Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Stegotyranno420]

@Sim I know Marco, he only does it out of passion and love of the franchise. He charges so much because he works by himself and puts extreme care into the figures.

[Bread]

@Sim I know Marco, he only does it out of passion and love of the franchise. He charges so much because he works by himself and puts extreme care into the figures.

This exactly, plus it seems that Marco differs with some of his models, such as his creation of rubbersaurs, which I find highly different within the prehistoric toy market. Very few rubber and articulated models are available as it is in the market. Something different even if it is heavily JP inspired is always welcoming.

Edit: Collector/heavily detailed/high quality models for rubber and articulated models within the market I should note. Not as a whole as you can readily find toys for children that consist of a similar gimmick.

[Eatmycar]

A controversial opinion I have:  I find Marco makes distasteful, for the same reason as Nanmu.  What they are doing is plagiarism and unoriginal.  And frankly I think it's bad taste to build a brand based on other people's palaeoart.

I'm going to honestly have to agree. I don't know Marco and MikeMak and others, but they clearly love the franchise.

But... they also didn't create those character designs and they are just using them for profit. It's straight up plagiarism and when people take the fan aspect and the "love of the IP" people go on and on about, what they do is no different from what Papo did. They took work that other artists at Stan Winston Studios and ILM made and made a profit off it.

That's plagiarism.

[Shane]

I'm going to honestly have to agree. I don't know Marco and MikeMak and others, but they clearly love the franchise.

But... they also didn't create those character designs and they are just using them for profit. It's straight up plagiarism and when people take the fan aspect and the "love of the IP" people go on and on about, what they do is no different from what Papo did. They took work that other artists at Stan Winston Studios and ILM made and made a profit off it.

That's plagiarism.

These JP "inspired" designs are kind of a copyright gray area. Yes, it's clear when the designs are based on the Stan Winston Studio designs, but there's some level of protection due to it being a representation of an ostensibly "real" creature that existed that no one can really "own".

It's very hard to prove to a court that a company is specifically intentionally "stealing" JP's designs, as obvious as it might be to you and me. In courts it's not so easy for a judge to see it that way, legally.

It's similar to when you see knock-off figures of animals or dinosaurs that obviously use molds of existing companies. Exact same sculpt and pose down to the wrinkles, but it's very difficult to prove "ownership" of the design when the basis is not an original creation but a creature that exists or existed in the "real world".

This is, obviously, why things like Indominus Rex, Scorpios Rex and Indoraptor exist. These are original creations not based on existing dinosaurs, so they're copyrightable designs.

[Sim]

I'm still surprised Nanmu managed to make knock-offs of the Indominus rex and Indoraptor.

[Shane]

I'm still surprised Nanmu managed to make knock-offs of the Indominus rex and Indoraptor.

Yeah, you'd think those would be easier to shut down, but in cases like that, if a company is based in a country where IP laws are not easy to enforce, it can be tough to pin them down. I don't know for sure that this happened in Nanmu's case, but I know that can be a factor.

[Eatmycar]

Legally, in a court of law is different from the toy collector perspective. Otherwise people wouldn't call for Schleich's blood when they do the same thing. It's funny how that theft complaint gets rolled out when Schleich does it (see this year's Edmontosaurus), but when Nanmu or an independent toy co "borrow" a similar design... nobody minds.

People are not buying Nanmu work for paleoaccuracy. They're not buying MarcoMakes' stuff for that either, and he is VERY explicit in his branding, social media, and everything that he is using the Jurassic Park designs. Have you seen the boxes for the new stuff? It even has the JP gate on it. If that's not plagarism then I don't know what is.

[Lynx]

Doesn't Nanmu also say on their instagram page that the stuff they make is literally meant to be the JP rexes?

[stargatedalek]

Legally, in a court of law is different from the toy collector perspective. Otherwise people wouldn't call for Schleich's blood when they do the same thing. It's funny how that theft complaint gets rolled out when Schleich does it (see this year's Edmontosaurus), but when Nanmu or an independent toy co "borrow" a similar design... nobody minds.

People are not buying Nanmu work for paleoaccuracy. They're not buying MarcoMakes' stuff for that either, and he is VERY explicit in his branding, social media, and everything that he is using the Jurassic Park designs. Have you seen the boxes for the new stuff? It even has the JP gate on it. If that's not plagarism then I don't know what is.

