Australian Age of Dinosaurs from Minizoo

[postsaurischian]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

[RobinGoodfellow]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

I'm happy for you.
Mine didn't arrive yet....

[empire3569]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

Any pictures??

[RobinGoodfellow]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

Any pictures??

http://dinotoyblog.com/2016/02/25/australovenator-australian-age-of-dinosaurs-and-minizoo/

[Bucklander]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

I recently spoke with the young lady who is managing this line, whose idea it was/is (though not the artist/sculptor). I'm afraid I can't recall her name off the top of my head, but she told me the next in this series will be Diamantinasaurus, Muttaburrasaurus and Minmi. Series 2 will commence with a larger Australovenator with articulated lower jaw. When I asked her if there was any hope of a Leallynasaura, she indicated that there is, she's really keen to promote all of Australia's dinos. But I guess it all depends on how well these initial figures sell. At the end of the day, the purpose for these figures is to raise awareness of, and $$$ for the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

[postsaurischian]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

Any pictures??

                         

I recently spoke with the young lady who is managing this line, whose idea it was/is (though not the artist/sculptor). I'm afraid I can't recall her name off the top of my head, but she told me the next in this series will be Diamantinasaurus, Muttaburrasaurus and Minmi.

I was hoping for these. Great news! Can't wait for the next release in this line.
      I'm afraid the Diamantinasaurus won't be in 1:24 (but would be happy to be wrong).

At the end of the day, the purpose for these figures is to raise awareness of, and $$$ for the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

     I might have to get another one then .

[tyrantqueen]

Ordered my copy today. Paid nearly as much for the shipping as the figure itself.

I'll be interested in seeing where this line goes

[DinoLord]

I wonder how long Banjo will be in production? If he still is when the other figures are available then that would be much more economical for shipping costs.

[postsaurischian]

MiniZoo should have it in stock soon.
They accept Paypal and offer reasonable shipping costs.

I do not use a credit card. I could only order from the AAoD museum, because my best friend (who lives in Queensland) got the Australovenator for me and sent it to Germany, which reduced the shipping costs a bit.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

A larger Diamantinasaurus would be pretty awesome..

[Halichoeres]

My 'Banjo' figure has also just arrived.
It's a splendid sculpt , a very well done theropod figure with wonderfully detailed skin an osteoderm structures. It stands perfectly on its two legs in a dynamic pose.
The paintjob needs a bit of an update, but still ... I'm impressed .
What a starter! I really hope this series will continue.

I recently spoke with the young lady who is managing this line, whose idea it was/is (though not the artist/sculptor). I'm afraid I can't recall her name off the top of my head, but she told me the next in this series will be Diamantinasaurus, Muttaburrasaurus and Minmi. Series 2 will commence with a larger Australovenator with articulated lower jaw. When I asked her if there was any hope of a Leallynasaura, she indicated that there is, she's really keen to promote all of Australia's dinos. But I guess it all depends on how well these initial figures sell. At the end of the day, the purpose for these figures is to raise awareness of, and $$$ for the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

That's excellent news!

[Sim]

I still think what Australian Age of Dinosaurs is doing with this line (making great figures of their nation's prehistoric animals) is really great, and I wish them success!

Personally, my interest in this line has decreased.  Since all megaraptorans are only known from fragmentary remains, reconstructions of them have to be very speculative.  There's not a large amount of Australian dinos though and most of them are known only from very incomplete remains, so Australovenator is an excellent choice for this line.  I think it's great AAOD are making a figure line of their nation's dinosaurs, I wish there were more lines like this from other parts of the world.

That said, each time significant new megaraptoran fossils have been found, restorations of these dinosaurs tend to be shown to be quite wrong.  Just look at Megaraptor that started off being depicted as a giant dromaeosaur, then a spinosaur, then an allosauroid and now it seems there's disagreement over whether it's an allosauroid or a tyrannosauroid?  After that partial Megaraptor skull was found, is it still realistic to consider it an allosauroid?  If so, then even if Megaraptor turns out to be an allosauroid, all allosauroid versions of it that don't incorporate the Megaraptor skull are still wrong.  This brings me to one reason why I'm less interested in this line.  The continuous extreme changes in the depictions of megaraptorans has really made me see how much of megaraptoran reconstructions is invented.  This Australovenator figure is very nice, but besides the lower jaw, the head is made-up.  I'm not keen on figures that are mostly fantasy, add to this that this Australovenator represents it as an allosauroid (head shape, no feathers), and that I've found megaraptorans being tyrannosauroids more convincing than them being allosauroids...  This Australovenator on its own isn't enough to get me to want to collect figures from this line.  This is just how I personally feel, I'm not criticising AAOD as they can only do their best with what is available.

