Manufacturing issues in Papo´s dinosaurs?

Hello, everyone! I have a tiny question that is picking my curiosity...

I don´t know how I can put it, but I have read around the internet that Papo´s dinosaurs are... a bit sensitive. That is, after a few years, they start to be unable to stand on their legs, for example.

Can anyone, who owns or has owned Papo´s dinosaurs in the past clear this for me? I personally find this VERY odd and unlikely. I mean, I look at a Papo dinosaur and I cannot really see such a great figure simply start to loose it´s quality as the years pass.

Also, I am buying my very first Paposaur by the end of this month ( ). If this is true, should I be even more careful with it than what I usually am with my other figures?

I am still convinced that this is either a bad rumor or was a problem with the early figures only. But can anyone clear this out for me?

I think somebody may have one which , - and then as rumour spreads, it becomes "all Paposaurs"

I know that T-Rexes from many brands have that problem because of the large head, but my Pap-Rex stands fine.
My beloved Spinosaurus has been standing high up on a shelf for years and still stands solidly on his feet.
Being in that place exposes him to a lot of heat during winter, because of my wood stove in that end of the sitting room, and the stove is my main source of heat. If Spino can stand that, nothing can scare him into being weak in the knees

I only have the triceratops from Papo (mother and baby) and they are standing on all 4, so it is completely different than the Paposaurs (seriously, I am keeping that word now XD) standing on two. But both are standing strong and have not lost any quality (also color wise or such).

I think the same as Susanne, that someone had one Paposaur that wasn't good, or old, or such and wasn't able to stand anymore. If one legs is a little bend (that can be the case with ANY animal) then the build of a two legged Paposaurs can make it unable to stand anymore But with some hot/cold water treatment it can be fixed most of the times :)

Enjoy your Paposaurs and don't be afraid of them getting weak or such
I never heard of it before

If I was a collector of dinosaur figures, my first choice would be immediately Papo. I've also read about some Papo not standing properly but it is more a myth, it could happen with a minority of figures but even REBOR, with their bases, have one or other figure that doesn't stand properly.
Early Papo figures were made of a softer pvc and some figures didn't stand correctly, a good example is the old giraffe, I remember seeing it on shops with legs bending under the weight of the figure, however, Papo while expanding their collections, they started to adjust better pvc formulas according with the features of their figures. Papo is now a mature company and their figures are decently manufactured. From the newer dinosaurs, I've only read that Dilophosaurus couldn't stand correctly but Susanne presented it on forum and her figure stands perfectly and it has an incredible pose.
I understand your fear, as a collector of Schleich models, you are used with high manufacturing standards, Schleich favours the good balance of a figure towards its design. That's the reason why Schleich insisted in big feet, thick limbs and simple standing poses. CollectA also used often the big feet strategy and Safari their tripods.
Please get your first Papo dinosaur, I am sure you will love it, it is the most exciting collection of affordable dinosaurs and if you have doubts of their balance, you can always get a sauropod or ceratopsian, those won't fall for sure.

My T-Rex and Allosaurus are both unable to stand by themselfs.
I have glued a small part of a toothpick underneath the foot of T-Rex to make him stand.
The Allosaurus is always leaning against another figure to keep him upright.

But this didn't happen over time. They were like that from the start.
It happens with all brands. Some people receive a CollectA horse with wonky legs, other people don't have that problem.
Some people receive a Schleich bison with one shorter leg, others don't.

So the real question is: "Do you feel lucky?"  

Thank you, Susanne, Karin, Roger and Simone! So, I guess I can relax and not be more careful with it than what I already am (and believe me, I am quite careful. Even the smallest of my figures MUST be safe ). Good to know this isn´t any more of a problem than in other brands. I should know by now that a minor rumor on the internet can quickly become something big.

Thank you all again!

I've known of several people on the DTF that have had issues--usually due to ambient temperatures. But then, that's true of most dinosaur companies. Trying to make bipedal dinos stand is always a challenge. Safari often uses over-sized feet, for example. CollectA is moving more towards nondescript bases to allow greater freedom for poses and more accurate proportions.

I won't give my opinion of Papo. I don't have many.

