The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[SBell]

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.

I just read about those. I want them. But I don't think we'll ever see them

[BlueKrono]

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.

I just read about those. I want them. But I don't think we'll ever see them

If I ever hear about any British museums closing and having an auction I'll loop you guys in.

[SBell]

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.

I just read about those. I want them. But I don't think we'll ever see them

If I ever hear about any British museums closing and having an auction I'll loop you guys in.

That would be awesome. Many of these are probably buried in storage somewhere

[Eocarcharia]

That Himalayasaurus is nice. I'm personally hoping for a Shonisaurus, Shastasaurus, or Cymbospondylus.

[JimoAi]

I'm assuming the 2013 favorite co one works more as cryptoclidus

[Shonisaurus]

That Himalayasaurus is nice. I'm personally hoping for a Shonisaurus, Shastasaurus, or Cymbospondylus.

Hopefully it's a shonisaurus! It's my favorite marine reptile or a shastasaurus or good, or both. PNSO or any other brand can make a shonisaurus and shastasaurus figure of a quality and size that will make that figure totally unsurpassed for many years and even decades. I have confidence in the PNSO, Collecta, Safari or IToy brand.

[Halichoeres]

That Himalayasaurus is nice. I'm personally hoping for a Shonisaurus, Shastasaurus, or Cymbospondylus.

That Himalayasaurus is nice. I'm personally hoping for a Shonisaurus, Shastasaurus, or Cymbospondylus.

Hopefully it's a shonisaurus! It's my favorite marine reptile or a shastasaurus or good, or both. PNSO or any other brand can make a shonisaurus and shastasaurus figure of a quality and size that will make that figure totally unsurpassed for many years and even decades. I have confidence in the PNSO, Collecta, Safari or IToy brand.

I wouldn't mind those a bit! Except truthfully I wouldn't trust them to IToy.

I'm assuming the 2013 favorite co one works more as cryptoclidus

Perhaps! I'm not especially knowledgeable about plesiosaurs, but at a glance the proportions do look to be a better match for Cryptoclidus.

And now, my first new Paleozoic critter in almost 3 months!


Rheic Ctenacanthus
Scale: 1:4 - 1:6
Released: 2021
Upper Devonian - Lower Carboniferous
Rheic caught my attention last year when they released a Xiphactinus, although I didn't buy it because I'd just landed the more accurate FaunaCasts version. This is the first model from them I couldn't resist, an important and well-preserved Paleozoic shark. Unfortunately, it arrived broken. I think I can repair it, but I'm annoyed that I have to. The figure has a roughly okay overall shape; however, the anterior dorsal fin (even when intact) is too sharply angled, and the posterior dorsal is too shallowly angled. The anal fin is missing, and the pectorals are probably too long. It looks like they took a lot of inspiration from Cladoselache, but at least the fin spines are correctly circular in cross-section, although missing the characteristic serrations.


It comes with a little metal rod and a base, but it's poorly balanced and I'm going to have to find some other way to display it. It's at least possible that the balance will improve once the missing bits of the caudal and dorsal fin are glued on.


Chasing some mid-sized placoderms. It was itself food to larger placoderms.


The base looks reasonably nice. There are some marks that look like print lines, so I guess this was digitally modeled. There are two minuscule fish and some unidentifiable white blobs. The closest match to these fish I could find was the stem-actinopterygian Kentuckia which came from some of the same formations, but it's not really that good a match and would be wildly out of scale. Between these nondescript fish and the blank nameplate, I wonder if Rheic reused this base from a previous release. LaNa markets the shark as 1:35, and that would work better for the little fish, but Ctenacanthus was nowhere near this large. A 1:35 Titanichthys would be about the size of the shark model.

And, because it was requested on the comparison photo thread, a gratuitous shot of most of my orthocerids orthoconic nautiloids:

[Shonisaurus]

What a beautiful collection of prehistoric fish and invertebrates, that ctenacanthus is colossal, I really like your page for your great wisdom, your images of new acquisitions with your scientific notes are unsurpassed.

