David Silvas New Kickstarter: Articulated Dinosaur TOYS

[Victoria's Cantina]

That's a Kickstarter thing. It's not anything David can control. PayPal is indeed widely used, but it seems to be mostly with somewhat smaller companies and people sending money to each other. Amazon, Walmart, and Target don't even use it.

Actually Amazon does use Paypal. I don't have a credit card, but I've made plenty of Amazon purchases through my Paypal account.
If I still need a credit card for these pre-orders consider me disappointed as well. I want to get these figures while they're most affordable!

Really? How do you do that? I know you can get an Amazon gift card using your PayPal account, but I wasn't aware you could actually use it the way you would Ebay or Toys R Us.

[Roselaar]

That's a Kickstarter thing. It's not anything David can control. PayPal is indeed widely used, but it seems to be mostly with somewhat smaller companies and people sending money to each other. Amazon, Walmart, and Target don't even use it.

Actually Amazon does use Paypal. I don't have a credit card, but I've made plenty of Amazon purchases through my Paypal account.
If I still need a credit card for these pre-orders consider me disappointed as well. I want to get these figures while they're most affordable!

Really? How do you do that?

Would also like to know... If I knew how to use PayPal for Amazon, I would have started to plunder it long ago.

[Sim]

It only adds a few dollars for each individual piece, so assuming there's no import taxes (which there shouldn't be, since this doesn't compete with any Canadian retail) the shipping as definitely a good deal.

Oh, you're right.  I hadn't realised a few dollars are added for shipping for each piece if one is outside the US, since I made my payment by pledging on the Kickstarter.  On the Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativebeast/beasts-of-the-mesozoic-raptor-series-action-figure/description), the international prices for the stretch goal figures include the add-on shipping cost and it said, "no additional shipping is required when adding to a raptor figure pledge tier".  I had a look at the Backerkit survey for the first time last night, and there the add-on shipping cost is shown separate from the figure's price (like on the pre-order store) so at first I thought it was asking for more than what it said on the Kickstarter!  Then I compared the prices with those on the Kickstarter and saw they were the same, just presented differently.

[Dobber]

Mostly finished Zhenyaunlong



Chris

[Nanuqsaurus]

I had high hopes for Zhenyuanlong, but so far it's the most disappointing to me. I love the large wings in the concept art, but they're much smaller on the actual model. The head is a little derpy. But it's still a much better raptor than most available figures!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Still has some detail to add..I wonder about how the final factory painted pieces will compare?

[Dobber]

I had high hopes for Zhenyuanlong, but so far it's the most disappointing to me. I love the large wings in the concept art, but they're much smaller on the actual model. The head is a little derpy. But it's still a much better raptor than most available figures!

I'm kind of in the same boat with this one. It was the one I was most excited for but now am slightly disappointed with this one. The head just seems so robust....reminds me of Atrociraptor...which is also one of my least favorite figures of the series. While the wings and tail don't seem as full as I was expecting. The original silhouette tail seemed almost Rooster like, and I loved that. That being said neither are horrible by a long shot....I was just hoping for more with Zhenyaunlong.

Chris

[Silvanusaurus]

Yeah, looks like the final nail in the coffin of ol' Zhenyuanlong for me. Without the uniqueness of being extra feathery and bird-ish it doesn't really seem to stand out any more. Personally I don't really care for the icy colouration either, it would be lovely with some deep, regal, perhaps irridiscent feathers.

[Nanuqsaurus]

Yeah, looks like the final nail in the coffin of ol' Zhenyuanlong for me. Without the uniqueness of being extra feathery and bird-ish it doesn't really seem to stand out any more. Personally I don't really care for the icy colouration either, it would be lovely with some deep, regal, perhaps irridiscent feathers.

The contrast between the colors of the feathers and the bright orange beak is really distracting. The orange makes the head look bigger and gives it a more cartoony vibe.

[Shadowknight1]

I had high hopes for Zhenyuanlong, but so far it's the most disappointing to me. I love the large wings in the concept art, but they're much smaller on the actual model. The head is a little derpy. But it's still a much better raptor than most available figures!

David said in an update that Zhen was going to end up having the same wings as Balaur because he felt that any bigger would hinder articulation, so I don't get why this seems to be "news" to people.  Just like there was no way he was going to have big feathers on the upper arm like in Jonathan's artwork.  It also has a fluffy head and a fluffy neck.  And as for the orange beak, that is keeping true to the inspiration.

Personally, I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, especially that tail.  If I were to change anything, and I've already suggested as such to David on Facebook, I would change the color of the eye to be more in the black spectrum like in Jonathan's lovely artwork.  As it is, that yellow eye just pops a little TOO much.  And I'd have the pupil facing towards the front of the snout, but that's just personal preference.

[Flaffy]

Disappointed with the zhenyuanlong... I loved the original concept art, adored the package art, but the figure... It feels rushed and incomplete. I would've loved it if it's feathers were more poofy/fluffy, and for the colour scheme, I expected a deep and solid colour scheme with deep purple feathers transitioning to lighter purples. I'm not fond of the cold look to it. And what's with that random tuff of white on its head? The tail is very disappointing as red billed blue magpies have VERY beautiful stripped tail feathers, David could've used more on this aspect. Also, The wings look a tad bit awkward...
I can now very easily choose another raptor.

[Sim]

Guys, dromaeosaurids don't have beaks!  There was a discussion about this on page 27 of this thread (starting in Reply #520  and ending in Reply #526).

