The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[SidB]

Notice something? They've all got their mouths closed. It's wonderful. Contrast that to the two screaming Papo choruses currently on display on the Papo thread. There's a definite design philosophy on display here that I greatly prefer in comparison with the overheated one in the Paponian cosmos. Mind you, I have quite a few of the latter, but really, these Safari figures are, well, a relief, very cool in comparison.

[Faelrin]

Although I realize the Deinonychus and Dilophosaurus are in different scales, they almost appear to be like they were in Jurassic Park here, with the poor Dilophosaurus that ended up being a runt or juvenile. What a fantastic batch of figures though. I'm curious to see how the other two turn out once released. I also think the colors here a bit more varied then the promo pics led me to believe.

[Shonisaurus]

Thanks Halichoeres for the photo as a whole. I really like that Doug Watson has made carnivorous dinosaurs and carnivorous animals with jaws closed, I'm tired of carnivorous theropod prehistoric animals with their mouths open showing teeth. Normally, most of the day would be with their mouths closed.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, everyone! I'll be posting individual photos of all these little homies soon, but before that I'm going to have a special treat.

Nice to see a comparison photo. That poor Dilophosaurus must be very resentful at how puny they are compared to the Deinonychus.

Ha, maybe! I'm very pleased myself, it brings the Dilo to scale with a large variety of other Jurassic animals.

Notice something? They've all got their mouths closed. It's wonderful. Contrast that to the two screaming Papo choruses currently on display on the Papo thread. There's a definite design philosophy on display here that I greatly prefer in comparison with the overheated one in the Paponian cosmos. Mind you, I have quite a few of the latter, but really, these Safari figures are, well, a relief, very cool in comparison.

Thanks Halichoeres for the photo as a whole. I really like that Doug Watson has made carnivorous dinosaurs and carnivorous animals with jaws closed, I'm tired of carnivorous theropod prehistoric animals with their mouths open showing teeth. Normally, most of the day would be with their mouths closed.

Couldn't agree more! I like at least some of my animals to be calm.

Although I realize the Deinonychus and Dilophosaurus are in different scales, they almost appear to be like they were in Jurassic Park here, with the poor Dilophosaurus that ended up being a runt or juvenile. What a fantastic batch of figures though. I'm curious to see how the other two turn out once released. I also think the colors here a bit more varied then the promo pics led me to believe.

On the colors, I agree, the promo photos made them look somewhat monotonous. They are still maybe a little more conservative than what I would have chosen in a couple of cases, but there is more variety in the palettes than I first thought.

[Killekor]

@Killekor I don't have either of those. As I only have one version of each taxon (or, as the case may be, life stage), I'm currently sticking with the Safari Dracorex and the Favorite Baryonyx. But those are some of the nicest Schleich figures of the last couple of years.

Thanks for the answer!

Anyways, the new Safari figures look amazing! I'm really curious to read your thoughts on them.

Killekor

[ceratopsian]

An excellent bunch.  Roll on their arrival here in the UK!

[Halichoeres]

I'll share some thoughts on the rest of the new Safari figures soon. But first, some vertebrates of the Paleozoic!


Artificial Animals Acanthodes
Scale: 1:1
Sculptor: Salvatore Rabito Alcón
Released: 2019
Permian
I hate Facebook and try to avoid it, but it occasionally proves useful. The "Prehistoric Models and Sculptures" group introduced me to Artificial Animals (https://artificialanimals.com/), which makes all kinds of animal replicas, from modern mammals to Paleozoic arthropods. They aren't cheap, but they are roughly commensurate with the price of a finished resin kit--that is, they're fairly priced for what they are. And where else am I going to get an acanthodian? Despite existing in the world's oceans and rivers for something like 180 million years, and despite being the ancestral stock of sharks, rays, and chimaeras, there are basically no mass produced figures of acanthodians (Lanier made a Climatius in the 60s, but good luck finding one, and a little plastic bin fish looks a lot like Climatius--hardly a strong representation in the market). This is one of the larger acanthodians, so this life size figure is a hefty one. It's marred by a very common inaccuracy: the pelvic spine with its trailing fin should be paired, and the anal fin should be single. Here, they're reversed. Still, better than no acanthodian at all, and truth be told, I didn't notice the fin error until I had unpacked it.


