Reviews and photographs by ‘Resurrection of the dinosaurs’, edited by Suspsy
What is the creature flying in the sky? Is it some sort of bird? No, it is the prehistoric flying reptile Pteranodon, soaring the Late Cretaceous skies of what are now the American states of Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Dinosaur and prehistoric animal fans will surely remember that, when they were still young ones, they would see this mighty reptile in old vintage books, flying above the seas to catch fish in seas full of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Pteranodon is one of the largest pterosaurs and was not a dinosaur. The females’ crests were relatively short, while in males, the crests were larger and may have been brightly coloured for display. Pteranodon also made notable appearances in Jurassic Park 3 and Jurassic World, albeit inaccurately portrayed as being a naked, mutated flying creature with teeth lining the beaks.
Today we will be taking a closer look at the Pteranodon from Wild Republic. Wild Republic is quite a famous brand that makes animals, dinosaurs, sea creatures, and many more toys such as cuddly plush toys and dinosaur figure sets. There is also a paint set from Wild Republic as well, which contains monochrome dinosaur sculpts that you can paint with your own colour scheme. The Pteranodon that I will be reviewing today comes from the first set. There are two sets, one which contains a T. rex (the review written by me can be seen here), a Baryonyx (see review here), a Stegosaurus, and the Pteranodon. The other set contains a Diplodocus, an Iguanodon, a Triceratops, and a Velociraptor.
This figure dates all the way back to 2004. At first sight, we can see that it is in a flying pose. It is good, but I would like it to be in a quadrupedal pose, which is a more original idea, but I understand that this figure is quite old. It is accurate for its time though.
The Pteranodon‘s wingspan measures 20 cm long. The colour scheme for the top of the body and the wings is black. When viewed from below, the colour of the wings is sky blue. The colours on the head include a red crest, pale blue eyelids, and pale yellow for the lower beak. The long crest may indicate that this individual is a male.
Details include the tiny pycnofibers on the underside, skinfolds on the velvety wings, and wrinkles on the lower beak. The only inaccuracy that I see is that it lacks its tiny tail. Overall, the sculpt is accurate. As you may have noticed, the figure includes a tiny fish in its mouth, which is a nice touch. It’s just like the fish in the claws of the Baryonyx.
Overall, this is a nice Pteranodon. Honestly, for such an old figure, I would not expect better for its time. You can easily get it in one of the sets described above or individually. Online sites such as Amazon or eBay may enable you to get it. Kids may enjoy pretending to make it fly or hanging it in their bedrooms. If it was quadrupedal, it would go on a shelf. It is still nice though. I hope that you enjoyed my fourth review for the Dinosaur Toy Blog. Before you go, check my Pterosaur Trio and flock!
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Just a few more inaccuracies to point out for next time, the wing membrane should also be thicker in cross-section and thinner from the top with more rounded tips. The fingers are too long. The head is too short and the beak is too thick and too short, and it should be more pointy. There should only be four toes on each foot as opposed to the five this figure has. The body’s also too long and thin.
There a lot more issues than that, the legs are dislocated from the hips, and the beak is the wrong shape.
True, and the neck is way too short.
Oh, thanks stargatedalek. I did not notice these other inaccuracies. But as I said earlier, this is a good figure for its time. I would like to thank Suspsy for editing and posting this review.