Tapejara (Dinostar)

Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy

Don’t know that much about Dinostar, just that they appear to be another Chinese company and one of the wave of new manufacturers moving into the field of making prehistoric animal figures in the last few years. As far as I can tell they have a small range of about five items so far; this Tapejara, a Psittacosaurus, a Smilodon, a Mosasaurus, and the almost obligatory Tyrannosaurus rex. The last two don’t seem to get much exposure but the first three turn up often on various Asian sites and eBay.

Firstly a few notes on the animal itself before we have a look at its portrait in plastic. Tapejara, which had a wingspan of 3.5 metres, was named in 1989 by Kellner. Its fossils were found in the Santana Formation in Brazil, hence the South American flavor to its name. These fossils date from the Albian Period of the Cretaceous. The specimen is described as ‘well preserved’ in the source that I consulted. Seems to have been a bit of back and forth in regard to classifying it and its possible relatives with an equal amount of uncertainty in regard to what it actually ate. One thing that can be agreed upon is that the spectacular crest on top of its head was almost certainly a display device. And most figures of Tapejara have treated it accordingly with bright colouration applied to that feature. This figure is no exception, with the bright orange crest drawing your eye even from across the room when on the shelf.

The Dinostar ‘house style’ seems to be a mix of stylized and naturalistic, hard to describe but you know it when you see it. The figure is very brightly coloured, along with the vibrant orange head crest, and some more orange on the upper edge of its folded wings, the upper part of the beak, neck, back, and underside of the forearms are coloured bright blue, with a mixture of mauve and burgundy on the wings. An airbrushed purple band runs down the back of the neck and back. The lower beak and underside are the most subdued in terms of colour, rendered as they are in a pale peach.

There is no shortage of detail in the sculpting with plenty of creases, folds, and wrinkles over the head, neck, and wings. The feet and hands seem very small in proportion, part of the stylization I mentioned earlier. There is a slightly rougher texture on the back and neck that I suppose could be interpreted as pycnofibers, but they are not depicted in any overt fashion. The beak is open, but there’s no jaw articulation here (which I don’t mind). Inside the mouth is a slightly curled pink tongue. For all of the detail and careful paint application elsewhere, I did find the rather casual treatment of the bright green eye to be a bit out of character with the care taken on the rest of this figure. 

In regard to size it is quite large, though bigger than the largest recent pterosaur we’ve had, the Papo Quetzalcoatlus, it is still looked down on by CollectA’s magnificent pterosaurs, measuring as it does 18 cm (7 inches) in length from claw tips to wing tips and 20 cm (8 inches) from feet to crest tip. Branding is quite minimal, with nothing but some Chinese characters and the word ‘Dinostar’ stamped on the underside and the packaging that it arrived in equally so. No header or backing card, just a sturdy blister pack shaped to fit the figure. So it was well protected in transit if under promoted at the same time.

These Dinostar figures can be found for a reasonable price if you look around, though I had my eye on this one for a while before I found a price that I felt was best for my budget. However, this factor is up to the individual. It’s a very eye-catching figure in terms of its size, sculpt, and certainly in its colourful appearance and I am pleased to have this new addition to my growing pterosaur flock. Well worth a buy.