The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Shonisaurus]

The PNSO yangchuanosaurus is almost as big as Papo's allosaurus. Thank you for posting these Halichoeres comparison photos.

[danmalcolm]

Thanks a lot for the pics. I love the yang

[Halichoeres]

The PNSO yangchuanosaurus is almost as big as Papo's allosaurus. Thank you for posting these Halichoeres comparison photos.

Yup, and looks much more like a dinosaur. I was really impressed with Papo when I first started collecting, but the more I learn about dinosaurs, the less impressive I find their figures.

Thanks a lot for the pics. I love the yang

It's a winner! Highly recommend.

[Bokisaurus]

Oh my, what beautiful new additions! Great comparison shots, I can't wait to get mine. Still held up in customs or something
I really love the colors on the Yanchuanosaurus!

[Shonisaurus]

In my case I am released from customs tomorrow the yangchuanosaurus vs PNSO chungkingosaurus and the same I can say about the ankylosaurus and megalodon of PNSO tomorrow or Monday I will receive it at my home fortunately.

I'm sorry for what Bokisaurus is about, let's hope that you'll soon be freed from the terrible customs service by the figures you bought.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I'm at least a week late, but congrats on the Allosaurus and Chungkingosaurus/Yangchuansaurus figures, I'm looking forward to getting them myself (and now ED has the Allosaurus it won't be too long). I was initially worried that the Chungkingosaurus and Yangchuansaurus figures were going to be too big for my collection, but I see from your initial images that they are okay. Would you say that either of them is to scale with the PNSO Mamenchisaurus?

[Shonisaurus]

I just received yesterday all the news of PNSO and the yangchuanosaurus and chungkingosaurus of PNSO are medium-sized figures shooting to small but very well made and proportionate. Sincerely the PNSO yangchuanosaurus is much better than its giganotosaurus counterpart. His painting is implementable and well finished and the same can be said of the chungkingosaurus the yangchuanosaurus is supported with base or without base indistinctly.

On the other hand the ankylosaurus of PNSO is a figure of size more than acceptable larger and voluminous than the two dinosaurs mentioned in the first paragraph and very well finished. It is similar in its genius to the Carnegie ankylosaurus but in this case it is much bigger. On the other hand, the megalodon is the weakest figure in the group and smaller than expected, its vinyl counterpart is much better.

[Halichoeres]

I'm at least a week late, but congrats on the Allosaurus and Chungkingosaurus/Yangchuansaurus figures, I'm looking forward to getting them myself (and now ED has the Allosaurus it won't be too long). I was initially worried that the Chungkingosaurus and Yangchuansaurus figures were going to be too big for my collection, but I see from your initial images that they are okay. Would you say that either of them is to scale with the PNSO Mamenchisaurus?

Yeah, they aren't obscenely large. The Yangchuanosaurus scales well with most of the PNSO Museum series, although the Chungkingosaurus is a little bit large. Both the Yangchuanosaurus and Mamenchisaurus are roughly 1:30 scale, so they work perfectly together. There are some fragmentary remains of very large Mamenchisaurus individuals, but the figure is clearly intended to represent one of the smaller, better-known species.

[Halichoeres]

The only Triassic figure I've managed to find since my last Triassic update back in March:


Mattel Mussaurus (Jurassic World: Dino Rivals)
Scale: slightly smaller than life-size for a hatchling (about 1:1.3)
Released: 2019
Upper Triassic
Mussaurus was originally described from very young juveniles, but is now known from a pretty good growth series. From the various stages we can tell that the babies were quadrupeds and the adults were bipeds (like people!). Given its posture and scrawny neck, I don't think this one can be interpreted as anything but a very young individual. If it were a bipedal adult it might be a reasonable scale with other JW figures, but as it is it only works as a life-size baby. Never mind that the hands are shaped all wrong. This is my second Mattel JW figure, and my 4th JP/JW figure, and as far as I know they all represent animals not depicted in the movies. This replaces my Sellanomer (Gimiki's Journey) Mussaurus.


Littlefoot meets Petrie. When I was a kid I would have loved Land Before Time toys, but all they made were those silly hand puppets from Pizza Hut and a couple of other gimmicky fast food tie-ins. Anyway, the PNSO Nemicolopterus is the closest thing I have to the Mussaurus, scale-wise, and the comparison shot really put me in mind of the movie.

[ceratopsian]

Littlefoot meets Petrie is one cute photo.

[Faelrin]

Quite a cute pic of those two together. Love the Land Before Time vibes too. I still have to pick this one up (had it pre-ordered on amazon, but they never got them or some such).

[Jose S.M.]

It definitely looks like a baby, it's pretty cute and also it's nice that's almost life size.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Very cute Mussasurus! I won't be getting any JP toys though, even ones that aren't in the films, but it is very good of them to make a Mussaurus. What was the other one you bought?

[Killekor]

Thanks for the photos of the Mussaurus Halicoeres! It's a really cute model, and I really like it! You've also made great photos of it, as you always do with your figures!

Killekor

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, everyone! @Gothmog the Baryonyx the only other Mattel JW figure I have is the Coelurus, the first figure of that genus in more than 20 years!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Thanks, everyone! @Gothmog the Baryonyx the only other Mattel JW figure I have is the Coelurus, the first figure of that genus in more than 20 years!

Pity there aren't more figures of Coelurus. It's quite important is it not?

