Re-issue of Battat former Museum of Science Boston Series

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Just playing devil's advocate here but how do we know Battat has not already found another sculptor and is already firing on all cylinders with more to come? We had the fortune of having Dan in the forum and many of us spoke to him on Facebook but suppose they found someone not known to us ....how would we know?

[tyrantqueen]

Just playing devil's advocate here but how do we know Battat has not already found another sculptor and is already firing on all cylinders with more to come? We had the fortune of having Dan in the forum and many of us spoke to him on Facebook but suppose they found someone not known to us ....how would we know?

I hope they are. My ideal choice would be Gregory Wenzel but you never know.

[Halichoeres]

Battat is something of a mixed bag. The dinosaurs are great, and the fantasy creatures don't interest me but appear to be well made. Their extant animals, however, are pretty bland. If they do choose to continue the dinosaur line, I hope the sculptor isn't the one making their bears and lions.

[suspsy]

Indeed. Battat's extant animals are far below those of Schleich, Papo, and CollectA. T'would be a sad thing, wouldn't it, going from Dan LoRusso to subpar.

[Simon]

Indeed. Battat's extant animals are far below those of Schleich, Papo, and CollectA. T'would be a sad thing, wouldn't it, going from Dan LoRusso to subpar.

Nevermind that.  We just have to keep praying that they will actually release the rest of the old and new lines.  As someone pointed out, even if they continued with a next wave this Spring, that would still take them several years to do ...

[suspsy]

How many waves has Battat historically released in one year? Let's say we get another set of three in the summer, then perhaps another in the fall, then one next spring, and then the remaining reissues/new moulds in the summer of 2017. So really only one year.

[Takama]

From what i learned in the past. Dan was keen on making 6 dinosaurs per set.

Set one was the Four released in 2014, plus two more that have yet to be released
Pachyrhinosaurus, Crylophosaurus, Nashiungosaurus, Dacentrurus, Gigantoraptor, and Gastonia
He intended these to be all the first set

Set two was going to be

Pentaceratops, Nasutoceratops, Europasaurus, Yutyrannus, Majungasaurus, Plateosaurus

Of course Battat had other ideas, and so we are still waiting on the Gigantoraptor and Gastonia from set 1, and only three of set two were made before his unfortunate death.


This six Dinos  at a time deal was done with the original MOS line back in the 90s as well.

[Simon]

How many waves has Battat historically released in one year? Let's say we get another set of three in the summer, then perhaps another in the fall, then one next spring, and then the remaining reissues/new moulds in the summer of 2017. So really only one year.

IF they are "on schedule".  The last wave of 3 trickled into stores a bit slower than the previous ones, and no updates to their website is what has me very nervous.  I hope they don't just quietly drop the line now.  That would be a major bummer...

[ItsTwentyBelow]

I agree. The fact that they've now released every dinosaur figure listed on their website, and we have had no new information from Battat since before Dan's passing, makes me nervous too. There really isn't anything stopping them from ending the line. It would be tragic, but we would all just have to suck eggs.

It would be equally tragic if someone else does pick up sculpting their dinosaurs, and does a starkly sub-par job that contrasts horribly with the quality of Dan's work. Blech!

These be trying times for us Battat fans. I'm going to stay optimistic, because it would be too cruel in the end if I never get a chance to see that Pentaceratops!

I think we all would like to see Greg Wenzel pick up the torch, but that is probably very wishful thinking.

[suspsy]

I don't see why Battat wouldn't continue to release their remaining dinosaurs, unless they're selling really poorly.

[Gwangi]

I don't see why Battat wouldn't continue to release their remaining dinosaurs, unless they're selling really poorly.

I agree, they have paint schemes for the remaining old models and what? Five new sculpts? I could only see them pulling the plug if they are not selling good and if that's the case it would probably happen even if Dan was still around.

[Sim]

There hasn't been a consistent pattern with Battat's releasing of new dinosaur figures.  Below is when each of the Terra waves started appearing in stores, note that each time it's taken some time longer for most people to start finding them in stores:
Wave 1: August 2014  (4 figures)
Wave 2: July 2015  (5 figures)
Wave 3: December 2015  (3 figures)

Wave 3 seems more like a 2016 release than a 2015 one, since almost everyone's finding it this year (and some still haven't found it yet).  Safari's 2016 dinosaur figures became available to everyone in December 2015, while their 2016 Plesiosuchus became available in November 2015.  Battat still has 5 new sculpts and 10 re-issues to release.  To me it doesn't seem beneficial for Battat to rush out the remaining figures.

We don't know what Battat's plans are.  There hasn't been a consistent pattern in the releasing of their Terra dinosaurs with regards to when the waves have become available and how many new figures a wave has contained.  I feel I should mention that the Battat MOS dinosaur waves appear to have been released once every two years:
Wave 1: 1994  (6 figures)
Wave 2: 1996  (6 new species + Tyrannosaurus and Dilophosaurus with bases under their feet)
Wave 3: 1998  (6 new species + new sculpts of Tyrannosaurus and Dilophosaurus + retooled Ceratosaurus)

The 11 Battat MOS mini dinosaurs also appear to have been released in 1998.