There needs to be a figure I really like for me to want to buy figures from this line.  From what's been revealed so far, the Minmi is the only thing I think has a chance of getting me to spend money on this line.  I'm also less interested in this line now after seeing that after the nice line-up for series 1, series 2 is going to start with... another Australovenator.  I'm both surprised and disappointed that is planned before a Kronosaurus.  A Kronosaurus would make it very likely I'd want to collect this line....  Thanks Bucklander for the info, even if there was no mention of a Kronosaurus!

That's just how I feel about this.  Anyway, I noticed the AAOD website has updated their Australian dinosaurs section: http://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/page/28/australian-age-of-dinosaurs-|-australian-dinosaurs  Given how similar the Australovenator there is to the figure, I wonder if the upcoming figures will look similar to the reconstructions on the website?

[postsaurischian]

  That's too bad for you.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006190)
I believe in the allosaurid theory and it's a wonderfully sculpted figure, I'm happy with it .

BTW.: We have the majority of skull and partial skeleton (enough to classify the animal) of Muttaburrasaurus. It could also be interesting for you.

I noticed the AAOD website has updated their Australian dinosaurs section: http://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/page/28/australian-age-of-dinosaurs-|-australian-dinosaurs  Given how similar the Australovenator there is to the figure, I wonder if the upcoming figures will look similar to the reconstructions on the website?

I hope they will. Thanks for the link. I like these somehow new interpretations (and the colours, too).

[Bucklander]

I still think what Australian Age of Dinosaurs is doing with this line (making great figures of their nation's prehistoric animals) is really great, and I wish them success!

(Most of quote extracted for sake of brevity. Please see entire post, above. EB)

That's just how I feel about this.  Anyway, I noticed the AAOD website has updated their Australian dinosaurs section: http://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/page/28/australian-age-of-dinosaurs-|-australian-dinosaurs  Given how similar the Australovenator there is to the figure, I wonder if the upcoming figures will look similar to the reconstructions on the website?

I must say, I always very much enjoy reading your posts Sim, you certainly take the subject very seriously. I'm currently making a documentary about collecting dinosaur and other prehistoric animal figures, and I say, very early on, how wonderful it was, for me, to discover the community of collectors here on this forum. So many devoted, serious students of life's history. It's great to know there are like minded souls all across this magnificent globe!

I can't disagree with anything you've said. Nor do I have any desire to change your point of view. It is certainly as valid as mine. But I guess I differ on one point. Although I value scientific accuracy over everything else in figures, and although, when it comes to companies like Collecta and Safari, making, as they do, figures of genera from all over the world, I would far prefer them to focus on well known but under represented genera, I quite like series of outdated or obsolete interpretations of genera. For example, I was lucky enough to pick up (from Dejankin's - thanks so much Dean!) when they were still available, the oldies desktop Iguanodons (both 1850s and 1950s) and they look great together. I've recently bought the current destop Iguanodon but it hasn't arrived yet. I can't wait to see it as the third in a series that clearly depict increasing understanding of Iguanodon through time.

My daughter and I frequently discuss my collection, but she is only interested in what we know about extinct (and extant) life forms. She doesn't understand why I'm fascinated with the history, not just of life, but of our understanding of life's history. I see it like this. There are 3 overlying stories. The first is the story of life. The second is the story of our discoveries of that story; Hutton, Cuvier, Buckland, Mantell, Lyell, Murchison, Darwin, Huxley, Cope, Marsh, Osborne, Brown, Andrews, Ostrom, et al. and all of the wrong turns as well as the right ones taken by all these minds. Understanding error (or at least incompleteness) gives context (and therefore depth) to eventual discoveries of truth. The third is for we collectors. The history of dinosaur (and other prehistoric animal) figure manufacture and collecting. What companies existed first and what figures they produced, in what years. 

