At long last, we come to CollectA’s first effort to bring the ever-popular Maniraptora clade to their generously proportioned Deluxe line. It’s hard to go wrong with Velociraptor; the name is known throughout the world, and the basic body plan remains recognizable despite the efforts of a certain motion picture. Complicating matters is the incorporation of feathers, which many mainstream audiences are still struggling to accept on theropod dinosaurs, for a variety of reasons which I won’t be delving into. What is important, is that CollectA has plunged face first into the churning sea of feathered dinosaurs, and emerged quite gloriously with this reconstruction in 2010.
While the sandy-toned integument may not be as striking as Bullyland’s impressive feathered Velociraptor, it is fairly reasonable for a hunter that required some degree of subtlety in Cretaceous Mongolia. More contrast would be nice, but it’s also interesting to see a figure that seems to downplay the feathers (no pun intended). The hands face one another, and the feet are just large enough to support the figure without relying on its tail for support. The caudal feathers are also quite good, with individual filaments plainly visible.
CollectA has sacrificed the common depiction of speed used in many raptor reconstructions in favor of a sturdy design. There is still a good bit of movement in the pose, however. The tail shifts to the right as the animal creeps forward, while the gaping jaws reveal a curled tongue – you can practically hear the shrill caw of an outraged defender, or possibly an attacker closing in on a kill. I will avoid comparisons to the work of Michelangelo, but there remains an intriguing element of barely contained energy here, the brief moment before all hell breaks loose.
Theropod fans will also be pleased to know this figure is 12 inches long, substantially larger than most maniraptor figures and certainly bigger than your typical Velociraptor figure. The only real problem is that he’s relatively incompatible among more the more common lines of scale figures. It might be time to bust out the old Playskool Protoceratops and run a rematch, because one of CollectA’s finest new figures has arrived.
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I’m sold. Nice write-up. The deluxe Collect-A’s are a bit pricey for me at the present time, but it’s on my wish-list.
Are these getting better? Cuz it would be nice to get some decent replicas of more obscure beasts…
Dip-
CollectA’s 2010 figures were actually available in many online UK shops before they were in the US.
shoppingwithdinosaurs.co.uk stock Collecta.
Coolect A, a company that is from the UK and we in the UK can’t get this stuff unless we order from the US. Make sense? No.
Better than the Brachiosaurus by a mile and at least it’s feathered (even if it should have longer, vaned feathers on the arms). The head is rather nice but as Adam said, the body leaves a little to be desired – it almost looks like it has humanoid legs which is probably a stability thing. Tail is way too short and spindly too.
Dr. A, I see what you mean; the legs disconcert me most of all. But it has a very lovely head.
Es bastante bueno a mi entender. Incovenientes: Tiene las plantas de las patas demasiado grandes y desproporcionadas, solución: se podÃa haber puesto sobre una base de plástico como el oviraptor de Collecta, colección de animales pequeños. Y además, muy propio de esta compañÃa como también lo es Schleich y Papo su falta de colorido, y más al estar recostruido como animal con plumas. Se podrÃa de todas maneras mejorar.
I’m not convinced by this one – looks like a man dressed in a velociraptor suit 🙂