PNSO new for 2017

[Simon]

I agree completely about the ghoulishness, i think thats what turns me off it. The proportions are great, its very well sculpted, but to me it doesnt look like a healthy, natural animal. Like in this image, to me it resembles more the disturbing visage of the original Godzilla than anything. It looks like a high quality piece, dont get me wrong, i mean its definitely better than the Rebor rex, but it leans too close to that kind of stylisation for my personal taste.

I prefer to call that "Goji '55" look as "personality".  Since the accuracy is there, I see that "look" at as an "enhancement" that separates this model from the "rest of the pack".

But seriously, you can easily find photos of real predatory animals that rock that type of "evil" look, even though its all in our imagination - the animal is simply reacting to something by instinct and looking fierce as a result.  So I don't consider it to be "unnatural" at all.

[Dobber]

Ouch...the price is very steep....even for a Tyrannosaurus nut like me. 

I may have still pulled the trigger on one, BUT, for that price I would expect a very well finished piece and after the shoddy paint application on the Trike that I got makes me very hesitant. If the price was near the Trike's price I wouldn't have hesitated on buying one, but for about $115 after discount PNSO's QC leaves something to be desired. Maybe the price will drop a little like the Trikes did.

Chris

Once it pops up on the Tao Bao Chinese auction site it will probably be a bit cheaper direct from there - I checked earlier today and could not find it on Tao Bao - then I went to amazon UK and - well, I could not resist ordering it.

That's cool Simon, IIRC I think the price is already slightly lower. It now comes out to about $107. I hope the paint quality matches the pictures. Like I said, my Triceratops was pretty bad compared to their pictures. I look forward to seeing your pictures. I really want this piece.

Chris

[Silvanusaurus]

Its not the fierce expression that i dont like, its what i percieve to be the overly gnarled and sickly look of it's flesh and integument, hence the Godzilla comparison. I dont mind that people like it and i'm not criticising anyone for it, i'm just offering a point of view; that it doesnt chime with my perception of what looks natural. Thats obviously a subjective point.

[stargatedalek]

A few comments re: your critique:

No eyelids?  This is a fairly small model, I don't know how you could even see them in a sculpt this small.

Teeth:  I agree to the extent that it looks that the very front upper jaw small teeth weren't glued in properly in this particular model - they are bending backwards.  Hopefully that will be corrected in the produced models, but if not, I am fairly certain I can fix it with little to no trouble.

Tail too fluid:  Believe me, this is one thing that I would be real sensitive to, but to me, looking at the overhead photo, it does not seem like the bend is unnaturally radical - looks well within the acceptable range of motion to me.

Shrink wrapping:  Doesn't look like it to me.  Looks pretty "bad arse thick" all over. 

Over-textured:  I might agree if the scales appeared to be rendered too large, but to me they look small enough, giving a realism that is otherwise missing from most TRexes, even the recently released huge Sideshow TRex.

No feathers:  OK, here I must confess to being somewhat puzzled by the disappointment I sense in your critique - if you have to make an assumption about feathers in a TRex, it is the safe position to render a full-grown TRex without them because a. there is zero evidence for them, and b. it lived in a tropical/subtropical environment, and c. it weighed 5-7 tonnes, hence it would have been unlikely to need them for thermoregulation unlike some of the smaller and earlier Chinese Tyrannosaurids that lived in more temperate climates. Personal preference is fine of course, but really, as fine a sculpt as it is, a TRex like the recent Wild Safari version is more likely to be inaccurate in that regard than this one.

"Retro or sci-fi dinosaurs" - Are we looking at the same model?  Forgive me, but I see no basis for this swipe at this model.  I see a hyper-detailed, anatomically accurate model - where's the retro or "sci-fi" aspect?

I understand that your personal taste might run towards the currently popular Wild-Safari type feathered renderings, (as unlikely as those are based on the currently available evidence of TRex from the fossil record), and that's fine - but that doesn't make this one inaccurate or 'sci fi'.

Since I ordered one earlier today, I'll be happy to take some more photos and post them for reference (unless someone beats me to it).

As far as accurate TRexes go, my view is always "the more the merrier".  Doug Watson has created a superb feathered TRex for folks who prefer that type of reconstruction, and now PNSO has done the same - and more, detail wise - for the traditional reconstruction.

I've said it before and I'll say it again for the younger folks around here - we are living in a true "Golden Age" of dinosaur figures!

Look closely. They sit on top of the skin rather than being sunk into it.

