Shantungosaurus (1:35 Science and Art Model by Haolonggood)

Shantungosaurus giganteus, as its name suggests, was a monster of a hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of China. It is known from a handful of incomplete skeletons. Shantungosaurus may be the sister genus to the American Edmontosaurus. Two other genera, Zhuchengosaurus and Huaxiasaurus, appear to represent ontogenetic and polymorphic variation of S. giganteus. The animal’s habitat was warm, wet, and lush, consisting of subtropical forests and adjacent riparian areas and floodplains. Because of its large size, it probably had few predators, with likely candidates being Tarbosaurus and Zhuchengtyrannus. In 2025, Haolonggood added Shantungosaurus to its rapidly growing resume. Not being a specialist on dinosaur figures, and having only seriously starting collecting them in 2019, I was unfamiliar with this genus. I was surprised to discover it had been made a handful of times, including a now vintage figure by Starlux and a miniature in Kaiyodo’s Dinotales line. Standard-sized figures in the modern era includes examples by Sega and, most recently, PNSO in 2016. Meng, a relatively new company in the field, produced a 1:72 figure last year.

The first part of my reviews typically includes the size and scale, and all I can say is this is one hefty dinosaur toy. It is likely the heaviest dinosaur figure in my collection and in length is only shorter than some of my largest sauropods. Because it is sculpted in a near straight line, it has a body length of approximately 39 cm for a scale of 1:38.5-1:43.6 using an estimated body length of the actual animal of 15-17 meters. I never liked using body length to calculate dinosaur scales, especially in the absence of complete skeletons. Also, there seems to be a lot of discordant information when measuring the body length of dinosaurs (i.e., natural posture vs. a straight like down a stretched-out spine). The skull of this figure is about 5.5 cm for a scale of 1:29.6 based on the skull of the type specimen. The composite skeleton based on the type specimen is 14.7 meters, which would make this figure 1:37.6 using raw body length. I am going to use skull metrics for this figure and assume it scales at roughly 1:30.

The animal is sculpted in a fairly neutral pose, as if strolling through the subtropical wetlands it called home. With its open mouth and nasal flaring, this Shantungosaurus may be signaling to a potential mate, sizing up a rival, or defining its territory. The sculpt is of the quality we have come to expect from Haolonggood. Some other notable features of interest include a fleshed out tongue and tiny sculpted teeth in its open mouth, small dorsal scutes running down the back, random larger osteoderms on the upper side of the body, a defined cloaca, and fine wrinkles and skin folds where appropriate.

Like most Haolonggood models, this Shantungosaurus comes in two colors, ‘Cheng Yaojin’ (red) and ‘Tu Jun Da’ (green); mine is the latter. The color is quite conservative by Haolonggood’s standards, meaning there is not a lot of weird squiggles in white or other colors, which honestly I much prefer! I actually prefer neutral and subdued colors in my dinosaur figures. I know that could contribute to monotony over time, but at the same time it seems more natural, at least to me. One highlight with regards to the paint is the red around the flaring nasal area, suggesting the animal used sound and display for intraspecific communication.

Overall this is an impressive model and I am very happy with it. I am not enough of an expert to say which Shantungosaurus is ‘more accurate’, this one or PNSO (note I put that in quotes, because, in all seriousness, how can we evaluate what is most accurate in an animal that none of us have ever seen, or will ever see, in life). The PNSO model is in a more dynamic pose; however, according to Fembrogon’s review of the PNSO figure on the Blog, it is prone to toppling over! Also, Haolonggood’s model seems more refined and more detailed.