Review by forumite Fooman666 (edited by Horridus)
CollectA (a Procon brand) is one of the most despised names in dinosaur toy collecting. Their representations of often obscure dinosaurs are generally hit and miss, mostly misses. However this Tarbosaurus has the potential to be a hit.
Tarbosaurus, for those who don’t know, was a smaller cousin of Tyrannosaurus. It terrorised Mongolia at about the same time its larger relative was terrorising North America. They were so similar it has been proposed that they are both in fact in the same genus, which would render the Tarbosaurus name defunct [it would become Tyrannosaurus bataar – Ed].
Enough about the dinosaur – this toy was released in 2009 and is part of Procon’s small scale line. Although nicely detailed it has a few blaring inaccuracies. Firstly the arms are pronated, something the real animal could not do without breaking its arms. Secondly the top jaw is somewhat too thin, the real animal had a much bulkier skull. These are really the two main problems, now we get onto the good parts.
Tarbosaurus had the smallest arms relative to body size of the all the tyrannosaurids and this is shown here, the arms appearing quite reduced compared to the body of the animal. There are small bumps over the eyes, just like in the real skull and the feet are very well done. Even the hallux is there and the claw is painted (for once). The tail is nice and long, but not unnaturally long, and the figure is well balanced on two feet. The detail and paint job are other upsides, the toy being covered in bumpy scales and painted with a lime green base colour with dark green and orange stripes along its back and tail.
All in all this is a nice figure, and is definitely one of Procon’s best theropods. If you’re a nitpicking nerd who will only buy a toy if it’s 100% scientifically accurate then this one is not for you. However if you are willing to look past a few shortcomings and just buy a cool looking dinosaur toy, then I highly recommend this one.
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Tetszik,ugyan eltelt tíz év,de tetszik és még sikerült kelnem csupán 6 dollárért.
“If you’re a nitpicking nerd who will only buy a toy if it’s 100% scientifically accurate than this one is not for you”
Hey man thanks for the heads up, now I know to wait for safari to make one. 🙂
Sin embargo la figura no me acaba de convencer, y eso que soy un comprador asiduo de réplicas de Collecta, ya que tengo hasta la fecha todas las referencias sobre animales prehistóricos y dinosaurios de la fábrica Collecta es una figura bastante como habéis dicho pequeña, sin embargo hay que reconocer que no está del todo mal hecho, aunque me convence mucho más el Paraceratherium de esta misma fábrica.
Definitely one of the better Collecta figures, it’s a shame about the arms. I might still buy it at some point, as it’s pretty cheap. It appears to better represent a juvenile Tarbosaurus rather than an adult.