 It reminds me of a poster I have , - ooohh, dear , where have I put it ?  
It was from the first, difficult years after Bullyland was borne, at the desperate owner put a not up in the factury , saying something to this effect :
DO NOT paint a model that can not stand properly! You will not be payed for painting models that can't stand, because we will not sell them !!!!!  
I am sure that it helped, - and may add, that they were very few people back then, and were all good friends, so the painters would forgive him

But still - I have three large T-rexes from Bullyland and two of them fall over

SUSANNE wrote:

 It reminds me of a poster I have , - ooohh, dear , where have I put it ?  
It was from the first, difficult years after Bullyland was borne, at the desperate owner put a not up in the factury , saying something to this effect :
DO NOT paint a model that can not stand properly! You will not be payed for painting models that can't stand, because we will not sell them !!!!!  
I am sure that it helped, - and may add, that they were very few people back then, and were all good friends, so the painters would forgive him

But still - I have three large T-rexes from Bullyland and two of them fall over

That reminds me of the Bullyland T.rex I have from 2001--and yeah, it does not stand. The Allosaurus does though.

I'm a Papo dino collector and have had several of models for years! So far, none of my figurines have had any problems. I live in Ohio, U.S.A. too where we get hot humid summers and frigid cold winters.

I never had any trouble with my Rebor's either where other collectors have. Either I'm very lucky or my climate is perfect for display pieces.

It was precisely from DTF that I first read about this, sbell. It was also there that I first saw the word "Paposaur".

Also, Viking Spawn, that was one of the things I was worrying about. The climate. But even that shouldn´t be a problem. "My" winter is rainy and still quite cold, but there is no snow. The summer can get quite hot but as long as I keep the figure away from the heat of the day, which I already do with every one I own now, there shouldn´t be any big issues.

Also, Susanne, I can only wonder the staff´s reaction when they first saw the poster!

I have running T-Rex from Papo that one month after the purchase started falling. But if I put a coin under one of the feet there is no problem. Also the Spinnosauris that I bought second hand and seems to stand on itself later started dropping to its arm too. I can post pictures later if there is interest.

Hello, Radi, and welcome here

Do they stand in a very hot place ?

After reading your ansver, I checked my Papo spinosaur.
He has been standing several years in a a place where it can get very hot...on the top of a small showcase, which hangs rather high and not far from the wood stove.

But he stands perfectly firm ...I also checked if he could have been supported by another model or the wall, but he stood completely free.

My T-rex stands in a much cooler place.

Perhaps they have changed the material at some point ? So I got lucky and you got very unlucky.
Both had been on the market for some years before I got mine

hi Susanne - they stay about 30 centimeters over a big screen TV, but it doesn't get any hot there !

Without the coin the Trex stays for a while and then falls on the side.
The Spino stays and as seen on one of the pics the feet are not even - but it stays and when it fall it stay on both legs +one arm.

I hope I am making myself clear.

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Hello Radi,
I`m Kostadin..
we already spoke on Facebook and I`m glad that you desided to come in this wonderful place - STS :)
So, welcome
I also have a problem with my running T-Rex in green color.
The same problem.....but with the right leg. At the begining it was ok....but with the time start to be not so stable.
I tried to fix it with the hot/cold water...but it is not working with this model.
I think Papo have to change the plastic material...at least for some of the models.
It has to be harder...like this one from Schleich or Collecta.
I also have a big problem with the new Marabou stork ..and I know that Susanne also has a problem with her model.
Mine is bending forward .....I tried to fix it again with hot/cold water... it stais for 12 hours ok....and then again it`s bending. I tried 3 times.... no success
But yes, Susanne you are lucky with your T-rex
Maybe you are right....Perhaps they have changed the material..

Looks exactly like the Bullyland T-rex-problem
I put some "Blu-tack" ( Called Elephant-snot by school children ) under his foot  

costicuba wrote:

......
I also have a big problem with the new Marabou stork ..and I know that Susanne also has a problem with her model...

Yes ! I also tried hot/cold treatment, several times, but to no avail. Now the poor bird is packed away, because he kept hurting his nose beak when he fell

Ok, here goes. I don't know if anyone knows this but I hadn't ever seen anything about it and I researched it before it happened which is partially why I'm so angry. But I digress...

I got the Spinosaurus last year from Papo as a birthday present. I was incredibly excited since its my favorite dinosaur and its a splendid model. However I noticed recently he has been falling over and realized that his left foot had warped inwards and was causing his falls and scratches on his off side. So naturally, I decided to try the hot water trick (I had looked it up before hand and nowhere I saw did it say any damage would happen, after all these are technically sold as children's toys and would be made to handle the roughness of that right?   ) All I saw was that Papo models are painted with a paint that should not come off under any circumstances, even when exposed to normal paint strippers. The only thing that is supposed to take it off is acetone and that would also eat at the plastic. Anyways, I tried the hot water trick and it apparently removed the paint off his legs. The photos below don't do it justice, it basically looks like he walked thought wet cement and the blue gray plastic is showing after only being exposed to mildly hot water. Has anyone heard of this before? It could be that there was a flaw with my model, but I just wanted to warn anyone that may try to fix their dino's legs that this could happen, and it destroyed my good mood yesterday.    

