Carnotaurus (2018)(Conquering the Earth by Schleich)

Review and photos by Takama, edited by Suspsy

Over the last few decades or so, Carnotaurus has become a very popular choice for dinosaur toy lines. This is likely due in part to its unique characteristics that make it stand out from a shelf full of plastic theropods. Since going into business, Schleich has released multiple different versions of this ferocious dinosaur for their various toy lines. You can check out reviews for three of them here, here, and here. The subject of today’s review is the newest version, which is being touted as a 2018 release despite the fact that it’s been available at some retailers (Everything Dinosaur, for example) since August 2017.

The Conquering the Earth Carnotaurus is by far one of Schleich’s best representations of the animal judging by some of its features. The legs are nice and long, and the arms are diminutive and face the right way. However, there are many things that prevent the rest of the figure from being a scientifically accurate reconstruction overall. Although the legs are nice and long, they are way too thick and end in oversized feet. Also, one does not need to be a paleontologist to see that the sculptor took too many artistic liberties and created a model that looks like a Carnotaurus if it was spliced with the DNA of an insect. The details on this model are done pretty well, but they just do not look right on a dinosaur. The spine has these large, overlapping plates that remind me of fungus. These plates go on down to the knees of the figure and along the side of the tail. There are also little round bumps that may be an attempt at reptilian scales, but the result still does not look right on a dinosaur.

The closest thing this model has to a real Carnotaurus‘ dermal armour are large, blunted spikes that jut out of the back and continue on up to the halfway point on the tail. Other details on this figure include a series of rugged scales that are sculpted on the bottom half of the tail, leaving no room for a visible cloaca to be sculpted. These scales are also sculpted on the underside of the model and end by the chest region in between the tiny arms. The colour scheme on this model is also pretty cliched for this species. The base colour is black, while a majority of the model is painted orange. The dermal plates seem to alternate between black and orange, while the only other colours present on the figure are white on the teeth and red on the tongue.

All and all, it is clear to me that Schleich did not do enough (if any) research into the dermal scutes of this dinosaur, or the nature of dinosaur skin overall, and instead just used their imagination. They may also have been thinking of the Carnotaurus from Disney’s Dinosaur. If there is one thing that I have to commend Schleich for, it is that this figure does have a skull that looks a little more like that of the real animal than the 2013 version ever did, though it is still a little too thick and not anywhere near as narrow as it should be (like on the 2011 Carnegie Collection model). In terms of scale, it certainly too big to be 1:40, but I’d also like to point out that its too big to be 1:35 as well. The model is around 14″ long and 9″ tall, about the same size as the Conquering the Earth Allosaurus, and has the same pose as well, which makes me wonder if this is another case of Schleich reusing aspects of one model to create another one just like they did a few times in the past with their Kentrosaurus figures. It also has a hinged jaw. If you wish to buy one of these, despite my negative review, your best bet is to buy one from Everything Dinosaur, DeJankins, or Minizoo. Amazon and eBay are two other options.