Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Dinotoyblog
When it came to their third expedition, Geoworld had the opportunity to expose kids and adults alike to a variety of ancient mammals, some we have never seen before in toy form. We could have had some truly bizarre and unique species, like Paraceratherium, Diprotodon or Sivatherium. Instead, we got a species that has been made several times, a few interesting choices, and several species that are really just ancient versions of modern animals, only slightly different to their modern counterpart. This review will cover the latter, Procoptodon, the largest known kangaroo species.
As usual, I will cover the fact card, but briefly. As with the other prehistoric mammals, there is no plagiarised art, just an air-brushed picture of the actual toy. Not much to say otherwise.
Right, onto the meat of the review! This giant roo stands at 5.6” high and 4.8” long, in a 1:14 scale (how many things can you find with THAT scale!?). This makes it a decently sized figure, alongside other Aussie species. Geoworld has a reputation of being chinasaur-like in terms of quality, and while it is slightly better than normal, the seams where the figure was put together are obvious, especially in the chest region. The colouring seems to be going towards the grey of modern kangaroos, specifically the eastern grey kangaroo, but with an odd blue hue that makes it a bit more cartoonish. The pose is okay, and the animal was most likely capable of standing like this. The presence of a pouch tells us that this is certainly a female.
Now for accuracy. This figure really owes more to modern kangaroos than Procoptodon. The feet should be a single claw, without the side claws seen on the figure, matching modern kangaroos. The front paws are also wrong, as they lack the elongated digits and claws that are present in the fossils. Although the face is short and flat enough, the eyes should be forward-facing, not more side-facing as here. The dentition seems okay, but it looks more like a rabbit. The tail is too short, and the hips and buttocks are not big enough (yes, this is a feature on the creature!). The tendons of the legs are visible, which is a nice touch, but overall this toy seems a tad lazy, sculpt-wise.
With all of the Cenozoic to pick species from, I feel this was a bit of a wasted effort. They just seem to have stuck a Procoptodon head onto a modern kangaroo’s body. This is currently the only option for getting this species, so it has that going for it, and if you’re into ancient marsupials or the animals of prehistoric Australia, it will suffice. Otherwise, unless it’s very cheap, you can hop over this one.
Available from Ebay here.
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I currently do, along with several Thylacine, but I didn’t own it at the time I wrote this review. Maybe if I get to that Diprotodon first you’ll see it!
you should have it next to the marsupial lion.
She’s a very happy kangaroo. 🙂
The caption to the last photo is taking the words right out of my mouth.
Mediocre model, I agree, though the review makes me want to check out the actual Procoptodon in more detail.
Procoptodon is quite a fantastic example of megafauna, so I very much hope that Safari or CollectA or Southland Replicas gives us a quality figure of it someday.