Review and photos by Bokisaurus, edited by Suspsy
Roaming the Early Cretaceous plains of what would one day become China was the giant Beishanlong grandis. A fairly recent addition to the growing flock of feathered dinosaurs, Beishanlong was only discovered in 2006.
Beishanlong belonged to the group of dinosaurs called ornithomimosaurs, more commonly known as the ostrich mimic dinosaurs. It was one of the largest ornithomimosaurs ever found, rivalling its close relative Gallimimus in size. The fossil material is believed to be of a subadult and not fully grown, so the exact size of the animal is not certain. It is very possible that they grew to an even more impressive size!
At 1:40 scale, CollectA’s feathered Beishanlong is part of the Deluxe range of prehistoric models, and it’s a good thing that it is. Standing at 7 inches tall from the base up to the head, and 11 inches long from the beak to the tip of the tail stretched, this is one impressive figure!
This is perhaps the most beautiful and elegant-looking figure that CollectA has produced to date, and one of the most beautiful ornithomimosaur toys. The sculpting and design of this piece is very well executed. The pose is relaxed with the body and head turned slightly to the right. The overall coloration and design is, without a doubt, heavily inspired by the extant secretary bird, right down to the crown of feathers that adorn the head.
The body is covered in a shaggy coat of feathers, very much like what one would see in modern ratites like ostriches, emus, and cassowaries. Gray dominates the upper half of the body, gradually transitioning to black as it reaches the hips. The black continues from the hips down to the legs. As it reaches the base of the long, muscular tail, the black transitions back to gray and continues all the way to the tip of the tail. The head is very colorful, with shades of yellow starting from the beak, transitioning to orange, and finally to bright red as it reaches the face. This combination gives the figure a much needed splash of colours and makes the head much more striking. On the back of the head, a crown of black feathers add a regal touch.
Although the skull is unknown, the shape is clearly based on some of its relatives. The final version of this figure is slightly different from the prototype in that small teeth have added to the jaws as opposed to the toothless prototype we first saw. It’s possible that Beishanlong may not have lost all its teeth and have retained some within its beak just like other primitive ornithomimosaurs such as Harpymimus and Pelecanimimus. This is clearly what CollectA aimed at when they added the teeth at the last minute.
With its close relative Pelecanimimus by Favourite Co. Ltd.
The long arms boast feathers of varying length and sizes. I’m no expert on dinosaur feathers, so I can’t say much about accuracy, but the feathering on the arms looks nice. Each of the feathers are individually sculpted. At the end of the long arms are the large hands that are equipped with long, sharp claws.
As mentioned earlier, the tail on this figure is long and muscular. The legs are also long and slender, with nice muscle definition and lots of fine detailing. And . . . gone are those super wide hips seen in earlier models! Instead, we see much more slender and properly proportioned hips. The feet has the same brown color as the hands and the claws are painted gray.
The figure is mounted on a base for stability. I personally don’t have any problem with figures on bases if it helps make them stable with properly proportioned feet. Unfortunately, the base is simply colored brown, although if you look closely, you will find small details such as fallen leaves, rocks, and footprints.
With its contemporary Xiongguanlong, a much smaller feathered tyrannosaur, also from CollectA
In closing, this is one figure that I highly recommend to add to any collection. It is simply a stunning figure and very affordable. It’s great to see a new species of ornithomimosaur being made and hopefully more will follow.
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[…] is amazing to see how far CollectA has come over the years. Nowadays, they make some of the best and most diverse ranges of prehistoric figures out there, using the most up to date research to create figures that are as accurate and dynamic as possible. […]
The exact structure of ornithomimosaur wings is poorly known, but the “hands” on this figure really do look unpleasant to me all exposed like that.
Beautiful feathered dinosaur! Mag I ask where you purchased yours from? I’m not able to find them for sale anywhere online.
If the 1:40 scale is correct it woud make then original about 11 meters long, nearly T.rex size. Isn’t that to big, even if it represent an adult specimen?
Magnificent figure, but it is also true that very little is known about the extinct animal (in this case ornithomimido dinosaur) and partly by what I read is made of rigid plastic.
So when you buy I will put it in a safe area to avoid falls as me about the Paraceratherium or Neovenator. Honestly I prefer that Collecta figures are made of a softer plastic, megacerops type or spinosaurios Deluxe to name two sublime examples of Collecta.
What a beautiful figure.
My references show Beishanlong to be about 7 meters long. At 1/40 scale, a 7 meter long creature should be about 7 inches. But this model is 11 inches. What gives?
But a beauty, in any case.
Almost all of CollectA’s “1:40 Deluxe” figures are larger than 1:40. The Scelidosaurus is more like 1:15, the Rhomaleosaurus is about 1:25, the feathered Tyrannosaurus is around 1:30, etc, etc.
What a gorgeous animal. A perfect example of how far our knowledge and understanding of has come since we were children. It may well end up being the best dinosaur toy of 2016.
Thank you for adding pictures of other models in your review! I always find that tremendously helpful in giving myself a better idea of the size of the figure.