Concavenator’s Collection

[Concavenator]

Thank you everyone!

@Stegotyranno420 well, that's the beauty of collecting scale figures after all. 

@Sim Well, when I say I limit myself to the 1:35 scale, I don't mean it literally. I accept figures in the 1:30 - 1:40 range too (though 1:40 just for large sauropods in case there is no really good 1:35 version around).

I have accepted that, by doing this, there are some small species I'm interested in that I'll probably never have in figure form (well, probably most of them, actually  ), but after weighing the pros and the cons of applying this collecting style, I decided it's the better thing for me to do regardless. I've never cared about scaling, but recently I started feeling unsatisfied seeing a bunch of figures in different scales (even being in different shelves) and felt like something had to be done. So I'm happy with the decision, all things considered.

However, figures of smallish animals in 1:35 scale can still be a reality, and this Atopodentatus is proof of it. And as you know, Kaiyodo have made Deinonychus, Ornithomimus, etc in ~ 1:35 scale. So pieces like these may still be coming, although at the same time I reckon that they are a rarity.

Does the Kaiyodo diver mean you've acquired something new from Kaiyodo too?

Heh, see below. 

They're not sold in europe, though

I live in Europe too (Spain), and had mine imported from the US. It was a bit expensive to get this tiny figure from there, but I saw no other alternative and I really needed it. Luckily, at least I paid no customs for it!

[Concavenator]

Binomial name: Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (Conybeare, 1824)
Etymology: "Long-necked near-to-a-lizard" (Greek and Latin)
Classified as: Sauropterygia -> Eosauropterygia -> Pistosauria -> Plesiosauria -> Plesiosauroidea
Period: Early Jurassic (Hettagian - Toarcian)
Fossils found in: Blue Lias Formation, present-day England and Wales (Europe)

Company: Kaiyodo
Line: CapsuleQ Prehistoric Marine Reptiles
Sculptor: Kuniaki Teraoka
Variant: PlesiosaurusCQ
Year of release: 2015

Review:

Spoiler

Plesiosaurus was one of the first plesiosaurs to be described, as well as the one its clade is named after. It was a catch-all genus for some time, with multiple specimens being assigned to it. It was described as a "snake inside a turtle's body" by Dean Buckland, one of the first naturalists to study it (Dixon, 2010).

Even though I don't usually collect figures of non-dinosaur prehistoric animals, I like long-necked plesiosauroids enough (my favorite group of marine reptiles along with mosasaurs) that I felt like I needed one for my collection. My favorite figures of members of that group are this Kaiyodo Plesiosaurus and CollectA's Elasmosaurus. Kaiyodo's Plesiosaurus won because it's my preferred genus of the two (and I'd rather not get a figure of a poorly-known taxon like Elasmosaurus), because it's in 1:35 scale and because it includes an accessory that raises it from the shelf (a little base in this case). The diver extra is another nice touch.

However, I prefer the presence of a tail fluke as seen in CollectA's Elasmosaurus. Said CollectA figure has a lovely coloration too. But so does Kaiyodo's Plesiosaurus, while also possibly being more accurate according to Lindgren et al., 2014.

Unfortunately, when assembling the figure, the tip of the rod that emerges from the base and that fits into the figure's belly hole broke, and so a priori the figure couldn't be displayed with the base anymore, which was a big bummer. However, I further perforated the belly hole with some scissors, filled the hole with super-glue, added a little bit of super-glue to the remaining rod tip as well and then glued them together, and it stands relatively well. However, if left unassisted, the figure would still sag down, so for the moment I'm having it aided on CollectA's scale human figure, in hopes the pose is stabilized:



I also placed the figure into the freezer and intend to leave it there for a few days (again, having it leaning itself on CollectA's human figure), so hopefully the figure won't sag down anymore.



Next to Kaiyodo's 1:35 diver for scale reference.

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[Protopatch]

Unfortunately, when assembling the figure, the tip of the rod that emerges from the base and that fits into the figure's belly hole broke, and so a priori the figure couldn't be displayed with the base anymore, which was a big bummer. However, I further perforated the belly hole with some scissors, filled the hole with super-glue, added a little bit of super-glue to the remaining rod tip as well and then glued them together, and it stands relatively well. However, if left unassisted, the figure would still sag down, so for the moment I'm having it aided on CollectA's scale human figure, in hopes the pose is stabilized:

This might well be a recurring problem with Kaiyodo's figures since I've  also noticed a certain fragility of their UHA Collect Club Dsungaripterus : the rod is super thin and delicate, you have to cautiously handle the figure and the stand in order not to break them.

