PNSO: New For 2021

[Lynx]

I still haven't purchased the new Triceratops, but I'm looking forward to how it will look in the reviews on YouTube. I'm also curious how this one compares to the Eofauna Triceratop. I really like that one and Eofauna's Triceratops is only 1/3rd of Doyles price. So while I definitely want this figure, I'm still on the fence of actually purchasing it.

Yes, as always it is a matter of weighing the pro's and con's, which are, to some degree, subjective. But the newest PNSO Triceratops is not 3 times more expensive, from what I can tell. More like 1,5 times more expensive (PNSO up to $60, the Eofauna about $40). Anyway, I like the PNSO Triceratops better, for different reasons, like the detailed integument, the reconstruction overall, the pose, and the simplistic color scheme.

I purchased the eofauna triceratops from dejankins for $30 and he hasn't jacked up his price since then.  This one is going to probably cost $50 plus on amazon so it's going to go for at least 40% more in price.  But here's the kicker, I'm really starting to cool on this new PNSO and I'm blaming my son for it, LOL    He collects too and he won't be getting it because of the legs being 'as thick as tree trunks' he said and he also thinks the feet are very inaccurate like some people here have also pointed out.  I have stated previously that the eye placement seems wrong to me for some reason so I already had my own concerns.  But now that my kid pointed out the incredibly thick limbs I'm starting to quickly back pedal on buying this.  Add to that all the other issues others have pointed out here and now I'm probably not going to buy this even though I'd love to get my hands on that included skull and I love the simple color scheme applied to the figure.

Strange, but what legs should an animal weighing several tons have, which periodically butts its horns in fights with others ?! In addition, they recently wrote that this reconstruction takes into account the latest data on the anatomy of the legs, especially the feet.

Wasn't the head-butting horn theory disproven a while ago, or has it been brought back from its grave?
I don't exactly trust PNSO with that statement. That's what they said about Wilson's mouth, and then proceeded to give it no lips.

Personally I dislike the lips, I feel it makes them look like lizards and I prefer the crocodile look, besides, aren't dinosaurs more closely related to crocs than lizards?  IDK but it seems like a crying shame to cover up T-rex teeth.  If there is still debate on whether they even had lips then I'll keep buying lipless.

@CARN0TAURUS I too dislike full lip coverings, but birds are closer related to therapods than crocs. Heck, birds are therapods. Birds don't have exposed teeth, but then again most don't have teeth or lips. Both arguments are perfectly valid, and I suppose we'll have to wait for more papers describing lips on dinos.

This subject is a bit of a rough one, so I think we should just end it here until more knowledge is found.

But I have to agree, Wilson looks way better with teeth exposed. In my opinion, it shows the good (or bad, for some) sculpt work of the teeth and just how impressive this creature was, as if the sheer size didn't say enough.

[Gwangi]

Well, this picture kind of kills it for me. That articulation looks atrocious. I still like the toy but since I don't really care about the skull and posters I can't see myself shelling out $60 for it. Maybe if it ever goes on sale I'll pick one up but for now I'm jumping back on the CollectA bandwagon.

The eye does look oddly positioned that close to the horn but it does appear to match up with the fossil skull.

[suspsy]

Well, this picture kind of kills it for me. That articulation looks atrocious. I still like the toy but since I don't really care about the skull and posters I can't see myself shelling out $60 for it. Maybe if it ever goes on sale I'll pick one up but for now I'm jumping back on the CollectA bandwagon.

. . . ye gods.

A word of caution: we haven't seen the production version of the CollectA Tric. Its jaw might look just as bad. Hopefully not.

[Gwangi]

. . . ye gods.

A word of caution: we haven't seen the production version of the CollectA Tric. Its jaw might look just as bad. Hopefully not.

That is true, and of great concern to me. Given the price difference I can probably reconcile with CollectA's articulation but I would rather it not be articulated at all.