Seen here with the Safari ammonite, because I don't own anything else at about this scale from the Permian (because nobody makes such a thing).


Artificial Animals Falcatus falcatus
Scale: 1:1
Sculptor: Salvatore Rabito Alcón
Released: 2019
Lower Carboniferous
This sharklike animal is actually a stem-group chimaera related to the anvil-headed Stethacanthus. Only the males had this weird protrusion on the head, possibly homologous to the cephalic claspers of modern ratfishes. These weird little fish lived in what is now Montana and were beautifully preserved at a place called Bear Gulch. It is absolutely the strangest assemblage of fishes that I know of, although some Devonian rocks from China full of galeaspids comprise a close runner-up. Really happy to have this on my shelf.


Tullimonstrum was from considerably later in the Carboniferous, but they look pretty good together.


Artificial Animals Dicksonosteus
Scale: 1:1
Sculptor: Salvatore Rabito Alcón
Released: 2019
Lower Devonian
Dicksonosteus was a basal arthrodire, an early relative of Dunkleosteus. There's a whole mess of Lower Devonian fishes known from Spitsbergen in Norway. Most were jawless, but animals like this one were starting to supplant them. The arthrodires would dominate much of the rest of the Devonian.


Dicksonosteus had a very different head from Dunkleosteus, reflecting a very different ecology.


With a jawless fish from about the same time, but from the other end of the world (Pituriaspis from Australia).


Artificial Animals Boreaspis
Scale: 1:2
Sculptor: Salvatore Rabito Alcón
Released: 2019
Lower Devonian
Boreaspis, at least its type species B. rostrata, was another denizen of Spitsbergen. Wikipedia and my old Cox et al. illustrated encyclopedia give a size consistent with this being about 1:1. It's really hard to find, on the Internet, good primary sources for a lot of these fishes. But what little I could find is more consistent with this model being about half life size. Jawless, armored, it's part of the vast gnathostome stem-group, meaning its last common ancestor with you and me is more recent than its common ancestor with lampreys and hagfishes. 


With some other Early Devonian jawless fishes.


Artificial Animals Ateleaspis
Scale: 1:1
Sculptor: Salvatore Rabito Alcón
Released: 2019
Upper Silurian-Lower Devonian
The jawless Ateleaspis is the earliest vertebrate known to have paired fins. Because of fishes like this one, you can scratch your back, throw a ball, and pick your nose. Of course, it wasn't until much later that paired hind fins evolved, somewhere among the placoderms.


Pituriaspis for scale.

There are some really minor nitpicks I have with the models, and some had their bases damaged in transit, but apart from that I'm very happy with these purchases. Rabito is active; since I became aware of his work, he has produced four or five new models, including a Promissum that I will surely include in my next order. I had to move my 1:1 Paleozoic figures to a new, larger shelf, from which they preside magisterially over my dining room, but definitely worth it.

[bmathison1972]

hey Tim, did you get those magnetic Jurassic inverts from pipsxlch yet? I got mine in the mail yesterday . I look forward to seeing them in this post 

[Faelrin]

Those are absolutely beautiful models of those often neglected species. I really wish there were more figures out there of these, but congrats on getting these beauties at least and sharing them here with us.

[Shonisaurus]

I like all the figures that show Halichoeres artificial animals, especially your Dicksonosteus, it is the most exotic of the group to my honest understanding. Thank you for sharing great photos.

[SBell]

Hey @Halichoeres I just saw your Icarosaurus... although based on the wing shape, especially the very rounded posterior patagium, I consider it Kuehneosaurus. It's not really perfect for either...

