Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[suspsy]

Papo certainly relit my passion for dinosaur toys—along with the four feathered figures from the Carnegie Collection in 2016. But my fondness for the figures began to wane sometime in 2016. I ended up selling off most of my figures at a yard sale back in the summer, figuring that they would be better off being enjoyed by kids. Similarly, the Apatosaurus and the baby Triceratops now belong to my son. I still have a handful of Papos in my collection (three T. rexes, including the rare brown version, Ceratosaurus, feathered Velociraptor, and Gorgosaurus) but I have no intention of buying any new ones save for the Megaloceros. CollectA, PNSO, and Safari are my bag now.

Although if Papo ever makes a Tarbosaurus or any other tyrannosaur that isn't stuck in some laughably godawful pose, I'd probably snap that up as well.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'd leave the " gateway drug " comparison to a brand like Schleich.  Mostly because there isn't a store around me that sells Papo, Safari, ect.. anymore.

My introduction to Papo was their Jurassic Park T-Rex and honestly that is why I liked them, they had the best JP replicas that were affordable for the longest time. They still do for the most part.  I think around the time they deviated from that is when things became..odd. If I recall it started with that Allo-Raptor? If they had stuck to doing JP/JW clones I think they would have been better off.  That said they have done a couple nicer pieces like the Pentaceratops.

[suspsy]

I rather like the Gorgosaurus aside from how it suffers from Papo's weird preference for hind limbs that are spread wide apart. As with the Giganotosaurus and the Chilesaurus, it looks like it's trying to drop a big load.

[Gwangi]

I have a lot of the earlier Papo releases, and their Allosaurus is still one of my all time favorites. People like to throw shade at it now but it was legendary upon its release. And I HAD to have the Brachiosaurus when it came out. I think the last Papo figure I bought was the Tupuxuara in 2016. There are a few others I wouldn't mind having but they've become too costly, I can't justify the spending on them.

[Loon]

Here's one: I actually find most of CollectA's old releases to have a charm to them. Now, I'd never buy any of them, but they have an interesting look.

[Syndicate Bias]

Papo certainly relit my passion for dinosaur toys—along with the four feathered figures from the Carnegie Collection in 2016. But my fondness for the figures began to wane sometime in 2016. I ended up selling off most of my figures at a yard sale back in the summer, figuring that they would be better off being enjoyed by kids. Similarly, the Apatosaurus and the baby Triceratops now belong to my son. I still have a handful of Papos in my collection (three T. rexes, including the rare brown version, Ceratosaurus, feathered Velociraptor, and Gorgosaurus) but I have no intention of buying any new ones save for the Megaloceros. CollectA, PNSO, and Safari are my bag now.

Although if Papo ever makes a Tarbosaurus or any other tyrannosaur that isn't stuck in some laughably godawful pose, I'd probably snap that up as well.

We share something in common with Papo and its Allo which was also my first Papo on top of the fact that it reignited my passion for collecting dinosaurs again.

I don't care that the papo Giga turned out horrible at this point I'll just cut its head and mount it on a wooden shield. At least the head turned out how I thought it would be lol

I have ghe Eofauna and PNSO gigas to always admire so I think my quest ended there.

[PrimevalRaptor]

Here's one: I actually find most of CollectA's old releases to have a charm to them. Now, I'd never buy any of them, but they have an interesting look.

Honestly you're right, back when I first found out about CollectA (when they were still Procon) I was so excited about all their species and loved the models, they all felt very unique and distinct from other companies.
And sure, some REALLY need remakes (Eustreptospondylus please) but they do have a lot of charm.

And agree on the Allosaurus, it does have it's flaws but it's still one of my favorite models just cause it's so impressive.

[SidB]

I don' t buy any of these older ones either, but when I occaisionly run into them in thrift shops, I always snap them up. I feel that they have a certain historical interest and so a definite value in this regard. Also, the quality of the plastic and its fabrication was good, so, even if they look weirdly retro, they don't look cheap.

[Ravonium]

I'll buy the Chilesaurus because there isn't another one out there

@Halichoeres What about the Paleo-Creatures version?

[Halichoeres]

I'll buy the Chilesaurus because there isn't another one out there

@Halichoeres What about the Paleo-Creatures version?

Oh yeah, I admit I'd forgotten about that one. As a rule I only buy resins if they're fish. I break that rule from time to time, but usually only for highly unusual taxa, which is code for for non-dinosaurs (Tullimonstrum, Garjainia, that sort of thing). The Paleo-Creatures version is certainly more accurate than the Papo, but the level of detail is such that it isn't very obvious that it's specifically a Chilesaurus. The Papo has the broken wrist and the weird pose, but it clearly has four weight-bearing toes, and the head shape is recognizable as Chilesaurus.

