The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Halichoeres]

Finally deleted or replaced all the photobucket pictures in this thread, except the few that are quoted in people's replies. Not much I can do about those!

[Halichoeres]

Some new stem-birds:


PNSO Microraptor
Scale: 1:8
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang (I think)
Released: 2017
Nice little glossy dromaeosaurid. It does a pretty good job of mimicking iridescence with some well-placed highlights. I thought it might be a little smaller, more like their Confuciusornis. It's significantly larger than the Colorata version that it replaced.


DinoStar Tupandactylus (but still called Tapejara)
Scale: about 1:14 based on the head
Released: 2017
This is a hulking brute of a pterosaur. It was a hard choice between this and the Safari version. The Safari has pycnofibres, but the arm anatomy is wrong. This one has the elongated metacarpals and the pteroid bone, so it won. The nakedness does bother me a little bit, though. On a small figure, you can defensibly say the pelage is too short to be visible, but on something this large that's not a plausible excuse.


In a tussle with other southern pterosaurs.


PNSO Sinosauropteryx
Scale: 1:12-1:13
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2017
The pose is a little strange, rather like the position it died in. But it could also be some sort of lek strut, or maybe it's chasing a caddisfly. Replaced the Kaiyodo version on the strength of its coloration, which is true to the evidence from pigment remnants.


With some of its feathered buddies.


Bandai Kaiyodo Rhamphorhynchus (Retro Classic)
Scale: 1:12-1:14
Sculptor: Kazunari Araki
Released: 2006?
I thought that these were made by Kaiyodo, but Joe DeMarco's Dinosauriana says they were made by Bandai. They're stamped underneath, with what I thought was the brand name, but it turns out they just say "prototype production: Kazunari Araki" in Japanese. [Edit: these are in fact by Kaiyodo, which we ascertained with the help of some package photos from UK. See discussion below.]


In two colors.


I really like these, despite their being outdated in what I think are fairly minor ways. Tiny elegant pterosaurs are some of my favorite things and I wish more companies would make them.


PNSO Mamenchisaurus
Scale: 1:30
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2017
The scale estimate is based on M. constructus or M. youngi, which are smaller but well-known. Other species assigned to Mamenchisaurus were much larger. But I think PNSO meant it as one of those smaller species in any event, which means they are, like most other companies, making their figures in a larger scale than what they claim. This replaced the Invicta and Safari "Dinosaurs of China" versions, which I previously couldn't decide between.


PNSO Huayangosaurus
Scale: 1:35-1:40
Sculptor: Zhao Chuang
Released: 2017
I bought the China Post set for the Sinosauropteryx and Microraptor, and I didn't expect to like this one so much. These are just a little bit bigger than the minis in last year's set of 24, so this one turned out to be just a little bigger than 1:40. Between that and the fairly impressive level of detail, it ended up replacing the Kaiyodo version on my shelf.

[SBell]

Bandai Rhamphorhynchus
Scale: 1:12-1:14
Sculptor: Kazunari Araki
Released: 2006?
I thought that these were made by Kaiyodo, but Joe DeMarco's Dinosauriana says they were made by Bandai. They're stamped underneath, with what I thought was the brand name, but it turns out they just say "prototype production: Kazunari Araki" in Japanese.


In two colors.

That's crazy! I've never seen them listed as anything other than Kaiyodo Rerto Classic dinosaurs...I have several, but no documents to go with them.

Looking around now, it appears that they are really just the Retro-Classic Dinosaur Collection. Maybe the use of bottlecaps, at the time, was just sucha Kaiyodo thing?

[Halichoeres]

That's crazy! I've never seen them listed as anything other than Kaiyodo Rerto Classic dinosaurs...I have several, but no documents to go with them.

Looking around now, it appears that they are really just the Retro-Classic Dinosaur Collection. Maybe the use of bottlecaps, at the time, was just sucha Kaiyodo thing?

I was surprised too. Mind you, I can't find any independent corroboration. On the one hand, DeMarco usually gets that stuff right. On the other hand, these are much nicer than the other prehistorics that Bandai has put out.

[SBell]

That's crazy! I've never seen them listed as anything other than Kaiyodo Rerto Classic dinosaurs...I have several, but no documents to go with them.

Looking around now, it appears that they are really just the Retro-Classic Dinosaur Collection. Maybe the use of bottlecaps, at the time, was just sucha Kaiyodo thing?

I was surprised too. Mind you, I can't find any independent corroboration. On the one hand, DeMarco usually gets that stuff right. On the other hand, these are much nicer than the other prehistorics that Bandai has put out.

If they are anything like every other bottlecap collection, I would expect that they had either details on the packaging, or info slips of some kind included.