That too, but I meant in relation to each other. If you assume most of them are placed properly than some of them are splayed to far apart.

The way it bends one direction then the other isn't realistic. Even lizards, which have far more mobile tails, can't do this via muscle alone (ignoring chameleons since they are prehensile). In order to achieve this pose an animal would need to consciously re-position the tail half way down its length using muscles that don't exist. Look at what a lizards tail does as it moves, it cant consciously move it multiple times down the length in opposite directions, it sways based on the movements of the body as a whole and if it does change direction this is because of resistance against the ground/water or because of the weight of the tails tip dipping on its own. Even monitors, who have probably the most flexible tails of all lizards can't achieve something similar to the PNSO Tyrannosaurus.

Compare to the Tyrannosaurus, which changes the bend of its tail twice. These turns aren't starting at the muscular tail base, and aren't swaying under the tails weight or as the animal moves.

Conscious movement:




"Fluid movement":





See the above image again, look at the photo of it on the box. The tail should extend from the hips and pubic boot, not just from the hips. The boot didn't exist just to sit there between the animals legs, it was an anchor point for tail musculature.

"Realism" is different from "realistic". These scales would be several inches across in full scale. Detail =/= reality.

Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages. Tyrannosaurus lived in a seasonal temperate environment, there was most likely seasonal snowfall in parts of its range. Weight has little to no affect on temperature regulation, this is a false archetype created by marine mammals use of specialized blubber as insulation.

That isn't a swipe by any means. If anything that's my go-to caveat. I buy a lot of models that are completely inaccurate because I like them as science fiction monsters.

[Flaffy]

Even highly diverged marine mammals still retain fur. There is no logical reason why t-rex would loose it's feathers reaching maturity. Although there is zero direct evidence for feathers on t-rex, doesn't mean there is no evidence at all. So far, fossil evidence shows that feathers could've been on all tyrannosaurs.

[acro-man]

I suggest we wait.

It is a common sense now that the PNSO prices fluctuate greatly during the first month and will eventually settle down at 20% lower after that.
Taobao price is now 399 CNY.
Most of our community guys are expecting it to drop to 300 CNY during Spring Festival, which is coming soon.
I will wait for Jun 1st the Children's day when it is supposedly dropped to 250 CNY then.

[spinosaurus1]

A few comments re: your critique:

No eyelids?  This is a fairly small model, I don't know how you could even see them in a sculpt this small.

Teeth:  I agree to the extent that it looks that the very front upper jaw small teeth weren't glued in properly in this particular model - they are bending backwards.  Hopefully that will be corrected in the produced models, but if not, I am fairly certain I can fix it with little to no trouble.

Tail too fluid:  Believe me, this is one thing that I would be real sensitive to, but to me, looking at the overhead photo, it does not seem like the bend is unnaturally radical - looks well within the acceptable range of motion to me.

Shrink wrapping:  Doesn't look like it to me.  Looks pretty "bad arse thick" all over. 

Over-textured:  I might agree if the scales appeared to be rendered too large, but to me they look small enough, giving a realism that is otherwise missing from most TRexes, even the recently released huge Sideshow TRex.

No feathers:  OK, here I must confess to being somewhat puzzled by the disappointment I sense in your critique - if you have to make an assumption about feathers in a TRex, it is the safe position to render a full-grown TRex without them because a. there is zero evidence for them, and b. it lived in a tropical/subtropical environment, and c. it weighed 5-7 tonnes, hence it would have been unlikely to need them for thermoregulation unlike some of the smaller and earlier Chinese Tyrannosaurids that lived in more temperate climates. Personal preference is fine of course, but really, as fine a sculpt as it is, a TRex like the recent Wild Safari version is more likely to be inaccurate in that regard than this one.

"Retro or sci-fi dinosaurs" - Are we looking at the same model?  Forgive me, but I see no basis for this swipe at this model.  I see a hyper-detailed, anatomically accurate model - where's the retro or "sci-fi" aspect?

I understand that your personal taste might run towards the currently popular Wild-Safari type feathered renderings, (as unlikely as those are based on the currently available evidence of TRex from the fossil record), and that's fine - but that doesn't make this one inaccurate or 'sci fi'.

Since I ordered one earlier today, I'll be happy to take some more photos and post them for reference (unless someone beats me to it).

As far as accurate TRexes go, my view is always "the more the merrier".  Doug Watson has created a superb feathered TRex for folks who prefer that type of reconstruction, and now PNSO has done the same - and more, detail wise - for the traditional reconstruction.

