The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

The Mesozoic at around 1:60

A beautiful Collection. I love aquatic Animals, and always have. Since i loved Cephalopods even more than other Animals (I am sorry, hehe), i really would love to know a little on the Orthoceras Model. It just looks beautiful.

[Faelrin]

You have such a wonderfully diverse collection. A little bit of everything. That kind of goes for not just types of animals, plants, etc, and the various periods of time they were from, but also the amount of companies (and individuals) you have figures from. I also think its quite inspiring, and informative as well, to see so many figures of obscure genera altogether in one place, along side more well known ones. Even some of the most obscure, if not some of the smallest creatures have some form of representation in your collection, which helps that they do not become forgotten (and I suppose one could argue that they were not truly forgotten if there was something made of them to begin with, but still), despite being long gone, with only fossils to tell us of their stories.

And all of that also applies to many of the companies and individuals you have figures, etc, from in your collection, some that have long since gone out of business, or have things that have gone out of production quite long ago. There's also so much history (and prehistory of course) to learn here, from your various acquisitions, etc. Granted there are definitely a number of other members here that also do something similar, and I appreciate them doing that as well, in either their reviews or their collection threads.

I also find it fascinating we both started in 2015. Hard to believe it's been that long already. In any case, I also look forward to another five years, in not only the many potential new releases we might see down the road, but catching up on some older ones as well.

I must admit I also completely forgotten about that wonderful little Tullimonstrum figure. I'm glad to see it again anyways. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye out in the future for that one, unless well hopefully another company like CollectA or Kaiyodo can give us one (to be honest I'm a bit surprised very few have so far, despite making a large splash in the news not too long ago. At this rate the Paleozoic Pals plushie is probably the easiest obtainable and cheapest option of it, if I had to guess).

[Shonisaurus]

Nice Halichoeres collection, I congratulate you on your beautiful collection. By the way the red fish with white polka dots, which company does it belong to? and the same can be said of the two prehistoric reptiles that are next to that figure. They are brands unknown to me.

[SBell]

Nice Halichoeres collection, I congratulate you on your beautiful collection. By the way the red fish with white polka dots, which company does it belong to? and the same can be said of the two prehistoric reptiles that are next to that figure. They are brands unknown to me.

I'd also like to know what that is @Halichoeres !

[Flaffy]

Nice Halichoeres collection, I congratulate you on your beautiful collection. By the way the red fish with white polka dots, which company does it belong to? and the same can be said of the two prehistoric reptiles that are next to that figure. They are brands unknown to me.

I'd also like to know what that is @Halichoeres !

Diramix Leedsichthys

left to the fish: Sonokong Shastasaurus
right to the fish: what looks to be the fabled Chialu Brachauchenius

[Lanthanotus]

The rest of the Paleozoic at life size. Definitely my most expensive shelf.

Hmm, I`ve got the feeling I just saw one or two of those fishes in a book from the 70`s I recently acquired ... or is it just resemblance?

[Shonisaurus]

Nice Halichoeres collection, I congratulate you on your beautiful collection. By the way the red fish with white polka dots, which company does it belong to? and the same can be said of the two prehistoric reptiles that are next to that figure. They are brands unknown to me.

I'd also like to know what that is @Halichoeres !

Diramix Leedsichthys

left to the fish: Sonokong Shastasaurus
right to the fish: what looks to be the fabled Chialu Brachauchenius

Thanks Flaffy for your response. Sincerely, the figures of Leedsichthys and shastasaurus are quite beautiful figures.

[Halichoeres]

A beautiful Collection. I love aquatic Animals, and always have. Since i loved Cephalopods even more than other Animals (I am sorry, hehe), i really would love to know a little on the Orthoceras Model. It just looks beautiful.

Thank you so much! That's actually a Cameroceras trentonense by Colorata, although the size estimates in the pamphlet suggests it's based on Endoceras:


@Faelrin thanks for the kind words! I definitely strive for diversity in terms of taxonomy, although I could actually do with a little less diversity in companies. There's about 30 companies I'd love to see wiped from my collection by the better manufacturers releasing up-to-date versions. There's a fair number of us that got into collecting in 2015, I wonder if there's something that happened that year that kindled interest in prehistory....

@SBell and @Shonisaurus: @Flaffy is correct on all counts, well done!
Brachauchenius:


Leedsichthys:


Shastasaurus (although it doesn't really look like an ichthyosaur at all):

Hmm, I`ve got the feeling I just saw one or two of those fishes in a book from the 70`s I recently acquired ... or is it just resemblance?