I don't see why Battat wouldn't continue to release their remaining dinosaurs, unless they're selling really poorly.

I agree, they have paint schemes for the remaining old models and what? Five new sculpts? I could only see them pulling the plug if they are not selling good and if that's the case it would probably happen even if Dan was still around.

I agree.

[suspsy]

8 reissues left, not 10.

Diplodocus
Pachycephalosaurus
Edmontonia
Dilophosaurus
Triceratops
Styracosaurus
Maisaura
Ouranosaurus

[Sim]

8 reissues left, not 10.

Diplodocus
Pachycephalosaurus
Edmontonia
Dilophosaurus
Triceratops
Styracosaurus
Maisaura
Ouranosaurus

There's Utahraptor and Gallimimus as well.  Dan LoRusso said all 18 dinosaurs from the original series will be re-issued.

[ceratopsian]

My three latest Battats arrived this morning from the States.  I just had time to release them from their ties and left them roaming the dining room table while I went to the stables.  I must say I really loved them on first acquaintance - but need to go back downstairs now and examine them more closely (and open two more boxes of goodies!)

[ItsTwentyBelow]

I'm with everyone who can't see the line coming to an end at this point. I would be very surprised.

However, we don't know anything about the future right now. I don't think anybody on here knows how integral Dan was or was not to this whole process. He sure seemed like he was proactive about it when he'd talk on the forum, so I hope his absence doesn't bring the whole thing crashing down. The man's name is all over each box, so who knows if they'll decide they need to redesign all the packaging now that he's gone, so curious customers aren't constantly inquiring about the talented sculptor, only to find out he's deceased. Who knows what's happened behind the scenes between Battat and Dan's family? Who the heck knows what sort of limbo the rest of Dan's new sculpts got caught up in that prevented us from seeing the Gastonia and Gigantoraptor on shelves back in 2014, and might make it harder for them to be released since he is gone?

I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like anything is possible since Dan was our only source of any information about this re-release. I think if we see even one more figure get released that isn't on Battat's website right now, we're probably in the clear, at least for the rest of the re-releases. Let's keep our fingers crossed until then.

I keep wondering how the Target end cap will end up looking after they try and mash the boxed Diplodocus in there somewhere...

[suspsy]

8 reissues left, not 10.

Diplodocus
Pachycephalosaurus
Edmontonia
Dilophosaurus
Triceratops
Styracosaurus
Maisaura
Ouranosaurus

There's Utahraptor and Gallimimus as well.  Dan LoRusso said all 18 dinosaurs from the original series will be re-issued.

But didn't Dan once say that he wanted to retool those two to have feathers? Given his passing and the fact that we've never seen images, I'm inclined to believe that they're not in the cards.

[Sim]

8 reissues left, not 10.

Diplodocus
Pachycephalosaurus
Edmontonia
Dilophosaurus
Triceratops
Styracosaurus
Maisaura
Ouranosaurus

There's Utahraptor and Gallimimus as well.  Dan LoRusso said all 18 dinosaurs from the original series will be re-issued.

But didn't Dan once say that he wanted to retool those two to have feathers? Given his passing and the fact that we've never seen images, I'm inclined to believe that they're not in the cards.

Dan said he was waiting to hear from Battat whether he could re-tool the Utahraptor and Gallimimus to have feathers before giving those two a new colour scheme.  Some time after he finished repainting the other 16 dinosaurs and images of them were put on the first page of this thread, Dan said Battat didn't want any of the original figures re-tooled yet.  Dan specified that included the Utahraptor and Gallimimus.  I don't know if Dan managed to repaint the Gallimimus and Utahraptor.  If he didn't though, that doesn't mean they won't be re-issued.  Battat could have someone else repaint them (if so I'd really like it to be Greg Wenzel) or re-issue them with their old colour schemes.  I think whether the Utahraptor and Gallimimus will be re-issued depends on whether Battat thinks it will be profitable.  The same goes for the other re-issues and the new sculpts.  I think it's most likely all the re-issues (including Utahraptor and Gallimimus) and the new sculpts will get released eventually.


Dan confirmed he and Greg do not own the figures they sculpted for Battat, but that Battat owns the figures (Reply #121): http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=507.msg68455#msg68455  I get the impression Battat was aware of what Dan was dealing with and what could happen to him given what Dan said in Reply #185 here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2742.msg93968#msg93968  So I think it's very unlikely Dan's passing will lead to the rest of the figures not being released.

[suspsy]

You could be right, but we shall just have to wait and see. Until there's an official announcement or images released, I'm sticking with the assumption that the Gallimimus and the Utahraptor are not going to be reissued.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but just what is Wenzel up to these days? Has he even expressed any interest in sculpting dinosaurs again? I thought he retired from that a long time ago.

[Takama]

You could be right, but we shall just have to wait and see. Until there's an official announcement or images released, I'm sticking with the assumption that the Gallimimus and the Utahraptor are not going to be reissued.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but just what is Wenzel up to these days? Has he even expressed any interest in sculpting dinosaurs again? I thought he retired from that a long time ago.

Greg has moved on from dinosaurs according to Dan.  Last i talked to him, he said that he has not spoken to him in a Long time.

Sorry to burst everyones hopes