I've said it before and I'll say it again for the younger folks around here - we are living in a true "Golden Age" of dinosaur figures!

Look closely. They sit on top of the skin rather than being sunk into it.

That too, but I meant in relation to each other. If you assume most of them are placed properly than some of them are splayed to far apart.

The way it bends one direction then the other isn't realistic. Even lizards, which have far more mobile tails, can't do this via muscle alone (ignoring chameleons since they are prehensile). In order to achieve this pose an animal would need to consciously re-position the tail half way down its length using muscles that don't exist. Look at what a lizards tail does as it moves, it cant consciously move it multiple times down the length in opposite directions, it sways based on the movements of the body as a whole and if it does change direction this is because of resistance against the ground/water or because of the weight of the tails tip dipping on its own. Even monitors, who have probably the most flexible tails of all lizards can't achieve something similar to the PNSO Tyrannosaurus.

Compare to the Tyrannosaurus, which changes the bend of its tail twice. These turns aren't starting at the muscular tail base, and aren't swaying under the tails weight or as the animal moves.

Conscious movement:




"Fluid movement":





See the above image again, look at the photo of it on the box. The tail should extend from the hips and pubic boot, not just from the hips. The boot didn't exist just to sit there between the animals legs, it was an anchor point for tail musculature.

"Realism" is different from "realistic". These scales would be several inches across in full scale. Detail =/= reality.

Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages. Tyrannosaurus lived in a seasonal temperate environment, there was most likely seasonal snowfall in parts of its range. Weight has little to no affect on temperature regulation, this is a false archetype created by marine mammals use of specialized blubber as insulation.

That isn't a swipe by any means. If anything that's my go-to caveat. I buy a lot of models that are completely inaccurate because I like them as science fiction monsters.

i would strongly disagree on the projection that lizards are unable to articulate various sections of their tails consciously. while i do agree with your assessment on the most common way a squamate would locomote, their fully capable of articulating pretty much any section of their tail. it's not exclusive to squamates suited to a prehensile lifestyle. they do in fact have the muscle attachment points throughout the caudal verts to allow the transactions. every image you posted is showing them at rest. the shots taken i can almost guarantee you are taken while the animal is stationary in one place. just to take examples i personally observe on a common bases, my frilled dragon will eagerly wag his tail in a slow, serpentine motion before lunging at crickets, obviously controlled and consciously manipulated by him. when going to handle my youngest iguana, if i touch an area of his tail and he's in a sour mood, he would articulate the section of his tail closest to my hand away from it. he can even hold the position while balancing on his branch. and just to add a real life example that can be observed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-R9bLiwSc

i will however, agree that it is unusual that it's the case here and seeing such transaction in the tyrannosaurus figure here. i more or less agree, though the tail articulation personally doesn't bother me visually speaking

[danmalcolm]

"Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages."

My hairline would beg to differ.

[Simon]

"Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages."

My hairline would beg to differ.

BA-DA-BOOM-BA-DA-BING!!!!

[Dyscrasia]

I definitely want to purchase the T. rex, but not at its current price.... 

I don't know if it will ever happen, but I hope that there will be an option to buy the model and base itself in a simple packaging without all the other accessories.

[stargatedalek]

i would strongly disagree on the projection that lizards are unable to articulate various sections of their tails consciously. while i do agree with your assessment on the most common way a squamate would locomote, their fully capable of articulating pretty much any section of their tail consciously. it's not exclusive to squamates suited to a prehensile lifestyle. they due in fact have the muscle attachment points throughout the caudal verts to allow the transactions. every image you posted is showing them at rest. the shots taken i can almost guarantee you are taken while the animal is stationary in one place. just to take examples i personally observe on a common bases, by frilled dragon will eagerly wag his tail in a slow, serpentine motion before lunging at crickets, obviously controlled and consciously manipulated by him. when going to handle my youngest iguana, if i touch an area of his tail and he's in a sour mood, he would articulate the section of his tail closest to my hand away from it. he can even hold the position while balancing on his branch. and just to add a real life example that can be observed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-R9bLiwSc

i will however, agree that it is unusual that it's the case here and such transaction. i more or less agree, though the tail personally doesn't bother me visually speaking

I stand happily corrected. I've only rarely observed lizards in any sort of detail in person, and I somehow never came across this before.

I will still maintain that this exact pose is probably impossible in Tyrannosaurus given the girth and musculature of its tail are much thicker, and that there is no noticeable weight to the movement, but it's very cool to actually see the lizard moving in this manner.

