Review and photos by Bryan Divers, edited by Suspsy
Dilophosaurus has become very well known as a result of its appearance in Jurassic Park, where it approaches the would-be burglar Dennis Nedry in a friendly manner, but then becomes angry and spits venom at him, much like a modern cobra. The real Dilophosaurus, of course, is not known to have possessed a frill or venom. Nevertheless, in response to the more common knowledge of Dilophosaurus, a number of toy companies have begun to produce models of this dinosaur.
Boley is a lesser-known company that produces a line called Nature World, which includes dinosaurs. Their dinosaur line features Dilophosaurus, of which they have produced a decent model. The Boley figure is eight inches long and five inches tall. It reproduces the semicircular double crests that distinguish this dinosaur nicely, with a reddish-pink accent around their outlines. The detail of the scales is also very nice, and the animal accurately possesses narrow jaws with a slight dimple in the upper jaw toward the nose. The neck is longer than those of other theropods, much like Allosaurus. The toy also accurately portrays the hands as having three fingers. The neck is nice and long for a Dilophosaurus, although it is a bit thick. The figure does strike a tripod pose, which is often decried by connoisseurs for scientific accuracy, but it is possible that some theropods may have lowered their tails somewhat when standing still and rearing up. Thus, this dinosaur is probably not walking, but standing tall. Perhaps it is roaring at an Anchisaurus it had been watching in the distance. The hunt is afoot!
The plastic has a nice consistency. It is flexible, pleasant to touch, and light, which is attractive considering that some dinosaur toys are very hard and heavy. It almost has a slight, rubber-like consistency. This is good, as very hard plastic toys with very small or narrow parts may break. Safety fanatics may try to scare you with all the horrible phthalates that could be hiding in the toy, but since the toy is sold in the US, it must be phthalate-free, as they are banned in children’s toys sold in the US. So, parents may let their children play with this Dilophosaurus without fear. Also, unlike some cheap toy dinosaurs, the name of the dinosaur is printed on the stomach to prevent any confusion.
The only negative thing I might say about this figure is that it portrays the Dilophosaurus’ body and hind legs as being somewhat more heavyset than they probably were in life. The skeleton of Dilophosaurus appears to be very lightly built and gracile. This is an understandable oversight, however, because many of the better-known theropods were much more heavily built.
Overall, I would rate this toy with at least four stars; maybe even five. For only having one small inaccuracy that I can detect, I peg it as a decent figure for dinosaur collectors who may not be able to afford large quantities of the more expensive name-brand models. Dilophosaurus is one of my favourite dinosaurs, as it reminds me of playing a DK computer game called Dinosaur Hunter 2.0, where you could go hunting for dinosaur bones and reassemble skeletons to clone six dinosaur types. My favourite one to clone was Dilophosaurus, so I couldn’t resist this toy when I saw it. Plus, I like Jurassic dinosaurs. This figure may be more difficult to find online than the big name brands, but you may find it as part of a set. Or if you’d like to save money and improve your chances, Wal-Mart carries them for a very good price. You may even get one for a dollar!
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I’d hesitate to label Boley dinosaurs as “chinasaurs” for two important reasons:
1. Boley labels its dinosaurs on the bottom. Commonplace chinasaurs do not do this. Usually the only thing printed on the bottom is “Made in China.”
2. Although they may not be of the calibre some connoisseur collectors exact, Boley produces a wider variety than generic chinasaurs, which usually just consist of five basic dinosaurs: Generic T-Rex, generic velociraptor, generic brontosaurus, generic triceratops, and sometimes a stegosaurus. Boley produces a much wider line which includes Allosaurus (my favourite), Deinonychus, Piancosaurus, Apatosaurus (now the correct name for Brontosaurus), and Edaphosaurus.
They’re my favourite dinosaur toy line because they’re inexpensive and reasonably detailed.
[…] since someone reviewed a Boley Dilophosaurus, I began to rethink exactly what is open for reviewing on this blog. I thought I would test the […]
Wow the first Generic Common place Chinasaur to ever be featured on the Blog. Gives me a loud of ideas for reviews in the coming mouths
Great review!
I actually used to collect these, and I have close to the whole collection. If I can remember correctly, these used to be just wal-mart brand, and we better painted and sculpted a few years back. They are Ok for chinasaurs, ecspecially for a buck.
*were
Chinasaur?
CHINASAUR derrogatory term for inexpensive plastic unlabeled dinosaur figures that usually are generic in appearance, often innacurate, and usually only say “Made in China” on them.
It’s a fun toy, great for sandbox play, and it has a clunky charm to it. If one’s goal in collecting is accuracy only this one is far off the mark, but if the goal of one’s collecting is to indulge in whatever figures bring happiness to the owner then go for it. I have both.
This toy actually has many glaring inaccuracies, namely that the proportions of the neck, body, limbs, and tail are woefully wrong.
Missing the notch in the skull too. No muscle tone, generic body, generic teeth. But what do you expect, I’m pretty sure they sell this thing for a buck at my local dollar store.
On Wal-Mart’s commitment to chemical safety:
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/walmart_still_selling_cadmium-.html
Damn, those comments on that article are so racist…
I have seen better accurate wise models of Dilophosaurus, famous double crest of the early Jurassic period but in my opinion, this model is for dinosaur amateur collectors[who have just started their dinosaur collection].