Anyway, they are Iwako, I have a pink one.

[Halichoeres]

hey Tim, did you get those magnetic Jurassic inverts from pipsxlch yet? I got mine in the mail yesterday . I look forward to seeing them in this post 

They actually just turned up yesterday. It's a very interesting set! They'll show up here soon.

Those are absolutely beautiful models of those often neglected species. I really wish there were more figures out there of these, but congrats on getting these beauties at least and sharing them here with us.

Thanks very much! I also wish there were more Paleozoic fish on offer from affordable brands, but they only seem to want to make Dunkleosteus and that shark with the buck teeth.

I like all the figures that show Halichoeres artificial animals, especially your Dicksonosteus, it is the most exotic of the group to my honest understanding. Thank you for sharing great photos.

My great pleasure! And thank you for stopping by.

Hey @Halichoeres I just saw your Icarosaurus... although based on the wing shape, especially the very rounded posterior patagium, I consider it Kuehneosaurus. It's not really perfect for either...

Anyway, they are Iwako, I have a pink one.

@SBell Yeah, the shape is definitely more wrong for Icarosaurus. The DinoFroz actually gets that kind of right, although the rest of the figure is a hideous mutant. Thanks for the confirmation that it's Iwako.

I'm amused that I just showed all these fish and we're discussing the little eraser!

[SBell]

quote author=SBell link=topic=3390.msg247575#msg247575 date=1578802236]
Hey @Halichoeres I just saw your Icarosaurus... although based on the wing shape, especially the very rounded posterior patagium, I consider it Kuehneosaurus. It's not really perfect for either...

Anyway, they are Iwako, I have a pink one.

@SBell Yeah, the shape is definitely more wrong for Icarosaurus. The DinoFroz actually gets that kind of right, although the rest of the figure is a hideous mutant. Thanks for the confirmation that it's Iwako.

I'm amused that I just showed all these fish and we're discussing the little eraser!
[/quote]

Well, yeah. Those fish are awesome. Budget doesn't allow for it though. We really do need someone to make these animals in a broader, less expensive form!

[Halichoeres]

Children aren't in my budget and never will be, and neither are cars. It's amazing what you can manage when those things aren't a worry!

Osteichthyans of the Cretaceous!


Safari Ltd Pachycephalosaurus
Scale: 1:20
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Released: 2020, although I found it in December 2019 at a museum in Arizona
Maastrichtian of North America
I like it when figures are modeled after specific individual specimens, like this one with a healed dent in its noggin. There are quite a few well made Pachycephalosaurus figures out there, so I hadn't initially planned to get it. But when I found it at the Arizona Southwest Museum, I had to have it. I'm keeping both it and the CollectA version, because they're at different scales (CollectA's is about 1:40), so they can represent the genus on different shelves. Depending on what the actual relationship is between this animal and Stygimoloch and Dracorex, that could mean that Pachycephalosaurus is the most represented organism in my collection.


Vitae Zhejiangopterus for scale.


Safari Ltd Edmontosaurus
Scale: 1:35-1:40
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Released: 2020
Campanian-Maastrichtian of North America
All hadrosaurs should be in about 1:40 scale. That's just the right size for them. It's a little bit of a bummer that my other hadrosaurs are all boxed away, but someday I'll do another group shot of the herd. This is a lot more vibrant than I was expecting from the promo photo, a very attractive figure just like the Gryposaurus from several years ago. Replaces the previous Safari version.


Scales nicely with some of Safari's ceratopsians.


Safari Ltd Deinonychus
Scale: 1:15
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Released: 2020
Aptian-Albian of north America
Deinonychus might be the most frequently replaced genus in my collection. I've added and removed versions by Kaiyodo (no wings), Favorite (ditto), Kabaya (stump tail), and Colorata (incomplete wings) as slightly better, but still flawed, versions are released. This one is replacing the Rebor version, which was the latest one to almost get it right. This one is somewhat larger and much more elegant. The "Cerberus Clan" will soon be in my sale thread, and now the only Rebor figures in my collection are accessories: the lepidosaur that came with their Dimorphodon, and the Protolindenia that came with their compy.


