The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Faelrin]

Oh my. I've been a bit behind on checking this out as of late, from well spending more time playing video games as of late. My goodness. Congrats on getting all of these in finally. And they are definitely beautiful. I regret I couldn't afford all of these, and painted up, otherwise I would have certainly went for that route, because I am another madman for things like this. They sure look quite worth it. I'm beyond utterly impressed at all the detail for how tiny these all actually are, and more so with the exquisite paint work on all these.

Also I just realized I am still very much behind on paying for my shipping, despite reaching out a while back, but things came up and got in the way of that. And now moving at the end of May/early June is going to complicate that further, so I might need to push it back further. Sounds like I need to email her asap to update her on what's been going on.

In any case I can tell the wait will be worth it, and I hope I'll be able to order more down the line, since so many of the species done here have only been made by her so far. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the others you've got to unveil, and I think I need to pay closer attention to this thread in the immediate future.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, @Faelrin! I think you and I might be the only madmen for these, but for everyone else I'll be doing a round of boring ol' dinosaurs next time I update. Anyway, like you I'm super impressed with the level of detail at this size, and the careful paint work.

These figures are exactly why I got into this hobby: every one sends me down a rabbit hole learning more about anatomy, paleo-environments, and ecology, and that's what I love about collecting.

[Faelrin]

Honestly same here. I've actually been inspired to do digging on as many Paleozoic and Cenozoic animals a few years back, because of wanting to come up with ideas for figure wishlists, which I might not have bothered with prior otherwise, aside from the few I read about in books or saw in docs. Honestly and in particular, I'm so glad O @Oammararak did this project, and it was successfully funded. Where else has there been figures of Dinomischus, Isotelus, Cooksonia, Dicranurus, and many many others? Many of those have been on my wishlist for quite a while, as a result of that research opening my eyes to what's been out there, so it is so nice to see them finally get their due, when so many others would have ignored them. I would love to see it one day continue into the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic, especially because of the generous amount of genera this project has that filled in the gaps for the Ediacaran - Devonian.

I also forgot to mention this earlier, but I also really enjoyed reading your musings about all of these.

[Halichoeres]

I also forgot to mention this earlier, but I also really enjoyed reading your musings about all of these.

Thank you so much!

And now, ornithischians of the Cretaceous!


Chap Mei Talarurus (allegedly)
Scale: 1:40
Cenomanian - Santonian of Eurasia
When I tweeted out the blog review of the Dinowaurs Talarurus, I wrote that it was the only toy of the genus. Someone replied with a photo of this horrible thing, saying that he was quite certain the packaging (from the Dino Quest series) identified it as Talarurus. I have not found any photos of the packaging to confirm this, but there is at least one other fan site that uses the same name. So it's in my collection as a placeholder until such time as some company makes a respectable version. I expect it will be a while.


PNSO Tsintaosaurus
Scale: it depends!
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2022
Campanian of Eurasia
This is a very attractive sculpt and I like the bright, almost iridescent details on the crest. The head and body are individually well-executed, but they are made to different scales. The head is something like 1:45 - 1:50, whereas based on what I could find for postcranial elements, the body is somewhere between 1:35 and 1:40. Sort of the opposite problem to their Corythosaurus. It's not the end of the world, and I like this one well enough to replace my Kanna Dinosaur Centre version.


An assortment of ornithischians from various companies.


PNSO Centrosaurus
Scale: 1:25 - 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2022
Campanian of North America
I obviously pre-ordered the BotM version long before I could have guessed that this would be in the offing. I think the BotM version is fantastic, but this is closer to my preferred scale and preferred level of articulation (n of points = 0, please and thank you), so this one is in and the BotM is out. Barely used, if someone wants it!


PNSO Styracosaurus
Scale: 1:25 - 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2022
Campanian of North America
Styracosaurus is done often, and often done well, but I've resisted ditching the Battat version for any of the many that have come out in the 25 or so years since its release. But this one really ticks all the boxes for me, except that it's just a shade bigger than I'd like. But given that 1:30 seems to be an emerging standard, it's likely to have plenty of company in the future.


