Accuracy Reviews: Papo's Sitting Rex

Starting off our figure review section, we will begin with the most famous of all members of Dinosauria and the star of Jurassic Park; Tyrannosaurus.

Photo provided by VikingSpawn

Photo provided by VikingSpawn

Photo provided by VikingSpawn

                  To be exact, the sitting Tyrannosaurus produced by Papo. This beast comes in three colors; Green, Brown, and ‘Rainbow’. Most of the figures produced by Papo are based off of the designs used in the famous Jurassic Park franchise, though you would not likely get them to admit as much, but the reference is clear. The sitting rex rests in a very common tripodal pose with its tail curving down to the ground and its head tilted to the side. The figure is based off of the interpretation of Tyrannosaurus seen in Jurassic Park; the tell-tale sign being its head. Although this figure uses the general outline of the animal’s skull as a reference for the base shape, it adds a few osteoderm-like bumps over the eyes and snout that do not exist in fossils. Now, let us get this straight, the structure of Tyrannosaurus’ skull does show potential evidence for a horny/bony/keratinous covering on the snout and forehead, evidence for the extreme bony projections seen not only on the Papo figure, but also on the Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus, does not exist. Next fallacy is the arms; theropod dinosaurs were unable to pronate their hands and arms. Pronation includes twisting the wrist so the palm of the manus (hand) face down towards the ground. All theropod dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park films suffer from this anatomical impossibility, so one cannot blame Papo too much about this flaw, since it was in the source material. 

Photo provided by VikingSpawn

Photo provided by VikingSpawn

                Papo’s sitting rex comes in Green, which appropriately matches the tyrannosaurs from Jurassic Park: The Lost World, the Brown Tyrannosaurus more closely matches the one featured in the first film, and the ‘Rainbow’ colored one is just an exclusive made for the company. The only other fallacy is the tail; although, Tyrannosaurus and other theropods were physically able to bend to a more vertical position and ‘sit’ on their tails, this would not have been a permanent posture and returning to the neutral horizontal pose would be required. Tripod posture is also a tired cliche among all companies and their theropod reconstructions, so it is nice to see a non-tripodal figure; I can see Papo was going for the pose in the last scene of Jurassic Park after the Tyrannosaurus had killed the Velociraptors in the visitor center.

Accuracy rating:

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