My thanks goes out to Blissful Hen Toys, who had been gracious to supply a pattern of YangZhi the Allosaurus for this evaluate. YangZhi & SuoChao are the most recent in an extended line of Allosaurus toys, going way back to 1955 and now numbering into the a whole lot. Allosaurus stays a staple within the roster of most iconic dinosaurs ever, so collectors have not often been left wanting for the animal’s illustration. The catch to that is: with so many figures having already handed by means of the market, what does a brand new collectible convey to the desk that prior objects haven’t?
Allosaurus was Haolonggood’s first theropod launch of 2023, a yr the corporate began robust with a slew of herbivorous dinosaurs. Theropods had been nothing new for Haolonggood – the vast majority of their earlier work was centered on this group – however Allosaurus was a notably smaller determine than beforehand featured genera. Every Allosaurus determine stretches 23 cm (9 in) from nostril to tail; they’re somewhat smaller than present Safari Ltd. or PNSO choices, however nonetheless usually becoming inside 1:35 scale for an 8-meter-long stay particular person. Every paint variant is bought individually, as typical for Haolonggood, packaged snugly in a plastic wrapping and Styrofoam casing inside a clear white field, embellished with applicable pictures and product particulars. No stand is included, however each of my figures have held up extraordinarily properly for a number of months on an everyday shelf. It’s very satisfying to see firms getting so significantly better at mastering the balancing act for bipedal collectible figurines.
Haolonggood continues to impress with the complexity of its paint jobs. The 2 Allosaurus have distinct colour schemes (with some shared options), YangZhi being primarily blue and SuoChao being primarily crimson. Yangzhi is my private favourite of the 2; each collectible figurines bear a creamy brown underbelly and extra striped highlights alongside the again, however the muted blues on YangZhi make the person colours pop higher, as a result of complementary heat & cool values. Orange/pink stripes run parallel from the face all the way down to the tail, embellished by squiggly white stripes remoted on the flanks and limbs. Not everybody cares for Haolonggood’s “squiggly” fashion, however I believe they work properly on this determine. SuoChao shares these white stripes, in addition to the orange facial highlights; the parallel striping on the again is extra of a dusty greenish-brown, with somewhat extra emphasis on the noticed pores and skin patterns and darkish highlights on the decrease limbs. Each paint jobs are engaging, and collectors can decide for themselves which model fits their pursuits extra.
Detailing can be excellent on these figures. Whereas a number of pores and skin impressions exist for Allosaurus, they don’t give us the complete image of the animal’s integument, so Haolonggood’s artists are in a position to strategy with a level of creative license. Many of the figures’ our bodies are coated in extraordinarily wonderful scaling (roughly representing what we all know from the fossil impressions), with a number of areas just like the shoulders and rear jaws displaying bigger scales. Rows of scutes and spikes additionally adorn the spinal area, giving the figures a barely extra dramatic silhouette. Loads of wrinkling is current throughout the physique, maybe somewhat excessively, however not a lot as to revert to older elephant-skin renditions seen in toys earlier than. Facial options are particularly well-defined, fastidiously outlining the eyes, mouth, and cranium construction. The long-lasting lacrimal horns are on full show right here, and every tooth is individually sculpted. A cautious look contained in the mouth even reveals indentations on the roof for the internal naris, a part of theropods’ distinctive respiratory buildings.
Sadly, the definition of the facial options finally ends up highlighting the best flaw of the collectible figurines. Though YangZhi and SuoChao are unmistakably Allosaurus, they’re additionally unmistakably very outdated specimens of Allosaurus. The cranium of those figures is reconstructed with a reasonably brief, rounded form, hearkening again to early 20th century references that pervaded properly into the turn of the century earlier than new, extra correct value determinations managed to permeate the paleoart sphere. Present reconstructions of Allosaurus fragilis function a more oblong skull with a pronounced jugal bone (the “cheek” area). There are different species of Allosaurus identified, every with their very own unique appearances; however the Haolonggood collectible figurines don’t match any of those notably properly (a minimum of in profile view – from above or from the entrance, the cranium appears extra moderately up-to-date). The cranium continues to be too brief, too deep, too rounded alongside the nasal bridge – and the jugal bone is totally flat, with no distinction from the maxila. On a lipped dinosaur this distinction is perhaps masked higher, however Haolonggood opted for a lipless reconstruction, with the tooth absolutely uncovered and pronounced scalation defining the road of the mouth. To Haolonggood’s credit score, sculpting tooth and lips at a smaller scale was a problem they had been nonetheless overcoming on the time of those figures’ launch; their Daspletosaurus and Megaraptor would later triumph on this regard. However, the ensuing design solely attracts extra consideration to the concrete anatomical errors current. The fenestra within the cranium are additionally somewhat extra distinguished than most likely needed, giving YangZhi and SuoChao a gaunt portrait.
Elsewhere on the our bodies, anatomy appears rather a lot more healthy. If the skulls give the impression of an animal in lean instances, the postcranial areas are rather more indicative of wealthy feeding grounds. The 2 theropods are given stout, compact torsos with muscular tails, mixing easily into the sturdy legs on which the collectible figurines stay balanced. The underlying skeletal proportions appear to match up properly with recent skeletals, as they need to, given how a lot fossil materials we now have of Allosaurus to reference. One observe of criticism I’ll make is that the arms seem undersized; Allosaurus had pretty massive arms and fingers to seize prey with. Haolonggood might most likely afford one other 20% or so to the forearms and fingers, with extra emphasis to the enlarged thumb claw (a function typically ignored in Allosaurus toys even in the present day). The person fingers look good relative to one another, although, whereas the center toe of the toes might most likely be rather a lot longer.
YangZhi and SuoChao function an articulated jaw, as is the case for many Haolonggood theropods. Whereas earlier figures like Carcharodontosaurus and later figures like Megaraptor deal with this function satisfactorily, on Allosaurus the engineering leaves one thing to be desired. The hinge itself works simply wonderful, however when closing the mouth there tends to be a lightweight hole between jaws, giving the already bare-toothed dinosaur a barely ghoulish look. As soon as once more, it’s price acknowledging this was a determine Haolonggood was nonetheless (ahem) slicing their tooth on as they experimented with totally different sizes of animals.
…So, on the finish of the day, what do YangZhi and SuoChao convey new to the desk? Effectively, possibly not a lot. Whereas Haolonggood stay on the prime of the sport in balancing advanced paint and value vary, for Allosaurus choice there are different well-made figures that obtain higher accuracy, with each cheaper and dearer alternate options. That mentioned, they nonetheless show properly amongst fellow Haolonggood dinosaurs if one prefers a extra visually constant assortment. I additionally really feel these two handle to evoke imagery of artists like Todd Marshall, Gabriel Lio, and Brett Sales space from the 2000s interval of paleoart; if one is keen on this specific period of aesthetics, YangZhi and SuoChao would possibly scratch that particular itch. Though they could be flawed, YangZhi and SuoChao the Allosaurs get my advice, with applicable expectations.
My thanks once more to Blissful Hen Toys for his or her generosity (and persistence) to help this evaluate; you may return their help by buying this pair, plus different Haolonggood dinosaurs and different Allosaurus figures, at happyhentoys.com.
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