The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Reuben03]

@Reuben03 B @Bokisaurus I got these via YoyCart, which had pretty mixed reviews online, but I realized that most people were mad about things that YoyCart can't control. It's a drop-shipping service that pulls from TaoBao, and for whatever reason TaoBao listings frequently have meaningless shipping weights (these giant boxed sets were estimated at the equivalent of 10 ounces each). That means that YoyCart sometimes has to charge a second time for shipping when it wildly exceeds it. This parcel ended up being 19 pounds (8.6 kg). Now, YoyCart was annoying in one respect: they offered to remove the packaging and send the figures without the boxes, and I said yes please. But they sent them in their giant boxes, perhaps because they didn't think it was worth their time to free the figures, which were all attached with those horrible twist-ties. It took me 20 minutes to liberate them all, and if I were running a high-throughput drop-ship service I might not bother either. But they shouldn't have offered in that case.

Anyway, here's that ichthyosaur, part of my bycatch:

I was thinking about taking it apart to see, but maybe not the best idea if someone else might want it.

YES YES YES, THAT IS ME, I AM HE

I WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE IT

[Halichoeres]

L @Leyster I'm sorry, I forgot to tag you in my response. I got these via YoyCart, although unfortunately they have to be bought in sets of 6. I haven't found them for sale individually. The figures don't bear any CE markings or other indication that they've undergone safety testing, although previous releases from the brand are sold at retail here in the States. It might be that these releases haven't been submitted for such testing, but maybe once they are someone like Everything Dinosaur could carry them.

YES YES YES, THAT IS ME, I AM HE

I WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE IT

All right, reserved!


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unrelated, I've updated the first post with these new figures, some rather obscure fish models I'm looking for, and some extinct mammals I'd overlooked before, like Odobenocetops.

[Reuben03]

All right, reserved!

THANK YOU SM

[Reuben03]

It might be that these releases haven't been submitted for such testing, but maybe once they are someone like Everything Dinosaur could carry them.

i love that idea! it would work so well, especially with all the colour variation and the high demand of the DK style designs. Anyway we can reach out to them?? id finally be able to complete my current action figure wishlist and fill my prehistoric aquarium! (ongoing project)

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Some of those look surprisingly nice. Especially the Atlascoposaurus, the more it its kind the better.

[Duna]

How cool are those figures! Congrats! Which are you keeping?

[Halichoeres]

It might be that these releases haven't been submitted for such testing, but maybe once they are someone like Everything Dinosaur could carry them.

i love that idea! it would work so well, especially with all the colour variation and the high demand of the DK style designs. Anyway we can reach out to them?? id finally be able to complete my current action figure wishlist and fill my prehistoric aquarium! (ongoing project)

I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to drop them a line about it.

Some of those look surprisingly nice. Especially the Atlascoposaurus, the more it its kind the better.

Always happy to see a small ornithischian myself!

How cool are those figures! Congrats! Which are you keeping?

@Duna of the ones shown, I'm only keeping Abrictosaurus and Germanodactylus. There's another batch I haven't opened yet that I'll show here in the near future. Unfortunately, I meant to order the Abelisaurus but I made a mistake, so I'm still on the hunt for that one.

[Reuben03]

@Duna of the ones shown, I'm only keeping Abrictosaurus and Germanodactylus. There's another batch I haven't opened yet that I'll show here in the near future. Unfortunately, I meant to order the Abelisaurus but I made a mistake, so I'm still on the hunt for that one.

more xidi's? !!

[Eocarcharia]

Nice additions. I just got the PNSO Anchiornis not too long ago, and now I wish I had that one that you just got. It looks a lot better.

[Concavenator]

That Takara Anchiornis is great, easily the best figure of the genus, at least that I'm aware of. And it may have been released in 2011 (10 years ago!) but it's still better than the 2018 PNSO one. Newer not always means better.

[Sim]

Hi @Halichoeres, I just remembered something that may or may not interest you.  When I was little I had some prehistoric animal toys that I think came in blind bags and had a paper mat they could play on.  The toys had wire in their limbs and I think the tail too on the dinosaurs.  I'm not sure if these are toys you would be interested in, but the thought came to me because one of the toys was a Stegoceras.  These toys were painted so I thought you might prefer this Stegoceras to the Transmutazors one, although now I remember some of the Transmutazors were painted too, perhaps that was a separate release using the Transmutazors molds.

I don't know the brand of the toys I described above with wire in them and I've never seen them anywhere else, not even on the Dinosaur Toy Blog/Forum.  I got them in Rome.  They are about the size of the Prehistoric sharks toob figures.  The figures I remember having were a blue Stegoceras and Ornitholestes, a green Anatosaurus, a white Pteranodon and Brachiosaurus and an orange Spinosaurus or Dimetrodon.

[Halichoeres]

Nice additions. I just got the PNSO Anchiornis not too long ago, and now I wish I had that one that you just got. It looks a lot better.

