Eight short years ago I wrote a glowing review for the CollectA Deluxe Carcharodontosaurus. At the time the praise was deserved, aside from a Safari toy from the 1990’s there weren’t any other options for the “jagged toothed lizard”. CollectA’s model filled a vacant niche, and it was in turn followed by a new model of the genus from Safari in 2016.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a “shark-toothed” theropod model as decked-out and detailed as this one, although a couple of design flaws might have one hesitating at the retail price.
Carcharodontosaurs have ranked among my favorite dinosaurs since early childhood – the notion of meat-eaters even bigger than the mighty Tyrannosaurus was simply too irresistible to my 5-year-old self, and that initial shock and awe has remained embedded in my psyche to this day.
What makes this particular release stand out is its coloration, which contrasts starkly with the plainer pattern of the figure’s first release.
The 1990s were a stirring time for big theropod news: the crocodile-snouted spinosaur Suchomimus from Niger was described in 1998, new fragments of the now-(in)famous Spinosaurus itself were discovered in 1996 and 1998, and the gigantic Giganotosaurus was officially named in 1995.
It has been a good year for Carchorodontosaurus, as I mentioned in my review of the figure by PNSO. The PNSO figure, along with the one by GR toys, gave sophisticated collectors a fantastic, updated pair of “shark toothed lizards” to display and admire whilst sipping brandy by the fireside.
Recur’s rendition of Carcharodontosaurus stands 12.5 cm tall and measures about 21 cm long.
In North Africa 96 million years ago during the Cretaceous period there lived a large theropod named Carcharodontosaurus. It was one of the largest carnivores; its skull alone was around 5 ft (1.6 meters) long. This “shark toothed lizard” had long, sharp, serrated teeth that would slash through the flesh of its prey.
