Thyreophoran (Furkan)

Review and photos by Lanthanotus, edited by Suspsy

Remember that long lost time when you had to search for an unknown term in a tremendous lexicon, through library research or by making contact with friends via mail in paper form (because phone calls were so expensive), post being delayed by two weeks and another two until you got an answer? Back in that legendary pre-digital time, it sometimes could take quite a while to find the information you wanted. While some of these things are not yet completely obsolete, we modern humans tend to consult our digital devices as a first step, and, in way more cases than not, that piece of electronic magic and its worldwide virtual backup provide a more or less viable answer within the blink of an eye. However, seldom but occasionally, one may encounter a term or name which the likes of Google, Yahoo, Bing or whatever search engine you prefer are forced to surrender…

…. today I’ll introduce you to a dinosaur figure of unknown species, age, history and producer (somewhat). I found it by chance on eBay and not a single bidder was interested in it, so I picked it up despite the lack of information. Even the seller could not say anything other than it was found in the display case of some deceased man. In fact, the only information I could find originated from this blog, as Libraraptor reviewed a figure somewhat similar to this more than four years back. Unfortunately, I have almost nothing to add to his findings about the producer, only that I could make out a Turkish company named Furkan Group which produces a variety of toys and games, but it’s unlikely they are the producer of the model reviewed here given their assortment of products.

While the figure makes a comparably nice and detailed model, its species remains unknown. The closest guess may be some scelidosaur, though the armor and spines are not quite as numerous as they should be. So maybe it’s meant to represent an early stage of evolution of this dinosaur group? Without any specific genus to pin this figure down, more discussion about its scientific accuracy obviously makes no sense, so let’s have a short look to it’s features.

The model measures 28 cm in width, 19 cm in height, and an imposing 58 cm measured along the dinosaur’s body. The overall coloration may be a bit uninspired and boring, but given the grade of armor on this ornithischian, it may benefit from keeping a low profile. The pose is probably a compromise to the material’s qualities. The polystone the model is made from is very brittle and so the comparably slender tail was in great need of some support to prevent breakage. The same goes for the finely sculpted legs with their slender ankles and sharp clawed feet–they had to be placed firmly on the ground and enforced with some green shrubs to give the model more stability. Nevertheless, the pose looks not too static, but quite natural, as if the beast would suddenly stop grazing to focus its attention on some disturbing sound or movement nearby.

The overall detail is quite nice with different types of skin textures from some rough leathery type on the body to small round scales on the head and hexagonal scales on the belly. The muscle bulges and skin folds look very authentic, as well as the digits and claws. A small drawback are the quite simple sculpted shrubs to reinforce the legs, but they are well hidden behind them and can hardly be seen from the main front view. Another downside is the dorsal ridge of scales. While it looks very nice from a first view, one may quickly recognize that the scales are of different shape (from rounded to pointed or even triangular) and have broad, unsculpted tops. In fact, it looks like the scales had been cut out manually with a jigsaw.

As Libraraptor already mentioned for his Nodosaurid, the model is hard to classify, as its overall appearance ranks it with some resin models (which it technically is) while the choice of material and other aspects (the base is made from some varnished MDF) cries out trumpery. Personally I like the figure, the dinosaur it (supposedly) represents and the secret of it’s origin. However, if anyone of you knows a thing or two about this model or the line of models, please let me know.