Controversial opinions on dinosaur toys

[Halichoeres]

I also like detachable bases. Seems like a good compromise. But it seems like most companies are really loath to include what amounts to an extra part.

I will buy the Papo Chilesaurus because of completeness compulsion, but I think it probably is a worse, or anyway equally bad figure. It just doesn't suffer from comparison to so many people's long-held dreams. Also I think most of the people who are really into Papo figures just don't care about Chilesaurus.

[Ravonium]

Yeah I agree with Concavenator and Loon that the Chilesaurus is a worse figure; there's a reason it, and not the Giga, is the figure being mocked in my pfp and personal text 

[EmperorDinobot]

I'm not sure this counts as controversy, but some of these Beasts of the Mesozoic figures have really loose hands.

And I don't think they should have made some of these like Acheroraptor, Adasaurus, and Pyroraptor. Like they're fragmentary at best.

[stargatedalek]

I miss the Carnegie era tripods.

I don't like bases, and no one else seems to be willing to make tripods in a pose that isn't either fully upright with unrealistic disproportionate tails, or fully horizontal with the tail jarringly snapped along the length to have it point downwards.

[EmperorDinobot]

I miss them too. The Carnegie era is what molded us into real dinosaur collectors.

[Silvanusaurus]

I never commented on them when I first got my BOTM Raptor figures, I dont think I was active on the forum at that time so I am not sure what the general consensus was at the time. Anyway, this might be controversial so I feel the need to say that I have since felt very disappointed by them. I have never been able to pose them in an 'action' pose that looks at all naturalistic, the articulation scheme is just really awkward and limiting, even more so because the limb joints started to get pretty loose from the beginning. On top of that, I've found the bases with the little support rods to be practically useless, I've never managed to attach or position the figures onto them in a way that actually balances enough to stand up, let alone secure them in a dynamic position. The bases have just sat stored away in a box, as have the fairly redundant extra toes, and the only one of the raptors I've ever displayed has been the Balaur because the wings are big enough to obscure the gangliness of the body and prop it upright in the single crouched/relaxed pose that has ever looked aesthetically pleasing. As a consequence of all this I'm starting to feel like they are a bit pointless for me, as much as I was originally excited by the thought of articulated raptors. I'm only expressing this now as I'm at one of those moments of collection re-assessment that comes with having a sort out. Where others generally happy with them or not?

[stargatedalek]

I quite adore mine, it stands well leaning back on its tail and the joints are still stiff. The extra toes and base are definitely pointless though, attaching it to the rod was difficult and ultimately redundant as it balances better leaning on its tail.

[Gwangi]

I like the Schleich Baryonyx more than the CollectA deluxe. And I dislike all of the CollectA T. rex figures.

[Takama]

I Like the Schleich Baryonyx as well.

I think its better then there Spinosaurus from last year.

[Shonisaurus]

For me, Schleich's baryonyx is superior to its Collecta counterpart in quality. I totally agree with the other forum members who think the same.

Sincerely, the baryonyx of Schleich 2020 is of the same genius as the dinosaur figures of Battat Dans Lorusso.

[Killekor]

I agree too about the Schleich Baryonyx. There's something in the CollectA one that never convinced me.

Where others generally happy with them or not?

Well, I'm quite happy with the ones I have/had (unfortunately the hip joint of my Velociraptor broke) but I understand your criticism.

And I have to say that, after the initial enthusiasm, I loosed my interest in the ceratopsian series. Their big size and high price stopped me from buying them as well as all the future 1/18 scale BotM big dinosaurs such as T-Rex (except maybe an eventual Spinosaurus).

Killekor

[EmperorDinobot]

Well the BOTM ceratopsians aren't even out yet. I'm insanely excited for them because they scale well with my action figures and a bunch of my JP dinosaurs.

I've only opened three raptors so far: Velociraptor, which was the original kickstarter one, but someone got tired of it real quick, and two Zhenyuanlong. Blue Zhenyuanlong's wrists are wayyy too loose, and the tail falls off rather easily. I've also found paint issues with them.

I'm opening Adasaurus later tonight. Maybe that one will be awesome.

[Dinoguy2]

I'm pretty meh about the BOM raptors. I also could never get the posing stand to work very well. The figures are far too front heavy to stand up even with the balancing crutch. For being "highly articulated" figures, the posability is actually pretty limited, and a lot of the segments on the figure that appear to be joints don't actually move. I have no idea why there shouldn't be an up-down hinge joint at the base of the neck, for example. This thing can't even do so much as lower it's head. And the joints you really want to be able to move a lot for posing, like the shoulder and elbow, barely do more than swivel.