That Takara Anchiornis is great, easily the best figure of the genus, at least that I'm aware of. And it may have been released in 2011 (10 years ago!) but it's still better than the 2018 PNSO one. Newer not always means better.

I got the Takara version several years ago, and then replaced it with the PNSO, partly because I like single-mold figures, but partly because I too am prone to the new-is-better bias. I'm glad I didn't sell it immediately, as I often do when I replace a figure. I guess I must always have though I might reconsider. It's odd that these are the only two versions, considering how well-known the animal is! And a pity that this one is so rare.

@Sim that's very interesting. So they were bendable soft plastic, like the neck of Carnegie's Tanystropheus? Figures of that sort usually have very unattractive proportions, but there are exceptions, like the Tanystropheus. I they're also pretty prone to cracking and degradation. I checked DeMarco's Dinosauriana, and I can't find anything fitting the description you've given, which might suggest that American collectors (indeed, maybe all Anglophone collectors) are generally ignorant of them. Now that I know they exist, I'll try to be alert for any sign of them, but in the meantime if you remember or learn anything else I'd love to hear about it. Thanks for sharing!

Naturally, I'd still love someone like Safari or EoFauna or PNSO to make a decent Stegoceras.

[Concavenator]

I got the Takara version several years ago, and then replaced it with the PNSO, partly because I like single-mold figures, but partly because I too am prone to the new-is-better bias. I'm glad I didn't sell it immediately, as I often do when I replace a figure. I guess I must always have though I might reconsider. It's odd that these are the only two versions, considering how well-known the animal is! And a pity that this one is so rare.

Indeed, it's certainly surprising this animal hasn't received that much attention from model companies. Actually, if you ignore Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Microraptor, Psittacosaurus, and perhaps Protoceratops, the rest of small dinosaurs is almost non-existing in figure form. And that's something in which fame and public awareness has to do. There are have been some recently described creatures that are relatively famous now, thanks to the attention they received upon their announcements: Borealopelta, Qianzhousaurus, Nasutoceratops and Concavenator, just to name a few.

But on the other hand, there's  the excellently preserved Brachylophosaurus, which I don't even think a model of it exists. But Parasaurolophus and other lambeosaurines are usually the go-to when it comes to hadrosaur models.

[Sim]

Yes, the toys I described were made of bendable soft plastic.  I think I might have had a green Ouranosaurus too but I can't remember for sure.

[Halichoeres]

An update from the oft-neglected Triassic!


PNSO Himalayasaurus
Scale: 1:35 - 1:45
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2021
Upper Triassic
Kind of an odd choice, but not unexpected considering that they released a miniature a few years back. Published papers estimate the length at 15 meters, which is what the upper end of the scale estimate reflects. But giant Triassic reptiles would surely have had huge size variation, so this could easily be 1:35.


It's hard to know how accurate it is because very little of the animal is known. This hasty edit is a generous estimate, although PNSO's marine reptile book inexplicably has a full-body skeletal diagram. But the remains are 1) a few anterior vertebrae jumbled on top of most of a skull, which hasn't been fully described, and in fact hadn't even been prepped out of matrix at the time of the last published article on the genus; 2) some fin elements; and 3) some additional vertebrate surmised but not known to be from the tail. Maybe this would work for a Cymbospondylus?


The forequarters.


All my giant Triassic ichthyosaurs. The other two could really do with an update.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

The Himalayasaurus may not be perfect but it looks amazing to me, the Triassic is a lovely time too. Looking forward to improving my Triassic shelf with one of these when ED gets it, and again with CollectA's Smok next year.

[Shonisaurus]

My honest opinion of the himalayasaurus is that it is without a doubt an attractive figure and for me if my finances allowed it it would be a must buy along with the livyatan and other wonders of prehistoric marine animals made by PNSO, it is much larger than what thought.

[Halichoeres]

Thank you both! I'm working on a review of this figure and been pondering the name. I doubt it's profitable to try to divine the reasoning behind PNSO's names, but having been born in Tucson I can scarcely help it. There's an SUV model called the Tucson also, and it's equally nonsensical. Maybe for a car it's even darkly ironic, in the tradition of trucks and SUVs named after the places and things that their use is destroying or rendering uninhabitable: Tundra, Yukon, Tacoma, Sierra, Durango, Everest, Sequoia. Meanwhile the drivers of the vehicles have probably never been to those places. "Tucson" has an extra layer of bitterness because it's a native (Tohono O'odham) name. Anyway, I'm used to the places I know being used to sell a myth of ruggedness to the suburbs, but how does "Tucson" sell ichthyosaur toys? Normally I don't even remember the names PNSO puts on their toys, but this one I'll remember.

PS: reference list on page 1 updated.

[stoneage]

Are you able to say which figures were updated?

[Halichoeres]

S @stoneage I added my recent additions from Happy Kin, Mattel, and PNSO, reinstated the Takara Anchiornis, and also added (in red because I don't own them yet and possibly never will) some Vernon Edwards and Pocock fish models.