With a body as big as a giraffe’s and a wingspan of 10 metres or more, Quetzalcoatlus was both the largest pterosaur and the largest flying animal of all time. Next to an adult Alamosaurus, however, it would have looked like a herring gull. But even the biggest sauropods have to start out small…
Traditionally, pterosaur figures have been depicted in a flying pose with their wings spread. Such a pose is certainly impressive, but it means the figure takes up more room in your display (unless you prefer suspending your pterosaurs from the ceiling). By contrast, this Quetzalcoatlus is sculpted in a walking stance with its wings folded up. This is in keeping with recent theories likening it to a gigantic marabou stork, stalking across the Late Cretaceous plains in search of any animal it could snap up in its massive bill and swallow whole. I much prefer this pose. As well as making it easy to display the figure, it really emphasizes the sheer size of the head and neck in relation to the body. It also showcases the multitude of joints in the arms.
The Quetzalcoatlus stands a little over 12 cm tall. It’s made of soft, flexible plastic, so you need never worry about it being damaged by a fall from the shelf. The head is mostly smooth, but the body has a nice fur pattern to it and the wings are wrinkly. Main colours are light brown with a whitish underbelly and grey wing membranes. The large head is mostly black with yellow, maroon, and light blue airbrushing and a large yellow crest. The eyes are magenta and the interior of the mouth is pink.
Predators are utterly without mercy when it comes to their prey and this Quetzalcoatlus has thought nothing of snatching up a cute little baby Alamosaurus for dinner. The tiny sauropod, which is non-removeable, is dull orange with a faded underbelly and black eyes. Its skin has a pebbly texture and there’s even a little ridge running along its spine. Its mouth is open in a cry of terror and its little legs and tail are thrashing helplessly. There is no escape for this poor youngster. Although if the Quetzalcoatlus isn’t careful, it could easily choke to death on such a plump, struggling morsel.
The CollectA Quetzalcoatlus is well-researched, beautifully sculpted, and attractively painted. The baby Alamosaurus is a neat touch, although it does make this an item unsuitable for the squeamish at heart. CollectA sure does love gore!
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[…] and light blue on the back of its neck. Its head is raised high and tilting to the left, but unlike the larger version, there’s no baby Alamosaurus struggling helplessly in its bill. The neck and body are covered […]
[…] a couple of glaring anatomical errors. First, take a look at the above comparison photo with the CollectA Quetzalcoatlus. Even though the Recur toy is much bigger, the heads are virtually the same size. Quetzalcoatlus had […]
[…] had a respectable wingspan of around five metres, but that was nowhere near the size of giants like Quetzalcoatlus and […]
[…] The head is not bad, but the crest could be updated to match the one on the model made by CollectA. The only thing I don’t like about this figure is the wings. The wingspan seems to be […]
The curve at the tip of the beak appears to be as a result of poor shipping & handling. The reviewer in this YouYube video has a copy of this Quetzalcoatlus model with a more proper straightened beak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dRT4qcAb50
That’s the figure that disappointed me the most last year & made me not to trust Collecta’s catalog images. The only way I’l ever buy a Collecta dinosaur is after I see a proper picture of a model.
I mean, the stock picture was amazing, it looked like something Papo would make, but when this thing arrived, I thought this was a knock-off. Compared to the original model Collecta released…
This feels cheap, the plastic, the paint job, the non existing details… It really looks like a cheap chinasaur I’m sorry to say. The small baby sauropod has more detail and better quality plastic…
Collecta can truly make some amazing models but they sure as hell dropped the ball on this one.
I honestly don’t understand what you mean with that “non-existing details” bit. The toy HAS detail. It has visible fur and musculature and creases in the wings. And the softer plastic is probably a result of safety concerns give how spindly the figure is. For its price tag, I think this is a superb toy.
Opinions will always vary.
The bend of the wing finger is kind of weird. It didn’t fold up against the side of the metacarpals–it bent on the same plane. Odd that they’d go with this posture.
Thanks!
Great review Suspsy.
I agree that these pterosaurs are cool but creepy. With the graceful neck of a giraffe, imagine it looking down its long beak, pointed at its next target. Add in the fact it can fly, its is the stuff of nightmares.
The only thing I didn’t like about this toy was the plasticky feel and look of the figure, especially the wings. Thats just my issue, but it it is a really cool sculpt.
I think the creepiest element of pterosaurs in general is the similarity of their body SHAPE and that of primates, especially humans. They resemble something from the imagination of Robert E. Howard.
I read somewhere that the baby Alamosaurus is held in place by one or more “pegs” that can be cut if one has a steady hand, should that make it more acceptable to the squeamish. Of course, you now have to paint the white dot[s] in the mouth of the Quetzalcoatlus to match the rest of its maw.
Apart from the hands and feet, which are a bit sloppy, I love this critter.
Cheers.
I think the curved beak is simply a matter of warping during transit.
What does not seem right among other things is the peak of quetzalcoatlus, I find curved and a disappointment for me, watching this item in the catalog.
The prototype differs from the original. I guess he did not curved beak to prevent accidents in children. But unfortunately that same with figures like Bistahieversor, whose image of the catalog and the actual figure change, for the worse.
Hopefully this year Collecta 2015 prototypes and actual figures are at best of the best cases the original and in any case the same as those in the catalog.