Earlier than we start the evaluate, I wish to thank Happy Hen Toys for supplying this determine for evaluate. Completely satisfied Hen Toys is a U.S. distributor of animal collectible figurines and a member and supporter of the Dinosaur Toy Weblog and Discussion board. Of explicit notice is that they’re one of many few U.S. distributors that shares CollectA collectible figurines. Try their wares and help them in the present day!
I most likely don’t must inform you this however… dinosaurs will not be lizards, regardless of the title “dinosaur” being Greek for awful lizard. Pterosaurs aren’t lizards both, and neither are plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, or pelycosaurs. Regardless of this, the phrase saurus has been connected to the scientific names of numerous prehistoric animal teams and genera. The reality is all these aforementioned teams really pre-date true lizards within the fossil document. True lizards are a bunch of reptiles belonging to Lepidosauria and so they first appeared through the mid-Jurassic, 168 million years in the past. However one group of widespread prehistoric reptiles had been certainly true bonafide lizards, the mosasaurs, a bunch of Mesozoic marine reptiles nestled comfortably inside Squamata. Their precise placement inside Squamata has been the topic of debate and so they are likely to flop backwards and forwards between being allied both with snakes or monitor lizards and their kin (Anguimorpha), however their lizard pedigree has by no means been questioned. Presently they look like a sister clade to snakes and sure, snakes are lizards too.
Mosasaurus is probably the most well-known genus of mosasaur, and the sort genus for the group. It lived 82-66 million years in the past through the late Cretaceous. Mosasaurus fossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica which implies it ranged all through the Atlantic in quite a lot of climates. A number of species of Mosasaurus have been described however at an estimated 49-59’ (15-18 meters) the sort species M. hoffmannii is the most important and one of many largest marine reptiles identified to science. Not like Tyrannosaurus, Mosasaurus was a real lizard king, and the apex predator of the Cretaceous seas.
Mosasaurus has all the time been widespread however for the reason that launch of Jurassic World it has skilled a surge in recognition that has led to a number of new fashions briefly succession, with only a few of them being to my very own liking. Most Mosasaurus toys don’t seize the look of the animal in a manner that I discover convincing, with my choice being for a marine lizard that appears much less like a crocodile and extra like a whale. Previous Mosasaurus figures both had shrink wrapped skulls and flippers, saggy pores and skin, odd proportions, too many bodily adornments, or all of the above mixed with some inaccuracy or different. That’s till CollectA launched their Deluxe mannequin for 2023, now I lastly have the Mosasaurus I’ve been ready for.
The CollectA Deluxe Mosasaurus measures 16” (40.64 cm) and is marketed as being 1/40 in scale. To attain that scale, it must be scaled down from a 54’ (16 meters) Mosasaurus. The determine is positioned in a largely static pose, propped up on its flippers, and with a delicate rightward bend within the physique and a leftward bend within the tail.
The top is a marked enchancment over CollectA’s normal sized Mosasaurus, with its bizarre shrink-wrapped temporal fenestra visually much like a frog’s tympanum. The top on this determine is properly fleshed out and streamlined with openings for the nostrils and ears. The jaw is articulated too, and the articulation works nicely. CollectA has come a great distance with jaw articulation.
On either side of the higher jaw there are 15 enamel and there are 14 on either side of the decrease jaw. That is throughout the right vary for a Mosasaurus tooth depend. On the roof of the mouth are the pterygoid enamel, though I gained’t hassle attempting to depend these! A bifurcated (forked) tongue is sculpted on the decrease jaw and whereas we don’t know what the tongue would have seemed like this can be a secure guess given the animal’s relationship to snakes and monitor lizards. The top would possibly seem small in ratio to the physique, however that is right, a whole lot of Mosasaurus reconstructions make the top too massive.
The physique is superbly ergonomic and probably the most convincingly lifelike Mosasaurus I’ve ever seen molded in plastic. Many toy corporations like so as to add additional little fine details to their marine reptiles however what I search for in my figures is the smooth, no-frills, environment friendly physique plan we see in extant marine predators like sharks, cetaceans, and tunas. There’s not quite a bit additional happening right here, and that’s an excellent factor!
The physique itself can also be appropriately sturdy and clean with out a whole lot of additional saggy pores and skin that might additionally cut back drag. Some pores and skin folds and wrinkles are sculpted the place applicable, like across the neck and base of the flippers. Everything of the determine has a tremendous protecting of scales, and a cloaca is sculpted on the underside. There are a number of random notches and gouges on the physique, flippers, and tail that appear to be battle scars. They’re minor particulars that add a contact of persona.
The flippers are extensive and sturdy, as they need to be, with no actual indication that there are digits hidden inside them. Figures by Papo, PNSO, and Favourite have shrink-wrapped this little bit of anatomy however like fashionable cetaceans or sea turtles, the distinct digits most likely shouldn’t be seen and would solely create further drag in the event that they had been. On the underside of the determine there’s some properly sculpted musculature across the pectoral fins. There is no such thing as a dorsal fin and whereas some reconstructions embrace them there is no such thing as a proof that mosasaurs had them.
The tail has two lobes with the underside lobe being longer than the higher. In life the tail vertebrae would have prolonged into the decrease lobe, not like in sharks the place the vertebrae prolong into the higher lobe. Many previous reconstructions have given Mosasaurus a single lobe, creating an eel-like tail, however there’s skeletal proof for an higher lobe and the mosasaur genus Prognathodon has the smooth tissue of the higher lobe preserved. Which means that Mosasaurus would have primarily propelled itself with the rear-half of its physique and tail, like salmon, versus with its complete physique, like an eel. The bend within the tail properly illustrates this type of locomotion.
The paintjob is conservative, and a few could say boring, however applicable for a big aquatic predator. The determine is darkish greenish grey dorsally with a yellowish white stomach, exhibiting the countershading employed by many fashionable aquatic predators. Faint darkish grey bands run down the size of the physique however that’s the one trace of patterning. I prefer it, because it looks as if it could assist the animal mix in with rippling waves. The within of the mouth is uninteresting purple with a pink tongue and white enamel. Even the pterygoid enamel are painted, and the applying isn’t good however acceptable on such small particulars. The eyes are black.
In the event you favor the Prehistoric Planet Mosasaurus over the Jurassic World Mosasaurus then that is the determine for you. It’s so far as I can inform, a flawless determine, and probably the most correct Mosasaurus obtainable. Up till now I’ve gone with out a first rate Mosasaurus in my assortment and I’m comfortable to have that hole crammed by the CollectA Deluxe Mosasaurus. I don’t suppose I’ll ever want to purchase one other Mosasaurus once more. This determine is at the moment in manufacturing and for those who’re in the USA you will get one at Completely satisfied Hen Toys, here.
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