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:

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