Dave's Toy Rant: Carnage: Action Figure Dinosaurs - Velociraptor I haven't seen this line from Resaurus (http://www.resaurus.com) in stores yet, but I picked this toy up at their display in the Mid-Ohio Con over Thanksgiving weekend. I paid $12 for it, but that's not necessarily the retail price. I'm thinking $10.99 or even $9.99 at the major chains other than Kay Bee. CAPSULE: Good sculpt, 18 points of articulation (all of them hinge/swivel, however) plus a bendy tail. Nice heft and seems to have pretty good durability. Presuming it goes at the $9.99-$10.99 price point, recommended. Side note: Velociraptor has the most articulation of the lot, you really CAN'T get a lot of articulation out of a Stegosaurus. RANT: Card Text - VELOCIRAPTOR Also known as Deinonychus, or "terrible claw", this small but deadly animal is one of the most important dinosaur discoveries of all time. Here was an example of te perfect killing machine. Rows of serrated, knife-like teeth filled it's [sic] jaws. At the end of his long, quick arms were greedy snatching hands with long claws. Just like it's [sic] name says, each foot had a claw that was indeed terrible; a giant hooked talon that cut and clutched meat. Large, cold eyes guided this relentless hunter even under the darkness of night. Within it's [sic] skull was a large brain to house killing intelligence. Perhaps those nights of long ago were filled with the dread that packs of Velociraptors were out in stealthy force, darting about looking for pray [sic]. Order: Saurischia Suborder: Therpoda Family: Dromaeosauridae Size: About 3 meters (10') long Location: Western North America (The sticker you place on the base also includes "Scale: 1/40" which is incorrect, and probably a cut-and-paste error, bringing in some other figure's scale.) I'd say Resaurus could use a little better editing on its packaging. Aside from the homophone errors I noted above, the general construction is choppy and generally demonstrates that Hasbro doesn't have a monopoly on iffy notefiles. Yes, I'm nitpicking here, but when a package proclaims "museum quality" for the toy, it'd be nice to have museum quality for the writing as well, yes? Packaging: The toys come in boxes roughly 7"x11"x4.5" (18cm x 28cm x 11cm) with a plastic window on front and top, plus nice cut-out claw marks on the side panel with plastic behind them. Inside, the figure is twist-tied down to a plastic mold that holds it in a dramatic position (although I suspect the Stegosaur has trouble generatinf drama). Hidden under the toy is the claw-shaped stand, with prop and stickers (a choice between the scientific information and just the name). The side panel without the claw marks shows off the points of articulation, while the bottom panel has demonstrations of how those articulations work. I get the impression that the line has undergone several delays, because some of the text on the box is copyright 1997 and the webpage says the toys will be out late summer 1998. Oh, and for those who want to know what to look for in the store, the dominant colors of the box are tan and yellow. Figure: It looks like they decided to play up the stealth/night hunter angle here, with a much darker color scheme than is usually seen on 'Raptors. Mostly dark blue with black tiger striping along the sides and maroon mottling on the top. The muzzle is tan, and the eyes are greenish yellow orbs. From snout to extended tail tip, the figure is a little over a 13" (33cm) long, so if it's 1/12 scale (as a photo of the prototype stand suggests), then this is a somewhat big specimen of the species. Of course, being about 1/12 scale makes it a perfect...companion...for your other 1/12 scale action figures (Todd Toys scale is more like 1/10, Toy Biz closer to 1/14). Terrorize your superheroes with it! The figure does indeed have 18 points of non-trivial articulation (although the upper skull barely moves), but they're all hinges or swivels. No ball joints at all, and they would've been nice on the shoulders. Still, it does preserve the sculpt better, for those interested in sculpt over poseability. Each arm has shoulder, elbow and wrist joints, as does each leg. In addition, each leg has two toe joints, one for the "terrible claw" of the dinosaur's name and one for the other two toes fused together. The head has two joints, one for each half of the skull, with the tongue attached to the neck. There's a nice skin piece in the cheeks so that the mouth looks more realistic when open. Finally, the tail has a bend-em style wire for full poseability. Unfortunately, while the neck is flexible (you can bend it around), it's not poseable...it always snaps back to the same position. So the head can't really be left turned to the side, or leaning down (especially since the upper skull is blocked by the tongue from swinging down). The neck does have the characteristic little holes for a bend-em wire, but no wire. The toy is made of a durable but flexible plastic, a degree floppier than what Todd Toys is currently using in the Spawn figures. This may pose a problem with the more delicate wrist joints (which tend to freeze up over time and have to be worked back into activity). There's a little flash here and there, but I had to specifically look for it to find it. Accessories: The toy comes with a footprint-shaped fossil bed base and a small black rod for a prop. This prop is vital, since the figure simply cannot stand up on its own. The joints aren't stiff enough (especially the toes) and the feet are too close together for a static stance to work (again, lack of ball joints to splay the legs). The base is a somewhat more rigid tan plastic with airbrushed dirt and a space for the sticker mentioned earlier. On the bottom of the one I got, it says it's for a T-Rex. Either they abandoned invididualized base molds, or mixed up in packaging. The base is heavy enough and wide enough to keep the toy from tipping over (which I somehow doubt is a problem for the Stegosaur or the Terapsids). Overall: While I had a lot of quibbles, I do think this is a nifty toy. And it looks positively radiant in the classic Swan Lake "on point" pose. I hope for Resaurus's sake that they manage to get these out to stores in time for the Christmas season. Then again, their Crash Bandicoot line is vanishing from pegs fast enough that they probably could survive another delay with Carnage. Dave Van Domelen, wouldn't want to meet the full-sized 'Raptor if this really *is* 1/40 scale....