PNSO—New for 2020

[Halichoeres]

Man those comparison images with the old Wilson really drive home how bad the old Wilson was.

[Remko]

Man those comparison images with the old Wilson really drives home how bad the old Wilson was.

Not really bad, it shows how fast scientific developments with regard to the appearance of extinct animals progresses the last couple of years. Especially the understanding of popular animals like Tyrannosaurus.

[Bread]

Man those comparison images with the old Wilson really drives home how bad the old Wilson was.

I really dodged a bullet. Was going to order Wilson V1 a few days before this Winter Wilson was revealed. Those comparisons definitely show how outdated old Wilson is, however, I think the old variant still holds up as a good Tyrannosaurus. Despite having a slight "mange" appearance, with "demon eyes" I have heard people describe it.

[SidB]

Having the v. 1 and v. 3, I find that the paint work on the latter allows it to be seen far better light than the former. When the original version is put into a semi-shaded location, it's 'mange' is less apparent, almost disappearing.

[stargatedalek]

Man those comparison images with the old Wilson really drives home how bad the old Wilson was.

Not really bad, it shows how fast scientific developments with regard to the appearance of extinct animals progresses the last couple of years. Especially the understanding of popular animals like Tyrannosaurus.

No, it was bad. Everything this new Wilson is based on is stuff we knew about Tyrannosaurus back in the 80's (not gonna pretend we didn't forgot some of it through the 90's and had to relearn it though, thanks a certain someone and his inverted gutted theropods...). The old Wilson just played to pop-culture schlock instead of to what we actually knew.

[Carnoking]

@stargatedalek

I'm curious, is there a piece of art that would be a good reference of T.rex from the 80s?

[empire3569]

Haven't seen anyone else post this, but here's another video of the new 2020 Wilson: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1jZ4y137PZ/?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.0

Has pretty good lighting and shows the figure close-up from multiple angles for those still wishing to see more before purchasing

[stargatedalek]

@stargatedalek

I'm curious, is there a piece of art that would be a good reference of T.rex from the 80s?

I wasn't able to find any art, but there are many examples of museum mounts from the 70's and 80's of Tyrannosaurs that were given similar bulk.

I particularly remember photos of a skeletal that were referenced for Safari's newest feathered rex being shown here, and it looked better than most modern museum skeletal mounts.

[Gwangi]

I would say that Doug Henderson's Tyrannosaurus was fairly bulky for the time, especially when compared to someone like Greg Paul. This piece is from 1992 but whatever, close enough to the 80's.

[Halichoeres]

Man those comparison images with the old Wilson really drives home how bad the old Wilson was.

Not really bad, it shows how fast scientific developments with regard to the appearance of extinct animals progresses the last couple of years. Especially the understanding of popular animals like Tyrannosaurus.

As others have said, I think it had problems even for the time. Besides being rather too lean, I find the textures increasingly off-putting. It's actually rather like a Papo or Rebor figure in that it substitutes detail for realism, a really unfortunate trend in dinosaur toys. I don't mean to disparage anyone who is into unrealistic levels of detail--I bought the old Wilson myself when it was new. But the longer I had it the more I disliked it.

[edu]

I would say that Doug Henderson's Tyrannosaurus was fairly bulky for the time, especially when compared to someone like Greg Paul. This piece is from 1992 but whatever, close enough to the 80's.

This is from the early nineties? It looks so... modern. Really cool, I'll look for more artwork from this guy.

[Dusty Wren]

This is from the early nineties? It looks so... modern. Really cool, I'll look for more artwork from this guy.

Doug Henderson's work is phenomenal, and I think his older pieces feel "modern" because he was one of the few paleoartists in the 80s/90s who focused on depicting dinosaurs as just a small part of a larger ecosystem. Seeing dinosaurs moving through these intricate landscapes makes them feel more believable, even in cases where the physical appearances of the animals are outdated. Like, he has an illustration from 1994 where the Velociraptors don't have feathers, but the attention to detail in the environment and the composition still sell the painting as a believable moment in time. 

He's pretty active on his Facebook page, too, if you want to see more from him.

[suspsy]

Doug Henderson was one of the first artists to depict dinosaurs behaving like real animals in a real world as opposed to mighty beasts posing epically on a stage.

[stargatedalek]

I think a lot of dinosaur art from the 60's into the early 80's (and in some cases into the 90's) looks a lot more accurate because of the shift in methodology that happened in the 70's and 80's. A lot of paleoart from the 60's in particular was done by wildlife artists, who would find a skeleton to reference, and then flesh it out based on modern reptiles. This is what resulted in a lot of the uncannily modern looking* paleoart from the time, with bulky, lipped theropods.

But in the 80's we are encountering not only more dedicated paleoartists, but many who work specifically alongside paleontologists, and suddenly the priority shifts from "What if this was alive?" to "How can we show everyone this skeleton as a living animal?" and while that difference may sound subtle it had a huge impact. Additionally a lot of the focus also shifted from "showing it alive" to "showing it moving", and apparently throwing modern reptiles under the bus was fine by paleontologists of the time, who were all to happy to exchange using reptiles as anatomical references for big cats, because it would associate better to the public the kinds of active behaviour they wanted to portray.

Skip ahead to now, and we are in a lot of ways trying to work backwards in terms of our reconstruction methods to undo a lot of the damage the "coked up cheetah" reconstructions did.

*Naturally, a lot of that art isn't accurate anymore. The skeletals used were often from museums which would improvise anatomical features as needed, and the tail musculature in particular being based on lizards doesn't hold up anymore. But they still look very much like our current art because of the methodologies used.

[Gwangi]

Doug Henderson might be my all time favorite paleo-artist, he's certainly in the short list of favorites. Growing Up I would just stare at his paintings and get lost in the worlds he was depicting.

As others have said, I think it had problems even for the time. Besides being rather too lean, I find the textures increasingly off-putting. It's actually rather like a Papo or Rebor figure in that it substitutes detail for realism, a really unfortunate trend in dinosaur toys. I don't mean to disparage anyone who is into unrealistic levels of detail--I bought the old Wilson myself when it was new. But the longer I had it the more I disliked it.

I have similar feelings about the original Wilson and never quite understood the hype for it. Looks desiccated to me. This new one is a huge improvement, although I'm still not sure if I'll get it.

[Mattyonyx]

Qianzhousaurus available on Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/3aLx5vA

[Shonisaurus]

@Mattyonyx Thanks for the link. Do you know when it will be available on Aliexpress? I am more interested in my case for this network of online stores since their products are more affordable.

[Mattyonyx]

@Mattyonyx Thanks for the link. Do you know when it will be available on Aliexpress? I am more interested in my case for this network of online stores since their products are more affordable.

Actually I'm waiting for them too.

[y09urt]

Found this on Youtube. Talking about the new Wilson figure. It looks amazing, but I don't speak Mandarin, so I'm not sure what he's saying. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HCwSVjMMBg&ab_channel=PrehistoricCollections&fbclid=IwAR2IApEErXLTBv3O9g4SPPUBLzYyvT6Fu5nL4y7usQglco7FCWLEgWyenvM

[ceratopsian]

@y09urt - Look in the thread "PNSO Dinosaurs" at acro-man's explanation of the video in Reply 2967.  (He's Chinese and gave a resume.)  - Sorry, for some reason I can't make this show up as a link!

Re: PNSO dinosaurs
« Reply #2967 on: December 21, 2020, 10:12:30 AM »

Found this on Youtube. Talking about the new Wilson figure. It looks amazing, but I don't speak Mandarin, so I'm not sure what he's saying. 
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