PNSO—New for 2020

[suspsy]

Finally added the latest three reveals to the first post.

[Renecito]

As far as I know ZHAO Chuang wasn't the sculptor of any of PNSO's figures and models. He's not a sculptor, he's a painter.
I also was a bit disappointed to learn that, I had always thought he was the sculptor.
REBOR wrote that there are different sculptors working for PNSO whose names shall not be revealed (which I still think is a bit of a pity).

It's true that the scaled-down toys are not made by ZHAO himself, but his colleages. And there are several of them.
Still these toys are heavily based on ZHAO's original large sculptures and under his consultation.
ZHAO's large sculptures are more like in the 1:20 ~ 1:1 range for museum and exhibition uses. And he really doesn't have time to make smaller versions for each of this large ones. I am not sure if all or just some of the toys are based on ZHAO's works, but I did see a 1:20 Tuojiangosaurus by him in the last exhibition I visisted, whose pose is identical to the toy version. Didn't see any Lambeosaurus though.

But that's not the main reason why the Tuojiangosaurus has an inconsistent style from the others.
PNSO actually made it on purpse.
A partial quote from a PNSO guy, that the Tuojiangosaurus and relatives had head armours and uniform neck plates to protect the vital parts, but the body skins are unknown. At first, they wanted to borrow the smaller scales from the more general Stegosaurs to make the body skin. But eventually they followed Mr. Ouyang's (head of a museum) advice and made a bolder and more creative version based on the evident that Stegosaurs unearthed in Sichuan Province had large Osteoderms who resemble more an Ankylosaurus than a Stegosaurus.
And here it is.

Awesome info. Thank you very much acro-man.

[stargatedalek]

I don't know if REBOR, a whole different company, is a reliable source on that, I'd rather want an official statement from PNSO.

Ultimately whether the story REBOR tells is true is entirely irrelevant to the current PNSO. Their story lines up with the timeline of PNSO switching up their sculpting style completely and doing away with the shrink-wrapped and over textured designs, but that could have happened for any number of reasons.

When I first saw this Lambeosaurus I thought the tail must have been too short, but given the excellent praise it's receiving I suppose it must have just had a shorter tail than its relatives?

[Dinoguy2]

And the PNSOs keep coming. Next up, Lambeosaurus:

Tail looks about right to me?

[Halichoeres]

As far as I know ZHAO Chuang wasn't the sculptor of any of PNSO's figures and models. He's not a sculptor, he's a painter.
I also was a bit disappointed to learn that, I had always thought he was the sculptor.
REBOR wrote that there are different sculptors working for PNSO whose names shall not be revealed (which I still think is a bit of a pity).

It's true that the scaled-down toys are not made by ZHAO himself, but his colleages. And there are several of them.
Still these toys are heavily based on ZHAO's original large sculptures and under his consultation.
ZHAO's large sculptures are more like in the 1:20 ~ 1:1 range for museum and exhibition uses. And he really doesn't have time to make smaller versions for each of this large ones. I am not sure if all or just some of the toys are based on ZHAO's works, but I did see a 1:20 Tuojiangosaurus by him in the last exhibition I visisted, whose pose is identical to the toy version. Didn't see any Lambeosaurus though.

But that's not the main reason why the Tuojiangosaurus has an inconsistent style from the others.
PNSO actually made it on purpse.
A partial quote from a PNSO guy, that the Tuojiangosaurus and relatives had head armours and uniform neck plates to protect the vital parts, but the body skins are unknown. At first, they wanted to borrow the smaller scales from the more general Stegosaurs to make the body skin. But eventually they followed Mr. Ouyang's (head of a museum) advice and made a bolder and more creative version based on the evident that Stegosaurs unearthed in Sichuan Province had large Osteoderms who resemble more an Ankylosaurus than a Stegosaurus.
And here it is.

Thanks for that. I think of PNSO as Zhao's workshop. Like a painter in Renaissance Florence, his name is on everything, but the work would be impossible without an army of apprentices.

[Shonisaurus]

By the way speaking of PNSO. When will your corythosaurus be available? I almost think for sure that the PNSO corythosaurus shown on Paleo-Nerd is only a matter of time before it is sold in online stores.

[ceratopsian]

@Halichoeres - that sounds like a helpful analogy.

[Ichabod Drift]

Just ordered the Tuojiangosaurus and Lambeosaurus, they look fantastic. Now, I'm just laughing about you all complaining about Parasaurolophus "over-representation" a few pages back. I'll happily point out the next time you're all excited about the 10,000th Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, or Brachiosaurus that comes out from any company. PNSO has NEVER made Parasaurolophus so I think the point is moot here. Whether it is that genus or Charonosaurus, I'll be picking it up as a huge ornithopod fan.

[Bread]

That lambeosaurus looks gorgeous! I am new to PNSO products and I just ordered the version 3 PNSO Tyrannosaurus Rex Wilson off of amazon. I am debating on ordering the lambeosaurus next, but now I worried. I have been seeing issues from other people with shipping. Should I be worried using amazon, or have I made a safe choice? I am located in the U.S.