Although, while we're on that topic... What bothers me quite a bit in this series is how on some of the figures the snout gets noticeably darker at the front, which seems to be inspired by the beaks of some birds.  I find this doesn't translate well to beakless dromaeosaurids and it makes them look a lot like they have a beak or a mammal nose.  The figures I find this is very noticeable in are the Tsaagan and Velociraptor osmolskae (blue one), and in some photos of it, the original Dromaeosaurus (brown one).  I think it's possible to have the snout get darker at the front in a way that doesn't make these animals look like they have a beak or a mammal nose, which I think is achieved in some of the figures, including the original Dromaeosaurus in some photos.

I've found it hard to tell how the darker colouration on the original Dromaeosaurus's snout actually looks like.  In some photos it looks like the same colouration runs all the way down its snout and it looks great! E.g.: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CoNxHicWIAAKNM3.jpg:large
In other photos it looks like it abruptly becomes much darker right at the start of the upper jaw which gives it a beak/mammal-nose look that spoils the figure for me.
Example 1: https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/162/796/00d8ed5f0e2e960b7a740069ed8fd656_original.JPG?w=639&fit=max&v=1469415137&auto=format&q=92&s=6f353f7969bb0598bed715bfdad7712f
Example 2: https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/162/803/79a5ff26b58d924ba589470594c404bd_original.JPG?w=639&fit=max&v=1469415182&auto=format&q=92&s=eac9ada0ff44c09f459f66022af33bb5
In the comments on the Kickstarter update, I asked David for confirmation on what the colouration of the Dromaeosaurus's snout actually looks like since it's one I've been (really) wanting to get.  David replied that he'll include some more pics of Dromaeosaurus in the next update.  A new photo of it he posted on Facebook has been helpful to get a better idea of how its snout looks and I'm hopeful there's a good chance it has a look I like.

Yeah, looks like the final nail in the coffin of ol' Zhenyuanlong for me. Without the uniqueness of being extra feathery and bird-ish it doesn't really seem to stand out any more.

I actually find the Zhenyuanlong's bare lips extending back past the snout feathers makes it look extra bird-ish.  It definitely looks much more bird-ish than it did in the concept art!

Just like there was no way he was going to have big feathers on the upper arm like in Jonathan's artwork.

Wouldn't the Zhenyuanlong figure have been inaccurate if it had those big feathers on the upper arm?  It was mentioned earlier in this thread the Zhenyuanlong fossil shows it didn't have such large feathers on the upper arm, in Reply #499: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3573.msg138772#msg138772

And I'd have the pupil facing towards the front of the snout, but that's just personal preference.

In dinosaurs, the pupil would be held in the center at all times by the sclerotic ring with only a little wiggle room.  How much the pupil faces towards the front of the snout would therefore be dependent on the direction the eye sockets face.

Disappointed with the zhenyuanlong... I loved the original concept art, adored the package art, but the figure... It feels rushed and incomplete.

Well, the Zhenyuanlong is incomplete in that photo.  The description for that photo on Facebook is: "Putting the final touches on the Zhenyuanlong prototype now. More pics soon!"

And what's with that random tuff of white on its head?

The bird that's the inspiration for the Zhenyuanlong's colouration has it too...: https://fryap.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/red-billed-blue-magpie-status-in-singapore/

[Flaffy]

Usually the final touches don't change the figure too much, hopefully the final touches will change my mind about Zhen, but it is highly unlikely. My bad there, didn't notice the magpie had the white tuff as well... Then let me make a new statement. I suggest maybe he can sculpt a small fluffy tuff on zhen's head and paint it white to match the magpie, to me, it looks (emphasis on "looks") like it was added on last minute, hopefully David's final touches for Zhen will clean the paint job up.
But to me, Zhen still doesn't stand out from the rest of the raptors like its package art and concept art previously did, it still looks like an atrociraptor with more feathers.

[Shadowknight1]

You know guys...voicing these grievances here aren't going to get David's attention.  If you post to the Kickstarter comments or the Facebook pages, he's more likely to try to address them.  Honestly, I think the ship has sailed on getting any sculpt changes done, and that ship has been out at sea for a while now.  I personally like the sleeker, more bird-like sculpt we have here.  I would've liked bigger wings, but I understand and respect David's reasoning for not going larger.  And I love the wide, fanned out tail we have here.

[Flaffy]

I guess you're right... Well I almost forgot about the tail sculpt, was only rambling on about the bad stuff... I really liked the tail sculpt of Zhen actually!

[stargatedalek]

I still maintain that that was largely an argument of semantics and that dromaeosaurs could reasonably be described as possessing beaks. Note I mentioned hardened skin similar to armored catfish in my initial comment before being reaffirmed that they had, well, hardened skin...

I'd meant to bring it up at the time but I think this thread slipped my mind.

[Victoria's Cantina]

I think the Zhenyuanlong looks great. I do think the eye color should be darkened though.

[Dobber]

Finished Zhenyaunlong.



The coloring looks a little better IMO, and he did change the eye color too, but honestly I think I liked the yellow eyes better as now it looks like is wearing a mask. I still wish he would've given it bigger primaries. I understand his reasoning, but seeing it all together..... Still getting it as I love these figures, just this one isn't "doing it" for me as much as I thought it would.

Chris

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I wanted a blue one, but not a total repaint of existing figure so i guess i'll make it my my last add on.   I also dropped the Atrociraptor and Tsagaan just too similar to others.

[Nanuqsaurus]

Ah, that looks better than the previous picture! There's still something weird about the head, but I just can't say what it is...