Guest review by forumite Fooman666 – edited by Marc (Horridus)
Seeing as CollectA have taken many of us by surprise this year I think it’s fitting that I review one of their 2011 figures for my first review in quite a while. Today I will be looking at the CollectA Lourinhanosaurus, which in some aspects I believe is one of the best of the 2011 line up.
Lourinhanosaurus was a medium sized theropod from Portugal, more specifically the Lourinha formation which is where it gets its name. It was a member of the sinraptorid group of the allosauroid superfamily and was the first theropod found with evidence of gastroliths (swallowed stones used to grind up food). There have also been eggs found with fossil embryos that are believed to have belonged to the (only) species Lourinhanosaurus antunesi.
Now onto the figure. Simply put, it’s spectacular – apart from the head which we’ll get to later. It balances nicely on two feet which for once aren’t oversized as those on a lot of CollectA figures tend to be – they are suitably thin and birdlike with all the claws painted (even the tiny hallux). As we go up the legs we find the excellently sculpted body with quite possibly the best arms on any CollectA theropod to date. Finally, the wrists aren’t broken and the palms face each other (round of applause please).
Going back down the body we find the first problem with this figure – the tail. The tail looks fine from the side, but when inspected from above we see that it seems to lack any muscle at all, it appears as though the skin is simply hanging from the vertebrae. This isn’t a much of a problem as the other end of the body – the head. This is what lets the figure down. Perched on top of an overly skinny neck is quite a deformed head that simply doesn’t resemble the actual skull at all, the fenestrae are incorrectly placed and much too small and the pitiful excuse for crests looks more like two tiny lumps of clay put on as an afterthought. The skull appears to droop down and the teeth although actually individually sculpted appear more like block teeth without extremely close inspection. The bottom jaw lacks any muscle and doesn’t even attach to the neck properly, instead it’s sort of just hanging there. The inside of the mouth isn’t detailed either.
All in all, it’s a decent figure let down by a few small problems, whether these were sculpting issues or lack of research I’m not sure, but they certainly detract from what could have been a flawless figure of a rather obscure theropod. However, despite its flaws, it really shows how much CollectA have improved since their early days, and shows that they are at least doing some research on the subject matter. It appears that CollectA are going to a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.
The CollectA Lourinhanosaurus is available here
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Now that you mention it, yes, I would have to say the head is inaccurate. They should have modeled it after Sinraptor or Yangchuanosaurus, and that would also have made it less ugly.
In my humble opinion the figure is quite small, but do not forget dinosaurs belonging to the brand standard Collecta.
In this case could have been improved, the head does not convince me but recognize that this dinosaur does not know much of anything.
Size has a much more figure, provided they are not those made so far Schleich, can be modeled more accurately and successfully figure dinosaur.
Another problem with the figures of theropods (but have no choice by the legs could not go so realistic) is the rigidity of the plastic. My greatest wish is that the Mapusaurus, Rajasaurus (this gives me the impression that there will be) and with prey Tyrannosaurus Struthiomimus are made with plastic more pliable. It would be great for my right to understand.
Yeah, I’m with Fooman on that one. I don’t think any allosaur has been found with a skull that’s that crescent-shaped, although I can see SOME similarities with the ‘Big Al’ Allosaurus fragilis (or Allosaurus sp.) specimen. The skull of Sinraptor looks nothing like that though…
i’m aware that no skull elements have been found, but even so, the skull the put on the figure is quite terrible.
I’m confused. I don’t believe any skull material is known from Lourinhanosaurus, so how can the head be inaccurate? (The skull on the mounted skeletons is guesswork)
I agree that the body isn’t too bad, but the head is horrible and the tail’s far too skinny. Next year’s Collecta theropods look much better.