PNSO has quite a ceratopsian portfolio now.

As always, happy to accommodate requests for other comparison photos if I'm able.

[Faelrin]

I'm surprised you didn't go for the Safari Ltd 2019 Styracosaurus when that one released. Or maybe that was because the Battat one still held up fine all that time, and I know you typically go with 1 figure per genus.

I do find it nice that the Styracosaurus and Centrosaurus work closely scale wise with the Lambeosaurus and Parasaurolophus give or take. I may have to pick them up sometime this year to accommodate those two fabulous hadrosaurids I have in my collection from them. And now that Safari Ltd has released an Albertosaurus, I plan to pick that up to stand in for Gorgosaurus for the meantime (as the Papo one is much too small, such as 1:40 scale, and while the new Safari Ltd Albertosaurus scales closer to 1:35 from what I've heard, it's good enough for now I guess).

That said I do wish there was a proper Gorgosaurus to scale with these (such as from PNSO or else). The Dinosaur Park formation is one of my favorite fossil formations from the Late Cretaceous period, mostly because it contains some of my favorite dinosaurs (and other animals like that freshwater plesiosaur that was discovered if I recall right). We could also still use an updated Euoplocephalus and Edmontonia as well, and of course Chamosaurus,  which shockingly has been neglected for so long outside of BotM. In fact I think as far as my static model collection goes I'd like to focus more on rounding out some of my favorite formations in the future, such as the Dinosaur Park formation, the Morrison, etc.

[Concavenator]

Those PNSOs are lovely, congratulations!

Even if the Tsintaosaurus' proportions are not quite right, I still think it's their best hadrosaurid yet. It's appropriately chunky and follows the proposed neck reconstruction by Bertozzo et al (2020). They also did a splendid job with the colors.

And those two ceratopsians are great as well. I remember a comment you made in which companies, when it comes to ceratopsids, only pay attention to the few most famous ones and some of the most recently described ones but tend to ignore the rest, specially the "classic but not famous" ones. This Centrosaurus is a rare exception (also the BotM ones). I would also like to see a decent Chasmosaurus from anyone (that's smaller and more affordable than the BotM) and Anchiceratops. I think PNSO might release a Chasmosaurus in the near future, because on one of those pictures included with the Torosaurus, one is depicted, and an Agujaceratops too. Both look very nice.

And that Styracosaurus is stellar. I have wanted to have a Styracosaurus in my collection for a very long time, but none of the versions up until this one convinced me, so I plan to get this one too.

Will you be replacing the BotM Torosaurus with the new one by PNSO?

[Leyster]

I was on the fence of buying that Styracosaurus, too, then it looked too big next to other PNSO ceratopsians. Still very good looking!

[Gwangi]

It's interesting to note that while the community at large criticized the Corythosaurus head for being too large, it turns out that the Tsintaosaurus head is too small and no one seems to notice. I do think the Tsintaosaurus is PNSO's best ornithopod so far though. I'll definitely get it...when it's on sale.

I only just recently got the Battat Styracosaurus but I'll eventually have to get PNSO's too. And Safari's for the simple reason that it's a Doug Watson ceratopsian. That should about do it for Styracosaurus representation.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for visiting, everyone!

I'm surprised you didn't go for the Safari Ltd 2019 Styracosaurus when that one released. Or maybe that was because the Battat one still held up fine all that time, and I know you typically go with 1 figure per genus.

I do find it nice that the Styracosaurus and Centrosaurus work closely scale wise with the Lambeosaurus and Parasaurolophus give or take. I may have to pick them up sometime this year to accommodate those two fabulous hadrosaurids I have in my collection from them. And now that Safari Ltd has released an Albertosaurus, I plan to pick that up to stand in for Gorgosaurus for the meantime (as the Papo one is much too small, such as 1:40 scale, and while the new Safari Ltd Albertosaurus scales closer to 1:35 from what I've heard, it's good enough for now I guess).

