The China-Canada Dinosaur Project was a series of paleontological expeditions carried out by Chinese and Canadian scientists between 1986 and 1991. In 1993, a travelling exhibition called the Dinosaur Project World Tour was launched to promote all of their findings. I went to see it in Toronto that year, and it was a truly fantastic experience for a young dinosaur enthusiast. I finally got to see my first ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, two of them, “Black Beauty” and a replica of AMNH 5027. I also saw for the first time Alxasaurus, Bellusaurus, Mamenchisaurus, Monolophosaurus, and of course, the subject of this review, Sinraptor. Sinraptor was an 8 to 9 metre long metriacanthosaurid, quite similar to the better known Yangchuanosaurus. It lived in China during the Late Jurassic period, around 160 million years ago.
Xinchuan the PNSO Sinraptor was released back in 2022. He is posed in a horizontal walking (or stalking) stance with his tail swaying sharply to the left, his right leg extended back, his arms dangling down and swept back, and his head facing to the left. He stands just about 7.5 cm tall and measures 24 cm long. Like all PNSO theropods, he comes with a clear support rod that fits under his neck, and it is most welcome in this case. For when I first took Xinchuan out of the packaging, he would not stand up on his own at all. Time spent in a cool basement setting has made him more stable, but even then, he topples over with the slightest nudge.
Amazon ad:
Xinchuan’s main colour is a slightly blueish dark grey with a dull pink underbelly. There are brown patches on his flanks and dark stripes on his tail. His claws are greyish brown and the spines on his back are very dark grey. His head features brown brow ridges, orange eyes, a glossy pink mouth, and dirty beige teeth. It’s not a bad colour scheme, but I much prefer my theropods more colourful than this.
The sculpting detail on Xinchuan is typical of PNSO, which is to say that it is very good, of course. The skin is scaly all over, consisting of the usual but always impressive tiny rounded scales. Multiple rows of round osteoderms adorn the neck, torso, and tail and there is a single row of small triangular spines running down the spine from the back of the cranium to the tip of the tail. And of course, there’s a great many folds and wrinkles, particularly on the neck and the hind legs.
Sinraptor is known from good fossil remains, including a complete skull, and the one on Xinchuan looks quite accurate. It is relatively narrow with a long, sloping snout and pronounced ridges that begin above the nostrils and terminate past the orbits. The hinged lower jaw opens to 30 degrees, fully exposing the dentition and the inside of the mouth. We can discern a long tongue and a well-textured palate with a pair of nostril holes.
And we can easily discern the many sharp teeth due to the fact that Xinchuan, as a pre-2023 PNSO theropod, totally lacks lips. And even for a lipless theropod, he looks particularly toothy. Almost unsettlingly so, I’d say. It’s not enough to put me off this toy, but I am very happy that things have changed.
Xinchuan’s stout arms end in long, curved, and cruel-looking claws. The same can’t be said about the small ones on his feet, but his legs are sturdy and muscular, and look as though they could propel him with considerable speed.
The tail on Xichuan looks unusual in that it starts out thick enough at the base, but then quickly tapers is skinny. Really skinny. It starts out thick enough at the base, but then quickly dminishes down to a skinny wire of an appendage. I reckon even Gregory S. Paul would want it to be meatier than this.
The accompanying information booklet includes the usual toy images, how-to-draw section, and original paleoart, which is always welcome. And somewhat perplexingly, the Sinraptor depicted in it features lips and a slightly thicker tail.
The same paleoart is used for the poster, on display in my older son’s bedroom.
When compared to PNSO’s theropods from 2023 and onward, Xinchuan the Sinraptor may seem a bit ungainly, unattractive, or outdated. Rather unstable too. Nevertheless, he is still a very well-sculpted, realistic-looking, and neat toy, and it’s not like there are scores of Sinraptor toys currently available on the market. Indeed, this is only the third one to be reviewed on the blog after the versions from Vitae and the Carnegie Collection, which are both no longer in production. So while I do think that Xinchuan could have been better in a few ways, I am still pleased to include him in my collection.
Disclaimer: links to Ebay and Amazon on the DinoToyBlog are affiliate links, so we make a small commission if you use them. Thanks for supporting us!
Trending Products
