Not like most different prehistoric toy firms, the overwhelming majority of Haolonggood’s dinosaurs have been herbivorous ones to date. And the carnivores that they’ve tackled are principally genera which have already been finished by lots of those self same different firms: Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Daspletosaurus, Dilophosaurus, and so forth. There may be, nevertheless, one notable exception at current: Megaraptor. I’ve already reviewed one toy of this fascinating animal here on the blog, however it was hardly a beacon of scientific accuracy (though it’s quite a lot of enjoyable to play with!). This one reveals extra promise. A lot, way more.
Haolonggood’s Megaraptor is sculpted in a operating pose, which isn’t any simple feat to tug off with out the help of an connected base. The animal’s head is raised up and turning ever so barely to the left. The arms are positioned beneath the torso, the higher to showcase the well-known foreclaws. The left leg is prolonged ahead with the foot planted whereas the appropriate one is prolonged all the best way again with solely the very tip of the claw on the center toe touching the bottom. Lastly, the tail is raised and its tip is curling barely to the left. It’s a terrific dynamic pose and the toy actually does handle to remain up all by itself, however it takes only a mild nudge from one’s finger for it to fall over. As such, I’ve as soon as once more crafted a easy help from clear LEGO bricks to make sure that it stays standing within the show case.
The Megaraptor measures a bit underneath 7 cm tall and 23.5 cm lengthy, whereas the actual animal has been estimated to be round 8 metres lengthy. Because of this this toy scales fairly effectively with the phenomenal Eofauna Tyrannosaurus rex and sure different tyrannosauroids, particularly ones from PNSO and Safari Ltd.—however not all of them.
That is the “Duan Jing Zhu” model of Haolonggood’s Megaraptor, the opposite being known as “Shi Qian.” Its fundamental color is medium brown with a lighter shade for the underbelly and a darker shade utilized to the tip of the snout, the arms, and the ft. Very darkish brown is used for the claws and the markings on the physique. There are additionally white stripes on the pinnacle, sides, and tail. The eyes are mild blue, the within of the mouth is pink, and the tooth are white. To be sincere, I reckon I might do with out the white stripes, however on the entire, this seems to be fairly good.
The Megaraptor‘s decrease jaw opens to a 20 diploma angle, revealing a reasonably effectively sculpted mouth and small however sharp tooth. The entire physique is roofed in teeny tiny scales save for the decrease jaw, the place the scales are considerably bigger. Wrinkles are stored to a relative minimal, most on the neck, across the limb joints, and on the tail. The arms and ft have the acquainted rows of scutes and the claws ideas are very pointy. As effectively, there are remoted patches of very small osteoderms on the again of the neck, the flanks, and on high of the hip area. It’s an amazing sculpting job throughout, and whoever did it’s really high notch.
The pinnacle on this animal is lengthy, slender, and tapering. The neck, torso, tail, and legs all have a reasonably commonplace look for a mid-sized theropod. The arms, nevertheless, look significantly stout and the arms, after all, characteristic the claws that Megaraptor is known for. All six are curved and fairly sharp, with the foreclaws being the longest and thickest. Taking a look at them leaves little question that they introduced a grotesque and painful demise to many a herbivorous dinosaur and maybe even some carnivorous ones from the Portezuelo Formation.
So how does this toy measure up by way of accuracy? Properly, if you understand something about megaraptorans, you understand full effectively that they’re a frustratingly incomplete lot, with nary a full skeleton but to be discovered. At current, there’s solely two formally described specimens of Megaraptor, an grownup and a juvenile, and between them, we’ve got cranium fragments, just a few vertebrae and ribs, the pubis, a part of the shin, and the hand and forearm, after all. Nonetheless, this toy positively displays lots of the most up-to-date reconstructions of this animal. As you may see, it intently resembles this skeletal mount in Japan (and be aware the Fukuiraptor skeleton subsequent to it that the CollectA toy seems to have been based mostly on). It’s price declaring that sure reconstructions depict Megaraptor with bigger, beefier arms and feathers, however till extra fossil materials is found, we could by no means know.
Hats go off to Haolonggood, for they’ve made one of the best toy of Megaraptor at the moment accessible, arms down. Its sculpting is second to none, it seems to be very dynamic, lethal, and outre, and it definitely displays our present notion of the animal. It’s accessible for buy at any variety of on-line shops.
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