That said I do wish there was a proper Gorgosaurus to scale with these (such as from PNSO or else). The Dinosaur Park formation is one of my favorite fossil formations from the Late Cretaceous period, mostly because it contains some of my favorite dinosaurs (and other animals like that freshwater plesiosaur that was discovered if I recall right). We could also still use an updated Euoplocephalus and Edmontonia as well, and of course Chamosaurus,  which shockingly has been neglected for so long outside of BotM. In fact I think as far as my static model collection goes I'd like to focus more on rounding out some of my favorite formations in the future, such as the Dinosaur Park formation, the Morrison, etc.

I think the base sculpt of Safari's Styracosaurus is more accurate than the Battat and equal to it in artistry; what dissuaded me was the fact that every copy I've seen has distorted horns, and the remedies that have been attempted seemed ineffective. PNSO's packaging often seems wasteful to me but it does protect horns and other protrusions from warping.

As for Gorgosaurus, I am confident that someone will make one in time. For me the Papo is fine but it is a bit too small to work with the figures you mention except maybe as a juvenile.

Those PNSOs are lovely, congratulations!

Even if the Tsintaosaurus' proportions are not quite right, I still think it's their best hadrosaurid yet. It's appropriately chunky and follows the proposed neck reconstruction by Bertozzo et al (2020). They also did a splendid job with the colors.

And those two ceratopsians are great as well. I remember a comment you made in which companies, when it comes to ceratopsids, only pay attention to the few most famous ones and some of the most recently described ones but tend to ignore the rest, specially the "classic but not famous" ones. This Centrosaurus is a rare exception (also the BotM ones). I would also like to see a decent Chasmosaurus from anyone (that's smaller and more affordable than the BotM) and Anchiceratops. I think PNSO might release a Chasmosaurus in the near future, because on one of those pictures included with the Torosaurus, one is depicted, and an Agujaceratops too. Both look very nice.

And that Styracosaurus is stellar. I have wanted to have a Styracosaurus in my collection for a very long time, but none of the versions up until this one convinced me, so I plan to get this one too.

Will you be replacing the BotM Torosaurus with the new one by PNSO?

It definitely feels the most alive. I love the Lambeosaurus but its limbs are a bit wispy. This one seems like it could walk around without snapping its bones.

I think the coverage of ceratopsids has improved considerably, and they are now one of the best-represented clades there is. But I wouldn't turn my nose up at a Chasmosaurus or Arrhinoceratoos.

I do plan to replace the Torosaurus, for similar reasons of scale and less articulation. I've managed to cycle through lots of Torosaurus figures over the years (CollectA, Schleich, Toyway...).

I was on the fence of buying that Styracosaurus, too, then it looked too big next to other PNSO ceratopsians. Still very good looking!

Maybe a bit, although the Machairoceratops is at an even larger scale, by my measurements. I've resigned myself to having PNSO ceratopsians on multiple shelves.

It's interesting to note that while the community at large criticized the Corythosaurus head for being too large, it turns out that the Tsintaosaurus head is too small and no one seems to notice. I do think the Tsintaosaurus is PNSO's best ornithopod so far though. I'll definitely get it...when it's on sale.

I only just recently got the Battat Styracosaurus but I'll eventually have to get PNSO's too. And Safari's for the simple reason that it's a Doug Watson ceratopsian. That should about do it for Styracosaurus representation.

I think that's because there are skeletals for Corythosaurus that let anyone estimate for themselves. I had to dig to find estimates for Tsintaosaurus. On a percentage basis, I think this one is even more disproportionate! But I guess a too-small head is harder to notice.

That is a good selection of Styracosaurus. If I were going for 3 those are the ones I would choose.

[Gwangi]

I think that's because there are skeletals for Corythosaurus that let anyone estimate for themselves. I had to dig to find estimates for Tsintaosaurus. On a percentage basis, I think this one is even more disproportionate! But I guess a too-small head is harder to notice.

