Many people will recall the outdated days when the time period “prosauropods” was used to explain the likes of Plateosaurus, Massospondylus, Melanorosaurus, and different early long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs regarded as the ancestors of the good sauropods like Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Diplodocus. However as a result of perpetually altering nature of science, the clade Prosauropoda isn’t any extra and now the earliest members of the clade Sauropodomorpha are merely known as basal or early sauropodomorphs. One such instance is Lufengosaurus, which lived in China between 195 and 190 million years in the course of the Early Jurassic. At as much as 9 metres lengthy and 1.9 tons in weight, it was one of many largest recognized massospondylids. And in response to a study published in September 2024, it was a faithful guardian that fed its younger till they had been sufficiently old and powerful sufficient to forage for themselves.
Right here is Yiran the Lufengosaurus, launched by PNSO in 2024. That is their second stab on the genus; the first one was launched again in 2016, their inaugural 12 months, and it was fairly a big and quite shrink-wrapped beast. The one different representations of Lufengosaurus to date are the 2010 CollectA toy and a 1/15 scale resin statue from Vitae that you may nonetheless purchase for just a few hundred bucks in case you’re fortunate. Early sauropodomorphs have traditionally gotten quick shrift from prehistoric toy firms; even Plateosaurus, most likely essentially the most well-known of all of them, and definitely with the most toys to its name, hasn’t gotten a brand new one in additional than a decade. And whereas I’ve written properly over 200 opinions for the DTB, that is solely the primary time I’ve coated an early sauropodomorph. That alone makes Yiran one thing very particular certainly.
Amazon advert:
Yiran is posed in an energetic strolling stance. His head is turned sharply to look to his left and his mouth is vast open. His arms are unfold vast aside and the left hand is bent on the wrist. Yiran’s left leg is planted on the bottom and his proper one is prolonged again with the foot stretched out. Lastly, his lengthy tail is swinging to the fitting. He positively seems as if he’s been startled or frightened by one thing. Or maybe he’s being attacked by a predator. Lufengosaurus is thought to have coexisted with Sinosaurus, a 6 metre lengthy, double-crested theropod, so one may simply envision it as the explanation for Yiran’s aglifft state.
Whereas it’s a fantastic pose, it’s not fully steady. Once I first acquired this toy just a few months in the past, it will not get up by itself in any respect and I needed to depend on the included assist rod. Time spent in a cool basement den has improved its stability, as you may see. However, it may well nonetheless fall over simply and I at all times maintain it displayed on the shelf with the rod in place. It measures slightly beneath 11 cm tall and 25 cm lengthy.
PNSO has lengthy been criticized, justifiably in my view, for decking out dinosaurs in decidedly boring shades of brown. However they’ve gotten higher with their color schemes extra lately and Yiran stands as strong proof. His important color is gentle inexperienced with brown airbrushing all down his neck, again, and tail. Darkish inexperienced stripes adorn the size of his body and his underbelly is pale beige. His arms and toes are blue-grey with gentle pink wash and boring brown claws and the top of his tail is a sexy shade of teal, conceivably for show or courtship functions. Lastly, his head is brown and beige with orange eyes, a darkish pink mouth, and white enamel. All of it seems quite pleasing.
Yiran’s enamel are terribly tiny, but when one runs their fingernail throughout them gently, a tough texture can nonetheless be discerned. Spectacular. His pores and skin is pleasingly scaly and wrinkled, and options a number of tiny, spherical, and flattened osteoderms. His arms and toes seem significantly scaly as a result of pink wash and his palms and the soles of his toes are very properly completed. He’s additionally very well-muscled, particularly his arms and shoulders. And eventually, his foreclaws are giant, curved, and sharp. Yiran seems like he’d be a troublesome buyer for any Early Jurassic theropod.
Lufengosaurus is thought from round thirty specimens, together with juveniles and adults. Its skeleton is fully known and even has the excellence of being the primary full dinosaur ever to be mounted in China. PNSO due to this fact had little to no excuse for any obtrusive anatomical errors. And certainly, they seem to have made none. Yiran has a small, rectangular-shaped head with a curved snout on the finish of an extended neck. His torso and tail are each lengthy and his hind legs are comparatively stout. His arms have three giant clawed digits and two atrophied ones, whereas his toes have 4 seen toes (the tiny fifth one would have been coated over with tissue), with the one ending in a curved sharp claw. Early sauropodomorphs had been as soon as recurrently depicted as being able to strolling on two legs or all fours, however we now know that the arms of Lufengosaurus, Plateosaurus, Massospondylus, and plenty of different genera couldn’t be positioned for a quadrupedal stance. They had been obligate bipeds identical to Yiran right here.
Yiran’s accompanying booklet consists of the same old contents: a biography, a skeletal drawing of Lufengosaurus, images of the toy, a how-to-draw part, and a really positive two-page unfold by Zhao Chuang of a pair of Lufengosaurus being shadowed by a Sinosaurus. The foldout poster, proven on the bed room wall of my youthful son, is a closeup of the identical paintings, however with the Sinosaurus and the primary Lufengosaurus eliminated.
Splendidly sculpted, scientifically correct, fantastically painted, and positively unusual, Yiran the Lufengosaurus is arms down one of the best early sauropodomorph toy so far. Like all PNSO product, he doesn’t precisely come low cost, however he’s price it. And it’s hoped that PNSO, and different firms as properly, will produce different such animals sooner or later. Goodness is aware of we’re lengthy overdue for a brand new Plateosaurus.
This has been a very important assessment for me, as November 2024 marks my tenth 12 months as a reviewer for the Dinosaur Toy Weblog. I need to confess that I didn’t in any respect anticipate any such accomplishment once I submitted my first assessment to the weblog again in 2014, however life’s simply stuffed with surprises, ain’t it? Hearty thanks exit to weblog proprietor Dr. Adam S. Smith, to my fellow reviewers, and to all who’ve loved studying my opinions. I reckon it actually has been a most pleasurable and rewarding journey. And it goes on.
Disclaimer: hyperlinks to Ebay and Amazon on the DinoToyBlog are affiliate hyperlinks, so we make a small fee in case you use them. Thanks for supporting us!
Trending Merchandise
