Therizinosaurus cheloniformis is a dinosaur that lived in Asia in the Nemegt Formation around 70 million years ago. The first remains of Therizinosaurus were discovered in 1948 in the Gobi Desert. It is known only from a few bones, gigantic claws and parts of the front and hind limbs discovered between the 1960s and 1980s.
In the absence of complete specimens, it was initially thought that Therizinosaurus was a large reptile resembling a tortoise. With the discovery of more complete relatives, it was then thought that Therizinosaurus and its relatives represented a kind of sauropodomorph or ornithischian. After years of debate, it was placed in the Theropod clade, more precisely as a Maniraptoriform, like Velociraptor or Great tit.
It was probably 9-10m long and 4-5m high, and may have weighed more than 5t. Along with the Deinocheirus, it was the largest maniraptoriform to have ever existed. It would have had a long neck and its relatively small head would have had a horned beak. Its forelimbs were particularly robust, with three fingers bearing the longest claws of any land animal, measuring over 50cm. The unusual anatomy of Therizinosaurus (extrapolated from relatives) is an example of convergent evolution with chalicotheres and other mainly herbivorous mammals, suggesting similar feeding habits. Its claws would have been more useful for catching vegetation than for attacking or defending itself, although they may have played an intimidating role.
Our friend lived in a landscape of large rivers with vast areas of Araucaria woodland and a relatively temperate climate.
Because of its height, Thérizinosaurus probably had no competition with other herbivores on the foliage apart from perhaps the titanosaurs. The only predator to rival it in size was Tarbosaurus.
Since 1995 and the Safari Ltd Dinosaurs of China, more than 40 toys representing this dinosaur have been proposed. The absence of a complete skeleton leaves more room for the imagination of sculptors than the Tyrannosaurus.
I have to admit that most of these interpretations didn't really excite me, whether the animal was feathered or not.
There are three that caught my eye, though, the first being the 2016 little black-feathered Kaiyodo, which I unfortunately didn't buy when it was available for a reasonable price. The second is the Papo of 2018 and finally the PNSO of 2022.
Tonight I invite you to a meeting between these two giants. Papo and PNSO don't have the same philosophy: the French brand produces spectacular, high-quality toys, while its Chinese counterpart takes a more scientific approach and tries to come up with plausible models.
PAPO[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]PNSO[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]So? what sets these two citizens apart?
Let's start with the feet. They are quite stocky and tetradactyl (four toes) which rest on the ground, unlike most other theropods which have tridactyl (three toes) feet because the first toe is reduced to a dewclaw and held off the ground. This detail is respected by PNSO but completely missed by Papo's sculptor.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And the tail? Both are feathered, Papo in Capercaillie mode and PNSO in Ratite mode, to each his own.
The Papo's tail drags along the ground, giving it a tripod pose, whereas the PNSO's tail gives it a more realistic bipedal pose.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Chest and stomach? For Papo, the pose is demonstrative, with a bare, powerful chest and a rounded belly worthy of a large ruminant. In PNSO, the pose is calmer, the chest is less impressive, has feathers and the belly is less bloated.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And the head? No fossils have been found. The animal's head is deduced from that of its cousins Alxasaurus, Erlikoaurus and Neimongosaurus. It is therefore considered to be small in relation to the animal and to have a beak.
Both models have a lower jaw that opens and closes the mouth.
The Papo is very reptilian and shows off the details of the different scales that cover it.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The PNSO head features a lot of feathers and is more reminiscent of a bird.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Let's move on to the most representative part of the species, the forelimbs' claws! This is the Papo's biggest weakness: although larger than the PNSO, its claws are much smaller and don't live up to the animal's reputation.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The PNSO's claws are much more proportionate.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And now the size. Papo is larger and more imposing, with a scale of around 1/30, while the PNSO's scale is between 1/40 and 1/45.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And the price? Quite the opposite of the size, both items are the most expensive on the market, but the PNSO is almost twice as expensive as the Papo.
In conclusion, I'd say that both meet their objectives, although Papo could do a little more work on the claws and hind legs. We're clearly dealing with two brands that are targeting two different audiences.
Papo offers a high quality toy for children, the model is flamboyant and makes you want to invent lots of adventures.
PNSO, on the other hand, is aimed at collectors, young and old, who want to buy quality replicas without spending a fortune on a resin model.
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