CollectA: New for 2018

[bmathison1972]

What this data suggests, if anything relevant, is that each year there is a focus on one group, with a couple others thrown in. This is fine, as long as these focus groups rotate through. The focus of the last three years were ceratopsids, ornithomimosaurs, and spinosaurs, If the next is, say, sauropods, that could work.

Of course this is rather biased data as you are only selecting 'dinosaurs' sensu stricto in the prehistoric line. It blends out to be more diverse if you include everything in that line. When you cherry-pick data, you get the results you've come to expect...

[Halichoeres]

I fell out of my chair at the Mantellisaurus. When was the last CollectA ornithopod again? The deluxe Parasaur?

As suspsy said, the 2013 deluxe Parasaurolophus was indeed the last ornithopod by CollectA.  But when was the last pennaraptoran in CollectA's prehistoric line?  After some searching, it turns out it's the 2011 Utahraptor.  That's for dromaeosaurids, for oviraptorosaurs it was the 2010 Oviraptor.  And the last ankylosaur with a tail club from CollectA was the 2008 Deluxe Ankylosaurus (I'm not counting repaints).

I've noticed that for some time now, even though CollectA tends to produce a high number of prehistoric figures, they tend to make a lot of figures for some dinosaur groups and ignore other groups completely.  This has resulted in some groups having quite a number of decent CollectA representations while other groups have none.  For example, there's not a single pennaraptoran in CollectA's prehistoric line that has complete wing feathering, and all of them are not very good figures.  The two dromaeosaurids both lack decent feathering and have other anatomical inaccuracies that aren't minor.  I don't know how CollectA managed to give their 2010 Deluxe Velociraptor that bizarre oval-shaped body and tiny tail, when the animal's skeleton is basically completely known.

Looking back until CollectA's 2014 dinosaur figure releases in their prehistoric line, it's noticeable how unbalanced the dinosaur representation is.  I'm not counting corpses or prey in a figure's mouth.

2017: 3 ceratopsids, 1 ornithomimosaur, 1 stegosaur
2016: 1 ceratopsid, 3 ornithomimosaurs, 2 tyrannosauroids, 1 allosauroid, 1 megalosaurid
2015: 2 ceratopsids, 2 tyrannosauroids, 1 allosauroid, 3 spinosaurids, 1 sauropod
2014: 1 ceratopsid, 2 tyrannosauroids, 2 allosauroids, 1 spinosaurid, 1 ankylosaur, 1 therizinosaur

I didn't even need to be more specific about what kind of sauropod it is as it's the only sauropodomorph there!  It's also interesting how almost all the ornithischians here are ceratopsids.  In just the last four years CollectA has made 7 different ceratopsids, and always at least one a year!  There are also six tyrannosauroid figures representing four different species, and four different allosauroid species represented, with tyrannosauroids and allosauroids being made each year except for 2017.  In contrast, there's nothing from a number of other dinosaur groups e.g. dromaeosaurids, oviraptorosaurs, ornithopods.  There's also no troodontids or heterodontosaurids, but none of the main toy companies has ever made one of those.

I think having several members from a group represented showing their diversity is good.  But when it becomes like this, where there's some groups that become over-represented while other groups remain with inadequate representation, I find it dispiriting.  Safari has been making good representations of the types of dinosaurs that didn't have that in their line quite quickly and efficiently in the last few years.  CollectA might be making figures of the kinds of dinosaurs they lack a decent figure of, but I don't think they are doing this quickly and efficiently, as shown by their quite unbalanced dinosaur representation.  I get the impression that on this forum CollectA tends to be seen as the "bold" one of the main toy companies.  This is true for some things CollectA has done.  With regards to the pennaraptorans though, as of the 2017 prehistoric figures: CollectA has still not made one with proper wings, while Safari has with Microraptor, Archaeopteryx and Velociraptor.  For 2018, Safari is doing this with Anzu.  Even Schleich is doing this with their Oviraptor!  I'm curious to see whether CollectA will have any in 2018.  Maybe for 2018 CollectA will give more attention to the types of dinosaurs that they don't have adequate representations of.  I'd like to see that.  What won't change though is that Safari was the "bold" one in being the first of the main toy companies to make figures of truly bird-like dromaeosaurids with proper wings.

Interesting analysis! Prior to 2016, there was only one ornithomimosaur in CollectA's range, the wildly inaccurate Deinocheirus. Suddenly there are several quite good ones. So there do seem to be hints of waves, except for a fairly consistent stream of ceratopsids and tyrannosaurs. I noted in my review of the marine tube that whereas CollectA is very often the first to make a particular genus, it is usually a close relative of something that's been made many times. So yes, first Lythronax, but there are lots of other tyrannosaurs, and first Mercuriceratops, but there's no shortage of chasmosaurines. To me, bold would be a Vegavis, or a Shuvuuia, or a Volaticotherium, or a Soederberghia. But as long as they're executing them competently, I'll definitely settle for Sciurumimus and Mantellisaurus.

