Liopleurodon (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)

It’s time to continue our review of pliosaur figures – this time we will look at the Walking with Dinosaurs Liopleurodon by Toyway. The line has been out of production for some years and was only available locally for a short period of time so this line, and this rare figure in particular is quickly becoming a ‘holy grail’ for dinosaur collectors.

It is a spectacular figure and is by far the most accurate pliosaur toy reviewed so far. All of the Walking with Dinosaurs figures are almost perfectly symmetrical, which is a let down in most of the figures which are just ’standing around’ – this is not so much of an issue the aquatic Liopleurodon. The figure is 24cm long.

The triangular-shaped head is good – the eyes are in the correct place (so often in plesiosaurs they are positioned too far back) and the little external nares are retracted close to the eyes as they should be. There are other accurate details – the mandibular symphysis and tip of the rostrum is slightly expanded and the teeth are enlarged and slightly procumbent, there is even a short diastema (gap) in the tooth row where the premaxilla meets the maxilla. The mouth is slightly open but there is no detail in the mouth, no gullet or obvious tongue for example. The eyes are yellow and inexplicably framed above by what appears to be a delicate eyebrow – perhaps this is supposed to be a beautiful female? I’m sure I don’t need to explain that pliosaurs almost certainly never had eyebrows I guess it is supposed to be a ridge.

The neck is short but distinct and the body is long and quite narrow (rather too narrow actually) with four long broad flippers. The body region is actually deeper than wide, the opposite should be the case. There is a ridge running along the spine. The limbs are beautiful with a rounded anterior edge and a sharp crenulated trailing edge, perfect for producing lift. The hind limbs are noticeably larger as is typical among pliosaurs. The limbs are expanded where they meet the body accommodating all that strong musculature associated with swimming. The tail is short and laterally compressed slightly.

The texture is quite rough which contrasts with the smooth skinned pliosaurs previously reviewed here. The flippers appear cracked and the tummy area is covered in irregular large scales, all nice details. The colouration is taken directly from the Walking with Dinosaurs TV series – is is speckled deep blue and white on the back and all over the flippers, the tummy is countershaded in white. It is a stunning and distinctive colour scheme – one that has shamelessly been duplicated by the new Procon Liopleurodon (review coming soon…). The WWD Liopleurodon is an amazing figure and one of my favourites.

It is rare but sometimes available here

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