[tanystropheus]

I really like Wilson, but to be honest, it looks like a weird cross between a REBOR and a Battat.

I still believe that the WS Feathered T-rex is the definitive T-rex toy/model.

[The Atroxious]

Been trying to avoid being a downer, but if no one else has anything negative to say I might as well get it over with in one go

None of these problems are related to the skill of the sculpt, all of these are design based.

No eyelids. A friend pointed this out to me, and I can't un-see it.

I get the teeth shouldn't be perfectly aligned and even but they stick out in directions they shouldn't be able to. Some of them look to be entirely free of their roots and either hanging loose from the gums or drilling upwards into the skull in order to be at these angles.

The tail is far to fluid. Tyrannosaurus may not have had the sort of stiffening dromaeosaurs had but it still wasn't an eel.

People can say it isn't shrink-wrapped, but the pubic boot and underside of the tail say otherwise. Albeit not particularly severely.

It's over-textured. All of these extra detailed scales and wrinkles are too well defined, which to my eye makes it look ghoulish. Almost like the flesh beneath the skin is rotting away and stretching in unnatural patterns.

It doesn't have feathers. I get the previous PNSO Tyrannosaurus could scarcely be considered as feathered, but at least they pretended to care about being accurate with that one.

There is nothing wrong with retro or sci-fi dinosaurs, but this is a line being produced by a museum, and as such I expect better than this.

To be fair, teeth can be crooked and still properly anchored in place, as can be seen in this dog and cat. The fact that the premaxillary teeth all bend in the same unusual direction does make the figure look strange, however.

I noticed the shrink-wrapping too. Yet another case of a dinosaur model with missing or severely atrophied abdominals.

I'm not sure I'd call it "ghoulish" but yeah, it's awfully lumpy. Texture is a good thing, but the lumpiness makes it look unnatural, kind of like a stone golem in the form of a Tyrannosaurus.

As for feathers, well, I still have my reservations about whether a tyrannosaurine would be feathered at all, but regardless of the probability of any given integument, I definitely think feathers make Tyrannosaurus look majestic and intimidating, far more than the dime-a-dozen scaly models do at any rate. From a purely aesthetic sense, I do think a feathered reconstruction would be far more desirable.

"Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages."

My hairline would beg to differ.

...Your hairline is an animal?

For what it's worth, some animals do, in fact, lose integument with age. Off the top of my head you have seals, ostriches, cassowaries, ibis, marabou, turkeys and guineafowl. I may be forgetting some, but you get the point.

[stargatedalek]

"Absolutely false. There is no animal in existence that looses integument, soft or hard, as it ages."

My hairline would beg to differ.

...Your hairline is an animal?

For what it's worth, some animals do, in fact, lose integument with age. Off the top of my head you have seals, ostriches, cassowaries, ibis, marabou, turkeys and guineafowl. I may be forgetting some, but you get the point.

Yes but none of them except some seals loose that integument to a functional degree, they just change the pattern to account for display structures. And even in seals they still retain vestigial fur.

[Simon]

*chuckle*

This enjoyable discussion aside, I am really looking forward to getting this TRex.  (And if they were to release a feathered version of the same sculpt, I's get THAT one TOO).

[Flaffy]

I suggest we wait.

It is a common sense now that the PNSO prices fluctuate greatly during the first month and will eventually settle down at 20% lower after that.
Taobao price is now 399 CNY.
Most of our community guys are expecting it to drop to 300 CNY during Spring Festival, which is coming soon.
I will wait for Jun 1st the Children's day when it is supposedly dropped to 250 CNY then.

I always wait for awesome TaoBao discounts. 

[ceratopsian]

I always wait for awesome TaoBao discounts. 

Goodness - I've just idly looked at TaoBao - some dramatically different offers from the amazon prices, especially for the older PNSO models and also the limited edition models!

[Dobber]

I'm not familiar with TaoBao, how does it work?

Chris

[ceratopsian]

I'm not familiar with TaoBao, how does it work?

Chris

I really don't know (and am not terribly adventurous by nature), but I'm pretty sure that foreigners need an agent.

[RobinGoodfellow]

I'm not familiar with TaoBao, how does it work?

Chris

I really don't know (and am not terribly adventurous by nature), but I'm pretty sure that foreigners need an agent.

http://taobaofieldguide.com/taobao-guides/buying-on-taobao-from-overseas

http://taobaofieldguide.com/taobao-guides/taobao-agents



From my point of view, Amazon could be more expensive but safer if you are in trouble (and that's priceless  )