At about a third in length greater than a modern saltwater crocodile and weighing close to four tons, Sarcosuchus is one of the largest crocodyliformes of all time. At least two species are known to have existed during the Early Cretaceous. S. hartii inhabited South American waters while the more famous S. imperator resided in Africa alongside such dinosaurs as Nigersaurus, Ouranosaurus, and Suchomimus.
Despite its awesome size and frequent appearances in prehistoric documentaries, Sarcosuchus has not been well represented in plastic form. CollectA released a Standard-sized figure back in 2009 and Safari included it in their Prehistoric Crocodiles toob. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2010 version from Mojö Fun, which bears a notable resemblance to the CollectA one. As you can see, it is sculpted in something of an extreme pose with its huge head and shoulders turned very sharply to the right and its tail curling to the left. Looks like it’s in the act of confronting a rival Sarcosuchus over mating rights or a meal. This gives the figure a length of nearly 18 cm. The main colour is a very dark green with brown on the head and tail, pale green wash on the underside, dirty yellow eyes, white teeth, and dark pink for the inside of the mouth. An okay look for a giant croc, but some spots or stripes or other markings would have been nice.
The Sarcosuchus‘ head has a bumpy, pitted texture while the body is covered in your standard assortment of crocodilian scales and scutes, including a well-plated tail. The many teeth lining the jaws are little more than bumps. Overally, I would say it’s a satisfactory sculpting job, but it certainly doesn’t come close to that of certain other figures reviewed here on the DTB.
Moreover, the two rows of triangular scutes on the back do not fit with the fossil evidence. The real Sarcosuchus would have been topped with larger, flattened scutes that started on the back of the neck and ended about halfway down the tail, as depicted in Figure 3 of this article. This figure is still recognizable as Sarcosuchus though, thanks to the distinctive bulla on the end of the muzzle. Unlike with modern gharials where the bulla is only found on males, all known Sarcosuchus skulls have this feature. It may have functioned as a sensory enhancer or a sounding tool. Incidentally, while Sarcosuchus was large enough to present a genuine threat to many of the various dinosaurs that shared its domain, its skull was not sturdy enough to perform the infamous “death roll” that modern alligators and crocodiles use to kill and dismember their victims. So in a fantasy free-for-all between Sarcosuchus, Deinosuchus, and Purussaurus, the former would have been at a double disadvantage, the other being size.
Mortal combat!
Overall, this Sarcosuchus figure is okay enough, but I don’t think that it does proper justice to such an enormous and scary monster. The upcoming 2020 figure by Safari Ltd. looks far more promising!
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Megvan!
I have CollectA’s version of Sarcosuchus. I think this one is good also,as you said earlier, it looks very much like CollectA’s version, I think this one would look very good with CollectA’s for comparison, though I do not have Mojo’s Sarcosuchus figure. I content myself with my CollectA version.
Unfortunately, as regards prehistoric crocodiles, both sarcosuchus and deinosuchus are not yet sufficiently represented in the toy market.
We would need a sarcosuchus and deinosuchus with an acceptable size and that is well finished. I only remember deinosuchus Carnegie as a good figure, but about sarcosuchus it is still a pending issue for any company.
That does not mean that the sarcosuchus of both Mojo and Collecta belong to the obscure ages of both brands.