Interesting, @Lanthanotus, what book is that? I didn't recognize any of these as obviously resembling art I'd seen before, but of course there's lots of art I haven't seen!

[Lanthanotus]

It is "Prehistoric Animals - The extraordinary story of life before man" by Ellis Owen. All of the book`s pictures are taken from models and dioramas and the fih models are usually far better than the ones of other ancient life forms. I dunno if they are scientifically correct, but look more authentic and lifelike and so there`s quite some similarity between those pics and your models. But I just checked and it seems my brain just made it up, none particular looks like it was an actual "predecessors" or exemplar.... but maybe inspiration, who knows?

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Thank you so much! That's actually a Cameroceras trentonense by Colorata, although the size estimates in the pamphlet suggests it's based on Endoceras:

Ah! Thank you! Now i can see it better and i also found your Blog Entry. A Very interesting Box. I'll try a Hunt on it and get it here to Germany. A fine collection in the Box. i just saw, that they have Deepsea Fish and Creatures  aswell. I cant even... A fully detailed Architeuthis and Vampyroteuthis, that are not rubbertoys or Fishing bait? uuh.


It makes absolute sense, what you said about the sizes. I just could't see it well on the Pic. I would love to hear whats your Opinion on e.g. the Number of Arms and so on, BUT this is still a Dinosaur Forum and this would be asked a little too much, i guess.

And my written eglish is not that good. Feels like i always have a strange tone in it, because a use much fewer words.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres After seeing some of the obscure critters made by various manufacturers in your collection, I definitely agree with you on wanting more up to date renditions of them (especially if they barely have any resemblance to the animal in question). I could probably name a couple companies from that list anyways, give or take.

Yes, Jurassic World was definitely why I got back into collecting again (I mean if getting the toys I got as a kid, and wanting to be a completionist counted, such as for Hasbro's JPIII line), although I had already gotten my interest back into prehistoric animals about a year before from some discovery of some titanosaur's leg bones, etc (if I had to guess that may have ultimately been or belonged to Patagotitan), if not earlier still from the re-release of Jurassic Park into theaters (because of the 3D thing). Heck I was even aware of the Hasbro Pachyrhinosaurus, and Allosaurus (from JPToys no less, that I still use to this day), but I was not in the right state of mind (I didn't allow myself to want, or rather get anything I wanted back then), if I was even in the appropriate financial state for it back then. But anyways, my first prehistoric figures as an adult collector was some of Hasbro's JW toys, despite their issues.

Honesty it's so good I eventually joined here shortly after JPLegacy went offline in early 2016, as there would have been so much I would be missing out on (aside from what I was to begin with), such as Battat, Safari Ltd, CollectA, Favorite, Kaiyodo, etc (many of which I'm behind on, but still), although even now I am still discovering things (from things in your collection, or others). The only brand I was really aware of prior (not counting the JP and Primal Rage toys I had as a kid, or the 2015 Hasbro JW stuff), was Papo. I knew about them since 2010 I think, after finding a mod for Jurassic Park Operation Genesis that changed the Allosaurus texture/skin to resemble the Papo one (and it only took me nearly a decade to get around to getting that figure, see above for why, despite it interesting me back then). I've also come to appreciate static models too (since action figures were always more my thing having grown up with Kenner's JP toys, and other brands), that I never really had before, except as a young child desperate for a dinosaur toy. Like I never would have thought some of my favorite prehistoric creatures of my childhood (or particular renditions of them), had figures out there, such as the Toyway WWD Allosaurus, or the Kaiyodo Ichthyostega (is there anyone else here who had a childhood love of this tetrapodomorph, lol?), now both in my collection, and quite simply if I hadn't had joined, or if I was still set on action figures only, I would be missing out on them.

[Halichoeres]

Thank you so much! That's actually a Cameroceras trentonense by Colorata, although the size estimates in the pamphlet suggests it's based on Endoceras:

Ah! Thank you! Now i can see it better and i also found your Blog Entry. A Very interesting Box. I'll try a Hunt on it and get it here to Germany. A fine collection in the Box. i just saw, that they have Deepsea Fish and Creatures  aswell. I cant even... A fully detailed Architeuthis and Vampyroteuthis, that are not rubbertoys or Fishing bait? uuh.


