Mapusaurus is a carcharodontosaurid that lived in Argentina during the late Cretaceous and is also one of the largest theropods known. It was only slightly smaller than its close relative, Giganotosaurus, and the skeletal differences between them are minimal. Today we’re looking at Mattel’s Mapusaurus. Spoiler alert, it’s a really cool toy but a pretty bad Mapusaurus.
The Mattel Mapusaurus...
My sincere thanks to Happy Hen Toys for furnishing this review sample.
Several other companies have made Mapusaurus figures before, including Bandai, Playmates, and CollectA. So far, however, we’ve only reviewed CollectA’s four (!!!) versions on the blog. A brief re-introduction might be useful, then: Mapusaurus hails from the Huincul Formation (English approximation: “ween-COOL”) in Argentina, just like its recently...
Since they first started producing tube sets back in 2015, CollectA has covered a pretty decent variety of prehistoric life, wild animals, sea creatures, and farm stock. In 2021, they went back to the beginning with a third dinosaur (mostly) set consisting of ten figures, all based on previously released toys.
First we have this elfin Alamosaurus. Measuring around 8.5...
From atop a hill, the view of the dry wind-swept plains below is obscured by what at first looks like a dust storm. Soon, it becomes clear that the dust that has engulfed the plain is not from a storm. Here, in what would be known today as Argentina, an epic battle between two of the largest animals that have...
Review by PhilSauria, images by PhilSauria and Suspsy, 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...
Despite being one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs, and despite featuring prominently in an episode of the BBC’s Planet Dinosaur series, Mapusaurus seems to be far less popular than its close relatives Carcharodontosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Perhaps that’s due in part to its rather unassuming name: ‘earth lizard.’ Just doesn’t have the right bite to it!
CollectA’s 2012 Mapusaurus is...