[Antey]

I have never heard of a refutation of the opinion about the use of horns in intraspecific fights. Traces on skeletons seem to confirm the role of horns as weapons. Can you provide a link or at least name the author of this refutation?

[Lynx]

I have never heard of a refutation of the opinion about the use of horns in intraspecific fights. Traces on skeletons seem to confirm the role of horns as weapons. Can you provide a link or at least name the author of this refutation?

I heard it in a video by Red Raptor Writes describing the accuracy of some dinosaur documentary I don't remember the name of. Likely misinformation.

[JohannesB]

I have to agree, the articulation on the Triceratops looks ugly, and it is kind of an unnecessary gimmick, I guess. But then again, I will only be looking at it from at least a few feet away, so I hope it will not stand out like it does on a close-up.

[Antey]

I still haven't purchased the new Triceratops, but I'm looking forward to how it will look in the reviews on YouTube. I'm also curious how this one compares to the Eofauna Triceratop. I really like that one and Eofauna's Triceratops is only 1/3rd of Doyles price. So while I definitely want this figure, I'm still on the fence of actually purchasing it.

Yes, as always it is a matter of weighing the pro's and con's, which are, to some degree, subjective. But the newest PNSO Triceratops is not 3 times more expensive, from what I can tell. More like 1,5 times more expensive (PNSO up to $60, the Eofauna about $40). Anyway, I like the PNSO Triceratops better, for different reasons, like the detailed integument, the reconstruction overall, the pose, and the simplistic color scheme.

I purchased the eofauna triceratops from dejankins for $30 and he hasn't jacked up his price since then.  This one is going to probably cost $50 plus on amazon so it's going to go for at least 40% more in price.  But here's the kicker, I'm really starting to cool on this new PNSO and I'm blaming my son for it, LOL    He collects too and he won't be getting it because of the legs being 'as thick as tree trunks' he said and he also thinks the feet are very inaccurate like some people here have also pointed out.  I have stated previously that the eye placement seems wrong to me for some reason so I already had my own concerns.  But now that my kid pointed out the incredibly thick limbs I'm starting to quickly back pedal on buying this.  Add to that all the other issues others have pointed out here and now I'm probably not going to buy this even though I'd love to get my hands on that included skull and I love the simple color scheme applied to the figure.

Strange, but what legs should an animal weighing several tons have, which periodically butts its horns in fights with others ?! In addition, they recently wrote that this reconstruction takes into account the latest data on the anatomy of the legs, especially the feet.

To be clear my son is not a paleontologist but he knows a LOT more about dinosaurs than I do.  I may have instilled in him a love of prehistoric animals but his mother instilled in him a love of learning and he took it to another level, he has a lot of literature and keeps up with all the technical stuff that I don't care to do.  He told me to look at images of all the major triceratops releases from all the companies including the previous doyle.  And they do appear to have legs with less girth and more length, at least to my eye and now that he told me the legs on this guy do seem extra beefy and short.

It's nice that you trust your son more than a serious paleoartist. Now look at the skeletons from museums. What can you say about the proportions, thickness and length of the limb bones?

[JohannesB]

You have a point, Antey. I personally love how PNSO reconstructed the legs on this model. (Reminds me a bit of the Sideshow Triceratops, with its hefty bulk.) There is of course always some wiggle room, but I gravitate towards the hefty, bigger legs, as weight of these animals probably required enormous amounts of strength (and girth) in the legs.

As a sidenote, but on that topic, I think the legs on PNSO's latest Tyrannosaurus ('Wilson') look even too narrow and possibly a bit flimsy (when looking at the Tyrannosaurus rex leg fossils).

How can we prove what is the correct thickness/girth of Triceratops legs? Are there papers on the topic?

[Antey]

The opinion of dinosaurs as slender, long-legged gazelles came from the light hand of Robert Becker and the beautiful illustrations of Gregory Paul, who took this idea up. And now the attempt to depict the necessary muscle mass on the bones and fill their bellies with the necessary entrails is perceived as a deception. PNSO is following a new trend - to portray dinosaurs so that they can live!

