Loon's Collection: PNSO Suchomimus (Jan 16, 2023)

[Bread]

I didn't know PNSO had plans for an Acrocanthosaurus, but that would be interesting to see. Hopefully it follows the path of their Carcharodontosaurus more than their other theropods.

Its not confirmed nor is it official that PNSO plan to do it. It's part of the rumored list of figures PNSO plan to make "supposedly."

Also, wonderful haul @Loon
I love the PNSO Olorotitan but yes I have to agree that sometimes it looks odd next to its other hadrosaur families in the PNSO line. To me, I think it is the posture which makes it look very thin and light.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

'm sure you're tired of this display

I'm sure you're tired of this answer, but: No. Its absolutely gorgeous.

[Faelrin]

Congrats on your new acquisitions and displays. You know despite the proportion issues on the Acrocanthosaurus, I still really do like the color scheme. I'm still holding out for a more accurate one, but if nothing pops in the next year or so I may bite the bullet for that one finally. Also lucky you, able to see one of the mounts of those massive beasts in person. Must have been a sight to behold.

[Eocarcharia]

Nice haul! I rather like that Troodon/Stenonychosaurus and completely agree that there should be more figures of it.

Thanks for the comment @Eocarcharia ! I used to have a ton of Mattel stuff myself, even imported those Destruct-A-Saurs from Canada once. I basically had everything from the first year, but I realized that was unsustainable.

That was basically me too, minus the Destruct-A-Saurs, except I continued on with completionism through to the first wave of Primal Attack in 2020/year three of the toyline before calling it quits on that strategy.

"I'm gonna run you over when I come back down!"

[Duck]

I didn't know PNSO had plans for an Acrocanthosaurus, but that would be interesting to see. Hopefully it follows the path of their Carcharodontosaurus more than their other theropods.

Its not confirmed nor is it official that PNSO plan to do it. It's part of the rumored list of figures PNSO plan to make "supposedly."

Also, wonderful haul @Loon
I love the PNSO Olorotitan but yes I have to agree that sometimes it looks odd next to its other hadrosaur families in the PNSO line. To me, I think it is the posture which makes it look very thin and light.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but, man, I hope it actually comes to be.

[Shonisaurus]

Nice Christmas acquisitions, I see that among the ones you are showing is the PNSO olororitan and the question I would like to ask you is, can it be kept without a rod?

On the other hand, you also bought the two armored dinosaurs from Safari, I sincerely love them, although except for you and some other member of the DTF they must not have had much success, unfortunately.

As always, your good taste when it comes to acquiring toy dinosaur figures is taken for granted. Thanks for sharing.

[Loon]

@Bread Thanks for the clarification. To be honest, I don't really check PNSO threads to see what's coming out. I find them too argumentative at times, and I'm trying to avoid that these days. So, I only find out what's new when I check AliExpress. Luckily, that allows me to not get overly hyped and sometimes see what other people think before I pull the trigger, which is nice, since these things aren't cheap.

@Kapitaenosavrvs I appreciate the reassurance. I think I just feel as though it's akin to showing off wealth or bragging. Because, it is a lot of figures, and I know I own them as a result of having a certain degree of privilege and lack of responsibility. I'm sure I'm just overthinking it, but I can't help it. Anyway, thanks for the comment.

@Faelrin I think that's my general attitude with Papo Dinosaurs these days. While I think this one is a step above a lot of the others, there's room for improvement of course. I would love to see PNSO's take, especially now that it seems they've mostly gotten over their funk with theropods. Their Carcharodontosaurus is real favorite of mine from last year, so I feel like they can nail an Acrocanthosaurus.

@Eocarcharia I felt that way around the start of Dino Rivals. I would go out and hunt relentlessly for everything, usually getting two (one for me and one for my friend Nick). My real breaking point was when I realized I was just buying repaint after repaint, especially of that awful pteranodon mold. So, now, I'm just happy to get the few legacy figures that come out each year.

Also, that's a pretty good use of that quote. I need to return my Nedry fan card since ei didn't think of it first.

@Shonisaurus Thanks for the comment, as always. Mine can stand without the support (which I find to be the case for quite a few of them), but I don't want to risk the legs getting warped or a shelf dive. Out of all the ones I own, I would say that this one feels the most like it would fall over easily, as a slight nudge will tip it.

[Halichoeres]

The Nedry duck is hilarious.

On Anchiornis, the second toe is shorter than the third and fourth, but the claw has the same curvature, so it isn't quite as 'deinonychosaurian' as in later troodontids. But its shortness might mean it could have been held clear of the ground. (Pei et al 2017: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090-411.1.1)

[Duck]

By the way @Loon  and @Bread  the list of rumored PNSO figures is this:
-Triceratops/Torosaurus
-Centrosaurus
-Styracosaurus
-Acrocanthosaurus
-Sinraptor
-Iguanodon
- Tsintaosaurus
I'm pretty sure this is legit, since three of these have already been released.

