February | 2010 | The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Monthly Archives: February 2010

Velociraptor (Papo)

Posted on February 21, 2010 by cordylus | 20 Comments

Up for review is yet another Papo dinosaur – Velociraptor. This figure is largely praised in the dinosaur toy collecting community, as is the real Velociraptor itself!

Unfortunately, most aspects of this Velociraptor are wrong. The tail is too short and curved, the arms are awkwardly pronated, the tibias seem a little too long, and there’s no feathers – all very un-dromeosaurid like features. The shape of the skull is largely too robust for that of a Velociraptor, it is more reminiscent of its distant relative Deinonychus. Velociraptor was believed to have been a diurnal animal, so the slit pupils don’t make much sense. The pose really doesn’t help this figure; it can stand on its own two feet but it’s still rearing up. I would have preferred to have seen a velociraptor with a pose more similar to the Allosaurus or Spinosaurus. The teeth in the skull are all one piece with little lines sculpted in it to make it look like teeth – the end result are teeth that look like something from a flamingo or Pterodaustro.

Minus its inaccuracies, this figure does have some commendable points. The musclature is well defined throughout the body. The skin is very detailed, with each individual scale suclpted (there should really be feathers, not scales, though!). There are also some nice wrinkles on the tail and the neck. It really looks like it could be alive.

The color scheme is largely unattractive. It seems as though they tried to get a mix of both Jurassic Park and The Lost World in one. The end result is kind of boring, especially for a little dinosaur who had potential to be VERY colorful.

If you want a true to the real thing Velociraptor, your best bet would be Bullylands 2008 version. If you are a big dromeosaur fan, or you like the animals of jurassic park, this one belongs in your collection for sure.

Available on Ebay here

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Posted in Papo, theropod

Tagged dinosaur, toy, Velociraptor

Stegosaurus (Papo)

Posted on February 21, 2010 by cordylus | 19 Comments

Stegosaurus has always been a staple dinosaur. It’s featured prominently in museums, the media, museum toylines, chinasaur bins, and it’s been heavily researched. Many renditions of this animal have been done in toy form (just about every dinosaur toy collection has one!) so we’ll look at the attempt by Papo for now.

Stegosaurus Papo f

The detail on this Stegosaurus is really insane. Each individual scale is sculpted, and the plates/spikes/nails are all very lifelike. There are nice skin sags on the tail, belly and legs, and there are even traces of ribs showing in the torso. Unfortunately, for such a detailed figure, it has a lot of inaccuracies.

Stegosaurus Papo

First off, the head (while very nicely sculpted) is far too large; Stegosaurus is known for having a tiny head relative to its body size. The tail spikes, again, while nicely sculpted, are too curved upwards and they look very cracked (in real life they would have been smoother). The tail itself is tiny! It surely won’t be swatting away any Papo Allosaurs with it. The plates look like they are covered in skin, while in real life they were probably covered in keratin. Also, the plate size is too small; Stegosaurus had very large plates. The back feet have one claw too many, I’m pretty sure Stegosaurus had only two claws on its back feet (do correct me if I’m wrong in the comment box below). There seems to be an absence of nostrils too which is very strange.

Stegosaurus Papo

The coloration is very nice and is very similar to that of Jurassic Park Stegosaurus. It’s a lime green on top with darker green drybrushed over it, which fades into a creamy grey belly. The outward-facing sides of the plates are brown with a green blotch in the center with a white blotch within it, while the sides facing in are strangely the same color as the rest of the body. The claws and the tail spikes are the same grey as in the splotches on the plates. The eyes are yellow with dotted pupils – this was a diurnal animal!

Stegosaurus Papo

All in all, If you want a Stegosaurus replica that is true to the real animal, I would recommend Kinto or Wild Safari. All in all – If you are a fan of Stegosaurus (well really, who isn’t?) this is one worth picking up.

Available from Amazon.com (here)