Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Sim]

Orkoraptor is extremely fragmentary, even more so than Megaraptor.  All megaraptorans are only known from very fragmentary remains, but Megaraptor is the best choice to make into a figure as it's the best-known from fossil remains, and is the only one to look distinctive as a result.  The others are all just fantasy species.

[Fembrogon]

How about Brachylophosaurus, which had a bout of fame for the excellently-preserved "dinomummy" specimen, yet hasn't received a single toy to its name since the Jasman figure in 1997?

How about Pterodaustro, an extremely unique Pterosaur known from ample specimens of both adults and juveniles? ...Or hey, how about Pterodactylus itself, the "original" pterosaur?

How about Eryops, which was once a mainstay in almost every single "prehistoric life" book I can remember?


I'm not going to complain about more obscure genera getting toy attention, but I certainly agree there are a lot of much better-known animals which are more than deserving of quailty figures right now.

[Faelrin]

@Fembrogon Yeah I'd really like to see all of those. At least the Eryops there has had a few (such as the Kaiyodo Dinotales ones, or the rare Play Visions one, etc), but not anything in recent years unfortunately.

[Strepsodus]

I didn't know that Quetzalcoatlus was fragmentary. But when Safari said they were doing Dino Dana models, I had some hope that one of the weird species seen in the show might be made into a figure. For me, I like when an animal with great remains is made into a figure, because that means you can be sure that the figure is truthful to what we know the real animal was like.

[Fembrogon]

Quetzalcoatlus both is and isn't fragmentary. There are two distinct species, the larger Q. northropi and the smaller Q. lawsoni. The former is barely known but we have a significant amount of material for the latter, which is used to inform what northropi probably looked like.
On that note, it would be kind of neat to have a figure that was distinctly marketed as the lawsoni species.

[Halichoeres]

Some of the disconnect between what is well-known and what is made as toys is because a large fraction of the dinosaur toy market is manchildren* who are only concerned with "What's the biggest ______?" or "Who would win in a fight?" The number of people I've seen wish for a Tyrannotitan or some similar megatheropod known from scraps is depressing.


*actual children too, but in actual children it's more forgivable.

[Fembrogon]

That would make sense, sadly. I admit I've always been partial to theropods as well, but even as a kid I recognized my meat-eaters still needed to EAT something, at least.

[Gwangi]

I must confess that with a few exceptions I'm mostly bored by large carnivorous theropods. I could care less about another Giganotosaurus or a Tyrannotitan, but I am excited by the prospect of a PNSO Acrocanthosaurus. At least in that instance it has a defining characteristic that makes it visually unique. I suppose that's a controversial opinion.

[suspsy]

Aside from tyrannosauroids, I too am not all that interested in big carnivores. Nor am I interested in more big ceratopsians (with the exception of Torosaurus) or sauropods (although as I noted before, the Patagotitan looks very good).

It really stinks how none of the megaraptorans are known from good remains, although that obviously wouldn't stop me from snapping up a toy of Aerosteon,Australovenator, Megaraptor, or Murusraptor. My CollectA Fukuiraptor would enjoy the company.

[GiganotosaurusFan]

Some other forum members and I would like another Giga  Definitely I.
All the Gigas seem too thin, I mean the neck...Except the Vitae, and the dough!
I'm 11, still like dinosaur fights, and will continue enjoying them, but yes, I don't like people comparing T. Rex to something else and blah blah blah...

[Stegotyranno420]

@GiganotosaurusFan theres always eofaunas, though I think Mesozic life might make an amazing one if their spinosaurus is successful.
As per dinosaur fights, they always were, and always will be a part of me. In fact, I make videos dedicated to those old videos I grew up on.
Especially those old pivot animations.
Did you ever watched those?
Also, us 'Muricans will use anything besides the metric system to measure stuff, from football fields and tennis courts, to Shaquille O'Neals and in the mentioned case, Tyrannosauruses lol
New meat eating dino half the size of T-rex. (Notice the lack of proper scientific punctuation)
Big veggie-saur twice the size of T-rex
Shark tooth dino from Uzbekistan terrorized T rex ancestors.
Is it "ruler of the dinosaurs " as in the king of dinosaurs,  or a measurement tool?

[GojiraGuy1954]

Aside from tyrannosauroids, I too am not all that interested in big carnivores. Nor am I interested in more big ceratopsians (with the exception of Torosaurus) or sauropods (although as I noted before, the Patagotitan looks very good).

It really stinks how none of the megaraptorans are known from good remains, although that obviously wouldn't stop me from snapping up a toy of Aerosteon,Australovenator, Megaraptor, or Murusraptor. My CollectA Fukuiraptor would enjoy the company.

I want somebody to make a Maip figure

[GojiraGuy1954]

I must confess that with a few exceptions I'm mostly bored by large carnivorous theropods. I could care less about another Giganotosaurus or a Tyrannotitan, but I am excited by the prospect of a PNSO Acrocanthosaurus. At least in that instance it has a defining characteristic that makes it visually unique. I suppose that's a controversial opinion.

All large carcharodontosaurids look exactly the same

[Sim]

The number of people I've seen wish for a Tyrannotitan or some similar megatheropod known from scraps is depressing.

I agree, and two more like that are Siats and Deltadromeus.  Hatzegopteryx too.

I want somebody to make a Maip figure

What's a Maip?

[stargatedalek]

Hatzegopteryx is a bit less warranted. It's not known from a lot of material, but what we do have shows a good deal of distinction from its closest relatives. Additionally, pterosaurs don't have a ton of "wiggle room" for general proportions, so it's relatively safe to infer the rest of its appearance, moreso than in comparable dinosaurs.

[GojiraGuy1954]

I want somebody to make a Maip figure

What's a Maip?

Its a new Megaraptoran that is pretty big

[Fembrogon]

I just heard about Maip myself today; apparently its description was JUST published this week:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09272-z



It still looks fairly fragmentary to me, though.

[Halichoeres]

I must confess that with a few exceptions I'm mostly bored by large carnivorous theropods. I could care less about another Giganotosaurus or a Tyrannotitan, but I am excited by the prospect of a PNSO Acrocanthosaurus. At least in that instance it has a defining characteristic that makes it visually unique. I suppose that's a controversial opinion.

All large carcharodontosaurids look exactly the same

A friend of mine from grad school is one of the authors on a description for a forthcoming new large carcharodontosaurid genus, and while yes, they are distinguishable by this or that slight proportion change or knobbly bit on a bone, even he agrees that they are all pretty much the same. I'm sure as soon as it's published the same bros clamoring for a Tyrannotitan will be clamoring for this one too.

[Concavenator]

I must confess that with a few exceptions I'm mostly bored by large carnivorous theropods. I could care less about another Giganotosaurus or a Tyrannotitan, but I am excited by the prospect of a PNSO Acrocanthosaurus. At least in that instance it has a defining characteristic that makes it visually unique. I suppose that's a controversial opinion.

All large carcharodontosaurids look exactly the same

A friend of mine from grad school is one of the authors on a description for a forthcoming new large carcharodontosaurid genus, and while yes, they are distinguishable by this or that slight proportion change or knobbly bit on a bone, even he agrees that they are all pretty much the same. I'm sure as soon as it's published the same bros clamoring for a Tyrannotitan will be clamoring for this one too.

If it's known from decent remains, I don't see what's wrong with it.   

[GojiraGuy1954]

I just heard about Maip myself today; apparently its description was JUST published this week:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09272-z



It still looks fairly fragmentary to me, though.

It seems like one of the more complete Megaraptorans to me