The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for visiting, everyone!

@SBell I am not sure I will want to trade the second, but I'll let you know if I decide to offload it. The dream, of course, is to trade it for a Henkel/Ovomaltine Pterichthys, but that's probably not going to happen. I wasn't aware Malcolm had worked with Rush, but that makes a lot of sense. Chicago really is a hotbed for sculptural talent.

Excellent acquisitions for sure! I love those new critters! That Edaphosaurus seems to become quite rare, isn´t it?

The Bullyland does seem to be rare in the States, yes. I suppose demand may recede somewhat now that another nice version is available.

Excellent acquisitions, Hali! There's some amazing species there and some equally amazing renditions of them (though not all as apealing...).

I get the feeling I need to overhaul the USL yet again...

Conveniently, Sonokong shouldn't affect it much, since they make almost every species in three different versions: one somewhat cartoony version and two extremely cartoony versions. I don't think the Microhaplolepis should affect it since there's no evidence it was ever intended for sale.

[Bokisaurus]

Nice additions and wonderful catches there! That edaphosaurus is truly something else.

[Roselaar]

Conveniently, Sonokong shouldn't affect it much, since they make almost every species in three different versions: one somewhat cartoony version and two extremely cartoony versions. I don't think the Microhaplolepis should affect it since there's no evidence it was every intended for sale.

Hah! Suits me! 

[SBell]

Thanks for visiting, everyone!

@SBell I am not sure I will want to trade the second, but I'll let you know if I decide to offload it. The dream, of course, is to trade it for a Henkel/Ovomaltine Pterichthys, but that's probably not going to happen. I wasn't aware Malcolm had worked with Rush, but that makes a lot of sense. Chicago really is a hotbed for sculptural talent.

Sounds good.

One other question--where did you get the CollectA tube already? I've seen that people have a few things already, and I want to get them now!

[Shonisaurus]

@SBell In www.minizoo.com.au you can find the news of Collecta 2019 there you can buy the first batch of figures.

[Libraraptor]

"It's substantially larger than the Bullyland figure, which it's replacing. That's bittersweet because the Edaphosaurus is one of the very best Bullyland figures and now that the company is in bankruptcy, it doesn't seem very likely we'll ever get any more like this."

Honestly, if I were you, in this case I´d make an exception from your rule and keep them both. Come on, they´re both beautiful and a nice couple!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Thank you for sharing your collection, great figures again. It is nice to see that CollectA's Estomenosuchus and Edaphosaurus display well together, I will have to get both later this year.

How big is the Anomalacaris may I ask?

[Halichoeres]

One other question--where did you get the CollectA tube already? I've seen that people have a few things already, and I want to get them now!

Yep, as Boki and Shoni have pointed out, MiniZoo gets 'em quick. My guess is that it's because they're closest to China by boat, and maybe also have better trade agreements. Conveniently for me, all the CollectA 2019 releases I wanted for this year were in the first batch, so the shipping was efficient.

"It's substantially larger than the Bullyland figure, which it's replacing. That's bittersweet because the Edaphosaurus is one of the very best Bullyland figures and now that the company is in bankruptcy, it doesn't seem very likely we'll ever get any more like this."

Honestly, if I were you, in this case I´d make an exception from your rule and keep them both. Come on, they´re both beautiful and a nice couple!

It's very tempting, I must say. I'm lucky enough to have more than one, so I might at the very least stash the one that's been on my shelf for a while in case I change my mind.

Thank you for sharing your collection, great figures again. It is nice to see that CollectA's Estomenosuchus and Edaphosaurus display well together, I will have to get both later this year.

How big is the Anomalacaris may I ask?

Thanks for visiting! The Anomalocaris is about 15-16 cm long, not including the "great appendages." Here it is with a few other highly anachronistic figures, maybe that will help put it in scale:

[Halichoeres]

A few Cretaceous ankylosaurs:


TS Toys Pinacosaurus (Fascination Natur)
Scale: 1:30-1:35
Released: 2001?
Campanian of Eurasia
This little rubber ankylosaur may look familiar to some. It's the same sculpt, possibly the same mold, as the Ankylosaurus from the TS Toys unofficial "Walking with Dinosaurs" line. Unlike the WWD line, which was hollow plastic, this is rubber filled with some kind of powder or fine grit. The rubber is soft enough that you can see the tail club droop. I think these are slightly smaller than the WWD version, but the only figure I own from the WWD line is the Tropeognathus, so I can't compare directly. Replaces my hideous Boley Pinacosaurus.


