Review and photos by Bryan Divers, edited by Suspsy
Allosaurus became my favourite dinosaur after I saw it in the Natural History Museum and the BBC’s Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special. Yes, I have been in love with it ever since.
Allosaurus is often pictured alongside Tyrannosaurus rex in pop culture, almost as a sidekick. Although they are superficially similar in appearance (and the similarity is sometimes exaggerated in depictions of Allosaurus), Allosaurus lived tens of millions of years before T. rex and belonged to a different family. It was noticeably smaller, but the arms were larger in proportion to its body than those of T. rex. Also, Allosaurus had unique crests over its eyes. Although these crests are not particularly prominent in this figure, they are present and especially noticeable when the head is viewed from the front.
As you can see, Boley got away from the tripod stance on this one. If the figure is standing properly, the tail inclines toward the ground, but sweeps up short of actually resting on it. The plastic is also of great consistency and is very soft to the touch. The body is painted green with a tan underbelly and a black stripe running down the top of the body from the nostrils to the tip of its tail. This Allosaurus is also fairly heavyset, but the musculature evident on the haunches prevents this from seeming unrealistic for the strength of the legs to support. The neck muscles are also nicely detailed, with a curve to them, as the animal is looking slightly to the left. This figure won’t hold up for scientific accuracy if it is compared to the ones produced by Safari or Papo, but it is a nice vintage if you will portrait of how Allosaurus was classically perceived. The one complaint I have about this figure is that it portrays Allosaurus with five fingers on each hand, even though we know that it had three.
Despite this inaccuracy, I really like this figure for its uniquely reptilian version of Allosaurus. You can find it at virtually any Walmart.
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After months and months, this dinosaur actually looks more an old style Megalosaurus. Here’s the link to the best picture I found of it. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/whats-wrong-with-these-dinosaur-reconstructions.html
Sure it may no longer be accurate, but it’s still nice to know. Especially since this isn’t the first Nature World dinosaur Boley inaccurately labeled. Like with their Styracosaurus when it was actually a Chasmosaurus. https://www.mightytoy.com/products/real-as-life-dinosaurs-chasmosaurus
And they labeled they Euoplocephalus as a Pinacosaurus. https://www.123rf.com/photo_12499416_dinosaur-euoplocephalus.html
A Euoplocephalus as 3 toes and some spikes on the side of the shoulder on it’s front legs while a Pinacosaurus as 4 toes and no spikes on it’s legs at all.
they’ve also labeled their Edaphosaurus as a Metriacanthosaurus. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Edaphosaurus-Prehistoric-Dinosaur-6-Plastic-Toy-Figure-/274208764483
I am not kidding. You’d think a company making dinosaur figures would label their dinosaurs more accurately. Eh… Nobody’s perfect.
That is supposed to be an Allosaurus? It doesn’t look like one. I have one of those. I was wondering what dinosaur it was. Now I know, I guess. The lettering on the bottom of mine is blurred out. So I can’t read it.
I like to go to A. C. Moore for craft supplies too, and they stock the latest Safari products. I would like to get the new Safari Allosaurus and maybe even the brown Tyrannosaurus Rex the next time I go. I’d better start saving.
They are not perfect; no duh, but they are the best of the less-expensive dinosaur toys I have found. They label the dinosaurs as well–something that manufacturers of chinasaurs rarely do.