizing, etc).

I do this comparison myself too, though to me personally, HLG, PNSO (and W-Dragon perhaps) are of a different group compared to Papo, CollectA, Safari, Schleich, etc who make not just dinosaur figures but extant and fantasy ones as well. Kid's toys, as an easier term.

So yes, perhaps it's unfair to compare "kid's toys" to "The Standard", but it's still done anyways.

[Concavenator]

So yeah, to circle back to the actual question, why do these brands get compared so much? I dunno if it has to do with figure quality or popularity or whatnot.

I think it was just me who compared them.  You're right in that it sometimes doesn't make sense/it's not appropriate to compare between different companies (depending on the context). I just unconsciously do it all the time, because I only collect 1 figure/genus, so that leads me to inevitably choose between figures of (sometimes very) different companies.

However, even accounting for different market niches, all comparisons may not be pointless. Each collector is a different person with their own personal preferences. For example, I value scientific accuracy. If something like a Safari figure is more accurate than a PNSO/HLG one (and that is sometimes the case), then I choose that Safari figure over the aforementioned companies, regardless of the Safari figure being classified as a "toy" and PNSO's/HLG's having more premium paint app/sculpt details. So something like scientific accuracy I feel can definitely be compared, of course, only when it comes to companies who are committed to making scientifically accurate prehistoric animal figures. Of course, paint app quality and sculpt details are a totally different matter, but what makes a figure scientifically accurate are merely the design choices behind it. And that's part of the beauty of this market niche, by doing the correct design choices, anyone could release an accurate figure, even if the figure in question is the most simplistic kid's toy.

Even if Papo's figures are classified as "toys", I think comparisons among their own figures could still be made. I totally get that some Papo figures are "toys" (Protoceratops, Amargasaurus, Concavenator, etc come to mind). But what about others, like Pentaceratops, Gorgosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, etc? Leaving scientific accuracy aside (because I don't think Papo has ever marketed their figures as scientifically accurate, please correct me if I'm wrong), I don't think comparing those figures (judging from their production quality) to PNSO's or HLG's is totally out of place. PNSO's/HLG's may still be more refined, but at least I feel like it's debatable (which doesn't happen with other Papo figures).

And because their production quality are (sometimes) relative (at least IMO), if Papo strives to make scientifically accurate figures (which is achieved by simple design choices), I don't see why some of their figures can't be compared to PNSO's/HLG's. This is the situation we're looking at with their Suchomimus.

[Lynx]

So yeah, to circle back to the actual question, why do these brands get compared so much? I dunno if it has to do with figure quality or popularity or whatnot.

I think it was just me who compared them.  You're right in that it sometimes doesn't make sense/it's not appropriate to compare between different companies (depending on the context). I just unconsciously do it all the time, because I only collect 1 figure/genus, so that leads me to inevitably choose between figures of (sometimes very) different companies.

The original post was actually referring to Flaffy's comment for the most part lol, I've seen it quite a bit from others though thus what kinda pushed me to ask

Thank you all for the various responses! I'm reading through em rn but I appreciate the insight 

[japfeif]

I feel as if people bring up the concavenator too often. Papo has good figures and awful figures every year, it's kind of surprising it's all from the same company tbh. Keep in mind they also made their kronosaurus this year!

I agree....I know Papo has made some really terrible figures lately....but they have also made some really GOOD ones. In fact, the company has made many more good figures than bad ones. I mean, I know how people are....just like news or a diagnosis... you don't remember the good news but will fixate on the bad news.

I prefer to think that Papo isn't a "a few strikes and you're out" kind of company.....I think they have had a couple of missteps but their successes far outweigh their failures IMO.

I think there is lots of hope for them still.....we all know they ARE capable of stellar work.

[CityRaptor]

Yep.

People are like this with Mattel, too.

[Mattyonyx]

I feel as if people bring up the concavenator too often. Papo has good figures and awful figures every year, it's kind of surprising it's all from the same company tbh. Keep in mind they also made their kronosaurus this year!

I agree....I know Papo has made some really terrible figures lately....but they have also made some really GOOD ones. In fact, the company has made many more good figures than bad ones. I mean, I know how people are....just like news or a diagnosis... you don't remember the good news but will fixate on the bad news.

I prefer to think that Papo isn't a "a few strikes and you're out" kind of company.....I think they have had a couple of missteps but their successes far outweigh their failures IMO.

I think there is lots of hope for them still.....we all know they ARE capable of stellar work.

Exactly! A recent video by Spinodude is a perfect example of this fixation. I'm pretty sure he won't talk about the Kronosaurus, Mosasaurus, and the two dragons released the same year.

Still, we have all the right to question Papo's marketing choices: the artistry of Mr. Seo wasn't absent (even though he made controversial figures too), but he was probably busy with the 2024 and 2025 sculpts. The problem is Papo deciding, as a company, to approve the Concavenator design and mass-produce it.


Did they think it would appeal to kids or other targets? Were they right?

[Quiversaurus]

Did they think it would appeal to kids or other targets? Were they right?

At the end of the day, only Papo knows... For all we know, Papo's rolling in money from the sales of this Concavenator (even if people buy it to laugh at it, a sale's a sale) and their other models, and all this uproar from this community are barely a drop in the ocean for them.

[SpartanSquat]

Dont know what happens to concavenator in figures, like the poor guy has a curse. The only ones I have are the hammond collection ones and safari.
Despite HC ones is fictional looks much better than most of the market.
Safari ones its okay but there are better figures.

[Gwangi]

Dont know what happens to concavenator in figures, like the poor guy has a curse. The only ones I have are the hammond collection ones and safari.
Despite HC ones is fictional looks much better than most of the market.
Safari ones its okay but there are better figures.

I have the Hammond Collection and CollectA figures. Don't really like the CollectA one. PNSO should make one.