Hopefully customers of toy dinosaur figures and companies take more affection for fish, invertebrates and other prehistoric marine animals that are not the reptiles of the Mesozoic and thus we can / can you swell your collection especially of primitive fish.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for the kind words, Shonisaurus! All in all, this has been an unusually good year for prehistoric fish. I've picked up seven this year between various toy and model lines!

[JimoAi]

 


Favorite Co Geosternbergia (Soft Model Series 1, sold as Pteranodon)
Scale: 1:40
Sculptor: Takashi Oda
Released: 2004
Santonian-Campanian of North America
For the most part, the 2013 series of Favorite prehistorics failed to improve on the 2004 series. This one is no exception, although I never made it a high priority to replace the 2013 version, which I've had for several years. I found the stand for sale cheap at Urzeitshop, and I bought it thinking it could be useful for any number of figures. Miron very kindly included the figure along with it. So now it replaces the 2013 Favorite version and I no longer have any from that series left in my collection.

Nice! I made the right choice of purchasing the older pteranodon figure over the new one with only a premium of ¥500 for the old one. Love how it's the perfect size for my collection in terms of wingspan and how tiny the 3 hand fingers are and the head looks better proportioned than the new one but I feel it's still a but too short and the only thing I find better in the new one is the paint and the new one having the top of the beak being longer than the bottom. I plan to resculpt the head later this week!

[Shonisaurus]

That Favorite pteranodon I never found with this base or set, I found only the figure. It is an acceptable figure and Favorite sincerely strives positively to model such finished and above all so elegantly sculpted pterosaurs.

[Crackington]

Lovely shark figure @Halichoeres - just wondering if those "Kentuckia" might be meant to be juveniles,  perhaps hiding away in a reef? Nice little detail if so...

[Halichoeres]

@JimoAi Yeah, in general I think the 2004 editions are nicer than the 2013 ones. I think this one might have too small a head, however. I hope I'll see your modifications in the 'custom figures' section of the forum!

@Crackington Perhaps so, although they are not really shaped correctly even for that. I continue to suspect that this base was repurposed from a previous model, although I haven't looked through all of Rheic's bases.

And now: cerapods of the Cretaceous!


PNSO Olorotitan
Scale: 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2021
Maastrichtian of Eurasia
Another very graceful hadrosaur from PNSO. It's a very see-who's-upwind pose, inherently unstable, so I'm glad PNSO included the little stand. I'd love to see them try their hand at some committed bipedal ornithischians like Jeholosaurus. This figure replaces the CollectA version.


Hey dummy, he's right behind you!


Xidi (Happy Kin) Koreaceratops
Scale: 1:7 - 1:8
Released: 2020
Albian of Eurasia
The last of my recent Happy Kin dinosaurs. I bought two boxed sets and thought I would be getting an Abelisaurus, but that turns out to be in a third boxed set, and I don't think I care enough to ship another of these giant parcels. If anyone has one to trade, I'm listening.


The universal scale bar.


unknown Achelousaurus
Scale: maybe 1:20
Campanian of North America
I saw this on eBay and was intrigued enough to pick it up. The seller listed it as Kid Galaxy, a North American company that distributes Xidi/Happy Kin but also items from other manufacturers. I don't think this is Happy Kin, for a couple of reasons. There is no genus name inscribed on it, which Happy Kins don't always have but usually do, and it says "Made in Indonesia," which is a first for me. Happy Kins always say "Made in China" when they bear a visible country stamp. I wonder if Vitae will ever get around to releasing their version of this genus, as both this one and CollectA's are a little crude.


It also came with this Majungasaurus, which is probably nicer than CollectA's, and definitely nicer than Mattel's, but superfluous given the imminent release of the Wild Past version. Both of these action figures had a slight objectionable odor to them on unpacking, not sure why.


