Despite being described back in 2014 (Lü et al), I’ve only recently become enamored with Qianzhousaurus, informally known as the “Pinocchio rex”. While featuring in the likes of Prehistoric Planet, and Jurassic World Evolution 2, it was the Beasts of the Mesozoic figure that cemented my interest in it, thanks to the vivid coloration it sported. In fact this is still my favorite take of the genus out there (Prehistoric Planet’s is a close second though).
Anyways Qianzhousaurus is a rather interesting tyrannosaurid. Both it and its relative Alioramus are unique among the Tyrannosauridae in having rather long thin snouts, similar to some tyrannosauroids like the controversial Nanotyrannus that has had quite the glow up lately. Both Qianzhousaurus and the two species of Alioramus are from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), and both from Asia, with Qianzhousaurus being from the Chinese Nanxiong Formation 67-66 ma, and the latter two Alioramus species (A. remotus, and A. altai) being from the Mongolian Nemegt Formation 70 ma. To help put it into perspective, Qianzhousaurus would have been alive when Dryptosaurus, Nanotyrannus, and Tyrannosaurus was present in North America, while Alioramus lived alongside Tarbosaurus in the Nemegt Formation.
As mentioned earlier Qianzhousaurus was from the Chinese Nanxiong Formation. It was first discovered in 2010, and was named after where it was discovered, in Ganzhou, or rather Qianzhou, which the area was historically known as during the Sui dynasty. Only one specimen has been recovered to this day, and it is a partially complete subadult, with a nearly complete skull and jaw missing mostly only the teeth. The body has much of the neck vertebrae, some of the shoulders, parts of the pelvis, and much of the left hindlimb, and some of the tail. The Nanxiong Formation was also home to crocodilians, lizards, turtles, alongside a number of dinosaur fauna including some sauropods, a plethora of oviraptorosaurs (such as Corythoraptor, which was hunted by the Qianzhousaurus in Prehistoric Planet), Nanshiungosaurus (a therizinosaur), and the recently named Asiatyrannus.
Starting with the package, the artwork was done by Shannon Beaumont, showing the animal scratching its head, with a cloudy sky and sunset in the back. Quite the lovely scene. Like the many other Tyrannosaur Series figures, it comes with extra sets of toes, a base, and a collector’s card featuring the artwork on the package. It does not come with extra legs, like the larger body 3, 4, and 5 figures, and that’s because it doesn’t need them, because unlike them this one does come with a standing rod giving better long term support (likewise with the body 1 figures, such as Guanlong and Proceratosaurus, which also come with one). The background insert is of that wonderful cloudy sunset sky from the package artwork. The base work is really nice too. I’ve always really enjoyed the sculpt work David did of the bases for the Tyrannosaur Series and Raptor Series, and I almost miss them for the diorama aspect, and the artistic beauty of them, even if the newer stands are perhaps functionally better. Aside from the colors, I really like the inclusion of the footprints on the sculpt of the base, and the pegs are a nice option to help give it some additional stability if needed, with or without the standing rod.
The coloration of the figure was first revealed back in February 2021, with the concept art done by David Silva. The colors were taken from the blue Malayan coral snake (Calliophis bivirgatus), mainly consisting of a red head, belly, and tail tip, with a blue and black striped body. While the source inspiration is venomous, and uses those bright colors as a defensive measure, and while Qianzhousaurus was not, the colors make for a rather eye catching figure, helping it to stand out on a mixed shelf, despite its smaller size. I think David Silva did a fantastic job translating those colors onto the figure, not just with the concept art design, but also the paintwork of the original painted prototype. I also really like the addition of the light sky blue on the lacrimal and nasal crests. The pattern work on the legs is really nice too. The stripes going down the feet remind me of the Walking with Dinosaurs Coelophysis design. If for whatever reason I could only have at most five figures of the Tyrannosaur Series, then this would certainly be one of them, and that’s only just from the color scheme, but let’s address the sculpt and articulation as well, because they are also great.