That is a good selection of Styracosaurus. If I were going for 3 those are the ones I would choose.

That makes sense. I imagine that the bulked up body also makes it appear as if the head is more proportional than it actually is.

I'm trying to adopt a collecting strategy similar to yours, where I limit the number of representatives that I have of a genus or species but I must confess that with some animals it's pretty difficult to choose. Styracosaurus has been done well a number of times. Currently I display both the Battat and the Papo and that should be enough but I prefer the Safari and PNSO figures over the Papo.

[Strepsodus]

Will you be getting Mattel's Skorpiovenator, or any of the new Mattel figures?

[Concavenator]

I'm trying to adopt a collecting strategy similar to yours, where I limit the number of representatives that I have of a genus or species but I must confess that with some animals it's pretty difficult to choose.

Limiting your collection to 1 or a few figures per species is probably extreme, but it definitely works when it comes to saving space, specially in the long term. I adopted that strategy too (1 figure per genus in my case), and even if it's not easy, I definitely recommend it. Of course, this strategy is not for everyone.

[Shonisaurus]

Although it is late my congratulations to your new acquisitions in your collection. Without a doubt, the PNSO ceratopsids are spectacular, I like them better than their Safari counterparts. That sinoceratops, centrosaurus and styracosaurus are truly tempting figures for any collector of which I am not indifferent or made of stone metaphorically speaking and most importantly, they do not have articulated jaws a ten for my part for PNSO! . I don't need to tell you about the PNSO tsintaosaurus because I have it on my shelves and it is a figure that despite its price, in my case I will never regret having bought it. Thanks for sharing. I overlook other figures such as those of Wild Past whose tethyshadros insularis is worthy and deserving of praise in terms of its sculpture and painting and that is equal to figures of the quality of Collecta to give an example.

[Halichoeres]

Thank you, Shoni!

I'm trying to adopt a collecting strategy similar to yours, where I limit the number of representatives that I have of a genus or species but I must confess that with some animals it's pretty difficult to choose.

Limiting your collection to 1 or a few figures per species is probably extreme, but it definitely works when it comes to saving space, specially in the long term. I adopted that strategy too (1 figure per genus in my case), and even if it's not easy, I definitely recommend it. Of course, this strategy is not for everyone.

It can definitely be hard to choose. But it has helped focus my effort and spending. Of course, like squashing a mess under a rug only to have it pop up elsewhere, the one-per-species rule has led me to seek out things I might not have otherwise.

To wit:

Will you be getting Mattel's Skorpiovenator, or any of the new Mattel figures?

Funny you should ask! To answer, here are some Mesozoic saurischians:


Mattel Skorpiovenator (Jurassic World)
Scale: 1:18
Released: 2022
Cenomanian of South America
Obviously the JW toy line is wildly successful, so they're finding their audience, but to me they look more cartoony than other action figure lines based on movie properties. I don't know if that's just my imagination, or if they really are a little more stylized to appeal to little kids, but not so much that they lose the deep-pocketed adult fans. Anyway, I don't love them, but I'm definitely going to reward their making a relatively obscure but reasonably well-understood abelisaur while most companies just can't see past Carnotaurus.


I'm actually not sure which of these big goofy abelisaurs is worse.


Mattel Moros (Jurassic World)
Scale: 1:10?
Released: 2022
Cenomanian of North America
Scale estimate is based on the femur, but you'll get a different number from other leg elements. Moros clearly had a longer shin than thigh but that's reversed here, which is hilarious when leg elements are all that's known (oh and a tooth, right?). There's going to be one in the BotM line next year, and this rather homely figure doesn't even look like the stills I've seen from the movie, but a stem-bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This is insurance in case for some reason the BotM doesn't see the light of day. I nearly always open packages, but given the near-certainty that I'll be unloading this one in the foreseeable future, I can restrain myself.


