Therizinosaurus (Salvat)

One issue that will always plague any creative outlet is this: plagiarism. Many will copy the best for a quick and easy way to get sales or attention. When it’s mentioned here, usually this is in referenced to Geoworld, and they are certainly guilty of this. However, they aren’t the only ones though. Salvat editores are a Spanish magazine company, producing on a range of subjects, which included dinosaurs at one point. They produced 42 models, all of them plagiarised. Here we see one example, Therizinosaurus, a strange theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.

This figure is huge! It measures a colossal 5.4″ high and an impressive 10.2″ long, putting it up with modern examples, like Schleich. It is a hard plastic, resulting in it being heavy, which could be a danger if siblings have a tendency to use dinosaurs as projectiles. The pose is a tripod, but an actually possible one, the neck raised up to feed or look around. the bend in the neck is a tad odd, but workable. It’s a dark green and black colour, working for a large herbivore.

Right, let’s cut to the chase. This is a blatant plagiarised model, no matter how they try to hide it. Specifically, it copies the Dinosaurs of China model, by Safari Ltd. The pose and much of the body proportions are exactly the same as the Safari model, even the spot patterns are the same, it’s obvious. The differences are that it is that a mirrored position, the neck facing up and the colour scheme. Every issue with the last figure is here, not great really.

As I said, they have the same accuracies, which isn’t terrible, but the increase in size really hinders things, looking too robust and bulky in areas like the hands, where the original did better. I feel the tail is a little too short, but not by much.

This is a blatant rip off of an older, better model, despite the changes, some which help while others hinder. It’s not a particularly pretty mould either, which doesn’t help. The one thing that helps is that, as a magazine giveaway, it is rare, much like the rest of the line, so collectors may eat this up for a full set, but most collectors will go for the better made originals. If you see it, it could be worth grabbing, but only for a reasonable price, but it really depends on your point of view. I don’t regret buying this, but might if I’d paid too much more for it.