Most of the sculpt part shares with the juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex figure, otherwise known as body 2, which was also shared with Alectrosaurus, and Teratophoenus (as well as an upcoming Alioramus remotus), and was sculpted by David Silva. Worth noting that while that body type was primarily intended to be for a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex when it was designed and sculpted initially, the “Jane” specimen (BMRP 2002.4.1) the figure’s sculpt appears to be based upon has since been assigned as the holotype of Nanotyrannus lethaeus per Zanno and Napoli, 2025. In any case the head, neck, and hands for this Qianzhosaurus figure were sculpted by Jake Baardse, with part separation from Aaron Doyle. I’m not sure what the hands were based on, if anything, as there is no such material from it, or even either species of Alioramus. The head is very clearly based on the fossil material in any case, including the reduced nasal crests when compared to either species of Alioramus. As most of the sculpt is sharing parts with the juvenile Tyrannosaurus figure I wouldn’t expect the proportions to be 1-1 for Qianzhousaurus, but it is worth noting it was also a rather long leggy animal. Oh and there does appear to be a cloaca present, albeit a very subtle one. The tiny scales sculpted all over are also truly immaculate. A round of applause for all involved with the detail work, because it just blows my mind.
The 2014 paper from Lü et al (linked earlier) measures the skull to be 90 cm from the tip of the snout (premaxilla) to the lower back half of the skull (quadrate). The skull on the figure is about 1.75 inches/4.44 cm long when measured in a similar manner, putting it around 1:20 scale. The figure is about 12.75 inches/32.38 cm long when the neck and tail are straightened out quite a bit. With a more natural neck pose the figure would be about 12.5 inches/31.75 cm long. And as usual with action figures the dimensions can vary on the pose. Body size estimates range from 6.3 meters to 7.5 to 9 meters. Scaling the figure with the smaller estimate of 6.3 meters, and both the measurements I took put into a scale calculator, puts it at around 1:19 to 1:20 scale. Whereas with the 7.5 meter estimate I got about 1:23 scale, and about 1:28 scale for the 9 meter one. The smaller estimates (along with the skull) are pretty close to the advertised 1:18 scale for what it is worth.
Now for the articulation, I think this is among the best out of any of the tyrannosaur series (body type 1 might come in second). Right off the bat the jaw can close flush, or nearly flush. Good enough for me anyways. It can also open extremely wide. We’re talking outdated Allosaurus hatchet jaw 90 degree angle wide. Of course the jaw tissue won’t accommodate having the jaw open that wide, but neat that it even has that kind of range in the first place. The tiny tongue also has articulation. The neck has two ball joints, one at the base of the head, and the other at the base of the neck where it meets the torso. Now the neck also has extremely good range on it. You can have this thing in a throwing its head back howling at the moon type pose, or a feeding/drinking type pose. Quite a bit of side to side range as well. The arms have full 360 degree rotation at the shoulders, the elbows can at least move up and down, and the wrists can fold in and out, and rotate 360 as well.
The hip joints can also get 360 degree rotation, and are only hindered by width of the torso, but it can still be done (though perhaps at the price of some potential paint rubbing). As a quick comparison, that’s more range than on the more recent Dilophosaurus (which I recently reviewed). You can get the figure in a nice sitting pose as a result (though maybe not the most natural for a theropod, not sure). The torso also has a joint which allows for some side to side movement. The knees have the standard amount of range on the Tyrannosaur Series, though perhaps slightly more as the undersides of the thighs do have a little bit carved out on them, similar to some of the Raptor and Ceratopsian Series figures, but perhaps to a lesser degree. This allows the joints to bend at nearly 90 degrees, when folding the legs in. Like its larger relatives in the line, there is also full rotation at the knee joints. Ankles can also rotate all the way around and the hinges allow the feet to go quite far back (rather unnaturally if one so desires), and forth. The toes are also on a ball joint, but can be easily popped on and off in my experience, and the toes themselves nearly have as much range as the later disc joints (like on the Dilophosaurus again), and I was just using the default standing feet testing that out. Lastly the tail has a joint allowing some side to side, and up and down motion, and there is of course a bendy wire allowing for a variety of poses it can be put in.
Unfortunately for anyone wanting to get one of these they are sold out everywhere. I very luckily managed to get my order in for one on creative-beast when it was low stock during the summer last year. While far from the same, and it even has a speculative third digit, the Alectrosaurus is the only one with this body type still available (though perhaps not for long, as stock is currently only available on creative-beast for that one). I’m actually hoping I can manage to pick that one up in the coming months before those are also gone, as it still needs a review here. And as mentioned earlier, if one is willing to be patient there is an Alioramus remotus in the works (revealed in December 2024), with the head and neck also designed by Jake Baardse.
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