Excessive tide comes as a blessing for Shipwreck, who’s in a really tight spot proper now. Actually. In her temararious try to catch a much smaller mosasaur, she pursued it proper right into a small, shallow lagoon. Her prey then scooted again into open water simply because the tide went out, leaving Shipwreck successfully trapped. For the previous twelve hours, she has been languishing on the sandy backside, repeatedly developing for air, however in any other case unable to manoeuvre her formidable 14 metre type across the many massive rocks and jagged coral reefs. And what few fish are caught within the lagoon together with her are far too small and fast to snap up, regardless of her on and off efforts. Her starvation is now higher than ever.
Lastly, the water stage turns into excessive sufficient once more for Shipwreck to swim to freedom. And as luck would have it, she quickly spots a lone ammonite hovering within the blue forward of her. She is aware of from expertise that it’ll not be as tasty or filling as that smaller mosasaur would have been, however it is going to suffice . . .
Slowly and steadily, CollectA has been releasing new and drastically improved variations of their older merchandise. For 2026, it’s the mighty mosasaur generally known as Tylosaurus. I reviewed the original version right here a decade in the past, and whereas I do suppose that it had a sure attraction to it, it positively warranted changing.
As a part of the Age of Dinosaurs: Well-liked collection, the brand new Tylosaurus is pretty small, simply 20.5 cm lengthy from the tip of her snout tip to the tip of her tail. I name her Shipwreck. She rests on her flippers together with her stomach off the bottom, her tail swinging to the best, and her head turned to the left, jaws agape at a 30 diploma angle.
Like many a correct marine predator, Shipwreck is darkish on high and lightweight on backside. Her underbelly is colored like seashore sand, however her predominant color is a darkish shade of peacock blue, with thick stripes operating down her flanks. Her eyes are yellow and her mouth is vibrant pink with beige tooth. She appears to be like reasonably nice and real looking.
Shipwreck’s head is often Tylosaurus: very lengthy and formed reasonably like a slender triangle. The pores and skin has a light-weight scaly texture. The tooth lining the jaws are well-defined, well-painted, and fairly pointy. The pterygoid tooth might be clearly seen on the palate, though because of the toy’s small measurement, they haven’t been painted. The forked tongue can be clearly seen, mendacity flat towards the mandible.
The jaws are made from comparatively versatile PVC, which suggests you possibly can wedge in smaller creatures like those from CollectA’s prehistoric marine tube to make it look as if Shipwreck is crunching down on a tasty seafood meal.
There aren’t any scale patterns on the remainder of Shipwreck’s physique, however she comes off as extra streamlined that means. And he or she does have loads of wrinkles, starting from faint ones on her again to thicker, extra pronounced ones on her throat and flippers. She additionally bears a few scars on her left aspect. Her massive, vaguely teardrop-shaped flippers are a bit extra fleshed out than on earlier Tylosaurus toys; the digits can’t be discerned beneath the pores and skin.
In step with the newest mosasaur science, Shipwreck’s highly effective tail options a big, triangular fluke and a downward turned tip. Appears to be like similar to an inverted shark’s caudal fin, and distinctly completely different from that of the 2023 Deluxe Mosasaurus, or Black Bart as I name him. The tail additionally options faint wrinkles, and a large cleft on the again of the fluke.
Small although she could also be, Shipwreck actually is among the greatest Tylosaurus toys but. Simply the perfect one I’ve reviewed right here. Strong sculpting, scientifically correct, applicable colors, and enjoyable to play with. And once more, it was positively excessive time to exchange the outdated model. This toy ought to be accessible for buy from the same old distributors in only a matter of weeks. Hearty because of CollectA for the evaluation pattern!
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