I'm looking forward to the ceratopsians because they look cool, but so far it looks like their posability will be similarly limited. Most cool poses I can think of to put an accurate ceratopsian in don't seem possible with the range of motion shown in pre-pro photos. I'm looking forward to the single one I ordered but I think it would work better as a basic PVC non-articulated figure line if the articulation isn't anything special.

[Loon]

I honestly feel like this is less a problem with BOTM specifically, and more with articulated action figures in general. No mass-produced action figure is able to look natural, to me at least. Though, I think the raptors pose a unique issue of having very thin body parts.

[Halichoeres]

Yeah, I almost always prefer non-articulated (inarticulate?) figures. Human action figures work a little better because all of the mass is above the center of gravity, but bipedal dinosaurs are hard to pull off. The old Resaurus line had the same balance problem with its theropods.

It also does seem like some of the articulation of the BotM figures is there just for the sake of having it. They're beautiful sculpts and the paint work is usually on point, but I would have liked them better as static toys. I've said this elsewhere, but I get the feeling that Silva would have been bored with merely making beautiful sculpts and liked the challenge of making them move as well.

[Ikessauro]

Yeah, I almost always prefer non-articulated (inarticulate?) figures.

It also does seem like some of the articulation of the BotM figures is there just for the sake of having it. They're beautiful sculpts and the paint work is usually on point, but I would have liked them better as static toys. I've said this elsewhere, but I get the feeling that Silva would have been bored with merely making beautiful sculpts and liked the challenge of making them move as well.

Totally agree with you on this one. I too find the models well sculpted and the colors are cool, but the articulation doesn't appeal to me. Never bought a single one. Not that I wouldn't buy them, but when in need to choose between them and another static piece, they lose every time.

[Faelrin]

So here's my thoughts on a couple of topics that's been of discussion here as of late:

On bases:
I've gotten my thoughts out on this topic plenty of times, but I really do like detachable bases. I think REBOR, Itoy, PNSO, and Creative Beast Studio (mainly the accessory packs bases and other parts) have the best to offer in the current market right now in the way of this sort of thing, perhaps aside from Favorite's (expensive) dioramas. In fact I honestly wish more companies would release diorama bases on their own, perhaps specifically REBOR, who has a knack for making things look particularly realistic (I really love the bases for their Ceratosaurus, Dilophosaurus pair, and Dimorophodon pair particularly), though the addition of accessory critters too would be nice, such as insects, lizards, fish, frogs, mammals, etc. On a similar note I wish more companies would have flora. At this point in time I think Creative Beast Studio and CollectA are the only ones with plants on the market that aren't retired, aside from those cheap chinasaur sets typically.

On the recent Schleich figures:
I do prefer the Schleich Baronyx over the CollectA one, though I suppose it's mainly from the color scheme, and maybe the sculpt to some degree, even though that was probably based of the Jurassic World Suchomimus anyways.

On that note I do like the new Schleich Cryolophosaurus. While I don't have it in hand, from what I've seen of it, I do think the skull isn't too far off from what the one at the recent exhibit at the Field Museum of Natural History had in terms of shape (though the skull isn't wholly known as it is to begin with, and there is some of this filling in the gaps based on possible relatives, depending on if this was an early tetanuran or something else). I'm also not against the color scheme as it makes me quite nostalgic since my first introduction to Cryolophosaurus was that image of it restored with the bright magenta crest and blue body coloration. Though I do hope to see a feathered interpretation from Safari Ltd hopefully, as there are no figures of it like that available yet, and it would be a fresh take on it. Granted I've shared all this already in the Schleich thread, but bears repeating here I suppose.

On the Beasts of the Mesozoic raptor figures, etc:
In the case of the Beasts of the Mesozoic raptor figures, as much as I love these for what they are, I do admit that I have had issues with getting mine to stand, at least specifically the Dromaeosaurus pair I have as the pelvis clip offered was only designed to fit on the thinner pelvis parts like on the Velociraptor, at least for the initial version of that figure, and those other species that use the same part as it (it was corrected for later versions, but I have no need to buy a second version of the same product I originally helped to back in the first place), which limits the potential poses quite a bit (the jumping rods are all but impossible to use with those original figures without modifications to the pelvis clips that came with them). However with a bit of work I have gotten them to stand with the semi circle shaped clip and posing rod, otherwise they do just fine in a resting pose. I have yet to try out a tripod pose them (though I am certainly curious to try, as I really do like the pose of the recent Safari Ltd Deinonychus).

