CollectA—New for 2020

[Flaffy]

I think the Triassic is the most interesting period of the Mesozoic, and in any event it has rich potential for toys.

Nah, clearly the 20th rex figure and the 16th triceratops repaint is more interesting than any prehistoric creature. 

[suspsy]

I'm glad other people are excited to see Triassic stuff! After the P-T extinction, there were so many weird experiments in ecology and anatomy, many of which were culled in various extinction events through the Triassic. Those dead-ends deserve toys too. Placodonts, giant ichthyosaurs, drepanosaurs, temnospondyls, procolophonids, all the weird terrestrial stem-crocodiles, including aetosaurs, not to mention many plant, fish, and invertebrate lineages. From an evolutionary perspective, I think the Triassic is the most interesting period of the Mesozoic, and in any event it has rich potential for toys.

I'd be keen to see CollectA's take on a gorgonopsid or a rauisuchian. And yeah, a Desmatosuchus seems like it would be right up CollectA's alley.

I'm also hoping for a sea scorpion.

[Loon]

And yeah, a Desmatosuchus seems like it would be right up CollectA's alley.

I'm also hoping for a sea scorpion.

These are two things I didn't even know I wanted, but, now I pray they happen.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres @suspsy I agree with the both of you on your suggestions. I would to love to see all of those made. It's also been quite a while since we've gotten a Desmatosuchus figure too, and I could certainly use another gorgonopsid in my collection (kind of surprising that Kenner's, Safari Ltd, and Schleich are really the only options for these). Not too many options for any of those.

Honestly come to think of it, another reason why I hope this continues, not only because I want figures of these often neglected interesting creatures of long ages past, but also because they help to bring them out of relative obscurity (which documentaries and games can also help with).

With that said I am wondering if there is a 2021 CollectA hopes and dreams thread yet? I did not see one.

Edit: And why not mention everything I'd love to see made:

Anomalocaris (yes there are plenty of figures of this one by now, but nonetheless I want to see them do it, if not another similar species, like Peytoia).

Early tetrapods like Ichthyostega, Hynerpeton (not only because of WWM, but also because this one was found in the state I currently reside), and Tiktaalik.

The big Carboniferous arthropods Meganeura and Arthropleura.

Honestly any eurypterid would be good, such its namesake Eurypterus, but others like Jaekelopterus, and Pterygotus would be good picks as well.

Permian creatures like Diplocaulus, Eryops, Moschops, Prionosuchus, Scutosaurus, and any gorgonopsian (though Inostrancevia is fine too), that all have good remains but relatively few figures (if any).

I also think that despite the Triassic period being filled with a plethora of interesting animals that were not dinosaurs, I do think early dinosaurs like Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus are due for an up to date figure (if not the newly discovered Gnathovorax), if not Dinosauriformes like Marasuchus. Plateosaurus is also long overdo for another figure but I suspect Safari Ltd will do one sooner or later to make up for the now retired Carnegie Collection one.

[stargatedalek]

Personally I don't think the Cretaceous can be easily beaten in terms of explosive biodiversity and weird evolutionary dead-ends. The small slice of the Cretaceous that gets sold to us on repeat though, yah, that doesn't have much going for it anymore...

[Loon]

With that said I am wondering if there is a 2021 CollectA hopes and dreams thread yet? I did not see one.

After seeing your comment, I made one: CollectA 2021 Hopes & Dreams

[tanystropheus]

I think CollectA deserves more commendation for branching out into the realm of invertebrates and Paleozoic beasts. They listened to constructive fan feedback and they obliged with gusto.

I'm also really hoping that the Lisowicia represents the start of greater focus on Triassic fauna, both dinosaurs and otherwise.

^

Absolutely, this new CollectA crop resembles high-end museum pieces!

[Halichoeres]

Personally I don't think the Cretaceous can be easily beaten in terms of explosive biodiversity and weird evolutionary dead-ends. The small slice of the Cretaceous that gets sold to us on repeat though, yah, that doesn't have much going for it anymore...

The Cretaceous had more diversity than any period that preceded it, but I would submit that the overwhelming majority of the unfamiliar morphologies kicking around then are 1) concentrated among tetrapods and 2) better represented in plastic than those of any other period. The Triassic had fewer species even adjusting for the fact that the Triassic was shorter, but Triassic animals were more disparate and more dissimilar to modern animals, which is why I find it more interesting. I mean, the Triassic still had conodonts! For the same reason, I find the Paleozoic more interesting than the Mesozoic on average. None of that is to say that there aren't plenty of Cretaceous animals I wouldn't love to see (Calcarichelys, Saurodon, Saichangurvel), but I'm always going to agitate for the Paleozoic and Triassic because they are relatively much more neglected.

