Another bunch of figures today, all prehistoric ones! And a wide range of them…the funny part is that the largest figure is the smallest (and the only not-reptile!) And a strange assortment of brands and styles!
CollectA MiniBox A1102 Apatosaurus
First up we have one of the mini dinosaur figures from the mini collection. These sets of mini figures were released as small box sets, starting in 2016. I was personally thrilled to see CollectA enter the mini figure market, as I really like sets, and they fit the shelves better! I was still more heavily into the retail store, and was eager to see these come in…long story short, the distribution fell apart and I was never able to bring them in. However, CollectA was nice enough to send me the two dinosaur mini boxes, which are awesome. I was especially excited that a couple of the small figures were the first time figures for CollectA, including this Apatosaurus. Which is a species that they haven’t done before (although they did bring out a Brontosaurus later…). Highly recommend these mini sets! It’s great to have the small versions of the CollectA dino line!
PNSO Age of Dinos “Little Dinos” Carlos the Concavenator
And now another mini figure from a company that is notable for its larger models! PNSO is a relatively recent company out of China that hit the market with some interesting, very large and medium figures…and then some very small figures…and then went quiet for a little bit (but they’re back in a big way again). This model is from their series of mini individual models, number 029 (I think there were 48 total). They were sporadically available but had a great range of species, and I only chose to get a few (although a box set was available that featured the whole range!). I’m not sure what drew me to the Concavenator, but close examination shows some interesting details–such as the wing-like structures on the forearms, a neat feature on a species that is relatively distant from our more commonly-depicted feathered dinosaurs. Another PNSO-specific thing is that they give a name to every figure, I think reflective of the provenance of the species, and also alliterative. Hence, the Spanish name ‘Carlos’. Definitely a series of figures worth looking for (their big models are pretty good too, but might require quite the budget!)
Playmates Dinosaur King Carcharodontosaurus
Next we have another figure from the Dinosaur King first series from Playmates. This time it’s one of the more unusual species from them–a Carcharodontosaurus. This is definitely a great model for a mini range of dinos, it isn’t a species made very often (despite being notable as one of the ‘giant’ theropods on par with Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. As with most of the Dinosaur King figures, it is made reasonably accurately, given the source material; and of course has a relatively garish paint scheme. Unlike some of the DK models, this one could almost (key word “almost”) be realistic, being green with some yellow markings. I really do enjoy the style and colour of these figures, they kind of pop on the shelves. Not that they’re easy to find anymore (if they ever were).
Dawn of the Dinosaurs Sarcosuchus
Now we’re just going to move beyond dinosaurs to a Triassic predator from the Dawn of the Dinosaurs (both the series and metaphorically). I have mentioned the set before in a few clades posts, but not a specific figure. For the series, the Saurosuchus was one of the marquee species; something to do with being a giant predatory reptile I guess. This was one of several figures from a gashapon for the Japanese expo in…2010? 2011? It’s a little fuzzy. I’m not sure what company made them, they are soft PVC and definitely not to the level of something like Kaiyodo or Takara, but decent representations. Anyway, I was fortunate enough to find someone that was able to bring figures from Japan, through their auction sites. Definitely a series worth tracking down, as Triassic figures of any kind are disappointingly uncommon. That said, it was difficult to find these figures then…it’s much, much harder now! Still, worth the search.
CollectA Belemnites
Finally, the most recently made figure in this post, and the most not dinosaur one! Released by CollectA in 2020 as item 88904, this Belemnites figure was one of several prehistoric invertebrates that CollectA released (and have more coming this year!) It is great that CollectA has started making models like this (they did make a series of prehistoric marine mini figures a couple years earlier, including several cephalopods). Given how common, and important, cephalopods were to prehistoric oceans, they certainly don’t get a lot of figures made (only one other belemnite was made, by Bullyland, until about 8 years ago). It is very well done of course, as CollectA continues to be an excellent producer of prehistoric figures. The only caveat of course is that the figure is a big one (easily the biggest of the five figures this week) which means it wouldn’t scale well with the normally available marine animals of the Mesozoic. Great for more focused dioramas of smaller fauna though, and of course for the display shelves. I highly recommend the figure, which is thankfully still available wherever CollectA can be found.
