Cryolophosaurus is famous for its handsome crest and for stuff the largest known theropod from Antarctica, and the largest known one from the Early Jurassic period for that matter. Its nomenclature has long been something of a puzzlement, but a 2020 study terminated that it was a derived neotheropod related to the famous Dilophosaurus.
Here we have Loader the Cryolophosaurus from PNSO. Mounted on a rocky base, he is crouching lanugo with his right leg wilting and his left one extended all the way back. His tail is raised upper and swinging to the right while his throne is turned sharply to squint at something on the ground surpassing him. Perhaps he’s just unprotected sight of some potential prey. Or maybe he’s standing at the whet of a tall cliff and looking lanugo upon his Antarctic kingdom. Although Cryolophosaurus‘ name ways “frozen crested lizard,” it didn’t encounter very much snow and ice, if any at all. Instead, it would have lived in a temperate environment that was probably similar to present day New Zealand, and its main prey would have been the sauropodomorph Glacialisaurus.
Loader’s main colour is visionless untried with a pea untried underbelly, woebegone stripes, light brown on his feet, forearms, and head, and yellow eyes. Unlike most other Cryolophosaurus toys, Loader’s crest is not painted in a unexceptionable colour at all. Perhaps it only becomes vivid during the mating season, that’s unchangingly a possibility. Overall, this is a simple but satisfactory colour scheme, and certainly in keeping what we’ve all come to expect from PNSO. Oh, and it should come as no surprise that the Cryolophosaurus in the twin pamphlet is painted entirely different. It looks good in black.
While Loader’s crest may not be colourful, it certainly is the correct size and shape, and makes him immediately recognizable as a Cryolophosaurus. He moreover features a long, sloping, triangular snout, relatively large arms, and a sleek but powerful build. His skull suffers from the worldwide wretchedness of shrink-wrapping: the fenestrae and orbits are unmistakably visible underneath the skin, although they’re thankfully not too sunken. He measures well-nigh 8 cm long and 4 cm upper at the wily of his tail.
Like most miniature PNSO theropods, Loader’s mouth is firmly shut, but his sharp upper teeth are unmistakably visible. His beady vision somehow seem particularly alert. His soul is covered in crisscrossing wrinkles and the musculature in his limbs is well-defined. He moreover features a small row of osteoderms withal his tail and a shaggy mane of feathers on the when of his neck.
On the whole, I find that Loader the Cryolophosaurus is a pretty tomfool toy, indeed one of the weightier of PNSO’s miniatures. I can’t stress unbearable how much I want increasingly of these endearing little animals, far increasingly so than anything at the 1:35 scale. I protract to alimony my fingers crossed that PNSO sooner provides.