[Loon]

@Halichoeres Hm, so it seems like PNSO's is a little more accurate in that respect. I guess I can just excuse it as the animal planting it's toes on the ground for a second, especially since I feel like this figure is more faithful overall.

@Duck That is an interesting list, but honestly nothing that gets the blood pumping. While the species are interesting, I frankly have decent enough representatives of the ones I would be interested in. Not to mention that the prices on these things are a bit much and I'm trying to be more cautious this year ("trying" be the keyword  here), so I really need to be blown away to pick them up. I hope they start releasing more Asian dinosaurs soon, a Gigantoraptor or Deinocheirus would be interesting. Or even, some non-dinosaurs.

[Duck]

@Loon  Yeah, I wish they would do more pterosaurs.

[Ezikot]

I really like your collection and I love your displays.

May I ask you some infos about your hyena models? I'm not sure I can recognize all of them, so... who are they? what brands?
I'm interested in late pleistocene of Europe but, as you know, there are no crocuta crocuta spelaea figures on the market (just one and ugly by diramix?), so I would like to use a crocuta crocuta figure in place of the subspecies (anyway reading here and there it seems that also the modern species was part of the late pleistocene fauna of Europe), but usually they are too big (I have the Safari's and I love it, but it should be around 1:15)... Can you suggest good ones but smaller (from 1:20 to 1:40?
Thank you very much and sorry for the long reply. 

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

That's a lovely and impressive Christmas haul there. I will never tire of this thread.
Always really nice.
The rubber duck Nedry has to be the most unusual thing I've seen all week too.

What's the other boom thing behind the Naish book and Pinacosaurus?

[Loon]

@Ezikot First off, thank you. Secondly, yeah, it's a bit of a shame companies don't make more extinct mammals, especially hyenas. But, even modern hyaenids have such poor representation, so it's not too shocking.

Anyway, I could rant about hyenas all day (I wrote a 10 page research paper about the things), so I will, but within the confines of your question. As far as the cave hyena goes, I would say most of the major brands/standard sized figures are out of the question. They weren't that much bigger than modern hyenas, and since most of them are roughly the same size, they'd still all be bigger than 1:20, even if you adjust for the size increase.

So, I'd say your best bet would be one of the smaller scale figures. I tend to like to think that I have collected the nicest of the small spotted hyenas; sure, maybe I'm missing one or two, but these I find the most appealing/accurate.

From left to right: Eikoh, Safari Ltd. TOOB, Yowie USA, and two Bandaï Hyenas.

Of these, I think you're best bet would be the Safari TOOB one. Firstly, it's the cheapest and easiest to find. Bandaï and Eikoh would probably have to be imported from Japan, and the Yowie is blind packed. Also, I think it just has the nicest sculpt of them all. While I think it's a little too skinny and lanky for a spotted hyena, and especially so for a cave hyena, I think it works well enough. Frankly, I find the sculpt way nicer than the larger one. Also, it should scale pretty well. Considering cave hyenas seemed to have proportionally longer limb bones, that second attribute might not be the worst, you could probably pass it off as a malnourished individual as well. If the cave hyena was about a meter tall at the shoulder, this figure is about 1:31 scale.

@Gothmog the Baryonyx Really kind words, thank you so much. That duck is definitely something, makes me think I should start a small Nedry shrine or something.

Anyway, assuming you mean the larger book in the back. That's Life Through Time: The 700-Million-Year Story of Life on Earth by John Woodward. It's essentially a very fancy picture book for kids. Which is fine by me, as someone who's studying to teach elementary school kids, I take interest in these kinds of things. Plus, it's the sort of book I would have swooned over as a kid and begged my dad for, since it's full of big, colorful art and doesn't involve a ton of reading. Honestly, that would make me swoon over it a bit these days.

[Loon]

I'm sick and my head feels a bit like it just went through a cement mixer, so forgive me if any of this comes off as the ramblings of a madman.

Anyway, I just got my first figure of the new year!!! PNSO's new Triceratops came in the mail today and I cannot wait to talk about it. I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting to like this one much. The early photos made me wary of the articulated jaw (more on that later) and I was just getting a little sick of constantly "upgrading" perfectly good figures for figures that cost a lot more. But, there's something to this trike once you get it in hand.


It comes with a nice scale model of the skull. I'm partial to ceratopsian skulls, especially Triceratops. The skull of the massive Triceratops prorsus on display at my beloved Los Angeles NHM is the first thing you see in their grand dinosaur hall, so even though it's a different species, I enjoy it for reminding me of that.