I'd leave the " gateway drug " comparison to a brand like Schleich.  Mostly because there isn't a store around me that sells Papo, Safari, ect.. anymore.

My introduction to Papo was their Jurassic Park T-Rex and honestly that is why I liked them, they had the best JP replicas that were affordable for the longest time. They still do for the most part.  I think around the time they deviated from that is when things became..odd. If I recall it started with that Allo-Raptor? If they had stuck to doing JP/JW clones I think they would have been better off.  That said they have done a couple nicer pieces like the Pentaceratops.

I agree that Schleich is more of a gateway drug for kids. I should have clarified I was thinking of adult collectors. If I had to bet, I would guess that Papo gets more adults into the hobby than Schleich does. As for availability, there's a lot of variation in that. I've seen Schleich at Barnes & Noble and Walmart, so they clearly have good distribution. But the toy store closest to me is a kind of fancy toy store for yuppie parents, and it only stocks Papo.

And yeah, I was overlooking the JP connection. I'm not very interested in owning JP merchandise personally, but I can see why that would appeal to fans of the movies.

[Brocc21]

I just want to know what goes on in Papo's head when they make their figures poses. "We need to make a Giganotosaurus, but let's make it a tripod doing the splits with his arms stretched out like he wants a hug".

[Loon]

Here's the opinion THEY don't want you to hear: I don't really care for most of CollectA's releases. Something about the combination of the paint, sometimes soft sculpts, and plastics they use are really off-putting to me. I can't really describe it. Also, a lot of them are just too small for me.

That being said, they're not bad looking at all, at least their newer models; they're just not for me a lot of time.

Not controversial, but I gotta disagree with myself here. After getting some more CollectA figures, I definitely see why people like these. Sure, I'm a Safari guy first and foremost, but CollectA's fast becoming my #2. So much so, that I've gone from wanting 1 of their 2020 releases to most of them (sans the theropods), even a couple of the invertebrates.

[Halichoeres]

Here's the opinion THEY don't want you to hear: I don't really care for most of CollectA's releases. Something about the combination of the paint, sometimes soft sculpts, and plastics they use are really off-putting to me. I can't really describe it. Also, a lot of them are just too small for me.

That being said, they're not bad looking at all, at least their newer models; they're just not for me a lot of time.

Not controversial, but I gotta disagree with myself here. After getting some more CollectA figures, I definitely see why people like these. Sure, I'm a Safari guy first and foremost, but CollectA's fast becoming my #2. So much so, that I've gone from wanting 1 of their 2020 releases to most of them (sans the theropods), even a couple of the invertebrates.

I'm not sure if they've changed the plastic they use, but some of my older CollectA figures have begun to degrade. The plastic is tacky, although it hasn't actually altered their appearance so far. I really like CollectA for the most part, but they still come out with paint jobs that feel very half-thought-out.

[Killekor]

I'm not sure if they've changed the plastic they use, but some of my older CollectA figures have begun to degrade. The plastic is tacky, although it hasn't actually altered their appearance so far. I really like CollectA for the most part, but they still come out with paint jobs that feel very half-thought-out.

Interesting. Maybe CollectA uses a biodegradable plastic? It would be surprising, although not in positive if you want to keep your models for a very long time.

Anyways, I like most of CollectA's models, although I find some of them to have a quite boring appearance. I have to say that their upcoming Ammonite is an exceptional masterpiece, though, and it's probably their best model ever for me!

Killekor

[Loon]

I really like CollectA for the most part, but they still come out with paint jobs that feel very half-thought-out.

I gotta agree with that, I despise the "war paint" on many of the faces. I get that in life many animals do have elaborate facial colorations, but the way CollectA does it, it looks like something out of a fantasy film. Luckily they tend no to do it as much, if at all on their Non-Dinosaurs, which I'm most interested in anyway.

[Ravonium]

OK, time to review my initial contributions to this thread...

   
• I kind of like the 'war paint' colour schemes on CollectA ceratopsians (from a creative point of view). I don't think they're amazing per se, but I think they give the figures character. There are worse paint schemes from CollectA.
• On figures, I prefer overly static poses to overly dynamic poses.
• With a few exceptions*, I don't like Yowie figures. The commoness of obscure figures in that line doesn't make up for them being too overly cartoony for my taste.
• I don't care for any figure related to JP/JW or another movie franchise.

...

   
• Dinosaur action figures only work for me if the dinosaur in question is already stylised. For this reason, I don't care for either of the BOTM lines.

*The main exception to this I've seen is the Anomalocaris on Faelrin's profile picture. That figure, in my opinion, manages to be on the edge between being realistic and being cartoony.