MarcoMakes is an independent Etsy seller. Those are fanart. Nanmu is a large company with large scale production.

[Dinoxels]

Just food for thought, but has Universal ever actually said that "This is x dinosaur's design. You cannot use it."
Also Universal partnered with W Dragon to make models, when W Dragon had been doing the exact same thing Nanmu is doing. Does Universal really care? And if not or if so, should we?

[Shane]

Just food for thought, but has Universal ever actually said that "This is x dinosaur's design. You cannot use it."
Also Universal partnered with W Dragon to make models, when W Dragon had been doing the exact same thing Nanmu is doing. Does Universal really care? And if not or if so, should we?

To my knowledge they never have, and as previously discussed, it's not concrete that they even could lay claim to a design of an actual creature, even if the design is stylized.

With copyright, it's up to the holder of the IP rights to exercise their control over who uses it. Sometimes, IP holders will crack down hard on those they feel have violated their copyrights, even if it's just small scale fan art. Other times, they look the other way, and some big companies (like Funimation, IIRC) have outright said that they will not target fan art because they believe that fans sharing their own creations strengthens the community.

But like I said, it's possible Universal doesn't make statements or pursue legal action because its claim to designs of actual dinosaurs is tenuous.

[Dinoxels]

Just food for thought, but has Universal ever actually said that "This is x dinosaur's design. You cannot use it."
Also Universal partnered with W Dragon to make models, when W Dragon had been doing the exact same thing Nanmu is doing. Does Universal really care? And if not or if so, should we?

To my knowledge they never have, and as previously discussed, it's not concrete that they even could lay claim to a design of an actual creature, even if the design is stylized.

With copyright, it's up to the holder of the IP rights to exercise their control over who uses it. Sometimes, IP holders will crack down hard on those they feel have violated their copyrights, even if it's just small scale fan art. Other times, they look the other way, and some big companies (like Funimation, IIRC) have outright said that they will not target fan art because they believe that fans sharing their own creations strengthens the community.

But like I said, it's possible Universal doesn't make statements or pursue legal action because its claim to designs of actual dinosaurs is tenuous.

Exactly.

[Sim]

I have an unpopular opinion that I think will be "hot".  I think prehistoric mammal figures would be better if they were usually made in the same scale as is standard for many dinosaur figures.  Prehistoric mammals are usually made in a larger scale than dinosaurs and this distorts their relative size and makes most mammals look bigger.  I got CollectA's mini prehistoric animal tube and the sizes of the mostly mammalian species work quite well with my dinosaur figures.  It doesn't make the mammals look underwhelming.

[Stegotyranno420]

I agree 100% @Sim

[Fembrogon]

I think that's a fair possibility, and one which has probably been true for me sometimes. Dino collectors are probably the much more prominent of the two, so whether or not new items display well with the dinosaurs can be an important deciding factor.

[DinoFan2010]

I think that the Wild Pop Ups are Ugly, with the exception of the Spinosaurus and Dimorphodon. Not sure if this is controversial or not, but I just wanted to say.

[Bread]

@Sim you're definitely not alone with this opinion. It's unfortunate that prehistoric mammals are just now getting the production they deserve; however, like you said, the scales are all over the place. Understandable due to the circumstance that popular animals like Smilodon have to be bigger than 1:35 scale. But I could still see some companies producing these small or medium size prehistoric mammals in equal popular scales.

[Faelrin]

I have quite a lot of Cenozoic figures, and I'd be much more satisfied if they were to scale more or less. Sometimes you gotta roll with what's available (or go without/wait, that's valid too).

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I'm not a stickler for scale in my collection and I prefer mammals to be more in-line with the size range modern mammals are made in. It allows for a better representation of the animal that's more detailed and isn't as easily overshadowed by larger dinosaurs. That being said, I think having a common scale is a good way to unify a toy line and I wouldn't be against 1:40 scale mammals if they were meant to fit in with the set.

When/if I ever make my own resin models, I'd probably keep them all to a common scale.

[Gwangi]

I prefer small species to be small and large species to be large but they don't have to be in perfect scale with each other. Standard size figures are my preference. It does mean that I'm not interested in something like the CollectA Protoceratops but if that same figure were the size of the CollectA Borealopelta that would be fine, even if they still were not in scale.