Assessment and images by Brontozaurus, edited by Suspsy
I not too long ago visited the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (FPDM) whereas on a visit in Japan. The museum is situated close to the Kitadani Formation, the place a lot of Japan’s dinosaur species have been discovered and described. It was effectively price it, however even earlier than I bought to the FPDM, I used to be encountering Japanese dinosaurs in toy shops. It was very cool to see the likes of Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus rubbing shoulders with native dinosaur species!
Talking of Japan’s native dinosaurs, right here is TakaraTomy’s reconstruction of Fukuiraptor, made for his or her ANIA line of small animal toys. In life, this was a 4 metre (14 ft) lengthy carnivorous theropod dinosaur belonging to the Megaraptora clade, a gaggle identified for his or her vicious hand claws. In plastic, TakaraTomy’s Fukuiraptor measures 13 cm (5 inches) from snout to tail tip, giving it a scale of about 1:30. It’s posed in a impartial standing stance, however its articulated joints imply this gained’t final lengthy. There are two ball joints within the tail, rotating joints within the hind legs, and a gap jaw. The tail sections additionally rotate on the base, to allow them to be posed whereas nonetheless wanting pure. I discover it odd that the arms can’t transfer in any respect, given their possible use for looking. The seen joints could also be a turn-off for some, significantly the apparent ones within the tail, nevertheless it makes this toy very pleasing to fiddle with.
The articulated joints are additionally the one actual concessions to this being a toy, as in any other case it’s an excellent depiction of Fukuiraptor as a dwelling animal. In contrast to many toy theropods, the toes aren’t outsized for stability, however this does make it troublesome to face by itself. The sculpt is kind of detailed for such a small toy, and it total seems to be like a dwelling animal. My one disappointment is that it seems to have pretty standard-sized hand claws as a substitute of the bigger claws that the megaraptorans are identified for. Whereas this may occasionally have been troublesome to seize at this scale, it does imply that this Fukuiraptor seems to be pretty generic for a theropod. I truly thought this was Allosaurus at first till I noticed its field!
TakaraTomy has painted their Fukuiraptor a brick-red color with a beige underside and white stripes working down the again, together with the articulated tail sections. The enamel are white with a pink tongue contained in the mouth. I really feel like I’ve seen this earlier than on a number of events, nevertheless it’s effectively executed and I prefer it. The identical color scheme can also be discovered on the assorted Fukuiraptor sculptures that you’ll find across the Fukui practice station and within the FPDM, which is a neat little bit of synergy.
There’s additionally one other model of this toy unique to the present store of the FPDM, based mostly on a mannequin within the museum, that replaces the brick-red and white stripes with crimson and darkish crimson stripes. It’s in any other case similar to the usual model. Personally, I favor the usual model because the stripes on the unique model look a bit crude as compared.
I believe it is a nice little toy. Although positively good for teenagers with the articulation, it’s additionally appropriate for twiddling with as a desk toy. If you happen to’re after a show piece, chances are you’ll need to take into account one thing like CollectA’s Fukuiraptor as a substitute. This different could also be simpler and cheaper to search out outdoors of Japan. Inside Japan, although, the ANIA figures are extensively accessible (I discovered mine within the toy part of BIC Digicam) and customarily value round 700-800 yen, whereas the museum unique model was round 1300 yen.
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