What's New in review

Papo of France creates highly detailed prehistoric animal figures (if not always the most scientifically accurate.)

- Mike Fredericks

They were a bit late releasing their new figures for 2020 presumedly because of the virus. Dean Walker and his amazing dejankins.com was kind enough to send us these figures for review here in “What’s New - In Review.” Let’s start with what might be the most controversially posed of the group, the Giganotosaurus. Giganotosaurus was a giant theropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (Argentina.) One PT reader said, the Papo figure is posed standing so upright that it looked a little like a man wearing a dinosaur costume. Another told me it reminded him of the Dilophosaurus pair of figures that Safari Ltd. released many years ago in which the two are posed in combat (Papo’s Giganotosaurus has no fighting companion, however. Recently Papo produced a Pentaceratops whose feet were cleverly designed to allow it to stand on four legs or rise up on its back legs. Its upright pose would make it a fitting battle partner with Giganotosaurus but they never would have actually had the pleasure of making each other’s acquaintance) Holding the figure, it is very large (8”) and super detailed, as Papo figures always are. It has the moveable lower jaw that is so in fashion with dinosaur figures these days. It is a shame it can’t be cantilevered into a pose more parallel to the ground. It is, otherwise a gorgeous dinosaur figure.

The second figure that is a bit controversial in pose is the Chilesaurus, as it is posed as a quadruped when most believe it was a biped. In fact, of all the art of Chilesaurus on the internet, I couldn’t find a single illustration of