Tuojiangosaurus (Qichuan) (Prehistoric Animal Models by PNSO)

For the last several months the Chinese company PNSO (Peking Natural Science-art Organization) has delivered upon us a glut of prehistoric animal figures that have shaken the fountain of our hobby and truly changed the game, or such is my opinion anyway. These figures are mostly in PNSO’s mid-range size of figures that retail for $20-30 and at this point I’ve frankly lost count of how many have actually been released. But these figures are unlike any other, they have the accuracy of Safari Ltd. and the realism of Papo, with a price point that matches them but at an arguably greater value. This is the company I’ve been waiting for.

The majority of the mid-sized figures are dinosaurs, but interestingly they’re almost all ornithischian dinosaurs. This has led to some level of dismay among collectors, because we’re all champing at the bit for some saurischian dinosaurs in this size range as well. Personally, I’m happy to see ornithischians receiving focus for a change and for those dinosaurs PNSO has the market cornered. Today we’re looking at one of those ornithischian releases, Qichuan the Tuojiangosaurus.

Tuojiangosaurus (Tuo River Lizard) is a stegosaurian from Late Jurassic China, and specifically from the Upper Shaximiao Formation. This formation is known for a wealth of dinosaur fossils including other stegosaurians such as Huayangosaurus, Gigantspinosaurus, Chungkingosaurus, and other dinosaurs as well, such as Sinraptor, Shunosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus, and Mamenchisaurus. PNSO has produced many dinosaurs from this formation and it’s great to see these often neglected Chinese dinosaurs get such fantastic representation.

The PNSO Tuojiangosaurus is not the only figure of the genus around. PNSO also made a mini-figure of the genus and there exists others as well, including one by Imaginex and another by Colorata. But none exist by the mainstream companies such as Safari, CollectA, Papo, or Schleich. This Tuojiangosaurus measures 7.79” in length and stands just shy of 4” tall at its tallest plate. The actual Tuojiangosaurus measured about 23’ so that puts this model at about 1/32 in scale.

It’s in looking at the detail work of this phenomenal sculpt where I start to re-evaluate my collecting choices. Yes, it is THAT good. In directly comparing it to the bulk of my stegosaurian collection it just blows them all away, it’s in a league all its own. It frankly makes the rest look like, well, toys. It’s much more comparable to high end resin models and statues than to its similarly priced competition.

All that said, this figure does remind me of one other stegosaurian model out there. The head sculpt, with its relaxed expression, as well as the scale detail along the body both bring to mind the original Stegosaurus by Favorite Co. Ltd., widely considered one of the best mass produced Stegosaurus toys. I don’t have it so I’m unable to compare them but I would be interested in seeing a comparison, although they certainly don’t scale with each other.

Pebbly scales of varying sizes adorn different parts of the body, with the largest scales covering the torso and upper legs, and absurdly minuscule scales covering the face. Larger feature scales are placed along the body as well. Fine striations and some additional cracking are sculpted on the spines and plates, which are exceptionally pointy by the way. Care must be taken when handling this toy, and I do not recommend that young children play with it.

If there’s one thing that PNSO often gets criticized for it’s that their paintjobs seldom match their promotional images of the toys. Unless you’re seeing an in-hand specimen it is doubtful that you’re seeing an accurate image of what you would be getting. The Tuojiangosaurus however is a close match and possesses a fantastic paint job.

The base color of the toy is a blending of various gray, faded greens, and cream color tones. Cream colored blotches are painted adjacent to the plates along the back and some faint banding can be seen along the tail. The plates are a dull orange color with black highlights on the tips and striations along their bases. The spikes transition from a black base, to orange, to gray.

Along the sides there are three rows of feature scales that are painted orange but the application here is a bit sloppy. I think I would have preferred it if all or none of them were painted, because since those are the only painted scales it makes the rest of them look unfinished. The eyes are yellow with black pupils and the toe nails are gray which makes them look unpainted, since they match the body color so closely. There is also the faint hint of orange coloration on top of the head and along the sides of the neck. Overall it is a naturalistic and believable paintjob.

The model is depicted with the left forelimb positioned in front of the right and the right forelimb starting to lift off the ground, as if the dinosaur were moving forward. The head is looking leftward and the tail swinging gently towards the right.

The figure has the small head, short forelimbs, and bulky body typical of most stegosaurians, and in terms of accuracy it mostly succeeds. It has the correct number of 17 pairs of plates and spikes along the back and tail, but the shoulder spikes are purely speculative, there is no direct evidence that Tuojiangosaurus had them. The neck also looks a bit on the short side but aside from that this is a solid take on the genus, unlikely to be outdone anytime soon. Even if you’re choosy about what PNSO models you buy I think that the Tuojiangosaurus is without a doubt one of this year’s highlights.