TS Toys Nodosaurus (Fascination Natur)
Scale: 1:30-1:35
Released: 2001?
Cenomanian of North America
It really works much better as a Polacanthus, but hey, there aren't a lot of Nodosaurus toys out there. This one and the Pinacosaurus above are identified on a little tag around the hind leg, which also has the name "Fascination Natur." Fascination Natur is a toy store in a town called Weinheim, a short distance from Mannheim, Germany. The German web site where I found these also had the Torosaurus and an Edmontosaurus (using the Muttaburrasaurus sculpt from the WWD line). I'm not sure which of the other TS Toys figures, if any, got this treatment at some point. In the wonderful TS Toys thread that Bokisaurus created years ago, DC mentioned having seen some of these in rubber versions, but the photo he posted is gone. That suggests these have been around since at least 2012. The bellies say 2001, but that might just be from the original molds. Anyway, with the new paint jobs, these are a little less obviously WWD figures of the wrong species. With luck, both of these (or at least, please, Pinacosaurus) will be made properly before too long.


With some other ankylosaurs and an armored stem-croc trying to blend in.


CollectA Borealopelta markmitchelli
Scale: 1:40-1:45
Sculptor: Matthias Geiger
Released: 2019
Albian of North America
Quick turnaround by CollectA; Kaiyodo beat them to the punch by mere months with their CapsuleQ version. This one is a better scale for my purposes. It's a pretty sculpt of an important fossil, and I'm pretty happy with it. CollectA's first ankylosaur since 2014's Gastonia. They should dip into this well more often.


Sonokong Hylaeosaurus (Dino Mecard)
Scale: 1:35-1:40
Released: 2019
Valanginian of Eurasia
I'm going to hang on to my ProtoCasts Hylaeosaurus, but this one replaces the tragically bovine Deluxe version by CollectA. It's pretty vibrant, and I don't really see why the mandible is such a different color from the rest of the head, but the figure is at least a pretty reasonable shape for a nodosaurid. The jaw is articulated, which seems pretty pointless, but the tail is not. I think it must just be cheaper to glue these together than to make them in single molds.


A little herd of walking pavements.

[Jose S.M.]

Nice "tanks". I thought the Pinacosaurus and Nodosaurus were small figurines but when compared to those other figures they look bigger than I first imagined. The Borealopelta looks great. I still want version made by Doug but the CollectA looks very good.

[Bokisaurus]

Nice additions. That Vitae figure looks offended being photographed with the colorful ones

[Shonisaurus]

How beautiful is the Borealopelta de Collecta with the Safari ankylosaurus! what more awesome figures.

[bmathison1972]

Nice "tanks". I thought the Pinacosaurus and Nodosaurus were small figurines but when compared to those other figures they look bigger than I first imagined. The Borealopelta looks great. I still want version made by Doug but the CollectA looks very good.

yes, 'tanks' for the images, @Halichoeres   

[Libraraptor]

Tür Pinacosaurus and the Nodosaurus enjoyed their stopover on my desk, but much more they enjoy being part of your precious collection!

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for visiting, everyone!

Nice "tanks". I thought the Pinacosaurus and Nodosaurus were small figurines but when compared to those other figures they look bigger than I first imagined. The Borealopelta looks great. I still want version made by Doug but the CollectA looks very good.

Yes, I think because they are a little crude they look smaller than they are! As for thyreophorans, I would like Doug to make about two dozen species, from Scutellosaurus straight through to Tarchia.

Nice additions. That Vitae figure looks offended being photographed with the colorful ones

It does seem to regard them as beneath its dignity.

Nice "tanks". I thought the Pinacosaurus and Nodosaurus were small figurines but when compared to those other figures they look bigger than I first imagined. The Borealopelta looks great. I still want version made by Doug but the CollectA looks very good.

yes, 'tanks' for the images, @Halichoeres   

I see what you did there...

Tür Pinacosaurus and the Nodosaurus enjoyed their stopover on my desk, but much more they enjoy being part of your precious collection!

Yes, thanks again for the help in getting them! I never would have figured out their origin story from the web site listing alone.

[Halichoeres]

Amniotes of the Cretaceous!


Safari Ltd Pteranodon longiceps
Scale: 1:15-1:20
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Released: 2019
Santonian of North America
More Watson pterosaurs, please! I don't think he did the 2017 Quetzalcoatlus, but I could be mistaken. This is one of those taxa for which there are plenty of figures, but they all fall short in some way. The best large-scale version before this was the Replicasaurus by Schleich (really!), but this is a significant improvement and replaces it in my collection.


With Guidraco (PNSO) and Zhejiangopterus (Vitae). ~1:20 is a popular scale for pterosaurs.