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, everyone! @Gothmog the Baryonyx the only other Mattel JW figure I have is the Coelurus, the first figure of that genus in more than 20 years!

Pity there aren't more figures of Coelurus. It's quite important is it not?

It is a pity! And yeah, it's the standard-bearer for the entire coelurosaur clade, although I don't think it's used in any of the actual important clade definitions.

It's been a slow year for the Paleozoic, but here's what I've managed to scare up lately.


Mojö Dunkleosteus
Scale: 1:40
Released: 2019
Upper Devonian
It's a bit out of date, but it's one of the best pieces that Mojö has put out. It has pretty good skin coverage, and it feels very organic. It's a bit too sinuous and the tail is a little too eellike, but I still like it enough to replace the CollectA version, which had really implausible texturing that started to...get under my skin.


The Favorite is still the best. So long to the be-tubercled CollectA version.


My new Dunkleosteus triumvirate. They could really use some company in the form of, say, Titanichthys or Eastmanosteus.

[Shonisaurus]

Honestly the dunkleosteus of Safari for me is the best dunkleosteus figure made to date regardless that the other figures are exceptional.

[Halichoeres]

Gnathostomes of the Cretaceous!


Favorite Fukuivenator (Fukui Dinosaur mini-models)
Scale: 1:25-1:30
Sculptor: Kazunari Araki
Released: 2019
Lower Cretaceous Eurasia
The fifth little Japanese dinosaur from Favorite. It's probably somewhat more basal than dromaeosaurs, so the lack of feathers on the hand is probably excusable. It's an attractive little generic coelurosaur, which we don't often get in this size range.


Scales reasonably well with the contemporaneous Koshisaurus. This series has the first miniature dinosaurs from Favorite that I've been interested in in a long time.


PNSO Spinosaurus
Scale: 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2019
Middle Cretaceous Africa
This figure is huge. It's one of a bumper crop of beautiful Spinosaurus figures released this year, but I was only ever going to buy one. It might have been a different one if it weren't for its base, but with the inclusion of the sawfish there was really no question. Replaces my CollectA Deluxe Spino.


One of the first PNSO figures to be stamped "2019." I'm not sure this foot morphology is right, but anyway it's well executed.


The paint on the sail isn't as finely blended as in the promotional pics, as others have shown.


PNSO cf. Onchopristis
The reason I went with this particular Spinosaurus over the others on offer. It's not explicitly identified, but the largest sawfish in the same environment was Onchopristis, so that's what I'm calling it. It would have to represent a smallish individual however--as a maximum size specimen, this would be around 1:70.


A mangled prehistoric fish is better than no prehistoric fish at all.


But I must confess I wish it looked a little less thoroughly dead.


The head is pretty nicely done, with the spiracles behind the eye included, although the eye itself is a little hard to pick out.


It's difficult to get the Spinosaurus to stand correctly without the sawfish, but they work pretty well together, with the claw fitting into one of the gouge marks.


PNSO Ankylosaurus
Scale: 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2019
Maastrichtian of North America
I wasn't really on the lookout for a new Ankylosaurus after last year's gorgeous Safari version, but this one shows the new hypothesis for the arrangement of its armor. It's very difficult to falsify either armor hypothesis, so I'm gonna relax my one-figure-per-genus rule a little in this case. Beautiful figure from PNSO, although to be honest part of me wishes they'd done one of the many Asian ankylosaurids that have never been done well.


It's considerably larger than the Safari version. I said in my review of the latter that I would pay about twice as much for Safari figures if they came with better paint applications. It seems to me that 'twice as expensive but with better paint apps' is a pretty good summary of the new PNSO series, vis-à-vis Safari.


Roughly to scale with the Vitae Zhejiangosaurus and Battat Euoplocephalus.


Standing tall.


PNSO Spinops sternbergorum
Scale: 1:20
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2019
Campanian of North America
The only PNSO ceratopsian I own other than the miniature Liaoceratops. It's funny that we've waited all this time for a good Centrosaurus, but this similar, if relatively fragmentary, upstart genus gets a good mass market figure first. Based on known elements (namely, the distance from the edge of the frill to a spot right in front of the nose horn core), this is about 1:20. It wasn't the largest ceratopsid out there, but the head was still over a meter long. I'm pretty happy with this figure despite a slightly clayey appearance in the face paint.


With the Takara Tomy Stygimoloch, which wasn't a contemporary but is approximately to the same scale.


Obscurus Protosphyraena
Scale: 1:20
Sculptor: Brandon DeMoss
Released: 2019
Probably my most interesting acquisition of late, the very strange pachycormid Protosphyraena, the ecological precursor to today's (veeeerrry distantly related) billfishes. This is part of the Obscurus line by DeMoss, but fits just as well with the Fauna Figures Fishes line, you know, being a fish and all. It came with a nice little custom box. At first I thought the snout had arrived broken, but a thorough inspection of the box revealed no fragments, so I think it was just made a little short so that it wouldn't break. Maybe @SBell can clarify.


The water effects are nice and the fin positions look pretty good with this pose.


The paint is just a little tacky, so I'm worried about it picking up dust. I should probably have it enclosed in a little acrylic or glass bell.


It fairly dances.


With a few other fishes of the Niobrara formation. It's taken years of effort, but I have a pretty good Kansas ocean display going now.

[Jose S.M.]

Great figures you've got there. And that size comparison of the Ankys finally gave me a more exact idea of how big the PNSO is!