[Sim]

Adding to what you guys have said, the rod of my Kaiyodo Metriorhynchus broke when I attached the Metriorhynchus to its base.  It wasn't a problem for me though because I had previously put superglue in the figure's belly hole and I was intending to cut off the rod afterwards so the hole would be filled and I could then get rid of its base.  I obtained this end result!

[Pliosaurking]

Adding to what you guys have said, the rod of my Kaiyodo Metriorhynchus broke when I attached the Metriorhynchus to its base.  It wasn't a problem for me though because I had previously put superglue in the figure's belly hole and I was intending to cut off the rod afterwards so the hole would be filled and I could then get rid of its base.  I obtained this end result!

Same thing happened to me, I ultimately used a toothpick to hold it up lol.

[Crackington]

That's a good approach @Pliosaurking - I made some bases for small figures a while ago using toothpicks and putty, which I then painted. Works quite well with Kaiyodos and Cog's pterosaurs.

[Halichoeres]

Two excellent figures. I hope thia Yowie series is successful enough for a follow-up.

Bummer about the post. That has happened to me with a Kaiyodo figure before too.

[Elengassen]

"...It's right behind me, isn't it?"

Really neat figure btw! Personally I prefer the colour scheme on the Dinotales version, but this one is very plausible. Kaiyodo can make great figures when they're not fixating on T. rex.

[Trenchcoated Rebbachisaur]

"...It's right behind me, isn't it?"

Really neat figure btw! Personally I prefer the colour scheme on the Dinotales version, but this one is very plausible. Kaiyodo can make great figures when they're not fixating on T. rex.

I love how it looks like its giving him a smooch on the cheek. Mwaaah.

[Concavenator]

Thank you guys for stopping by! 

This might well be a recurring problem with Kaiyodo's figures since I've  also noticed a certain fragility of their UHA Collect Club Dsungaripterus : the rod is super thin and delicate, you have to cautiously handle the figure and the stand in order not to break them.

Yeah, that's one issue with small figures that require assembly like these. 

@Sim Interesting that you were intending on getting the Metriorhynchus' base removed, as one of the reasons why some people prefer PNSO's aquatic prehistoric animal figures is because they provide support rods to raise the figures.

Glad to hear you got what you were looking for, though, some way or another!

Same thing happened to me, I ultimately used a toothpick to hold it up lol.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to use a toothpick to hold a figure, but I might consider trying that when I get CollectA's Gallimimus, in order to avoid warping from the base.

Bummer about the post. That has happened to me with a Kaiyodo figure before too.

Which one, out of curiosity?

Really neat figure btw! Personally I prefer the colour scheme on the Dinotales version, but this one is very plausible. Kaiyodo can make great figures when they're not fixating on T. rex.

Indeed, it is basically guaranteed that, whenever they release a set, a Tyrannosaurus is going to be included some way or another. Usually Triceratops too.

Considering Kaiyodo makes figures that are this small (figures that would be too small for even HLG to release as standalone releases), I wish they'd think something like:

"Okay, we could actually make figures of smallish animals in 1:35 scale that some collectors want and that companies like PNSO or Haolonggood wouldn't release, we can take advantage of that shortcoming of theirs and make this our niche."

And indeed they do, from time to time, but it'd be welcome if they did that more often. I bet collectors will find figures like these more exciting than the mini T.rex and Triceratops figures #101918, species that are both super well-represented at this point and also species that most people will prefer in larger scales.

"...It's right behind me, isn't it?"

I love how it looks like its giving him a smooch on the cheek. Mwaaah.

Alr, you guys got me. 

[TheCambrianCrusader]

Such a beautiful plesiosaur

[Halichoeres]

Bummer about the post. That has happened to me with a Kaiyodo figure before too.

Which one, out of curiosity?

Nipponites!

[Concavenator]

Binomial name: Gallimimus bullatus (Osmólska et al., 1972)
Etymology: "Chicken mimic with a bulb" (Latin)
Classified as: Dinosauria -> Theropoda -> Neotheropoda -> Averostra -> Tetanurae -> Coelurosauria -> Tyrannoraptora -> Maniraptoromorpha -> Neocoelurosauria -> Maniraptoriformes -> Ornithomimosauria -> Ornithomimidae
Period: Late Cretaceous (Campanian - Maastrichtian)
Fossils found in: Nemegt Formation, present-day Mongolia (Asia)

Company: CollectA
Line: Deluxe
Sculptor: Matthias Geiger
Based on: MPC-D100F/17
Year of release: 2025

Review:

Spoiler

Gallimimus is currently considered to have been the largest ornithomimid, and it is also one of the most well-known members of its family. It has relatively short forelimbs compared to its other relatives'. Its bones were hollow, which would have reduced the animal's body weight as well as enabled it to attain high speeds when running (Dixon 2010, Kobayashi & Barsbold 2006).