[suspsy]

Good analysis there. CollectA is certainly overdue for some new dromaeosaurs and ankylosaurs. And it would be easy to maintain their reputation for uniqueness by shying away from "A-listers" like Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Ankylosaurus, and Euoplocephalus and instead going with say, Tsaagan, Acheroraptor, Austroraptor, Tarchia, Pinacosaurus, and Dyoplosaurus.

But who knows, perhaps one or more of those will be revealed in the weeks to come. Just have to cross our fingers and see.

[Sim]

What this data suggests, if anything relevant, is that each year there is a focus on one group, with a couple others thrown in. This is fine, as long as these focus groups rotate through. The focus of the last three years were ceratopsids, ornithomimosaurs, and spinosaurs, If the next is, say, sauropods, that could work.

I would say it shows CollectA has a tendency to give some groups quite a lot of representation over an extended period of time, this is noticeable with the tyrannosauroids, allosauroids and especially the ceratopsids.  While other dinosaur groups are left without decent representation.  This seems clear to me even when just stopping at 2014.  I will say though that for 2013 CollectA again had a different species of ceratopsid and tyrannosauroid.

Of course this is rather biased data as you are only selecting 'dinosaurs' sensu stricto in the prehistoric line. It blends out to be more diverse if you include everything in that line. When you cherry-pick data, you get the results you've come to expect...

I don't agree with this.  Whatever the prehistoric CollectA figures that aren't dinosaurs are doesn't change the fact that in a very diverse natural group of their prehistoric line (dinosaurs), some dinosaur groups have received much more and better representation than other dinosaur groups.  Dinosaurs are also quite different from other kinds of animals in the line, make up most of CollectA's prehistoric line, and are the most popular group of prehistoric animals, so I think it's reasonable to look at the dinosaur clade on its own.  In specifying I was only looking at the dinosaurs, I expressed that I was not commenting on the representation of diversity in CollectA's prehistoric line as a whole, only the dinosaurs.

[Neosodon]

If collecta has realized this then this year we should hit with sauropods, ornithopods and ankylosaurids. They already nailed the ornithapod this year. So hopefully we will get an ankylosaur like Sachania or Euplecaphalus since safari already did an Ankylosaurus.  For sauropods I'm guessing they will do something like an Apatosaurus or Camarosaurus since all their good saurapods since 2011 have mostlly been titanosaurs. Since they did no theropds last year hopefully they will throw in something like a Dilophosaurs and some sort of abelisaur.

They did the Saurophagonax back in 2014 but what's with the other 3 allosauroids you have listed Sim?

[suspsy]

2014 had Carcharodontosaurus, 2015 had Acrocanthosaurus, and 2016 had Metriacanthosaurus.

I'm dying for CollectA to release a nice, big Megatherium, preferably with stripes or spots or some other pattern on its shaggy fur. Hopefully we'll get to see a prehistoric mammal in the next reveal.

[IrritatorRaji]

Still bringing obscure dinosaurs into the limelight, very nice!

The Mantellisaurus looks really good, looking forward to picking that one up. Not sure how I feel about the Sciurumimus though, the tail looks really weird and I thought we were kinda past the days of boring, solid-brown dinosaurs :/ Eh, never know, maybe I'll change my mind after seeing it in person.

[Neosodon]

2014 had Carcharodontosaurus, 2015 had Acrocanthosaurus, and 2016 had Metriacanthosaurus.

I'm dying for CollectA to release a nice, big Megatherium, preferably with stripes or spots or some other pattern on its shaggy fur. Hopefully we'll get to see a prehistoric mammal in the next reveal.

I thought Metriacanthosaurus was a megalosaurid but I think that's outdated. I always refer to Acrocanthosaurus and  Carcharodontosaurus as carnosaurs or carcharodontosauridae. Carnosaururia is the term that includes Allosauroidea and Carcharodontosauria. So I guess by allosauroid Sim meant carnosaur. Unless they mean the same thing? But I prefer the more conventional term as it's less confusing.

[Halichoeres]

2014 had Carcharodontosaurus, 2015 had Acrocanthosaurus, and 2016 had Metriacanthosaurus.

I'm dying for CollectA to release a nice, big Megatherium, preferably with stripes or spots or some other pattern on its shaggy fur. Hopefully we'll get to see a prehistoric mammal in the next reveal.

I thought Metriacanthosaurus was a megalosaurid but I think that's outdated. I always refer to Acrocanthosaurus and  Carcharodontosaurus as carnosaurs or carcharodontosauridae. Carnosaururia is the term that includes Allosauroidea and Carcharodontosauria. So I guess by allosauroid Sim meant carnosaur. Unless they mean the same thing? But I prefer the more conventional term as it's less confusing.

The only problem with that is that according to Carrano et al 2012 (and other studies), separating the Carcharodontosauria would render Allosauroidea paraphyletic.