PNSO Amargasaurus cazaui
Scale: 1:25-1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2019
Barremian of South America
This isn't the most accurate Amargasaurus, but I think it's the prettiest. I'm bummed about the toenails, but the feet are a solid color that should be easy to match. I might attempt to cover them up, as I don't think the sculptor intended that they be painted. The base resembles clayey mud, so it's a little funny that the paint job on the feet makes them look unsullied. For that reason, I think the figure looks better without the base, and the base can be put to other uses. Replaces the Carnegie on my shelf, even though the Carnegie is also a beauty, and closer to my preferred scale, too.


With some much later fellow South Americans.


PNSO Mosasaurus hoffmanni
Scale: 1:30 or 1:35 for a very large specimen
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2019
Maastrichtian
It's a huge, beautiful figure. The dorsal fin is speculative but not completely ridiculous in my unqualified opinion. The texture doesn't look as overworked as on the Ophthalmosaurus. Based on the tooth count, it's recognizably Mosasaurus and not some other mosasaur. Replaces my CollectA Mosasaurus, although I think that's a very nice figure too. I would like more than two species of mosasaur to be made into figures, please! Both this and the Amargasaurus came with little booklets with vignettes about the characters (in this case, "Ron"). What caught my eye was a page of their future plans, which extend to the year 2070! The ambitions are grand, and include things like historical art, important food crops, constellations, and, perhaps more of interest here on this forum:
Fossil replicas (dinosaurs, pterosaurs, marine reptiles)
Cenozoic mammals (that will make some people very happy!)
The Chenjiang biota (I'm salivating)
The Jehol Biota (Really, get me a bucket for all this drool)
Early and extinct humans
and a variety of modern/recent animals
Should be interesting!


You can't see the unpainted pterygoid teeth if the mouth is closed.


It dwarfs its contemporaries.


CollectA Caiuajara
Scale: 1:2
Sculptor: Matthias Geiger
Released: 2019
Santonian of South America
I'm a fan. CollectA is really all-in on the giant pterosaur thing! They've stopped making regular-sized ones, which I'd normally prefer, but it's hard to complain about these. Sure, maybe blues aren't very likely on pycnofibers pterosaur feathers simple filamentous keratinous integument, but I can live with that. It looks like it would happily eat the fruit from my kitchen counter.


The Rebor Protolindenia is proving a useful scale bar.


Sonokong Armadillosuchus (Dino Mecard)
Scale: 1:12
Released: 2019
Upper Cretaceous South America
Sonokong finally got around to releasing a full-sized version of this animal. I'm happily replacing the little "tiny-saur" version. Like the other large-format Dino Mecard figures, the jaw is articulated, but the tail is not, despite the seam.


With some other Cretaceous critters. None South American, sadly.


Sonokong Koreasaltipes
Scale: 1:3
Released: 2019?
Albian Eurasia
Koreasaltipes is an ichnotaxon based on a trackway from the Lower Cretaceous of Korea. For being the first major toy line from Korea, it's a little surprising they haven't made any of the famous dinosaurs from Korea, like Ultrasaurus and Koreaceratops. To my knowledge, this is the third fully fleshed-out prehistoric figure of an ichnotaxon, after a sauropod by Yowie and the famous Bullyland Protochirotherium. It's also only the fifth Mesozoic mammal toy ever (again, so far as I know). It's a cool little addition to this strange little line, and manages to avoid looking too rodent-esque. Koreasaltipes is pretty cool because the fossil clearly shows a hopping animal, leaving paired, even traces showing only the hind feet. One of the earliest examples of this style of locomotion in mammals, if not the earliest.

[PhilSauria]

Thanks for another very informative and well illustrated post! Brilliant images and I really like all of the information that you supply as well. Makes this a great reference thread.

Big fan of comparison images also, always helpful to see how new releases size up against previous figures.

[Libraraptor]

Once again, many great new pictures of many great and interesting figures!

[Shonisaurus]

The pteranodon of Safari 2019 and the caiuajara of Collecta 2019 What outstanding figures of pterosaurs! I'm in love with both.

On the other hand, the PNSO mosasaurus is the best of its kind and it is huge and of solid and heavy PVC, the same I can say of the PNSO amargasaurus also of Zhao Chuang sincerely the best figures are those four of Safari, Collecta and PNSO of each species.

The same can be said of Safari carnotaurus, as for the Giganotosaurus of Eofauna I have to be cautious in my assessment. I still hope that PNSO and Papo? Collecta? can overcome that figure in the future, without for that reason to say that the Safari giganotosaurus is very close to his heels.

[Killekor]

Thanks for the photos Halicoeres! That Koreasaltipes looks like a jerboa to me. Maybe it's his ancestor?

Killekor