   
• I completely stand by what I said here (and this one seems to have remained a genuinely unpopular opinion; I've only seen 1 or 2 other people here say something that agrees with it).
• Same for this one (and I guess I should clarify I don't think overly static poses are ideal either, but are preferable due to being generally more 'neutral' than overly dynamic ones)
• OK, this one I have some disagreements with now - I still think this about their older figures, however their newer ones are figures I'd genuinely be happy to own. Of course none of the figures I'm considering 'newer' are prehistoric animals, so...
• I still completely stand by this one: no extra comments needed.
• I still somewhat agree with this one, however reading about the BOTM line for so long has made me more lenient towards non-stylised action figures. I'd still prefer if said line were not action figures, however it's not something I feel the urge to make clear anymore and it would also take away a significant part of the line's unique selling point.

[Mirroraptor]

Did not discover the existence of this post until today...
In fact, I often make controversial points in forums and debate with someone sometimes(Say sorry to those who were interrupted because of my debate). I've found that many ideas that have been agreed upon in my original social group may not apply in other communities. This was further confirmed after I read this post. Therefore, I show my opinons below, and I welcome all those who disagree, and everyone who agrees or partially agrees with me.
-When choosing a model, the sculpture with a biological sense is usually more attractive to me than the accurate outer contour. In today's advanced network, we can search the Internet for reference skeleton drawing pictures drawn by many famous artists such as Scott Hartmann or Jaime Headden without much effort. We can also get a large number of pictures about the skeleton mount, the fossil and restoration drawing. Anyone can use these reference material to make proportionally accurate dinosaur models. But how to make the model feel biological and make the sculpture look like a living animal is a job that requires time to observe and understand of anatomy. Because of this, I don't laugh at or criticize some artists for their works' inaccurate proportions, because they do a good job in sculpture, which is lacking in others.
-Dinosaur restoration is a relative science. We have no way of knowing exactly what a dinosaur should look like, guessing and reasoning can only be based on existing fossil evidence. Because we have only limited clues, the rest is the world of imagination. Some of these inferences will prove to be correct in the future, others will prove to be wrong, and the rest may never be verified. Therefore, I usually refuse to judge the accuracy of a model based on the latest papers. Also, I don't care so much about whether the model is fashionable enough to keep up with the latest scientific ideas. All this led to my criteria as shown in the first article. 【Of course, I don't think that we shouldn't follow the new scientific viewpoint, but in my judging criteria, this is just a bonus.】
-I think artists should have the right to decide how they design an extinct species. The reasons are as above.
-Jurassic Park films deserve the same level of respect as other classic paleoarts and should not always be taken as a counterexample. I've had enough of all the popular sciences to fire on Jurassic Park. As the most successful film work not only in the history of movies, but also in the history of paleontology, Jurassic Park at least respects the science of its era and makes quite a few outstanding predictions. It played a role in popularizing dinosaurs and fostering interest throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. I can't think of any reason why all popular science would always rank Jurassic Park as the "unscientific" list's top. Judging from today's point of view, Jurassic Park is not the most accurate, but it is subject to the ages and people's perception of that era. Understanding of paleontology is in rapidly changing and evolving just like life itself. Those who criticize Jurassic Park may become the new 'Jurassic Park' in the future-who knows? It was just gozippohyappo(ごじっぽひゃっぽ). 【Note: The above views do not include the Jurassic World. The Jurassic Park series at least respected the science at that time-In the third installment of the series they even feathered Deinonychus to cater to new ideas, but Jurassic world didn't even have art.】
-Therefore, I respect and love classical dinosaur art works such as "Valley of Gwangi" and "The Lost World". Although they are not popular and accurate, they have all the elements I respect: The sincere cognition and fantasy of paleontology at that time.

[GojiraGuy1954]

I'm pretty sure that liking CollectA colour schemes is less popular than disliking them

[Loon]

   

• Same for this one (and I guess I should clarify I don't think overly static poses are ideal either, but are preferable due to being generally more 'neutral' than overly dynamic ones)

I also prefer more "static" poses. However, I really dislike completely neutral poses (i.e. the old Walking With Dinosaurs figures). I feel like most of Safari and CollectA's poses are the ideal, having the implications of action, but looking so extreme that they are recreating that Godzilla meme like Papo tends to.


As colors are continuing to be a hot topic, I have another one. I don't personally care what the colors of the figures are, I'm more interested in the sculpt. Most paint schemes are just ok to me, kind of many variations on the same theme. Like, don't get me wrong, I prefer a nice paint job. There are cases where the sculpt has been good, but the paint is so bad I don't even bother. This is how I feel/felt about most Mojo and Terra by Battat figures; but, then Amazon went and put the Battats up for like $13 for a set of 4 of them, and well...I didn't have a Dacentrurus or Euoplocephalus...

[Shonisaurus]

I really like Papo 2020 chilesaurus in the face of most of the negative opinions of forum members. It seems to me an outstanding figure (I have seen new photographs of that dinosaur and I honestly do not dislike the position taken by the sculptor of Papo).