PNSO: New For 2021

[Faelrin]

I seriously just asked PNSO on their new post showing a skeletal of it like the one @Flaffy shared, if the figure would be able to have jaws articulated like that. Thank you @Faras for informing us of this. This is looking to be a must have for me now with that news, but of course I will wait until in hand pics and video reviews surface. I really want to see that articulation in practice and of course get a good look at how the paint scheme turns out. I think the Helicoprion looked great in that regard.

@Halichoeres Thank you for giving us some insight on how this model fares for accuracy. I will be anticipating that deeper review in that thread of yours. A shame about the gill placement, but at least they got some things right here, like at least having a fluked tail. I know CollectA attempted with theirs but it wasn't quite all the way there (possibly the fault of being designed before the paper on the tail was published). But like CollectA's, I also love that the armor is covered in skin and colored as such as well.

[Thialfi]

https://www.amazon.com/PNSO-Prehistoric-Dinosaur-Models-Dunkleosteus/dp/B09C33FLQS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=pnso+dunkleosteus&qid=1628517049&sr=8-2

Zaha is available on Amazon 💙

edit: living in Europe, buying this on Amazon would set me back 50 Euro. Gonna wait and see what AliExpress is offering.

[Psittacoraptor]

Zaha with its mouth closed:


Looking good! Apart from the articulation, I appreciate that they tried to replicate a somewhat dynamic pose. It makes the animal seem in motion and more alive. I prefer this to the completely straight and stiff poses of most other Dunkleosteus models.

[Faras]

Dunkleosteus store page translation 

Link: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=653157271342

PNSO Prehistoric Animal Models line figure NO. 47 Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Create wounderful stories of earth with Zhao Chuang and Yang Yang

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Who is Zaha the Dunkleosteus?
Zaha the Dunkleosteus is a placoderm that lived during Devonian. It had great advantages in predation and could almost always catch preys it liked thanks to special body structures. Zaha is outstanding even in Dunkleosteus family. It was not only the age of fish, but also the age of Zaha the Dunkleosteus in oceans 380 mya.

Model design: sci-artist Zhao Chuang

Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Model mats: eco PVC, hand painted
Model size: 23cm x 7.5cm x 7.5cm

(hmm that looks more like muscles than grills? Need to see it in person)

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Size of Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Dunkleosteus was once thought to be a large fish, reaching 10m in length, though recent studies showed this estimate is too large. They were around 6m, some individuals could reach about 8m. Of course, they were still invincible in Devonian oceans despite smaller sizes. We made Zaha the Dunkleosteus about 8m long in this reconstruction.

Diet: carnivorous
Time period: Devonian
Fossil sites: North America, Europe

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Head of Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Head of placoderm fish is covered in thick armoured plates, Dunkleosteus is no exception. In reconstruction of Zaha the Dunkleosteus, its giant head and armoured plates on head are clearly presented.

*Close-up view of Zaha the Dunkleosteus figure's head

Big mouth of Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Mouth of Dunkleosteus is the key point of this reconstruction. Usually we all know Dunkleosteus has a large, fierce-looking mouth without paying attention to why its mouth can open so widely. In this reconstruction, we empathised on four flexible joints in its mouth which are crucial for big mouth opening.

*Articulated jaw

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Colour of Zaha the Dunkleosteus
Colourations of most extinct animals come from speculations and artists' imagination, though Dunkleosteus fossils preserved evidences for colours, so we could come closer to real Dunkleosteus when reconstructing Zaha. Zaha the Dunkleosteus has dark colours on the back and silver white belly.

Package size: 24.6cm x 8.7cm x 12.6cm
Sci-art reconstruction poster

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Ancient marine life stars
(Interestingly Jeff the Kronosaurus looks quite different here, maybe it's the prototype)

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Zhao Chuang and Yang Yang
PNSO stories of the earth sci-art creation plan (2010-2070)
...

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[Thialfi]

Zaha with its mouth closed:


Looking good! Apart from the articulation, I appreciate that they tried to replicate a somewhat dynamic pose. It makes the animal seem in motion and more alive. I prefer this to the completely straight and stiff poses of most other Dunkleosteus models.

