Back in January, the Dinosaur Toy Blog announced the unveiling of Papo’s latest addition to their dinosaur line (here). Well, it’s finally for sale so I’ve had the opportunity to review the figure in more detail and provide some detailed photographs. Long story short – the figure is amazing – I can’t take my eyes off it.
The new Allosaurus is similar to the existing Papo sculpts in a number of aspects: the detail is immense, the colouring is vivid but natural, the pose is fluid and dynamic, and the lower jaw is poseable. However, the Allosaurus also stands out from all of the other dinosaurs in the series because it is not been based on the dinosaurs portrayed in the Jurassic Park movies. This figure on the other hand, represents a dinosaur not even portrayed in Jurassic Park and is an original sculpt strongly reminiscent of the work of palaeoartist Todd Marshall.
The jaws don’t open amazingly wide but the detail inside the mouth is stunning. Here is the head in side view, open and closed:
There are some speculative details in this sculpt, notable are the protruding scales (not feathers) on the top of the neck and on parts of the back. In addition, all of the scales on the back are large and raised so the Allosaurus has a bumpy and decorative hide – this toughened appearance gives way to smoother skin on the sides and underside. I personally like this sort of detail, dinosaur figures are always open to a degree of artistic licence but such touches are usually beneficial in terms of the aesthetics of the model and in this case add a realistic feel to the animal; many dinosaur figures are often quite conservative in this regard.
There are further such details as pronounced knuckles in the fingers, clear protrusions corresponding to the pubis and ilium, stretched skin where the leg meets the body, muscular ridges corresponding to the hips and shoulder blades, individually sculpted teeth, the claw on the first finger is enlarged as it should be (most Allosaurus figures overlook this feature), a finely sculpted hallux toe, the list just oes on.
The legs and arms are muscular (perhaps a little too strongly developed in the feet) and the animal is taking a long stride, the tail is long and held high so that the figure balances perfectly on two feet. However, in my figure is prone to falling over unless the surface is perfectly horizontal. The arms are pulled back towards the body – the left hand almost touches the left knee. The figure is 26cm long so it is smaller than the Papo Spinosaurus – it is roughly to scale with the other papo theropods.
The claws are black and the teeth are white, while the skin is covered in a mottled pattern of greys and greens with some orange highlights. The eye ridges are typical of this genus and are beautifully highlighted with orange and capped with ornamental scales. The eyes are yellow with black pupils.
In all honesty, this is probably the best mass-produced dinosaur figure currently available (possibly ever) and redeems Papo for all of the erroneous details in some of their other figures. Papo is raising the standard in museum quality dinosaur toys, lets hope that the other companies such as Schleich, Bullyland and Safari will keep up…
Now available on Ebay here (seller has more in stock) and available on Amazon here.
[...] Allosaurus (Papo) (new for 2008) Filed under: Papo, theropod — Tags: allosaurus, dinosaur, Papo, toy — dinosaurcollector @ 4:56 pm EDIT – JULY 2008- The first Papo Allosaurus are now available here (seller has more in stock) And full review now here [...]
Pingback by Allosaurus (Papo) (new for 2008) « The Dinosaur Toy Blog — July 18, 2008 @ 11:24 am
I want this one. Too bad about the falling over, but I’ll live with it.
A 26 cm figure is equivalent to a 10.4 m dinosaur at 1:40 scale, so it seems reasonably compatible with most dinosaur replicas.
Comment by Brad McFeeters — July 18, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Wow,wow,wow,wow,wow…I’ll get it,no matter what!!
Comment by Alessio — July 19, 2008 @ 4:54 am
Very nice. I still prefer the Spinosaurus or the T-Rex though.
Comment by tomhetleere — July 19, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
Good incisive review. Thx!
I just got 2 of the Papo Allos, one for a friend & one for me, & they reinforce something I noticed beginning with Papo Spino. Finishes on these seem to have become less consistent since around the time of Papo T Rex — which is beautifully & clearly cast/painted. However, my Spino seems considerably less well painted & finished, & NYC Summer humidity causes him to become slightly tacky to the touch (unlike T Rex). One of the Allos I just got has quite a good paint job, but the second is of lesser quality akin to my Spino, detailed areas like teeth & eyes aren’t spot on & the body patterns are heavier-handed. (So far, though, he hasn’t gotten tacky!)
The T Rex is fairly old by now, & I have a feeling Papo has taken their business to a different, probably more economical, Chinese factory. In any case, their sculpts are so good that I would not be averse to having unpainted (or simple monocolored) renditions of these figures. They are so good that I was moved to ask Tony McVey if he had sculpted them. He said no, so I wonder who we can thank. Spino & Allo pretty clearly seem to come from the same hand.
Comment by vayapues — August 4, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
i just got my spino 2day from wonderlandmodels.com and i think its awesome i paid £14.69 including shipping and i was wondering where i cud get an allosaurus from for rpughly same price??
Comment by Matthew — August 14, 2008 @ 3:34 pm