Another wonderful feature of this figure is the detailed skin. I believe I read somewhere that it's directly based on the skin impressions found at the Houston museum. I've included a picture from my 2018 trip of said impressions, and it does bear quite a resemblance.



Now, as I said, I wasn't eager to replace my Safari Triceratops with this one. So, I compared the two a bit and ultimately did decide that I find the PNSO favorable. Not to say that Safari's is bad, it's perfectly good, and for the price, definitely a better bang for your buck (it's less than a 4th the price of PNSO's). This may also be a bit of guilt at the price I paid, which isn't a great way to determine how to like something. But, there are certain features that are just so striking on the PNSO, as they should be for the price.


One of those cool little things is the inclusion of the uropatagium, which you can sorta see in this odd picture. It's the flap of skin that connects the legs to the tail. This is a first for any dinosaur toy, let alone a ceratopsian. Which, is odd as the basal psittacosaurus is known to have had one and even its toys lack it.


It's not all perfect of course. Aside from the high price of nearly $65, there are a few issues. Most notable is the jaw articulation. I don't usually have any issues with articulated jaws, but on herbivores it's always troublesome. Unfortunately the triceratops is no different. I feel it breaks up the sculpt in a very unpleasant way. In addition, it's relatively annoying to operate, as it's not that easy to get open without feeling like you're going to pull something wrongly. Also, the top beak has a habit of blocking the lower jaw from opening or closing. The below photo shows how much you can close it without bending it in to get past the beak.


Another issue is the sheer amount of paper included with this thing. You get, surprisingly, booklets, cards, paper to draw on your self, and both large and small prints. This is to do with the unique line this figure is part of. The feature here is that using these prints and cards and such, as well as the figure, you can create structured activities in the vain of a mini museum field trip for kids. There are also videos that they tell you to watch in addition. As someone who plans to go into teaching and has an interest in dinosaurs, I can appreciate the gesture, but practically it seems a bit strange. These activities range around 45 or so minutes, which seems like a real stretch for an elementary school age kid's attention span, probably my own too. If you're not going to use it for that purpose however, it's just a bunch of paper that'll sit in a drawer and probably drive the cost of the figure up a bit.




Still, none of these issues ruin this figure. This is such an exciting and beautiful model, I can't help but like it despite a few qualms. It's inspired me to take a few fun photos as well.





I felt the need to pull out every ceratopsian I own (I think) and take one big group shot with all of them. Easier said than done, as I forgot how many of these things I have.


Anyway, hopefully any of that made sense to you

[Shonisaurus]

My congratulations on your new acquisition. How nice! It is much better than promotional photos. Now I understand why PNSO products are so expensive they come with additional material in this case a skull and a brochure, I have come to the conclusion that the PNSO prices are logical. There is no toy dinosaur company that sells such a well presented product.

Obviously they charge not only for the figure but for the additional material and I understand that it cannot be dispensed with, in the event that the figure is bought (that is, only the figure is bought), so the figure and box are part of a whole. Beautiful, and complete both graphic and explanatory presentation of your new collectible figure. I'm happy for you, if I could I would buy it too.

[Ezikot]

Thank you very much for your exhaustive reply! It was really kind of you to help me.
And congratulations for your new Triceratops.

[Eocarcharia]

That's definitely a nice looking figure, and an excellent addition to your collection. I like your Ceratopsian family photo too. I agree with the issues though, like the price, papers, and marginal improvement over previous figures like Safari's, which will probably keep me from getting it.

[JohannesB]

In hand, this figure is just as beautiful as on the promotional pictures, I have to say, although on mine the detail is a bit soft here and there (especially on the head), but nothing retracts from the overall excellence of this figure. (I would say the Iguanodon is even finer, and it does not suffer from any issues connected to an articulating jaw, like this figure does.) This is probably the most lifelike, most beautifully sculpted and detailed Triceratops toy (aside from its few little issues). And as you say, the addition of uropatagia is a very nice touch which helps to sell the appearance of it being a real animal, in my view.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Yes I meant that book, I should really check what autocorrect has changed things into before hitting "Post". Thank you, I do read children's books from time to time, like the Earth Before Us trio, and watch children's TV programmes, and that has my interest piqued.

The Triceratops looks lovely, thanks for sharing. I am on the fence about this one. I feel if PNSO does release a separate Torosaurus I will definitely skip the Triceratops, but if not, I may end up getting it, though I will be adding some paint to the frill as I cannot abide a dull coloured Ceratopsoid frill. The inclusion of the uropatagium does make me err in its favour, thank you for your photography.

I like your group photo too, so many lovely figures.