But I've never seen either. Someone here must have one or the other. It would be really strange to have no papers with the figures in the series, regardless of being Bandai, Kaiyodo, or any of the other usual suspects (Yujin, Kabaya, Furuta, Tomy/Takara Tomy, etc).

[UK]

Not sure this solves anything

[Halichoeres]

Not sure this solves anything

Thanks! It might solve it if I could actually read Japanese. As it is, if I get a good, head-on shot of some Japanese text, I can use my phone to translate it, since the app can translate from a photo. In fact, the way I translated the (embossed, not printed, thus more or less invisible to the camera) text on the underside of the figures was by hand-copying the characters in ink and then taking a photo of the result. But the packaging in this photo is a bit too angled, rumpled, glossy, or otherwise out of focus for the app to work its magic. There is an awful lot of text on those wrappers though; I am sure that somewhere in there is buried the manufacturer's name.

In case you have any more wrappers lying around, Bandai should look like: バンダイ  or 株式会社バンダイ

and Kaiyodo should look like 海洋堂

[SBell]

Not sure this solves anything

Thanks! It might solve it if I could actually read Japanese. As it is, if I get a good, head-on shot of some Japanese text, I can use my phone to translate it, since the app can translate from a photo. In fact, the way I translated the (embossed, not printed, thus more or less invisible to the camera) text on the underside of the figures was by hand-copying the characters in ink and then taking a photo of the result. But the packaging in this photo is a bit too angled, rumpled, glossy, or otherwise out of focus for the app to work its magic. There is an awful lot of text on those wrappers though; I am sure that somewhere in there is buried the manufacturer's name.

In case you have any more wrappers lying around, Bandai should look like: バンダイ  or 株式会社バンダイ

and Kaiyodo should look like 海洋堂

Agreed--the wrappers should certainly have the info we need--but we will need them flattened and not shiny...like a photo under a glass plate (watch the camera flash). Even if we can spot a logo, that would answer it (Bandai's is especailly easy to recognize).

[UK]

Here we go...

[Halichoeres]

Here we go...

Well, that settles it. The bottom left corner definitely says Kaiyodo. This must just be one of those instances where Dinosauriana got it wrong.

The boxed text is pretty funny and has a safety warning about not giving these to small children, addressed to "guardians without stupidity."

Thanks for the photos!

[Digibasherx]

DinoStar Tupandactylus (but still called Tapejara)
Scale: about 1:14 based on the head
Released: 2017
This is a hulking brute of a pterosaur. It was a hard choice between this and the Safari version. The Safari has pycnofibres, but the arm anatomy is wrong. This one has the elongated metacarpals and the pteroid bone, so it won. The nakedness does bother me a little bit, though. On a small figure, you can defensibly say the pelage is too short to be visible, but on something this large that's not a plausible excuse.

I wonder what some proper flocking with the stuff for grass/turf would look like.

[SBell]

Here we go...

Well, that settles it. The bottom left corner definitely says Kaiyodo. This must just be one of those instances where Dinosauriana got it wrong.

The boxed text is pretty funny and has a safety warning about not giving these to small children, addressed to "guardians without stupidity."

Thanks for the photos!

That's some excellent sleuthing! Nice to see 99.9% of us had assumed right all this time...it especially makes sense since the bottlecap style is very Kaiyodo!

Thanks UK!

[Halichoeres]

DinoStar Tupandactylus (but still called Tapejara)
Scale: about 1:14 based on the head
Released: 2017
This is a hulking brute of a pterosaur. It was a hard choice between this and the Safari version. The Safari has pycnofibres, but the arm anatomy is wrong. This one has the elongated metacarpals and the pteroid bone, so it won. The nakedness does bother me a little bit, though. On a small figure, you can defensibly say the pelage is too short to be visible, but on something this large that's not a plausible excuse.

I wonder what some proper flocking with the stuff for grass/turf would look like.

That's an interesting idea. I imagine it would make the figure cost quite a bit more, and get dirty very easily. But it would probably look pretty cool.

[tyrantqueen]

Oooh I love those retro bottlecaps. I need to go to Yahoo! Auctions Japan and find some...

[Halichoeres]

Oooh I love those retro bottlecaps. I need to go to Yahoo! Auctions Japan and find some...

Happy hunting! It took me a good long while to find these.

[Halichoeres]

Slow going lately, but I'm sure things will pick up when the rest of the 2018 Safaris are revealed. Meanwhile, a few Paleozoic creatures I've managed to scare up recently:


Kaiyodo Ceraurinella typa (National Museum of Nature & Science Study Room)
Scale: 1.5× life size
Sculptor: Katsuo Takuma
Released: 2004
The last Kaiyodo figure from my wish list, unless they ever get back to making prehistoric things. The last one they made was the Sofubi Triceratops, right? This is also one of the very few Ordovician animals in figure form, so I'm very happy to have it on my shelf.