I think the Triassic is the most interesting period of the Mesozoic, and in any event it has rich potential for toys.

Nah, clearly the 20th rex figure and the 16th triceratops repaint is more interesting than any prehistoric creature. 

I haven't bought a new rex since 2017 and I won't until we go at least a year with no new figures of it. Which is to say, never.

[suspsy]

I posted this image in another thread; it's a Microraptor gui specimen from the Beijing Museum of Natural History. I'm not sure if they're the museum that commissioned CollectA to make a Microraptor, but it would certainly explain the absence of long twin feathers at the tip of the toy's tail.

Untitled by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

[Faelrin]

@suspsy What's interesting is that behind the fossil is that one artwork that does depict it with the two long tail feathers.

I guess perhaps CollectA was not in the wrong for making their figure look this way, if they based it off of this specimen, although there are still anatomical issues with it however.

[Duna]

Maybe they are like quetzal and other birds, only males have the long twin tail feathers ....

[stargatedalek]

Maybe they are like quetzal and other birds, only males have the long twin tail feathers ....

In modern birds females are typically dull in colour because of nesting behaviour. As an example birds that nest in protected cavities (IE macaws or hornbills) have colourful males and females both.

I don't know about Dromaeosaurs but Enantiornithes didn't spend very long tending their nests, as they hatched quickly and the young were independent almost immediately after hatching. Given this it's probably unlike that Microraptor had sexually dimorphic display features, and if it did the odds that the brighter coloured member would be male or female are indeterminable, given how variable this trait is among birds (especially features not directly related to nest camouflage).

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I was pretty sure I'd heard before that there was more than one tail fan morph for Microraptor.

[Duna]

In modern birds females are typically dull in colour because of nesting behaviour. As an example birds that nest in protected cavities (IE macaws or hornbills) have colourful males and females both.
I don't know about Dromaeosaurs but Enantiornithes didn't spend very long tending their nests, as they hatched quickly and the young were independent almost immediately after hatching. Given this it's probably unlike that Microraptor had sexually dimorphic display features, and if it did the odds that the brighter coloured member would be male or female are indeterminable, given how variable this trait is among birds (especially features not directly related to nest camouflage).

Many birds have colourful males and females and use "normal" exposed nests, do not need any camouflage. In fact, nesting is not the reason for this, as this articles explain:
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/why-some-female-birds-are-just-colorful-males/
https://www.livescience.com/10606-bird-species-females-pretty.html
If microraptor females or males had to display to mate (regardless they looked after the eggs or not), they could be different from the other sex. Maybe longer feathers look nicer ...

[Duna]

In modern birds females are typically dull in colour because of nesting behaviour. As an example birds that nest in protected cavities (IE macaws or hornbills) have colourful males and females both.
I don't know about Dromaeosaurs but Enantiornithes didn't spend very long tending their nests, as they hatched quickly and the young were independent almost immediately after hatching. Given this it's probably unlike that Microraptor had sexually dimorphic display features, and if it did the odds that the brighter coloured member would be male or female are indeterminable, given how variable this trait is among birds (especially features not directly related to nest camouflage).

Many birds have colourful males and females and use "normal" exposed nests, do not need any camouflage. In fact, nesting is not the reason for this, as this articles explain:
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/why-some-female-birds-are-just-colorful-males/
https://www.livescience.com/10606-bird-species-females-pretty.html
But yes, you are probably right and they did not have sexual dimorphism.

[Shonisaurus]

The catalog of Collecta 2020 is now available, I pass the link:

https://www.collecta.biz/catalogue/files/assets/common/downloads/publication.pdf

[suspsy]

I'll be danged. CollectA added those two missing tail feathers to the Microraptor. Guess that settles that issue!

[Sim]

I would have liked the two tail feathers to be longer, but I still think it's been improved.

[Faelrin]

I agree with Sim in that those should be longer, but it is interesting to see they listened to feedback about this.


Edit: Scrolled further down and saw they will have two box sets with the invertebrates in their gift sets section (though both have the ammonite and belemnite) in addition to the standalone releases. Might be of interest to some here perhaps.


Edit: Anything retired/missing here?

[suspsy]

I agree with Sim in that those should be longer, but it is interesting to see they listened to feedback about this.

I'm not sure if it was necessarily fan feedback that prompted this. It could also have been that the sculptor caught their own error and informed CollectA management that they wanted to fix it, but there wasn't time to do so before the reveals back in November. So they just went ahead and used an image of the version that was already finished, then used the corrected version for the catalog image. Alternatively, perhaps it was Anthony Beeson who caught the error and called for the fix.

Or maybe it really was fan feedback, who knows? In any case, it's great that this happened.