Creative Beast Torosaurus latus
Scale: 1:16
Sculptor: Jake Baardse
Released: 2021
Maastrichtian of North America
Having a bit of bad luck lately, maybe because delivery people are so harried around the holidays. I understand why Creative Beast wanted to get things delivered by Christmas, but personally I'd have just as soon waited and gotten this intact. It's a bummer, but I'm not super worried about it; I expect FedEx insurance will make it square. Once that happens, it replaces the Toyway version.


Creative Beast Utahceratops gettyi
Scale: 1:18
Sculptor: David Silva with Simon Panek
Released: 2021
Campanian of North America
This one survived the trip a bit better. I was a bit more on the fence with this one--CollectA's is serviceable, and much closer to my preferred scale, but the Gila monster colors won over this desert rat.


Creative Beast Albertaceratops nesmoi
Scale: 1:13
Sculptor: David Silva with Simon Panek
Released: 2021
Campanian of North America
Another stunner. This is a centrosaurine, so it's a little odd that they included the same stumpy tail that comes with the chasmosaurines, but hey, maybe there was more variation in tail length than we know. Most of these new ceratopsids are just based on parietals anyhow.


All my intact BotM ceratopsians wishing you a happy Festivus.

[Faelrin]

Shame about your Torosaurus. At least the rest of the arrivals came safe. Happy holidays. What a charming display as well.

[Grimbeard]

- The Olorotitan might have the best color scheme and pose out of all PNSO ornithopods, really like the pose as well.

- Koreaceratops with a tail sail/fluke instead of the usuall quills looks kinda strange, shame since the rest of the model look really nice.

- 2022 might be a great year for Wild Past, although im looking forward to the finished, painted  Scutosaurus & Kotlassia even more.

- Shame about the shipping damage, but thats a risk you always have to take when ordering online. At least the other ones are OK.

I feel so conflicted about the entire BoTM lines. The models and bold colors are extraordinarily good and the articulations offer so many pose option, but on the other hand the articulation naturally also breaks the shape up quite a bit and the 1:18 (1:6 for the raptors) is way too big for my regualar collections size. Maybe I will bite the bullet and get some for my "off-scale" collection in my living room cabinet.

[ceratopsian]

What a shame about the Torosaurus. I'm conflicted on ordering that one as it's so blue. The Utahceratops looks quite amazing. And as always, your photography skills enhance the models.

[Strepsodus]

Great figures as always. I've already tracked down Toyway's Torosaurus, so I'm staying with that one. In terms of a figures coloration, I try to be as open minded as possible, but some things still have a hard time getting by me

[CarnotaurusKing]

Merry Christmas, and good haul! That Achelousaurus is an odd one, no doubt, and it's a shame about that Torosaurus. Hope it gets fixed. I hope I can pick up the Utahceratops somewhere down the line. The adult Triceratops was recently delivered to me, though since I am not in the country at the moment, I cannot see it 
Honestly, the Torosaurus is divisive for me. While it has a phenomenal sculpt, the bright blue color-scheme, and the apocryphal keratinous face really don't do it for me. Not really sure why that hypothesis gained as much traction as it did. Also I like having all my organs  Can't wait for the rumoured PNSO one.

[Eocarcharia]

Another great round of additions! The Koreaceratops and Achelousaurus are interesting. Will the Koreaceratops coexist in your collection with the CollectA family?
I'm partial to my Sega vinyl Achelousaurus, though it is the only one of the species I own. I'd love to see it enter the Beasts of the Mesozoic Ceratopsian series. And speaking of BOTM, it's always a treat seeing those figures (even if some have suffered accidents.) I still have no idea which figures of Wave 3 to get, they all look so good! I suppose your criteria for collecting makes it an easier decision.
Happy holidays!

[Sim]

Hi Tim, I noticed Suchodus isn't on your reference list.