Megaraptor (Haolonggood)

Unlike most other prehistoric toy companies, the vast majority of Haolonggood’s dinosaurs have been herbivorous ones thus far. And the carnivores that they have tackled are mostly genera that have already been done by many of those same other companies: Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Daspletosaurus, Dilophosaurus, etc. There is, however, one notable exception at present: Megaraptor. I’ve already reviewed one toy of this fascinating animal here on the blog, but it was hardly a beacon of scientific accuracy (although it is a great deal of fun to play with!). This one shows more promise. Much, much more.

Haolonggood’s Megaraptor is sculpted in a running pose, which is no easy feat to pull off without the aid of an attached base. The animal’s head is raised up and turning ever so slightly to the left. The arms are positioned beneath the torso, the better to showcase the famous foreclaws. The left leg is extended forward with the foot planted while the right one is extended all the way back with only the very tip of the claw on the middle toe touching the ground. Finally, the tail is raised and its tip is curling slightly to the left. It’s a great dynamic pose and the toy really does manage to stay up all by itself, but it takes just a gentle nudge from one’s finger for it to fall over. As such, I have once again crafted a simple support from clear LEGO bricks to ensure that it remains standing in the display case.

The Megaraptor measures a little under 7 cm tall and 23.5 cm long, whereas the real animal has been estimated to be around 8 metres long. This means that this toy scales reasonably well with the phenomenal Eofauna Tyrannosaurus rex and certain other tyrannosauroids, especially ones from PNSO and Safari Ltd.—but not all of them. 

This is the “Duan Jing Zhu” version of Haolonggood’s Megaraptor, the other being called “Shi Qian.” Its main colour is medium brown with a lighter shade for the underbelly and a darker shade applied to the tip of the snout, the hands, and the feet. Very dark brown is used for the claws and the markings on the body. There are also white stripes on the head, sides, and tail. The eyes are light blue, the inside of the mouth is pink, and the teeth are white. To be honest, I reckon I could do without the white stripes, but on the whole, this looks pretty good. 

The Megaraptor‘s lower jaw opens to a 20 degree angle, revealing a fairly well sculpted mouth and small but sharp teeth. The whole body is covered in teeny tiny scales save for the lower jaw, where the scales are somewhat larger. Wrinkles are kept to a relative minimum, most on the neck, around the limb joints, and on the tail. The hands and feet have the familiar rows of scutes and the claws tips are very pointy. As well, there are isolated patches of very small osteoderms on the back of the neck, the flanks, and on top of the hip region. It’s a tremendous sculpting job all around, and whoever did it is truly top notch.

The head on this animal is long, narrow, and tapering. The neck, torso, tail, and legs all have a fairly standard appearance for a mid-sized theropod. The arms, however, look particularly stout and the hands, of course, feature the claws that Megaraptor is famous for. All six are curved and quite sharp, with the foreclaws being the longest and thickest. Looking at them leaves no doubt that they brought a gruesome and painful death to many a herbivorous dinosaur and perhaps even some carnivorous ones from the Portezuelo Formation.

So how does this toy measure up in terms of accuracy? Well, if you know anything about megaraptorans, you know full well that they’re a frustratingly incomplete lot, with nary a full skeleton yet to be found. At present, there’s only two formally described specimens of Megaraptor, an adult and a juvenile, and between them, we have skull fragments, a few vertebrae and ribs, the pubis, part of the shin, and the hand and forearm, of course. Nevertheless, this toy definitely reflects many of the most recent reconstructions of this animal. As you can see, it closely resembles this skeletal mount in Japan (and note the Fukuiraptor skeleton next to it that the CollectA toy appears to have been based on). It’s worth pointing out that certain reconstructions depict Megaraptor with bigger, beefier arms and feathers, but until more fossil material is discovered, we may never know.

Hats go off to Haolonggood, for they have made the best toy of Megaraptor currently available, hands down. Its sculpting is second to none, it looks very dynamic, deadly, and outre, and it certainly reflects our current perception of the animal. It is available for purchase at any number of online stores.