Application Critique: JWTG's Majungasaurus

               Majungasaurus is on the list for weirdest theropod yet discovered. It is beat only by Masiakasaurus and perhaps the Therizinosaurs. Although the genus is not in the film, Jurassic World: The Game gives this animal to you as your first carnivore; a starting point from which it rapidly declines. 

              Before going into this model's inaccuracies, it should be pointed out that a good many of Ludia's models are just retools of the same model, done over and again. However, this does not excuse their laziness in the arms of the Tyrannosaur model. 

                Their Majungasaurus uses the model for Tyrannosaurus and many of the other large bulky theropods. This would be fine, except that they neglected to change the arms of the model, resulting in very long, noodle-like arms terminating in two fingered hands for all of the theropods using the model. Therefore, this Majungasaurus suffers from Broke-Wrist-Syndrome and its arms are FAR too long with FAR too few digits. Being an Abelisaur, Majungasaurus had extremely, and often comically, short arms, so short that the wrist, manus, and digits were all fused together into a vestigial 'paw' and would have looked almost non-existent. 

Gah! Look at them teeny arms! Puts the Tyrant Lizard King to shame!

                     As for the rest of the animal, since it uses the Tyrannosaurus model, it has a very short body with long thick legs. The real animal's skeleton was also very strange. It was one of the longest theropods proportionally to most others. It was very near the proportions of a dachshund, in which it had a very long tail, neck, torso, with somewhat thin squat legs and boxy skull. Since its discovery, the purpose for the knob on the top of skull of Majungasaurus is unknown, and it was likely covered with flesh and muscle since it is far too small to be used in either combat or for sexual display. 

Art and Copyright belong to Compiler

Evolved: 

                  In Jurassic World: The Game, all animals can 'evolve' by combining two individuals of the same experience level. Once this occurs you get an animal with a better color scheme, with the last 'evolution' being an animal decked out in integumentary details. Majungasaurus is one of the most reserved of these 'Final Evolutions' and sports a row of spiky dermal osteoderms along its spine and a fancy new color scheme of bright blue, yellow, and a strange hue of pink near its muzzle. The spikes are not too much of a stretch since many Abelisaurs, specifically Carnotaurus, have shown to have scutes and armor on their dorsal and lateral sides. 

Accuracy Reviews: Papo's Allosaurus

              One of the most common North American Theropods of the Jurassic Period, Allosaurus, brings with it a might that rivals the famous Tyrannosaurus. Although the animal was almost half the size of the Tyrant Lizard King, it was much faster and may slayed the largest animals to ever walk the earth’s crusty surface; Sauropods. Papo made their entry to the genus in 2008, and it is a spectacular specimen!

              This beast has a large array of scutes and spines that make it look rather alive. However, no fossil evidence exists for such structures. Bony scutes, like that of a crocodile, definitely fossilize, so there’s -1 point for Papo. Like most of Papo’s theropod models, and most theropod reconstructions in general, it suffers from broken wrist syndrome. Theropods, and nearly all members of Dinosauria (to differing degrees), lacked the bones that made their arms capable of twisting to a position at which the palms of the hands face downwards to the ground. Another thing this animal is suffering from, that many other companies make the mistake of sculpting, is the utter lack of fat. The skin and muscles overlaying the skull are stretched too thinly over it and the fenestrae (openings in the skull) are visible in this model, when they likely would not have in life. Overall, the rest of the body is rather filled out, but the ribs can be seen through the skin and suggest that this animal is starving. A simple and common mistake made by many that are unaware of how fleshy the animals of the past probably were. Plus, shrink wrapping makes them ‘scarier’!

             The skeletal portion of the sculpt is where it may get a little nitpicky. The head of Papo’s sculpt places its head crests almost directly above the eye whereas, on the actual skull, the bony base of the animal’s head crests were slightly before the eye socket. Papo’s Allosaurus has a ridge from the tip of its snout that curves over to fit in between the crests. This is unlike the skull anatomy; however, it could just be a lump of flesh that changes the skull’s silhouette.

Overall, this is one of Papo’s best models and one of the few that deviates from a pop-culture design.

Accuracy Rating:

If there is anything I left out, or that you want to add, leave a comment and I will get to you very quickly!

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