For me, if a figure is well made (not just a monster) it only irks me if it's manufacture comes at the cost of not making, in figure form, a better known genus. That being said, given that there are so few dinosaur remains from Australia, the choices are somewhat limited, and Australovenator is probably the best genus to start with. I've no doubt, if you're correct about it being a Tyrannosauroid, in time, as the requisite discoveries are made, they will be incorporated into newer, better figures. And this brings me to another point.

It may be that sales of these figures, generate the funding necessary, for future finds to occur. So there's a bit of a feed back loop thing here. Sales of the figure in its current interpretation, may lead to it's obsolescence and eventual reinterpretation.

I should stress, the implication, seemed to me, not that series 1 would be complete with the release of the first four figures. Naomi seemed very excited about the line and eager to represent ALL Australian dinosaurs (and I think we should understand that word in the vernacular rather than scientific sense, ie. to include pterosaurs, pliosaurs etc.) so there may indeed be hope for a Kronosaurus yet. And a Leallynasaura (though personally, what I'd most like to see, would be a Diprotodon and/or Procoptodon, although a set of figures based on Ediacaran fossils would be most welcome indeed!). I get the impression that series 2 is a separate line, perhaps intended for a different audience.

I think it's important to remember that most Australians have never heard of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, and would be very surprised to learn that any dinosaurs have been discovered here at all (we Australians are not well known for our knowledge of anything that doesn't come out of a beer can or from a football field!) Hopefully this situation will, in time change. I believe this line may even have a role to play in that change. Perhaps, eventually, museums (like the British Nat. Hist. have already done, though for prices beyond my budget) will sell replicas of partial fossil remains. This would satisfy all of us who are uncomfortable about tenuous interpretations, while at the same time increasing awareness of new finds - especially when such finds are bizarre or otherwise important.

BTW the name of the artist is Travis Tishler, and I suspect he's using software to generate the figures from the same data used for the larger sculptures - the resemblance is too strong to believe otherwise.

[ceratopsian]

Ordered my copy today. Paid nearly as much for the shipping as the figure itself.

I'll be interested in seeing where this line goes

I too have ordered a model.  I'm probably more interested in Minmi and Muttaburrasaurus, not to mention Leaellynasaura - but I like this current model and if we want to see more models, supporting the line in its early stages is a good move.

[RobinGoodfellow]

..finally....   



More pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140542@N03/albums/72157665292771771

[Patrx]

I'm impressed by the Australovenator in some ways. The details look good and it seems to balance well on accurately-proportioned feet. But for the most part, I agree with Sim. There's just not enough information about this taxon to do a proper reconstruction, and in this case (based on the choice of integument), they've decided it's a eusuchian in the shape of a theropod 

I look forward to seeing the Minmi, though. And certainly a Leaellynasaura, if they do it properly. As far as I know, there aren't good figures of either of those available.

[empire3569]

Just got my order in! The pictures posted by other members looked nicer than the stock photo, and I think supporting AAOD museum is a good cause, so I went for it. I have also been itching to make a diorama as of recent, so this line might be just the ticket. Does anyone know when the next model in the series is set to release, or at least be announced?

[DinoLord]

Very eloquently put Bucklander. Accuracy is an important consideration when buying a figure, but for me they aren't the end all be all - the nature of paleontology simply means that there will be (sometimes larges) amounts of speculation involved. If paleoartists didn't speculate they would be quite limited in the types of reproductions they could produce, and if we as collectors completely eschew speculation we miss out on a lot of great figures to be collected (especially in the case of figures like this one, that aren't too expensive or big). However in the case of a large, very pricey (or commissioned) resin kit or sculpture that requires a lot of financial and space investment, I am more inclined towards Sim's line of thought and would be less willing to go for a very speculative piece.

[postsaurischian]

This is exactly how I think about this, Dinolord. I would never buy the Sideshow Spinosaurus, but in this case .......
I'm sure I'm going to die before all these species I'm loving are fully described.
But I want to collect Dinosaur figures now, in this life!