Review and photos by Nathan Morris (‘Takama’), edited by Plesiosauria.
This familiar dinosaurian staple requires no introduction. Here we have CollectA’s standard-sized reproduction of this mighty horned hadrosaur, plus a baby for good measure. These CollectA figures were produced when the company was first venturing into the dinosaur toy market, so I’m willing to forgive many of its faults. Indeed, CollectA seems to have learned its lesson with their amazing line up for 2012.
The CollectA Parasaurolophus stands in the much-maligned tripod position with its overly short tail being used for balance. The forelimbs are also too short, and lack one of the digits present in the skeleton of this, and other, hadrosaur dinosaurs. One of the hind legs is striding forward and this gives the awkward impression that the animal is walking upright like a human. The rest of the body is not too bad, there is the distinctive duck-like bill and robust neck, and the back has an indention in the neural spines, much like the 2007 Schleich Parasaurolophus, as present on a specific Parasaurolophus fossil specimen. Also, a close look at the skin of the model reveals hundreds of little scales, another nice feature.
The adult comes in two colour variants, one bright neon yellow with green stripes and a red crest, the other more orange, with a very pale green underside, a dark red line that runs from the tip of its nose and down the length of its back, and a bright red that is reminiscent of its brighter colored counterpart.
CollectA released a baby Parasaurolophus the same year that they released the bright neon yellow one, but the baby has the same color scheme as the orange Para released two years later. The baby is suprisingly a little more accurate than the adult. It is posed on all fours, with its tail raised in the air, and it has the fourth digit on its forelimbs, that is missing in the adult. This little figure has many juvenile characteristic and might be worthy of a dedicated review in the future.
Overall, the adult CollectA Parasaurlophus is unsurprisingly anatomically flawed, while the little baby could be considered a little better. The newer one can be found on amazon here as well as eBay here for anywhere from 5-10 bucks, and the tiny baby is around 3-6 bucks.
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I received the brown adult and baby for Christmas. The adult (which I reckon must be female due to the lovely eye make-up she seems to be wearing) is a bit flawed proportionately, yes. The tail is way too small and slim, which bugs me a bit, and the pose is obviously way too “Old School”, but I like her underbelly, the contrast in colour is nice and I like the subtle folds of skin and other small details too.
The baby is great! I love the proportions, they have the tail spot on, and I like how realistic it looks. I love them, I may be a bit biased towards the adult though seeing as they were gifts from my girlfriend and all….
Or better yet a Charonosaurus or Niposaurus would be more interesting.
It is one of the worst records for Collecta that could be offset with new Deluxe version of Saurolophus, Olorotitan or even an improved version of Tsintaosaurus yet. It would be interesting.