Finally, a good Gallimimus figure! It's odd it's taken this long for one. Considering that Gallimimus was featured in Jurassic Park (and also that it's the largest known ornithomimid), one would've expected it to have received many figures by now. And well, it's indeed received several figures, but none of them (until now) did a good job at representing the animal as we currently believe it may have looked like.

By contrast, it's only since 2013/2014 that we had a good grasp on what Deinocheirus looked like, and plenty of good Deinocheirus figures have been released ever since, essentially turning Deinocheirus into the equivalent of Tyrannosaurus within Tyrannosauroidea when it comes to figures (which, BTW, kind of makes sense, because it also happens to be the largest member of the group, and it's also a rather well-known and unique animal in its own right).

Don't get me wrong, Deinocheirus is also a wonderful creature (in case that wasn't obvious), but other ornithomimosaurians also known from a good amount of material could use more attention too.

CollectA's Gallimimus is beautiful. As was previously mentioned elsewhere, its coloration is indeed reminiscent of a chicken's, probably as a nod to its genus' name. It represents an improvement over their previous ornithomimosaurians too, as can be seen in the correctly-rendered wings and the overall more voluminous feathering.

Gallimimus is my favorite ornithomimosaurian (even on top of Deinocheirus), it's such a graceful and elegant creature. It is also one of my favorite dinosaurs, so I'm very pleased to finally have one in my collection!



Next to Wonder Artistic Models' 1:35 humanoid for scale reference.



And of course, I had to show it alongside PNSO's Deinocheirus.

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[Faelrin]

Do you happen to have the Kaiyodo Ornithomimus? Would like to see how it compares to it.

[SidB]

That was fast on your part, @Concavenator .

[Sim]

Congratulations on getting the Gallimimus!  And it feels good to say that finally, for a good Gallimimus figure!  The photo of it with the Deinocheirus makes me feel like I'm at the Nemegt Formation looking at real animals.

[Halichoeres]

Very nice to see a good Gallimimus at long last! The way these things go, two or three other companies will make one in the next year.

[Concavenator]

Thank you guys for taking a look! 

@Faelrin Nope, I don't have that Ornithomimus. But AFAIK @Halichoeres does, so if he wants to replace his Schleich Gallimimus with CollectA's, maybe you could see that comparison eventually coming from him.

@Sim @Halichoeres Indeed, about time we had a good Gallimimus! Was starting to think we'd never see one... glad to be proven wrong!

But Tim, I think you might be a bit too optimistic about Gallimimus getting additional good figures that soon! We're already lucky that CollectA gave it a go, and I really can't envision any other company both willing to be tackling it and doing it justice. But who knows...

[Concavenator]

~ 23/07/2019 ~

It's been a while now since the last time I showed my setup (January 2023), but before an update, I'm gonna take you all to my collection from the past... I remembered that I had some pics of my collection from a few years ago, and I found them! Specifically, these pics were taken on July 23rd 2019. So I think it'd be an interesting idea to show you all what my collection was like back then, because it's changed quite a bit (and my collecting style as well).

Without further ado, here are the pics, with some comments:

Spoiler

- The upper shelf was where I displayed my Schleich figures. Those Schleich figures I got when I was a kid, I was no longer actively collecting them by the time these pics were taken (that period was well-past even at that point!). However, I wouldn't sell figures I was no longer interested in, I would keep and display everything that I got. So that includes those Schleich figures, that's why they were there.

At the time, I was mostly collecting Safari and CollectA stuff, as they were top of the game when it came to scientifically accurate prehistoric animal figures (which, just like now, was my collecting interest at the time). Eofauna and PNSO were relatively new to the scene, HAOLONGGOOD wasn't a thing, etc. Of course, Safari and CollectA are still going strong, but clearly, more companies have come into the scene, like the aforementioned ones, among others.

- The shelf below was a selection of what were my favorite figures at the time. By contrast with the shelf above, this one is more of an indicator of what I was mostly into back then.

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Spoiler

- Some more Safari and CollectA figures. This shelf is also representative of the stuff I was mostly collecting at the time.