While I have gotten some use out of the interchangeable toes (in the case of my Velociraptor with the jumping rod as an example), they can make things hard to stand especially with the textured base, and realistically small proportioned feet, and being front heavy, despite the posing rods and various clips (though the angled rod piece from the accessory packs only I think, helps out a bit, in addition to the pelvis clip where applicable). I do think if the bases had a place for the feet to slot in, it would perhaps help a lot, in addition to the posing rods, though it would limit the poses they could have, but to be frank I would be okay with sacrificing some potential poses for stability. Hopefully the tyrannosaurs do not run into this issue.

Additionally a few things were warped (jaws on my brown Dromaeosaurus, Mononykus, and even one of my White Nestlings which I bought recently, though all were easy to fix with or without the hairdryer and a bit of force) and a few things did break, though it was only a few of the foot pegs for the smaller creatures from the accessory packs (probably my own fault, but well still disappointing to say the least, like the peg on the log from the forest set the day I got it from trying to get it into the Microraptor's foot).

I must also agree that the neck articulation is a bit limited perhaps from the addition of the collar pieces. However the only thing in my collection that is comparable is perhaps my plethora of Mattel Extreme Chomping rexes, in that they have a collar piece of sorts, but still have far more movement there.

At least thankfully with the ceratopsian's stability will not be (or should not be) an issue for them. I'm quite fine with the range of motion for what I've been seeing in the images of them so far, but granted I wasn't expecting much to begin with as they are for the most part bulkier creatures, and I wouldn't expect the same flexibility of them as I would probably expect on a smaller thinner dromaeosaurid (though I suppose that assumes these were flexible as well). To be honest I'd be fine with displaying them in rather neutral poses as well, so the lack of potential poses won't be a deal breaker for me. Though what I will be honestly concerned about will be the paint applications. I've experienced a few paint issues so far, nothing major, but well still disappointing considering the price of these figures much of the time. Considering some of these are close to $100 or over, I am hoping to see that they will be flawless.

[Shonisaurus]

Honestly, although almost nothing is known about agustinia (it is a quite speculative dinosaur) I really like Schleich's agustinia is more beautiful than I thought I will have to comment on this weekend my impression of these figures. I like the four Schleich figures to rage metaphorically speaking.

On the other hand I am a supporter of theropods with non-removable bases and prehistoric animals without any articulated member. I am not a fan of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals with articulated limbs (for example articulated jaws) or other parts of the body. I prefer the sculptures in one piece and without seams.

I believe that theropods could be made without articulated jaws and with their mouths closed and with lips and other realistic carnivores such as those made by the Safari brand. I like dinosaurs in one piece and theropods without clown feet that are kept on non-removable bases and well decorated like resin figures or Rebor or PNSO bases to give two examples.

On the other hand, I love dinosaurs based on fiction movies JP / JW, the lost world, King Kong and fantastic dinosaurs such as vastatosaurus, indominus and indoraptor. I would like the Rebor brand not only to make fantastic animals such as the vastatosaurus and King Kong I would like it to make all the fantastic animals of the Skull Island and that all the species described in the King Kong book were represented as a toy and of resin dinosaur.

[stargatedalek]

The neck on mine (the roadrunner one) is also weird. It moves side to side fine but is very restricted moving up or down.

I think a lot of the articulation for the raptors is extraneous, and for the amount it does take away from the realism of the figure I had definitely hoped to get a bit more use out of the articulation. Ironic how feathers which are actually layered look so much less realistic with layered parts than the ceratopsians, who manage to hide their articulation much better.

[Dinoguy2]

At least thankfully with the ceratopsian's stability will not be (or should not be) an issue for them. I'm quite fine with the range of motion for what I've been seeing in the images of them so far, but granted I wasn't expecting much to begin with as they are for the most part bulkier creatures, and I wouldn't expect the same flexibility of them as I would probably expect on a smaller thinner dromaeosaurid (though I suppose that assumes these were flexible as well). To be honest I'd be fine with displaying them in rather neutral poses as well, so the lack of potential poses won't be a deal breaker for me. Though what I will be honestly concerned about will be the paint applications. I've experienced a few paint issues so far, nothing major, but well still disappointing considering the price of these figures much of the time. Considering some of these are close to $100 or over, I am hoping to see that they will be flawless.

To clarify, my main issue with the ceratopsians are the neck and forelimb articulation. They seem to have the same neck issue (no articulation at the base), and the elbow doesn't seem capable for even getting to a 90 degree angle, and the shoulders don't seem to be capable of moving upward. So, it will be impossible to do any crouching, sitting, or charging poses. Or even just an eating pose if the neck won't move down and the elbows can't evert.

It's a bit sad that the Amber Collection raptor has better and more usable articulation than BoM. Of course the Amber raptor looks much worse. But if I just wanted looks, I'd buy a static figure.