Goes nicely with the Citipati. I've got quite a nice little flock of feathered Safari maniraptorans now.


Science & Nature Atlascopcosaurus but also Leaellynasaura
Scale: 1:30-1:35 (as Atlascopcosaurus)
Aptian of Australia
Longtime collectors might recognize this piece. S&N used to sell it as a Leaellynasaura. It's generic and cartoony enough that it could stand in--poorly--for any of the smaller neornithischians. Maybe in a couple of years they'll start selling it as a Weewarrasaurus. I like it marginally better than the Yowie Atlascopcosaurus.


Run, you fool!


Safari Ltd Sarcosuchus
Scale: 1:30-1:35
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Released: 2020
Hauterivian-Albian of Africa
All of the previous versions were ugly (CollectA, Mojö) or tiny (Favorite, Safari TOOB, Joy City). A big animal like this deserves a big figure, and this version will do nicely. I hadn't realized this before, but Sarcosuchus had an absolutely gigantic conjoined naris in the center of its snout. Whether that means it would have had huge openings in the soft tissue, I don't know. Maybe, if it helped accommodate some of the teeth in the lower jaw. Either way, I'm very happy to see another Watson pseudosuchian, following up on the Kaprosuchus, Plesiosuchus, and Prestosuchus. It was also very timely, saving me from having to consider the Rebor or Mattel versions of Sarcosuchus.


With the Carnegie Deinosuchus.


indeterminate osteoglossiform
Sculptor: Sean Cooper
This was part of a Spinosaurus resin kit by Sean Cooper, first produced maybe a decade ago. The kit was recently reissued by MO Models, and I stumbled across it at Dan's Dinosaurs. Worried that I'd miss out, I ordered it immediately, and then sent Cooper a message to ask what, if anything, had been the inspiration. It turned out that none of the actual fish he could find information on were the right scale to go with the 1:72 dinosaur, so he just made a sort of composite hypothetical fish that seemed about right. This has the overall body shape of an arapaima, but with the fin morphology of something between an arowana or a Cretaceous osteoglossomorph like Phareodus. This piece is about 4 1/2 cm long, so if this were a very large arapaima, it would be about 1:72, matching the spinosaur. But the only thing I could find from roughly the same time and place is a stem-group member of either the African knifefishes or the elephantfishes, (Palaeonotopterus), which would not have resembled an arapaima at all. Moreover, it would be less than half the size, making this figure about 1:25-1:30. There is probably no fish in the fossil record that looks quite like this one, so I'm conflicted on whether to hang onto this, even as a generic member of the Osteglossiformes. Anybody interested in a reissued Sean Cooper resin kit?

As an aside, I mildly resent the fact that I've had to buy so many Spinosaurus figures to get my fish collection to where it is. Starting to be almost as tired of it as I am of Ty***nosaurus.

[Shonisaurus]

Safari edmontosaurus and sarcosuchus have made them huge. On the other hand, deinonychus and pachycephalosaurus are as beautiful as their prototypes. They look the same. Thank you for sharing the Halichoeres photographs.

[Killekor]

Thanks for the photos and information, Halicoeres! And congratulations for your new acquisitions!

The new Safari figures looks amazing, and I can see that Mr. Watson corrected the Edmontosaurus's feet adding hooves to it and making the figure perfect! Plus, I really like the new Sarcosuchus!

Killekor

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, I really love those new fishes you have! Almost makes me want to start sculpting again

[Syndicate Bias]

I have full respect for anyone who sculpts, it's so hard compared to painting or drawing I just can't do it.

[ceratopsian]

The Palaeozoic fish are real beauties. Quite a find.

[Megalosaurus]

Hey Tim. Those artificial animals fishes are amazing!