Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
I have to admit to being a bit of a lapsed amateur paleontologist; I know the basics about a core group of the more well-known dinosaurs, so when CollectA released this one, I had to hit the reference books and online sources to find out what I was looking at. It was not to be found in some of the older books on my shelf, but there it was in the more recent volumes, described quite recently in terms of published reference books. Well, the ones that I had anyhow. I was surprised to learn that Mapusaurus was a carcharodontosaurid and therefore related to the huge (and hugely popular at the moment) Giganotosaurus. The silhouette of the figure is a good match for the skeletal art I found, though I believe that some feel that the chest could be a bit deeper. Some also take issue with it being mounted on a base; neither are a concern to me. At least it stands well and the feet are not oversized to provide added stability. The base is a simple, one colour affair with no shading or vegetation and just a simple sandy texture to go along with the sandy colour.
The figure is part of CollectA’s Deluxe releases, although these terms are relative, as this could be a standard size for brands such as Papo, Rebor, or Recur for instance. As I like figures of what I call a decent size, this ticks that box for me, measuring as it does just under 13 inches (32 cm) in length (depending how much curl there is in that magnificent long tail of your specimen) and 5 inches (13 cm) in height at the top of its raised snout.
This thing is not short on surface detail, with densely packed scales of one shape or another all over it, rectangular on the underside and round on the upper surfaces along with some raised scales running down the body and a row of small triangular spines running from the top of its head to the tail tip. There are also ridges above the eyes that taper down to the nostrils, with a bit of a dewlap and some spines under the jaw. Bit of artistic license maybe, but adds extra interest to the animal’s appearance.
The colouration consists of a pale green underside and grey above with some subtle pale orange splotches dotted along the body and the accents of red on the throat and cranial ridges are quite striking. Solid black eyes with a touch of gloss look quite life like and have a slightly darker grey around them. The paint application on the one I have is very neat, with no paint from the white teeth bleeding onto the rest of the head and the black on the claws precisely where it is meant to be. The obligatory jaw articulation, seemingly just about compulsory for theropods these days, allows for a more relaxed or aggressive look to your specimen depending on it being open or closed. The interior of the mouth with its curled tongue is rendered in a deep pink. The animal is depicted walking along, one foot ahead of the other and head forward with a slight curve to the tail. Nothing overly dramatic but not Walking with Dinosaurs overly static either.
I really like this Mapusaurus and consider it a welcome addition to the collection. It is now positioned out in front so that I can get a good look at this new arrival whenever I’m looking over the steadily growing population of prehistoric animals in plastic that is crowding me out of my study.
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A nice figure. It looks like a sub-adult to me for some reason. The longish legs, the longish tail, the slender torso; reminds me of the gracile build of a juvenile t-rex (or a nanotyrannus depending on which you believe). From studying skeletal reconstructions of Mapusaurus, the adult looks ‘thicker’ and more heavy bodied than this figure does…to my eye anyway.
Regardless, it’s a nicely done figure that i’m glad to have.
Further to my above message, many of the remains found for Mapusaurus were from smaller individuals (juveniles/subadults). The reconstructions we see of Mapusaurus are based on a composite of all of these bits and pieces found from various individuals all scaled to the same size..
It seems that Maposaurus adults had taller neural spines than other carcharodontosauridae, which is something I don’t really see reflected in the Collecta model. These spines appear to be less distinct in younger Mapusaurus, lending further to my feeling that the Collecta model looks more like a juvenile or young adult, to me.
Here is a link with some detailed info on the carcharodontosauridae , including an illustration of all the Mapusaurus specimens found and their estimated sizes:
https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-noticeable-physical-differences-between-charcharodontosaurus-giganotosaurus-and-mapusaurus
Wonderful review of this beautiful figure. It really is a great sculpt and I love the subtle colors used.
I have the old version, but this one definitely is better. I hopefully will get mine at everythingdinosaur.com. I love this piece, but the base makes it rather a collector’s piece to display than a dinosaur toy to play with, unfortunately, children cannot enjoy it much. The old version that I have also is on a base, which I thought did not. Anyways, very happy to see that CollectA’s 2018 pieces have all been reviewed. Simply love it, I am buying it to complete it with the old version.
While I still think Collecta’s theropod feet tend to look poorly detailed, the base on this one is modest enough, and the rest of the model looks quite nice. As a big fan of Carcharodontosaurids, I should probably make sure to get this one.
It is an abyssal improvement with respect to the previous mapusaurus of Collecta, although I have to admit that with all its defects the Collecta theropod that I like the most in this year 2018 is ceratosaurus.
However, the mapusaurus has quite realistic, conservative and striking paint colors at the same time. It is to praise that Collecta has put the theropods with a new type of base for the hollow interior that prevents my healthy to understand that the figures are folded and that the support is more stable, although I have to affirm that with the rest of theropods with Bases I have not had any problems.
On the other hand, the base of the current Collecta dinosaurs is much better than the initial ones. Maybe it would be missing that they had some shades of paint and details in the base like grass, invertebrate animals, bones … but honestly I like it as it is the figure itself.
In my case I have put the best note (I usually score high figures in general but in this case the figure of the mapusaurus is outstanding and is one of the best theropods made by a company in the family of carcharodontosaurs.
Good review! I passed on this one at first, but lately I’m thinking I may snap it up. It certainly puts the old one to shame!