[Skorpio V.]

Seeing the in-hand images, that extra dark frill colouring is so eye-catching! Functions just the same as a bright, saturated frill.

[Callophrys]

The opinion of dinosaurs as slender, long-legged gazelles came from the light hand of Robert Becker and the beautiful illustrations of Gregory Paul, who took this idea up. And now the attempt to depict the necessary muscle mass on the bones and fill their bellies with the necessary entrails is perceived as a deception. PNSO is following a new trend - to portray dinosaurs so that they can live!

I'm not sure you can blame Robert Bakker for that one! In his paper "The return of the dancing dinosaurs" in vol. 1 of "Dinosaurs past and present" he demonstrates that ceratopsians have more robust limb bones with larger muscle attachment points than both elephants and rhinos of equivalent mass.
You're correct though that Gregory Paul's illustrations (as much as I love them!) made dinosaurs look unrealistically slender.

I noticed that the limbs of the PNSO Triceratops are far more robust than those on my Eofauna Triceratops, but I think it is the Eofauna ones that may be too slender.

[suspsy]

The opinion of dinosaurs as slender, long-legged gazelles came from the light hand of Robert Becker and the beautiful illustrations of Gregory Paul, who took this idea up. And now the attempt to depict the necessary muscle mass on the bones and fill their bellies with the necessary entrails is perceived as a deception. PNSO is following a new trend - to portray dinosaurs so that they can live!

I do not understand this comment. How is this a deception? And who's behind this deception exactly?

[Faras]

VPN is useless recently, so uploaded pics to steam instead of FB, hope this works

PNSO new Triceratops

Length along curves: around 26cm, so a ~9m individual (they wrote it's 8m on booklet)

Seems they haven't released vid yet, so here's a brief of what I can recall from Zhao Chuang's live show on Taobao:

- AMNH 5116's missing frill and what makes Zhao think it looks more like a Triceratops than a Torosaurus (duh sorry, can't remember...).
- There's a healed wound on AMNH 5116's left cheek which was probably caused by another Triceratops. They did add it to both skull and figure, though due to size it's barely visible (scales on left cheek is slightly different from those on the right)
- AMNH 5116's body was built with bones from five other individuals, so Zhao used other specimens to reconstruct the body. New reconstruction has shorter tail and hindlimbs.
- Fourth and fifth finger don't have claws and do tough the ground based on undescribed footprints. On this figure they seem to be weight bearing cause of the pose.
- Undescribed fossil (CMN FV 56508) evidence shows there are very fine scales at edge of frill.
- Keratin sheath is probably 40% longer than bones.
- Young Triceratops' horns curve up. Keratin from youth would remain at the tip when they grow older, so adult's horns would still point upward despite horn bones point downward.
- Jaw muscles probably connect to temporal fossa like Theropods as cheeks covered by scales wouldn't be flexible.
- Spike/hair is unlikely as all known skin impressions only show same bulge in middle of the scales.

Anyways they'll surely post a vid with English subtitles on YouTube soon, so gonna focus on the figure now :p





Common issues: horn wrapping on both the Triceratops (very soft horns) and the skull (tougher horns), missing details around edges of frill (quite understandable tbh since scales are way too small), blur details behind hindlegs, feet aren't perfectly on the ground (right forelimb is ok - design choice).

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Paint is done masterfully to highlight the details (they did give the frill a nice tough of orange-pink). Scales are visibly different in sizes and shapes and not messing up musculatures. Pose gives decent amount of tension (esp in forelimbs) without getting overly dramatic. imho this new Triceratops beat old PNSO ceratopsians by miles,

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Jaws can look weird in pic when light shines directly on cheeks and leaves no shadow:

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Looks fine once I put it on the desk (light from above):

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Nice details inside the mouth:

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The skull has top details. Personally I prefer it over a base as accurate skull replicas are much harder to acquire and often cost a fortune:

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And the posters (smaller than Mamenchi's as the box is about 1/3 smaller):

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PS: over 500 pcs sold on Taobao during 12-14th, seems their "add a skull alongside posters" strategy was very successful.