Diramix Poraspis (Mega Squali)
Scale: 2× life size
Released: 2017
Not quite up to the same standards. Still, this is one of the nicer Diramix figures I've seen. It's large, squishy, stretchy, and full of apparently liquid-filled beads. It's cartoony but actually impressively accurate. Maybe I'll do a review for the blog at some point. Represents not only a neglected group (the Heterostraci), but also an underrepresented period: the Silurian (and early Devonian, too).


With Yowie Kettneraspis for scale.


Diramix Pituriaspis (Mega Squali)
Scale: 1:1
Released: 2017
A bizarre middle Devonian fish from Australia named after a hallucinogenic plant. This one is also reasonably accurate, though cartoony. I love having these crazy new fish for my collection, but I'll admit that Diramix wouldn't have been my first choice to make them. These two are quite large, in the neighborhood of 10 cm long.

[Halichoeres]

Some new Cretaceous dinosaurs! Let's get the dross out of the way first.


I happened across this awful little dinosaur and was surprised to observe Yaverlandia inscribed on the belly. Yaverlandia was initially described as a pachycephalosaur, which would've been odd since it's 1) from western Eurasia and 2) from the Lower Cretaceous. The extremely fragmentary specimen (most of a frontal and some attached slivers of other bones) has since been re-examined and might instead represent a maniraptoran. So this toy managed to be prescient, although I'm sure it was entirely accidental, and anyway it ought to have feathers if they're going to make it a theropod. Probably about 1:10.


They're both saying, "He's YOUR kid!"


Making a triumphant return is the Toyway Polacanthus (Walking with Dinosaurs). I bought the Papo because it had lots of texturing and was in a nice lively pose, but then when I reviewed it for the blog I started to really dislike it. There's just so much wrong with it that this one got right two decades earlier, although of course this one has its flaws too. So it's back on my 1:20 shelf and the Papo is gone.


Safari Anzu wyliei
Scale: 1:25
Released: 2018 (officially)
One of the larger oviraptorosaurs, and known from a complete skull! With the demise of the Carnegie Collection, the Safari line lacked one, and I'm glad to see a new taxon rather than yet another O. philoceratops (based on, as Sim has pointed out in this thread, a specimen that currently lacks a name).


Safari Regaliceratops peterhewsi
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Scale: 1:25
Released: 2018 (officially)
This was a tough choice because I think the CollectA version is also really nice, and it's about 1:40, which I usually prefer. This one has a more natural arm posture and doesn't have the tail bristles, so it wins.


All roughly to scale, even if only some are in focus.


Safari Triceratops horridus
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Scale: 1:35
Released: 2018 (officially)
This is the Triceratops I've been wanting. I almost went for the PNSO version but I prefer this one and it's obviously much cheaper (besides which the PNSO comes with a base that doesn't really add anything to the presentation but adds plenty to the price). I would pay twice as much for my Safari figures if they came with subtler, more careful paint applications, but then I know I'm not their primary audience. Supplanted Greg Wenzel's beautiful Triceratops for the Battat line, which had a solid 20-year reign as the finest mass market toy version. But we've learned so much about Triceratops since then, and I run a ruthless collection, so here we are.


Safari Ankylosaurus magniventris
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Scale: 1:35
Released: 2018 (officially)
Weird lateral nostrils? Check. Signature tanklike ankylosaur badonkadonk? Check. Cranial pavement correctly arranged? Check. Some of the paint seems to have been aimed a little badly on my copy, but other than that it's pretty perfect. Replaces the Favorite Series 2 Ankylosaurus, which is a gorgeous sculpt but has several anatomical flaws.


Some Hell Creek giants. I sure wouldn't turn my nose up at a bigger Edmontosaurus with better hands and other improvements.

[bmathison1972]

So happy to see you adding to this thread again...

[sauroid]

hey cool addition to your nice thread Halichoeres.

[ceratopsian]

Some excellent catches.  It's a wonder to me that any firm will make Silurian/Devonian fishes!  I loved your "He's YOUR kid" photo - it made me smile on a grim snowy morning.

As for the issue with the Safari paint applications, couldn't agree more.  Lovely sculpts a bit disguised by their mass market production.  I'm seriously considering sending a couple to Martin to paint properly when the next batch is available.  I was thrilled by his work for me on the Battat Pachyrhinosaurus and impressed by the Anzu that our own Paintingdinos repainted and showed recently.  A different paint job can work wonders.

I envy your ability to be ruthless!  I want the new Safari Triceratops but that doesn't stop me lusting desperately after an old Battat as well.