PNSO Zhuchengtyrannus
Scale: 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang or someone in his workshop
Released: 2022
Campanian of Eurasia
I'd grown uncomfortable with ordering an airmail parcel from China everytime PNSO or another company released something new, so I decided to wait a while and order them all at once with a batch of PNSO and GR Toys products in late winter. To my annoyance, the 4 figures were split into 3 shipments even though I paid an extra couple of dollars to get them all from one seller. I'm sure it makes financial sense for them; Amazon does the same thing. But it's just so wasteful. So I've sworn off AliExpress unless I just can't get something elsewhere, and I got this in a batch (along with the ornithischians I showed last time) from Happy Hen, whose staff has been really nice to deal with.


Like the Torvosaurus, it's a very impressive sculpt in most ways, but also like the Torvosaurus, it has this overbite that makes it look just a bit silly, like if it opened its mouth it would be talking about its lifted truck. I've seen PNSO's explanation for not having lips, and I disagree with it, but even so mostly a pretty solid figure.


Olorotitan is a bit out of place here but I imagine similar hadrosaurs would have lived in the neighborhood.


EoFauna Diplodocus carnegii
Scale: 1:40
Sculptor: unsure, possibly Shu-yu Hsu?
Released: 2022
Upper Jurassic of North America
The scale estimate is specifically based on Dippy (CM 84) from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, and it matches the scale given by EoFauna. Dippy represents more than one individual, but it's still a good overall picture of how Diplodocus would have looked. There are larger specimens, so this could range down to maybe 1:50 for a big D. hallorum.


People have been complaining about paint wear on the head, but I'm not seeing any here? Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe I'm oblivious. The flat light gray bars of paint on the neck don't look as bad in hand as some early photos, but I guess I could have done without them.


I wasn't sure at first, but I think this is going to replace my Carnegie Collection Diplodocus. The latter is a beautiful sculpture, but the EoFauna is also beautiful while also being considerably more up to date, and I'm pretty hard-nosed when it comes to the one-per-species [genus] rule.


The tail is crazy long.


Taking its place among some of my other sauropods. Forgive the flash, this room has terrible lighting.


Bulls-i-Toy Massospondylus (But the package says "bullsitoy," which, is that really what you want to go with?)
Scale: 1:50 - 1:60
Lower Jurassic of Gondwana
And now for an oddity. I stumbled across a plastic egg at Target, promising miniature dinosaurs ("Over 100 to collect!"). Curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up with this, among others. Keen eyes might recognize it as the mold from the old Play Visions Plateosaurus. I don't know if it's fair to call it a knockoff, as PV has long been out of the miniature animals game, and whoever made this might well have legal rights to the mold or a derivative of the mold. I'm not above keeping toys made from reused molds as placeholders, but this is probably a bit too small to hang on to. But I'd be glad to see any respectable company make some bipedal sauropod relatives like Anchisaurus or Massospondylus.


Shades of DeAgostini or Diramix (which I'm not actually convinced are separate entities). I bought a second egg hoping to get that Secernosaurus, based on the old Panini Camptosaurus, and I was successful, but it's much too small for my collection.


Aligned roughly with the images from the flyer. These are...not great. From left to right, I think their inspirations are:
Daspletosaurus = Panini Tyrannosaurus
Velociraptor widespread dime store toy
Abelisaurus = Panini Iguanodon (!)
Iguanodon = Play Visions Psittacosaurus
Corythosaurus = Play Visions
Secernosaurus = Panini Camptosaurus
Stegosaurus = Play Visions
Massospondylus = Play Visions Plateosaurus
I didn't happen to get one, but I think the "Megalania" in the flyer is modeled on the Panini Cynognathus, which is another genus I wish somebody would make a good toy of. Anyway, interesting to see the adoption in the US of the Italian marketing strategy of "blind-packed rubber crap." This same company also has a larger series of ugly rubber dinosaurs, some of which are obviously the same mold as actual Diramix figures.