Wholeheartedly agree - accuracy aside, it's the kind of creative liberty I can appreciate, makes for a more interesting display piece. Otherwise it looks great as well.


edit: thanks @Faras!

[Faelrin]

@Faras Thanks for providing translations once again. I really appreciate the effort.

[Thialfi]

And available on PNSOs official AliExpress store as well:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003111353054.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.6f0a6d6aIoyg0K&algo_pvid=e6cbb2ce-5e8a-46ed-83c7-e2793dd7b45e&algo_exp_id=e6cbb2ce-5e8a-46ed-83c7-e2793dd7b45e-0

I ordered it there for a total of 35 Euro, VAT and shipping included - 15 Euro less than Amazon would charge me (I live in Europe)!

[terrorchicken]

wow, beautiful model, I like that its very "fishy" looking. Dunkleosteus is like the one animal that, various inaccuracies aside, the model toy companies all seem to do a good job with? I have Safaris and I think its really nice, and Collecta's, Favorite and Mojo's(!?) are really neat too. Even Schelich's is um... decent. 

[Faras]

Thank you for your kind words! 

Collectors living near PNSO warehouse posted some in hand pics of Dunkleosteus here: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/7486941881
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/7486965762 (no stand, posted used theropod one)

Mine should arrive on 12th 

[Faelrin]

Hard to tell but it looks like the only hit to the paint job is the lack of iridescence the prototype images had? A shame it does not come with a stand as well, but not something I truly need to display it either, if I end up getting it. The jaw feature, fluked tail and color scheme are making it tempting anyways.

Other wise it looks pretty good to me. I find it interesting how it sizes up with Wilson as well. Would be nice to see what scale the skull is in.

[Faras]

@Faelrin Yeah probably wouldn't use the stand if it came with one myself, tho thought second post showing it on a stand might cause some confusion First poster said it has some iridescence but bit hard to capture in pics, guess we need a vid to see it properly.

[Thialfi]

Based on these pictures there definitely seems to be iridescence: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSZXftnqrBt/?utm_medium=copy_link

[Faelrin]

@Faras and @Thialfi Thanks for passing that info along. I'll be eagerly waiting for a video review to see it in action then. I guess I do know from experience how hard it is to capture in still images, from my experiences with the BotM figures years ago (such as the roadrunner Saurornitholestes and obviously the Microraptor).

[Faras]

Dunkleosteus arrived 1 day earlier than expected, nice

Length along curves: 23cm

Phone changed colour temperature in pics automatically so check vid for true colouration... Bit like anglerfish - it has thin layer of pearl paint, faint iridescence and metallic hue, need strong light to see these.

https://www.facebook.com/100008136481227/videos/pcb.2880179305456420/549182129618244

First impression: it seriously looks like a real fish Colouration reminds me of salmon and head with mouth open looks somewhat like a catfish, I can imagine it easily bending into fish shop or a fish tank. Love realistic fins with rough edges and life-like skin/musculature. Could use a bit of colour variations on belly as plain silver grey feels like plastic... well honestly ventral view is bad in comparison, too many seamlines and big gap between head and body pieces at throat region. Luckily we usually don't view the figure from below.

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Mouth closes well enough to hide all pink on sides. Those pink parts are actually connected behind head piece and slide back under body piece when closing mouth, guess we can either interpret them as grills or muscles. About 5cm deep from tip of mouth to end of mouth cavity, so normally it looks like proper fish mouth that seemly connect to stomach.

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Overall I do like it, it's probably the most life-like marine life figure on my shelves and nothing beats that head articulation

[Faelrin]

Thanks for sharing all those pics. Glad to hear it looks so good in hand.

[sauroid]

thanks for for the pics and infos Faras. your posts are really valuable.

[Duna]

Thank you very much @Faras Your pictures are the best I have seen of the figure. Very well captured and a lot of explanation.

[Faras]

Thank everyone for the kind words! It truly means a lot to me 

[RCM9698]

@Faras Thanks for the translations and pictures. You're posts are great, very interesting and useful in helping me decide whether to get one.

I will get the Dunkleosteus, I love the species and like this rendition.

[MLMjp]

Why is this so funny

Now, seriously, I really like this Dunkleosteus. Really tempted to get it, don't know when I will be able to...