#plannosaurus

Plannosaurus Brachiosaurus

This is the last Plannosaur I've built, and it was a while ago. I do have the Therizinosaur, and I have a few on preorder, but I just haven't gotten around to building them yet. Anyway, after the Parasaur, I decided to switch gears to doing naturalistic interpretations of famous versions of the dinos I was painting. In this case, Bakuryu Brachio from Abaranger.

Also, unrelated, but this thing pure black primed looked pretty cool.

The Details: As I eluded to, I primed the entire kit in black and then tried to emulate Bakuryu Brachios colors using mostly gold and silver, with a few streaks of red, blue, and yellow, and with red for the eyes.

Overall, another cute kit. Part of the reason I haven't done any since then is because the only thing I can think to paint the Therizinosaur is after the Dragonzord, and I kinda want to be more original than that. Oh, fun fact, did you know they planned to do a full-scale Bakuryu Brachio, but it never made it to full production? There was a scale one made of cardboard, but never a DX. Only a small playset version.

Plannosaurus Giganotosaurus

Built this guy a while ago. This is also the last one I just went straight naturalistic colors, as from here I decided to get a bit more referential with how I painted them for the fun of it.

As a kit, it feels like a general improvement over the existing therapods they've already done. Little better posing, little more stable, etc.

The Details: I mostly just added some darker green over top of the existing lighter green. For other details, I painted the nails white, interior of the mouth red, eyes yellow and dotted them and the nostrils with panel liner, and did the feathers blue to add a pop of color.

Overall, the Giganoto is obscure enough that you're probably only grabbing this one if you're a completionist, but it is a good kit that I can easily recommend if you can pick it up locally.

Plannosaurus Pteranodon

Been a while since I covered one of these. Just not a slot in the schedule sometimes. But this was a neat one. You have to fully swap the arms and legs to change the pose, but it is a very dynamic change. And while it isn't a big kit, it is wider than almost everything else is long.

The Details: I dry brushed some gold and silver onto this one. Not the most naturalistic colors, but it looks nice with the tan. I also painted the claws white and panel lined the beak and dotted the eyes. Despite the silly colors, it actually turned out pretty nice.

Overall, another good kit, another iconic prehistoric reptile off the list. Also, if you're nervous about painting, there's two sets of wings so you can mess up one and still have fresh parts!

Plannosaurus Spinosaurus

They picked one heck of a Dinosaur to kit-it-up with. There have been so many discoveries involving the Spinosaurus over the past few years that there's still debates about whether it was aquatic, terrestrial, a combination, bipedal, quadrupedal, etc. They smartly accounted for this by giving you two sets of arms to accommodate either, as well as a stand so you can depict it swimming. I very much appreciate their attention to scientific accuracy.

The Details: This guy started out all dark brown plastic. I gave it a blue brushing along the sides on account of its supposed aquatic nature. I also used red, orange, and yellow along its spine and sail, though since I used those colors for the Stegosaurus, I flipped their orientation. I also painted the eyes yellow and nails white.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to the Plannosaurus line-up. It has a level of posability similar to the T-Rex, option parts for accuracy, and is of a decent size. It wouldn't be a far reach to say it may be the best in the line so far.

Also, I just realized the 6 Plannosaurus molds that are out were all released in '23. That's a little crazy to think about...

Plannosaurus Tyrannosaurus

Fun fact about me personally, I wanted to be a paleontologist until I was, like, 16 years old. Only reason I ended up not going for it was because my mom convinced me not to. I still totally resent her for that, BTW, not that I’d ever tell her that. And I love T-Rexes. They’re probably my favorite animal. I also enjoy the depiction of Dinosaurs with feathers, so this was a very fun build for me personally.

The Good: A very interesting build. You first build an entire articulated skeleton, and then slap a layer of skin on top of it. It’s so clever in its execution. It even comes with option parts to either display it with or without feathers.

The Bad: After you add the skin, it loses most of the articulation, locking its legs in place, and significantly reducing everything else. Also, while the build is very cool, it’s also somewhat simple as this was designed for children.

The Details: I intended to use the feathered design for display, so I first painted the feathers orange, then painted the top or edged areas red to create a gradient effect. I painted all of the nails white, tongue red, eyes yellow, and then dotted the eyes and nose with panel liner. The one thing I forwent was there was a sticker for the underside of the tail that made it match with the belly. I didn’t want to use it, and I couldn’t match the color, so I just went without.

Plannosaurus Mosasaurus

Not actually a dinosaur, but I appreciate the variety this line is providing. Definitely more of a simple build thanks to being very snake-y, but it is much larger than the other Plannosaurs, so it balances out.

The Details: I tried changing up things quite a bit on this one. I attempted to dry brush some brighter blue onto the back and where the colors meet around the stomach. It's not what I wanted it to look like, but It's grown on me. Apart from that, I dotted the nostrils with panel liner, colored the eyes yellow, and painted the tongue red. To give it a bit more personality, I also tried adding a scar to its left eye. It's not visible from a distance, but it turned out ok.

Overall, a fun addition to the line, if not super complex. It definitely adds variety and bulk to the lineup, and I had a fun time using that increased size as a canvas. With the amount of increase exposure this creature is getting thanks to its inclusion in movies, I imagine it has more fans that would enjoy something like this.