Here with the Safari Dilophosaurus in case you don't have any of the foregoing. The little rubber guy could be a small Sarahsaurus in this image.

[Strepsodus]

I was thinking of buying the Skorpiovenator, but I settled on getting the Dsungaripterus the next time I'm in Target or Walmart, due to it being more pleasing to the accuracy side of my collection than the Skorpiovenator is.

[Concavenator]

I don't follow any of the Mattel threads, so I don't keep track of their releases, but they seem to release figures of genera many other companies would ignore. Credit where credit is due. When it comes to Skorpiovenator, DinoZoo mentioned a while back they would be releasing one. If they finally come to it, will you replace Mattel's?

The PNSO Zhuchengtyrannus is great, I would say it's their best tyrannosaurid so far. While tempting, it's not a genus that particularly deserved getting made into a figure, considering how fragmentary it is. I get it, they like releasing tyrannosaurs (I guess it's also profitable) but even so, there are others who deserve it way more.

And welcome to the club of those who are replacing the Carnegie Diplodocus with the Eofauna.  .Had they chosen Apatosaurus instead... (would have been great because the Carnegie 2016 Apato unfortunately didn't see the light of the day, plus some people wouldn't have sold their Carnegie figure). However, in this case, the upgrade is noticeable. Sure, the Carnegie is beautiful, but didn't hold up that well. Replacing the Carnegie 2012 Brachiosaurus is probably a more difficult task, that one holds up much better.

[Duna]

Very nice adquisitions! I'm thinking about getting the Olorotitan, but probably yes because of Prehistoric Planet.

About the Carnegie diplodocus, I've done just the opposite: I've bought the Eofauna 2 weeks ago and later, the Carnegie diplodocus before it becames rarer and more expensive (it's quite expensive now already). Although I only collect one figure per genus or species, I also collect very good or remarkable outdated and vintage figures so as to have an evolutive comparison in accuracy. And the latest Carnegies truly deserve that place.

[Gwangi]

I absolutely have to get the EoFauna Diplodocus at some point but there's no way I'm parting with my Carnegie, or the older Carnegie, or the Invicta, or the Kabaya. You can see why I can't be a one-per-genus collector. But like Duna, I also collect vintage and outdated figures.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I would have come to comment on your last post on time but I haven't logged into this site since it signed me out when the newer unfriendly site design appeared, but I felt I had to come and post on at least a few places.

Congrats on the lovely Eofauna Diplodocus, it is gorgeous.
Regarding the people who can't part with it, I would have made an exception for this like I did with the Carnegie Miragaia, if not for the fact that the Carnegie Diplodocus takes up so much space. So it has to go.

Were it not for the fact I am patient enough to wait for the Beasts of the Mesozoic figure I've already paid for, I might have considered the Moros myself, but I will on this occasion just wait.
Mattel do have some interesting Abelisaurids though, you know, they may have more Abelisauridae figures than anyone else at this point. Most companies just do the famous one, and maybe take Majungasaurus or Rajasaurus if they want a second.

Nice PNSO figures too, having those 4 myself again I know they are all gorgeous. I have been wondering about the 2 Styracosaurus myself though.

I like Talarurus quite a lot ever since I saw a lovely artwork of how chunky it is, and I'm glad someone made one, shame it isn't a nice figure though.

[Concavenator]

About the Carnegie diplodocus, I've done just the opposite: I've bought the Eofauna 2 weeks ago and later, the Carnegie diplodocus before it becames rarer and more expensive (it's quite expensive now already).

Wow Duna, you sure were lucky finding the Carnegie Diplodocus. Congrats! Is it me or are Carnegies even harder to come across than Battats nowadays? From time to time I scroll through ebay searching for Battats, and I would say I find them more often than not, whereas I feel like the newest Carnegie figures are harder to find, or are sold at higher prices (compared to Battat on ebay). But as I said I'm not really into vintage collecting so my view is probably wrong.