Dr Steve from Geoworld

[CityRaptor]

Yes. And given that he seems to use a Jurassic Park Red Rex as a reference for their GeoRex....

[stargatedalek]

which is incredibly ironic considering the JP rex figure is in all honesty equally, if not more accurate than the giant Geoworld model

[Gwangi]

All of these things coming to light do not make me want to buy Geoworld, not even the nice ones. Then again, Papo does the same thing and I buy their stuff. At least theirs are done well I guess.

[SBell]

Yes. And given that he seems to use a Jurassic Park Red Rex as a reference for their GeoRex....

This one is even worse when you see it up close.

But I will mention again that their dig kits and skeletons are generally well-done and have a wide range of taxa.

[tyrantqueen]

A professional palaeontologist using Kenner toys as a reference for sculpting dinosaur models...*facepalm*

[DinoToyForum]

A professional palaeontologist using Kenner toys as a reference for sculpting dinosaur models...*facepalm*

I think we pretty much established that he isn't a professional palaeontologist, not in any meaningful sense, because real palaeontologists do research and publish it in papers. He seems more of an amateur palaeontologist/private collector with a lot of drive.

[sauroid]

that's Dr.Admin's kinder and classier way of saying he's a charlatan.

[DinoToyForum]

It doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't know what he is talking about, there are plenty of knowledgeable amateur palaeontologists. I'm sure he knows his stuff, but I was interested in his credentials, because I think it matters when you are endorsing a commercial product.

[tyrantqueen]

A professional palaeontologist using Kenner toys as a reference for sculpting dinosaur models...*facepalm*

I think we pretty much established that he isn't a professional palaeontologist, not in any meaningful sense, because real palaeontologists do research and publish it in papers. He seems more of an amateur palaeontologist/private collector with a lot of drive.

I see. But I still think it's bad. Geoworld likes to flaunt the fact that their models are "palaeontologist approved" after all. I don't think anyone should be using JP toys for anatomical references unless they're making JP style toys. The sculpting is good, but those toys were made in 1993 (I think?) and they were never anatomically sound in the first place.

[DC]

How do you define a paleontologist?  Dr. Steve has the academic qualifications. He makes a living digging up fossils, like Black Hills, does rather than teaching or museum work.   If you you do not know what you are doing you go out of business.  The question is what his role is in the reconstruction of GeoWorld figures and to what degree he is active in the design.  I talked to him about the Megaraptor design and he had a point that some publications supported it as a raptor.  I do not think that is the current consensus but it is a reconstruction supported by the original paper.  I think the DR comparison is valid.  The best DR figures were not the first releases but the last.  GeoWorld did a humongous range of figures some are better than others.  Some reconstructions are dated and the production quality process in China needs to be monitored.  We have seen this before with new companies.  It is notable that getting into the market seems to require big initial releases and that may be a barrier for all future companies.           

[Dinoguy2]

.  I talked to him about the Megaraptor design and he had a point that some publications supported it as a raptor.  I do not think that is the current consensus but it is a reconstruction supported by the original paper.

So this person doesn't even understand how science works? New discoveries invalidate old ones, they don't present alternate points of view that are equally valid. The people who discovered Megaraptor is a carnosaur are the SAME ONES who originally described it as a raptor! Like good scientists, they admitted the original interpretation was wrong as more complete specimens were found. But he thinks these researchers are engaging in some kind of valid scientific debate with their past selves? What?

More likely, he simply was not aware of the newer discoveries and was caught off guard being questioned about producing an out of date reconstruction. Not every paleontologist is a dinosaur specialist and they cannot be expected to have up to the minute info (though this excuse is fading away in the era of Wikipedia). But that also makes the claim "paleontologist approved" very misleading, like writing "doctor approved" on a bottle of medicine but the person approving them was a doctor of astronomy.

[DinoToyForum]

How do you define a paleontologist?  Dr. Steve has the academic qualifications. He makes a living digging up fossils, like Black Hills, does rather than teaching or museum work.   If you you do not know what you are doing you go out of business.  The question is what his role is in the reconstruction of GeoWorld figures and to what degree he is active in the design.  I talked to him about the Megaraptor design and he had a point that some publications supported it as a raptor.  I do not think that is the current consensus but it is a reconstruction supported by the original paper.  I think the DR comparison is valid.  The best DR figures were not the first releases but the last.  GeoWorld did a humongous range of figures some are better than others.  Some reconstructions are dated and the production quality process in China needs to be monitored.  We have seen this before with new companies.  It is notable that getting into the market seems to require big initial releases and that may be a barrier for all future companies.         

There's no formal definition to distinguish between professional and amateur palaeontologists, as far as I'm aware of, but for me, professional palaeontologists conduct and publish research in peer reviewed journals. Sure, if you don't know what you are doing you go out of business, but palaeontology isn't a business, it's a science.

[Takama]

Guy's I think Dr. Steve is just a Mascot Character that Stefano made for the company.

[SBell]

Guy's I think Dr. Steve is just a Mascot Character that Stefano made for the company.

"Stefano" and "Steve" are the same name (different languages). Dr. Steve was created as a cartoon-version of Dr. Stefano Piccini as a sales character. So when we say "Dr. Steve", yes, we should say Dr. Picini, but we are talking about the real guy and his questionable credentials as a dino-toy consultant.

[Takama]

I honestly think the figures are Ok to be Paleontologist approved.  Yeah you can say I love this line and I can defend it all I want but you guys wont change opinions(that's not what im trying to do), but seriously, I wasn't expecting them to get Every single thing accurate on there figures. The worst one I See in there whole collection is the Megaraptor for reasons that should be obvious. 

The Troodon is one of my favorites, and I think its the best model in the whole collection



Really, how many models are there of this Creature that you can by for cheap?   also look at it. Its fully feathered and I can see some bird like property's on it.

[DinoToyForum]

Is there really that much disdain on the forum for Geoworld? I don't think they are so bad!

[Takama]

Is there really that much disdain on the forum for Geoworld? I don't think they are so bad!

You really think that Dr. Admin?  I be glad that im not alone.    I think there not as bad as everyone makes them out to be

[tyrantqueen]

Is there really that much disdain on the forum for Geoworld? I don't think they are so bad!

You really think that Dr. Admin?  I be glad that im not alone.    I think there not as bad as everyone makes them out to be

I'll go on record here and say that I do. The vast majority of them are glorified chinasaurs.

[Yutyrannus]

Is there really that much disdain on the forum for Geoworld? I don't think they are so bad!

You really think that Dr. Admin?  I be glad that im not alone.    I think there not as bad as everyone makes them out to be

I'll go on record here and say that I do. The vast majority of them are glorified chinasaurs.

I agree.

[Gwangi]

Glorified Chinasaurs, I agree with that. The Troodon is a nice model (their best I dare say), so is the Guanlong. I'll probably get both of them as well as the Coelophysis and Falcarius. Those however are rare exceptions in an otherwise mediocre collection. Like I've said before, Geoworld is about quantity and not quality. If you like them that's fine, everyone has their own taste. I don't like them though. Like Sbell said though, the skeleton kits are pretty good. I would probably buy some of those.