[Antey]

Faras
Thank you so much for the photos and analysis of the new Doyle! Another proof of the seriousness of PNSO's approach to their models. Definitely, he is in the first place on my wishlist. My Winter Wilson snorts and digs the ground in anticipation of the battle! 

[Takama]

So I went too PNSO's Amazon Store and found this



However it just links me to there current assortment of products

https://www.amazon.com/stores/PNSO/page/0ED77D4F-B4F7-41F7-B6AE-116CBF8E43E0?ref_=ast_bln

[Lynx]

I am hoping they release juvenile and female Triceratops, just as they did with Wilson, Andrea, and Logan (I think those are the correct names!)

I'd love a family of Trikes to display in this fairly massive museum-style set.

[Sim]

@Lynx, @Antey is right about Triceratops using its horns in intraspecific fights, the study that supports this was talked about here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3443.msg110795#msg110795

So, from a casual dino lover that doesn't have a lot of scientific knowledge on these things, how did the cheeks work when he closed his mouth all the way?  Did the loose skin just hang down the sides of his face like on an English Mastiff?

@CARN0TAURUS, I think the cheek skin would be stretched when the mouth is open and go back to normal when the mouth is closed.  As for how it would look, I think it would look like what you see on the newer Wild Safari ceratopsids which have their mouths closed.

Seems the Styracosaur is made of resin, painted by Dinone studio sculptor, and was made years ago as pics appeared in a vid from August 2020. Mass product could look very different (esp. since rumour says new figures won't use old reconstructions) so maybe it's better not to get over excited 

@Faras, that makes me more excited for the Styracosaurus as I didn't really like the one that had been shown.  I hope the new one has smoother horns.  Thanks for sharing this information, I had been wondering if this was really the actual product or if it was something else by PNSO like how some images shown in the past don't seem to have been new figures.

I am hoping they release juvenile and female Triceratops, just as they did with Wilson, Andrea, and Logan (I think those are the correct names!)

I'd love a family of Trikes to display in this fairly massive museum-style set.

If PNSO did that it wouldn't surprise me if the juvenile was a Tatankaceratops, similar to how their juvenile Tyrannosaurus is a Nanotyrannus.  PNSO does offer genuine baby Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops from their mini dinosaur line.

[Lynx]

@Sim I already am aware, did a bit of research and the source I got it from was packed with misinformation.

[dinofelid]

Personally I dislike the lips, I feel it makes them look like lizards and I prefer the crocodile look, besides, aren't dinosaurs more closely related to crocs than lizards?  IDK but it seems like a crying shame to cover up T-rex teeth.  If there is still debate on whether they even had lips then I'll keep buying lipless.

There's a discussion of the scientific debate in the video here (which includes links to a bunch of pieces by paleontologists in the youtube description)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyoxPknp670

(For some reason the video isn't showing up in my post when I look at it, if it doesn't show up for you either, the video is at youtube dot com /watch?v=ZyoxPknp670 )

They say there's no consensus but make an argument for the likelihood of lips after summarizing the arguments against lips--the pro lip argument starts around 3:45 in the video. One thing they mention is that lips are just vastly more common among living tetrapods with teeth, the only exceptions being crocodilians and some freshwater dolphins, with those exceptions probably being related to their aquatic lifestyle (this point about loss of lips in aquatic animals is mentioned at 16 minutes in, although the video makes the point that there are also plenty of fish-eating toothed tetrapods that retain their lips, so this doesn't necessarily mean a fish-eater like Spinosaurus would be lipless). They also mention at 5:30 that the long protruding length of the teeth, which has sometimes been argued to be too long for lips to cover them, may be partly due to tooth slippage after death, where the teeth tend to slip out of the sockets a bit during decay (I wonder if it would be possible to test for a gap between the bottom of the socket and the bottom of the tooth using something like an MRI?)