This is the leg that got it the worst, its the right leg ("showing" side).
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This shows the color change about the knee.
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And this again shows the color change and the previous natural gray green it is supposed to be.
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Needless to say, I'm upset this happened and I hope it doesn't to anyone else. I also emailed the company with hopes that they will either replace my model (unlikely I know) or at least look into the problem since its a bit ridiculous it happened in the first place. All I want at the least is a reply but in the dozens of times I've emailed them before (more so of praise or suggestions in the past) but I have never ever once got a reply. So we will see what they say, if anything.

I can only relate with a quality issue in the plastic itself. I have no problems with the new 2016 arctic wolf figure but a friend of mine who got one of the new 2016 arctic wolves said hers was very soft plastic and not only had that leg bending problem but also cracked apart. She even discovered she could easily chip the plastic apart with her finger nails.

Luckily, mine nor any other figures I have by Papo have those issues so the one she got must have been missed by quality control.

I'm guessing Papo just needs some "quality control" officials in their manufacturing facilities or need to hire more if they already have. This isn't the first time a quality issue has been discovered. Recently here, a few members who got the new 2016 flamingo noted the figure "bending over" after a while because of the plastic being so soft.

Not sure what is going on at Papo but I hope you get a reasonable solution from their end! I would be extremely upset too if that happened to me.

So sorry to hear that. So far I had no problems with my Papo. I hope they would find the solutions soon.

Poor dino and poor Paige

I surely hope Papo has done something about it

Perhaps they will give you a new one ? even ...if it is not the same as the one you got as a present, of course

Good News! Although Papo has not gotten back to me yet (and they never will as usual ... not very professional for a company in my opinion) I did contact someone who can help me. The US distributor for Papo and other European brands is actually willing to communicate with its customers which is fantastic of course. Anyways, I explained my problem, the man on the line was incredibly kind and explained various reasons and other faults in their products (I will discuss those in a moment) and told me if I emailed him some photos of the problem he will replace the figure for me! And not only that, I also mentioned that my green raptor's jaw doesn't close properly (discovered after closer inspection by me and my brothers model of the same) and he is also willing to replace that as well! Needless to say I'm quite happy someone is willing to help me and I can have the models once again. And, as you mentioned Susanne, not its going to be quite the same since my collector quality spino won't be my present (I form irrational bonds with some models, that birthday present in particular, especially since it was my first Papo dino) but I will not get rid of it, perhaps he will get a new coat paint and be a friend for the new one coming.

Anyways, the distributor said he's come across the same problem I've had with the paint washing off, but the spinos in particular tend to have quality issues. With kids being rough on them the arms break off fairly easily, the jaws don't get placed on quite right, or as what originally happened with mine either warping or balance issues develop. As far as I'm concerned, I can handle some human mistakes (for instance small paint droplets are an accident) and I can handle some tippy models, but for me when it causes problem with the figure standing as a whole its definitely a concern, so it sounds like Papo has some quality issues to work out at some point.

However, I don't want to discourage anyone from this lovely line of figures. The detailing is amazing and the character of the models is fantastic, I just hope this thread is a warning to anyone who considers getting them and to think twice before they fix warped legs as an example. Especially since there may not be a guarantee of replacement if there a flaw.

Thankyou very much for forwarding this information

Ah, yes... I have read about several cases like this one. I even posted a topic about this here on the forum. More than once I read about Papo dinosaur models that came damaged or that simply, as the time passed, started to loose their ability to stand up properly.

Indeed, kids can be rough with the figures. While here I don´t usually see Papo dinosaurs for sale (which annoys me like no tomorrow) I see this sometimes with the Schleich figures: they handle them roughly.

Nevertheless, flawed models are more the exception rather than the rule. Sometimes it´s not even the company´s fault, but the way they are handled until they get to the store. Of course, it´s a major pain when it happens. I can understand you bonding with the model, I feel the same way about my own figures! And Paposaurs are such amazing, detailed models that it´s near impossible to resist them, even with the risk of them being flawed sometimes. I am too buying my first one soon if things go according to the plan!

I can confirm that papo T-Rex and 2019 papo allosaurus have standing problems! I have both of them and they fall over after a time! Hot water with cold water does not work