Review and photos by Apatosaurus3232, edited by Suspsy
In 2017, Papo released their largest assortment of prehistoric figures to date, from stellar sculpts like the Acrocanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus to mixed bags like the Polacanthus. Today I’ll be reviewing the Dimorphodon, which falls into the mixed bag category.
Papo’s Dimorphodon is the third pterosaur in their line (their highly anticipated Quetzalcoatlus hasn’t been released worldwide yet as of this review). The model measures 2 1/2 inches tall at the head with a 6 inch wingspan. It’s one of their smaller models, but bigger than their Tupuxuara. It also has an articulated jaw unlike the other pterosaurs in the line. The figure’s pose looks like it’s being startled or about to take off. You can even position it on a small lizard figure like it’s just pounced on it. Or place an Owen figure underneath it to recreate the scene from Jurassic World.
Moving on to the color scheme. The head is mostly brown with the tip of the snout a greenish blue. The back of the head and neck are also this color. There’s also a hint of pink at the base of the throat. The back is mostly brown. The wings are tan with black highlights along the wings’ edges and tips. The tail is zebra-striped starting from the middle all the way to the rudder, which is painted red. The underside of the body is mostly tan with the arms and legs a dark brown.
So let’s talk about inaccuracies. Only the back of the model is covered in pycnofibres. The underside is bare with scale textures. The skull is the wrong shape. It looks like they slapped on a generic theropod head and gave it wings. The CollectA version really nailed the head shape of this species. This model very closely resembles the JW Dimorphodon than the actual animal itself.
Besides the inaccuracies, the thing that drives me nuts about this model is the mouth detail. Papo is known for having very life-like mouths on their figures, but the mouth on this one is just terrible. The tongue and roof of the mouth are just painted a matte pink. That’s it. No fine sculpting details. No clear coat. Nothing but pink. I find that overload of pink very distracting when the mouth is open. Also, I hate how the arms are painted into the wings on the top side of the model. It just doesn’t look natural. Running your fingers over the arms, you feel nothing but the wings.
When this figure was announced, the forum was very divisive on it. Everyone either hated it or loved it. It still has that great Papo detail besides the awful mouth and painted on arms. It’s a great figure if you’re a JW fan or Papo completist. If you don’t fall into that category, look elsewhere like CollectA’s offering.
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It sucks that Papo does not give a fig about accuracy because their figures are among the most visually stunning among the affordable dinosaur figure market. If they actually put in any effort researching the animal they’re recreating they could easily rival Safari.
The Quetzalcoatlus has no teeth but Papo’s has very small mouths that can only be seen by looking at it very carefully as it has happened to me. That does not mean that the figure is great.
Sincerely this figure is more typical of JW but in my case I like it. I know that it is not a scientific figure but like almost all the figures of Papo it is beautifully detailed and for me that is a point to take into account.
I sincerely like the tupuxuara and the quetzalcoatlus of the same company, the latter is perhaps my favorite and one of the three strong figures of Papo 2018 along with the therizinosaurus and acrocanthosaurus 2018.
The new Acrocanthosaurus is my favorite from them. And I’m dying for the Quetzalcoatlus. It just looks amazing from the pics I’ve seen.
1887/5000
I already have in my collection the quetzalcoatlus thanks to urzeitshop.de and I can assure you that it is much better to have it physically than to see it in videos or photographs (as a considerable part of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals of different brands).
The crest is super detailed. It has a jaw with teeth that despite being small are individualized and detailed. It is covered with lint or hair all over the body, and each hair can be observed with great detail. It is advisable to see it with a magnifying glass.
The crest is small but super detailed and the beak is great and it is even awesome its strange posture whose outlined feature makes that figure even more interesting.
The details of the veins of the wings painted with a violet color is another characteristic to be taken into account. On the other hand the bones of the column are noted with an incomparable paleoartistic perfection.
Its claws, both those of the wings and those of the feet are super detailed and very well finished.
Ultimately the product is superdetallado and very well finished I recommend Apatosaurus3232 you will not feel unburdened by that figure and you will have a very different perception to that of Papo’s dimorphodon. You do not have to envy a well-made resin figure, it is more confused with one of that quality. He is a super cool figure.
That as a criticism but for me it is not negative is the way to position that outstanding figure one hundred percent as one of the Lord of the Rings characters, I mean Smeagol reminds me how to crawl that magnificent pterosaur with Smeagol but as I have already mentioned, that makes the figure more interesting from my point of view.
It is a sublime and beautiful mix of a pterosaur and the nightmare characters of Lovecraf or Robert E. Howard.
In short, the figure is very nice, gorgeus and very cool.
Quetzalcoatlus doesn’t have teeth … ?
The Quetzalcoatlus has no teeth but Papo’s has very small mouths that can only be seen by looking at it very carefully as it has happened to me. That does not mean that the figure is great.