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Spoiler

- The Papo figures I had (I used to display my paleontology books in the same shelf as well). As is the case with the previously shown Schleich figures, I had pretty much left Papo behind at that point too (though interestingly, it seems Papo is relevant again!). Those Papo figures I also got when I was a kid. But again, since I would keep and display everything that I owned, that's why those Papo figures were there.

And despite having those JP-inspired Papos, I was not into JP/JW (well, I've never been). Again, these are figures that I had since I was a kid. However, it did take me longer to get rid of those Papos than it did for the Schleichs, because I liked having the Papos merely as a visual reminder of how inaccurate JP made their prehistoric animals (and/or how outdated they became), when compared to up-to-date depictions of the same species by the likes of Safari or CollectA.

However, I no longer own any of those Papo figures, as I never really had the slightest interest in the JP/JW franchise, and so I started to eventually see those figures as a waste of space. Plus, I eventually set the 1 figure/genus rule for my collection, so if I say no to several excellent figures of a given species in favor of just 1, then I also say no to inaccurate pop-culture depictions. Plus, as previously said, I just never had any particular interest in collecting that type of figure (nor consuming the media the figures are based off, for that matter).

And if you take a look at the lower right corner of the pic, you'll notice a Schleich Deinosuchus and a walrus. That shelf contained my extant animal figures (the ones I had collected before I even started collecting prehistoric animal figures). Since that is the least-visible shelf, that's where I placed those extant animal figures, because I'd quitted collecting them by then (but again, hadn't gotten rid of them yet). And that Deinosuchus being there means I also had some other Schleich prehistoric animals mixed in with the extant animals (like the Elasmosaurus and the Kronosaurus, even though they can't be seen on the pic), mostly the ones that couldn't be appropriately displayed with the other Schleich prehistoric animals, which, save for a few exceptions, were largely dinosaurs.

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Spoiler

- Some assorted figures: Bullyland, Mojo, old CollectA figures, the old Schleich Apatosaurus and another copy of Safari's Velociraptor (I accidentally selected 2 copies instead of 1 when ordering it). These figures I wasn't too fond of, so they were placed on this not-so-visible shelf.  And it's not that I didn't like Safari's Velociraptor, I sure did (and still do!), it's just that I placed it there because I had another copy on a more visible shelf.

Safari's Velociraptor aside, Bullyland's Arizonasaurus and Batrachotomus were the standouts there, even though I eventually sold them, along with the rest lol. Which can be seen in iterative collection updates (May 2021 and October 2021, respectively).

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That's it. I had 67 figures from 6 different companies. Out of those 67 figures, there were 35 unique species (52.23 % of my collection).

My collection was made up by:

• 20 Safari Ltd.
• 20 Schleich
• 12 Papo
• 7 Bullyland
• 7 CollectA
• 1 Mojo

Surprisingly, Safari Ltd. and Schleich were tied as the main contributors to my collection (20 figures from each company, out of a total of 67, that is, 29.85 % of my collection).

^{...Yikes, hard to believe that Schleich used to represent such a big part of my collection, and that they were tied with Safari as the main contributor, no less...} 

What thoughts do come to mind upon seeing these pics of my collection from 2019? Let's see...

Spoiler

- My use of space was rather inefficient (worsened by the fact that I had less space): I was keeping figures I was no longer interested in (like those Schleichs, Papos, etc.), not to mention my extant animal figures as well as the McFarlane dragons I had. And there were taxa represented by several figures as well (the 1 figure/genus rule I borrowed from @Halichoeres later on). Furthermore, the lack of display risers made the shelves feel crowded, as all the figures were competing with each other for the same space.

- Related to the previous point, at the time I wouldn't consider the idea of selling a figure from my collection: if I bought something, I'd keep it. I'm so glad I changed that...

- Overall, the display felt (and was) quite messy. Save for the Schleich and Papo shelves, which at least followed a "display by company" criterion, the other shelves were quite randomly put together.

- Generally, I was clueless about which figures to get. At each time, I would usually get the figure I liked the most, and I wasn't particularly seeking for specific taxa the way I am today. I didn't have a preferred scale either.

- I also didn't care about how (scientifically) well-known (and therefore, how important, broadly speaking) a given taxon is. It was after reading @Sim 's posts that I started to realize the relevance of an appropriate fossil record, and this idea has had a big impact on my collecting style.

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And tomorrow, rather than the past, we'll be taking a look at the present! Yep, time to show my current setup! I bet it'll be quite the contrast from the one you just saw...

[Protopatch]

I had 67 figures from 6 different companies. Out of those 67 figures, there were 35 unique species (52.23 % of my collection).

Yep, time to show my current setup!

Cool ! Can't wait