It makes absolute sense, what you said about the sizes. I just could't see it well on the Pic. I would love to hear whats your Opinion on e.g. the Number of Arms and so on, BUT this is still a Dinosaur Forum and this would be asked a little too much, i guess.

And my written eglish is not that good. Feels like i always have a strange tone in it, because a use much fewer words.

Your English is perfectly fine
It's a Dinosaur Toy Forum, but to me the most interesting prehistoric animals aren't dinosaurs at all. Alas, there is not "Paleozoic Toy Forum." This will just have to be a broad, welcoming place. As for the number of arms on Cameroceras, that's a tough question! I am not aware of any identifiable trace fossils of orthocerids, let alone actual soft tissue remains. The vast majority of living cephalopods are coleoids, which primitively have 10, but if  I'm not mistaken, orthocerids are part of the nautilus stem-group.  In that case, perhaps they had many tentacles instead, like the modern nautilus. Maybe this is actually known, but if so, at least I myself do not know.

@Faelrin I'm glad that this hobby has been good for you. I started collecting while in the throes of dissertation despair, and I think the distraction was probably pretty healthy even if it superficially made me seem less productive. Oddly enough, I was an action figure collector too when I was young, although I have very little interest in them now (BotM aside).

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

The vast majority of living cephalopods are coleoids, which primitively have 10, but if  I'm not mistaken, orthocerids are part of the nautilus stem-group.  In that case, perhaps they had many tentacles instead, like the modern nautilus. Maybe this is actually known, but if so, at least I myself do not know.

Yes, i thought so. Thank you. Sometimes its hard to get a feeling of how OLD all these Fossils are. Numbers are just Numers at some Point. As far as i was reading Stuff around the Internet, of course no one knows for sure, because of the lack of Soft Tissue. But thanks for your thoughts.

10 Arms seem to be possible aswell, looking at Squid and Cuttlefish. As far as they still have some Kind of "hard" Bodyparts (Gladius and Cuttlebone), like fossil Cephalopods and their Ancestors with their outer Shell.
I'm no Marine Biologist, but the Octopus seems to be the most modern Type. Loosing the Tentacles and hard Parts, exept the Beak.

Being such big Animals, that look like they can move faster than an Nautilus Type, i think of hunting Prey of a bigger size, which would require something quite strong (Arms). Therefore having less, but bigger Arms could work for e.g. the Cameroceras.

But thats just a thought.

Your English is perfectly fine

Thank you very much. Its just hard to express in the way i want, sometimes.

[Sim]

@Halichoeres, is the Medicom Tullimonstrum retired?

[Halichoeres]

@Kapitaenosavrvs I'm not sure they were very fast moving! There's also a hypothesis that the largest endocerids were filter-feeders: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7014.msg207702 I think it's an intriguing idea but I'm not sure how to test it with the remains we have.

@Sim Yes, Medicom products are usually only available for a year or less. There are no toys of the genus in production, only various resin figures and at least one plush.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

@Kapitaenosavrvs I'm not sure they were very fast moving! There's also a hypothesis that the largest endocerids were filter-feeders: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7014.msg207702 I think it's an intriguing idea but I'm not sure how to test it with the remains we have.

Oh! Yes, i know that Picture. I totally forgot about it. Vampyroteuthis comes instantly to my mind. A good idea, that sounds almost perfect for an Animal this size.
I meant not superfast like a modern Squid, just faster than eg. Nautilidae. But since Nautiloidea had their bis, gas filled Shells, it makes more sense that they were more of the slower side. Totally forgot about that, when i was fixed on the Arms.

I kinda like the Filterfeederidea. Maybe someone will find soft tissue. They got Vampyronassa rhodanica, so its not impossible.
Thanks for your thoughts.

[Sim]

Thanks @Halichoeres.  One other question, are the Dawn of the Dinosaurs exhibit figures retired?

[Halichoeres]

Thanks @Halichoeres.  One other question, are the Dawn of the Dinosaurs exhibit figures retired?

Yeah, definitely. I think they were only available on the primary market for a few weeks or at most a couple of months. All the ones sold by Clawmark, for example, were resale.

[Sim]

Thanks @Halichoeres! It's impressive you managed to get all your copies of those figures!  The Medicom Tullimonstrum too.

[Sim]

In the first post, you've listed your Guanlong as being made by PNSO.  Did you mean to write Favorite as the company?