[Shonisaurus]

2014 had Carcharodontosaurus, 2015 had Acrocanthosaurus, and 2016 had Metriacanthosaurus.

I'm dying for CollectA to release a nice, big Megatherium, preferably with stripes or spots or some other pattern on its shaggy fur. Hopefully we'll get to see a prehistoric mammal in the next reveal.

When you speak suspsy that you expect a deluxe megatherium to be commercialized, you may know more than the rest of the forum about Collecta news. I would also be interested in that figure because after the disappearance of his peers in Schleich and Bullyland we need a new megatherium figure regardless of whether we have the exceptional figure of Doug Watson.

[suspsy]

No, I can honestly say that I have no inner knowledge about CollectA's 2018 line (and even if I did, I would not be sharing it here). But I've mentioned to them more than once in the past that Megatherium would be an excellent choice for a toy. Perhaps the fruit shall finally be born.

[Sim]

I've realised I had forgotten about the prehistoric avian pennaraptorans by Safari and CollectA, the Gastornis and Kelenken respectively.  So what I said was correct for non-avian dinosaurs.  With the two avians included, my points don't really change though, it just means as of 2017 Safari has one more pennaraptoran with proper wings (Gastornis), while all of CollectA's pennaraptorans still don't have the feathers correctly attaching to the fingers.  And the last time CollectA made a pennaraptoran is still 2011, as the Utahraptor and Kelenken were both released that year.

Since they did no theropds last year hopefully they will throw in something like a Dilophosaurs and some sort of abelisaur.

CollectA did do a theropod, the 2017 Deluxe Deinocheirus.  They didn't do a theropod they hadn't done before though.

I'll comment on the allosauroid thing when I have time tomorrow, but suspsy and Halichoeres have summed it up already.

[Neosodon]

I've realised I had forgotten about the prehistoric avian pennaraptorans by Safari and CollectA, the Gastornis and Kelenken respectively.  So what I said was correct for non-avian dinosaurs.  With the two avians included, my points don't really change though, it just means as of 2017 Safari has one more pennaraptoran with proper wings (Gastornis), while all of CollectA's pennaraptorans still don't have the feathers correctly attaching to the fingers.  And the last time CollectA made a pennaraptoran is still 2011, as the Utahraptor and Kelenken were both released that year.

Since they did no theropds last year hopefully they will throw in something like a Dilophosaurs and some sort of abelisaur.

CollectA did do a theropod, the 2017 Deluxe Deinocheirus.  They didn't do a theropod they hadn't done before though.

I'll comment on the allosauroid thing when I have time tomorrow, but suspsy and Halichoeres have summed it up already.

The Deinocherius is just a larger version of an older model so it hardly counts as a new 2017 figure.

[suspsy]

Absolutely it counts as a new 2017 figure. It's a completely new sculpt that's larger and posed differently from its predecessor.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Good analysis there. CollectA is certainly overdue for some new dromaeosaurs and ankylosaurs. And it would be easy to maintain their reputation for uniqueness by shying away from "A-listers" like Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Ankylosaurus, and Euoplocephalus and instead going with say, Tsaagan, Acheroraptor, Austroraptor, Tarchia, Pinacosaurus, and Dyoplosaurus.

But who knows, perhaps one or more of those will be revealed in the weeks to come. Just have to cross our fingers and see.

I'm almost certain we're going to see a roughly 1:30-1:40 scale Dakotaraptor from Collecta sometime soon (though we may just get an updated Utahraptor instead).

[Bokisaurus]

Great start! Hoping we finally get a new large sauropod this year!

[suspsy]

Another thought: given that CollectA has already done two toobs of dinosaurs/pterosaurs and one toob of sea creatures, it seems highly likely to me that a toob of prehistoric mammals will be released next year.

[Shonisaurus]

For me, prehistoric mammals and Paleozoic creatures are welcome. I love prehistoric life in general, although the real kings of prehistory are dinosaurs. 

[ZoPteryx]

Another thought: given that CollectA has already done two toobs of dinosaurs/pterosaurs and one toob of sea creatures, it seems highly likely to me that a toob of prehistoric mammals will be released next year.

Good point, sounds quite likely.

[Ravonium]

One thing I've noticed for this first reveal is that, outside of this forum, it isn't really being mentioned as much as 2017's first reveal. No "shop-blog" from an English speaking country has talked about this first reveal, no Youtube videos have been made yet and all the Facebook comments on the individual model photos are on extant animals. And these were all things that were done within a few days in late 2016 for the dinosaur models.

I personally speculate this is probably because of the low number and low discussion-value of the prehistoric animals CollectA has made (Not that it hasn't generated any discussion here.). The reason why I don't think this is to do with the overall quality is because most of the first reveals of 2017 weren't very high quality models either (i.e. they weren't CollectA's best, judging by the photos.). I wonder if anyone else has anything to say about this.


Then again, this is one of the things that reminds me how separate the DTF is from most of the online community, even most of the prehistoric community (with the exception of a few youtubers.).