http://nerditis.com/...aurus-collecta/
Hey guys, I just moved to a new place, so my posts might be a little short for a while. Anyway, when it comes to buying dinosaur toys, CollectA has recently stepped up with the likes of such giants as Safari, Schleich, and Papo. This year, thet released a "Deluxe" Carcharodontosaurus, which is the size of the aforementioned other companies' dinosaurs. So let's take a look!
PACKAGING: ***
Most museum-quality dinosaurs come without packaging. This guy gets a huge window box that is honestly kind of wasteful. But it's huge!
SCULPT: ****
With just one exception - the really-wide and fat hips - this figure is absolutely accurate to the fossils... though of course, we don't know how much fat any given dinosaur may have had. Carcharodontosaurus was arguably larger than a T-Rex, and had sharklike teeth. This figure certainly communicates all of that! It has no articulation, though - sometimes these figures have movable jaws or somesuch, but not this guy. It is a little smaller than the T-Rex offerings by Papo, Schleich, or Safari, though, so the scale may not be perfect.
PAINT: ****
I love it when they treat dinosaurs as an art canvas, and the Carcharodontosaurus has such a rich pattern of orange, tan, brown, black, white, and blue that it really stands out on the shelf! Sure, maybe this wasn't accurate... but maybe it was. Also, they painted its butthole for some reason.
ACCESSORIES: ****
He comes with a... human victim? Archeologist? Either way this little fellow provides scale. The Carcharodontosaurus is about 12" long, but seeing him ext to an in-scale human just shows you how big it was.
VALUE: ***
At $30, he is pricier than some dinosaurs... but cheaper than, say, Papo. I dunno, you pay a lot for dinos.
WHERE TO BUY:
Honestly, you might want to order yours online, though some hobby shops carry CollectA.
OVERALL: ****
This is a beautiful, visually-striking beast of a dinosaur... and I'm sorry that this review is short, but I have to go unpack!