[Jose S.M.]

I bought their Spinops and Tianyulong via Amazon and it was fast and good. I think as long as they have them in stock is a safe way.

[acro-man]

Thanks for that. I think of PNSO as Zhao's workshop. Like a painter in Renaissance Florence, his name is on everything, but the work would be impossible without an army of apprentices.

The same. I think PNSO is trying to make an idol out of ZHAO and bury those other names forever in mistery, which is quite inappropriate.
However it might just be the industry practice not to mention the apprentices' names on their own products like all brands do.

[Loon]

The same. I think PNSO is trying to make an idol out of ZHAO and bury those other names forever in mistery, which is quite inappropriate.
However it might just be the industry practice not to mention the apprentices' names on their own products like all brands do.

A person who holds a high position in company taking all the credit from their workers? What is this world coming to?!?!

[Dinoguy2]

Not to mention that there are far too few decent looking Parasaurolophus toys and I mean Parasaurolophus, not something based on a movie or the likes.
The only one I can think of that I genuinely like is the older one by Favorite.
Any other time there was an attempt at skeletal accuracy it usually features the debunked crest ligament, such as in the Battat model.

Is there a source for debunking (or the existence of) a crest ligament? I had always assumed this was just speculative soft tissue, not something associated with attachment points.

Thanks for that. I think of PNSO as Zhao's workshop. Like a painter in Renaissance Florence, his name is on everything, but the work would be impossible without an army of apprentices.

The same. I think PNSO is trying to make an idol out of ZHAO and bury those other names forever in mistery, which is quite inappropriate.
However it might just be the industry practice not to mention the apprentices' names on their own products like all brands do.

I'd be careful of this line of thinking if we don't know the specifics. It sounds exactly like the Renaissance workshop analogy - Zhao is creating original sculptures, the apprentices are copying and downsizing them. It's like the hundreds of copies of the Mona Lisa that exist, produced in Leonardo's studio under his supervision. Should these artists be getting the credit if they're producing manufacturer copies of Zhao's work? I don't know. But keep in mind this is not unique to PNSO. Safari's molds (I'm obviously familiar more with the Carnegies than others but I'm sure this applied across the board) have been resculpted many times in many scales, either via pantograph or by hand, yet the original sculptor usually still gets credit. Maybe we should look at individual sculpts as more of a long-term "project" instead of an "item", and the credited sculptor as the lead designer.

[Bread]

I bought their Spinops and Tianyulong via Amazon and it was fast and good. I think as long as they have them in stock is a safe way.

This comment has made me slightly relieved. Thank you.
I still will probably wait on purchasing the Lambeosaurus until I receive the Tyrannosaurus (supposedly it should arrive in about a month).

[Eocarcharia]

I've gotten all of my PNSOs from amazon and haven't had any problems.

[Loon]

I think it might also be to protect the sculptors.
After all people in the palaeontology enthusiast community can be extremely harsh and it could lead to harassment of the artist if the product isn't fitting to ridiculously high standards.
For example we still have no idea who the sculptor is who made Safari's Diplodocus, Malawisaurus and Amargasaurus and it might be for the better as especially younger artists can't deal with hordes of angry nerds as well as more experienced ones would.

Could be. Honestly, I'd love to know the sculptor; the Malawisaurus is fast becoming one of my favorite Safari figures.

[suspsy]

I too would love to know who the mystery Safari sculptor is. I'd also love to see more products from that person, Safari or otherwise. They clearly have first rate talent.

[Halichoeres]

I think it might also be to protect the sculptors.
After all people in the palaeontology enthusiast community can be extremely harsh and it could lead to harassment of the artist if the product isn't fitting to ridiculously high standards.
For example we still have no idea who the sculptor is who made Safari's Diplodocus, Malawisaurus and Amargasaurus and it might be for the better as especially younger artists can't deal with hordes of angry nerds as well as more experienced ones would.

Maybe, but if anything I think people are even meaner about their criticism if they don't know who the sculptor is. In any event, I like the approach of Kaiyodo, where there's a supervisor credited with each set or line, but sculptors of individual prototypes are also credited.

[Loon]

...In any event, I like the approach of Kaiyodo, where there's a supervisor credited with each set or line, but sculptors of individual prototypes are also credited.

That's one of the few good things Neca's ever done. I don't know if it's like this anymore, but back when I bought their figures, the creative team got credit on the packaging. I'd like to see more companies do this. At least the "high end" ones.

[Halichoeres]

...In any event, I like the approach of Kaiyodo, where there's a supervisor credited with each set or line, but sculptors of individual prototypes are also credited.

That's one of the few good things Neca's ever done. I don't know if it's like this anymore, but back when I bought their figures, the creative team got credit on the packaging. I'd like to see more companies do this. At least the "high end" ones.

I love that! I'd like to see more of that too. To their credit, Damtoys did something similar with their Spinosaurus statue.