Parasaurolophus (Play Visions)

Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.

If you’ve ever scoured through dinosaur toy lots on eBay, you’ll probably be familiar with a seemingly ever-present cast of figures. Vintage Carnegies, K&M figures, and Battat Edmontonia bootlegs are numerous enough that they should really be classified as vermin. However, you’ll occasionally find a figure unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Such is the case of the subject of this review, the Play Visions Parasaurolophus.

I initially mistook this as just another cheap dinosaur figure like most of the others in the lot I bought it in. But once in hand, I realised this thing was very different from its Chinasaur companions. It’s definitely a hefty piece of plastic, reminiscent of old Carnegie Collection toys. This is a decently sized toy, too; at about 6½ inches (17 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) tall, it’s about 1:55 scale.  

The color scheme is definitely nothing unique, as I can recall several other Parasaurolophus figures that have a very similar dark green on lighter green coloration. However, it is still well done and does differentiate itself a bit with a sprinkling of white dots and that banded, red-orange belly.

This figure is pretty inaccurate; anyone with a passing knowledge of dinosaurs, or how living things look could tell you that. Though to give credit where it’s due, the head is clearly that of a Parasaurolophus and the back is appropriately arched.

The rest of the figure is just plain weird-looking, resembling a Star Wars alien more than a dinosaur. The poor animal’s neck gets really thin in the middle, it just looks unnatural. The torso is pretty much all wrong, too; it’s much too scrunched, and the belly looks distended, making the already overlong limbs look even lankier. The forelimbs are also pretty generic, with the left arm supinating as if it’s petting something.

Even with all this weirdness, I have to admit there’s a real charm to this figure. While unintentional, it’s much more of a weird artistic representation of a dinosaur than a replica, given that it looks like a member of the Max Rebo Band by way of Zobooland. So, if that floats your boat, I’d keep an eye out for one.