June | 2010 | The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Monthly Archives: June 2010

Styracosaurus (Battat)

Posted on June 21, 2010 by DinoLord | 9 Comments

Review and Photos by DinoLord.

In 1994, the Boston Museum of Science released a line of dinosaur figures produced by the toy company Battat and sculpted by professional paleo-artists. While new figures were released in 1996 and 1998, the project was scrapped in 2002, and the line remained discontinued. Commonly referred as “battats” or “battat dinosaurs” in the dinosaur collector community, the figures from this line are considered as some of the rarest dinosaur figures ever. The Styracosaurus was released in 1994, and it is one of the best and most beautiful renditions of this unique and recognizable ceratopsian.

The Styracosaurus is in a pretty calm pose, looking as if it is slowly strolling along. The sculpt is very detailed, with nicely done wrinkling and scales. For a 1/40 scale figure produced in the 90’s, this is pretty impressive. All of the proportions appear to be correct. The plastic the Battat figures are made of is rather flexible, and the Styracosaurus is no exception. One must always be careful not to accidentally bend the horns backwards.

One of the things the Battat line is famous for is its superior accuracy. This figure is one of the most accurate toy renditions of Styracosaurus. The number of horns on the frill is correct, with smaller horns on the bottom half of the frill, a feature that some other Styracosaurus figures leave out. Even the number of toes is correct, with five on the front feet and four on the back. As mentioned before, all the proportions are correct, and the tail is small compared to the body as it should be. The only inaccuracy is that it is now believed that ceratopsians had their wrists facing each other instead of facing backwards. However, this is an extremely recent discovery. The amount of accuracy this figure has managed to keep for over 15 years is extremely impressive.

Another feature that makes this figure so beautiful is the wonderful and detailed paint job. The paint job is very striking yet natural at the same time. Most of the body is a Carolina blue, accompanied by midnight blue stripes. The frill has two large golden yellow spots, and this color is also found on the tips of the horns, albeit in a more subtle form. The bases of the horns are colored the same midnight blue as the stripes. The bottom half is a dark arylide yellow. The eyes are a solid black, and the nostrils are a fleshy pink. Though some other Battat figures have a slightly sloppy paint application, the Styracosaurus has a very detailed and precise paint job. Only the toe claws are a bit sloppy in paint application. However, like all other Battat figures, the paint is prone to smudging, so treat this figure well.

Sadly, the Styracosaurus, like all other Battat figures, has been discontinued for quite some time. The Boston Museum of Science no longer carries this line. Fortunately, the Styracosaurus is one of the more commonly available Battat figures. You could try contacting Gregory Wenzel or Dan LoRusso, the sculptors of the Battat line, to see if they still have any left. However, your best bet to get one is on eBay, where they are usually sold for no more than $20. This is truly a great Styracosaurus figure, and I highly recommend it to all ceratopsian fans and dinosaur lovers alike.

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Battat, ceratopsian

Tagged Battat, dinosaur toy blog, Styracosaurus

Tsintaosaurus (CollectA)

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Griffin | 14 Comments

Tsintaosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur, or Hadrosaur, that lived in China about 84 to 71 million years ago. Like many Lambeosaurs, Tsintaosaurus is believed to have sported a fancy crest on its head. In this case, the crest is a skinny rod that stuck out above of the dinosaur’s face much like a mythical unicorn’s horn. A while back it was believed that this crest is actually just a piece of the animal’s top jaw that had broken and become bent upwards. Then another specimen was found with the exact same feature, thus leading most people once again to believe that this animal indeed sported a unicorn crest. Today I will be reviewing for you CollectA’s rather interesting rendition of this unicorn dinosaur.

Well let’s get it out of the way because I know you are only staring at one thing right now. It looks like the figure has a man’s genitals sitting atop its head. This is mainly due to the fact that the sculptor of this piece (who had to have been in a spiteful mood that day) decided to add on two air sacs under rod-shaped crest. Air sacs are commonly depicted on hadrosaurs for the sake of the animals being able to produce loud noises much like the inflatable sacs on modern day frogs, toads and Frigate Birds. Now for other species of hadrosaurs this looks perfectly fine and I have even seen renditions of Tsintaosaurus itself with little balloon sacs that simply differ in size or placement that look completely innocent…but this? Come on! Somebody had to be in on it. They even went so far as to paint the crest and balloons a uniform differentiating color!

You would think somebody at CollectA would have noticed before this went into production

Okay, got it out of our system now? Probably not and I totally understand. I have had this little model for several weeks now and I still can’t look at it and keep a straight face. How about now? Eh, whatever I’m moving on. On to the rest of the sculpt! This little figure is actually pretty accurate for the most part. Its fingers and toes have of the right number and length of digits. All hadrosaurs had four digits on their forelimbs. Digits one, two and three were of equal size and were most likely used for walking while digit four was highly reduced and likely was just along for the ride. This is emulated in the figure quite nicely. The face is also good. It sports a nice flattened mouth which matches the actual skull. The tail is the right length and sticks out straight and rigid behind it and there is a ridge of elongated neural arches going down the back. The only complaint I have is the fact that the critter’s legs and ankles look awfully skinny. Also, there is recent belief that ornithopod dinosaurs would have had their palms facing inward, much like all theropod dinosaurs did. This figure has its palms facing back.

The detail on this guy isn’t bad. It’s completely covered in little pebbly scales, which we know at least certain hadrosaurs actually had in life from actual fossil evidence. It also has some nice wrinkles on the underside of its neck and two really nice, deep wrinkles going along either side of its belly.

The colors are nice too. The dinosaur has a base color of very pale greenish yellow with bolder green colored soft pattern all over the body. The finger tips and toes are dark brown and the eyes are orange with that same stupid vertical slit pupil that CollectA seems to love so much. Annnnd the phallus crest is painted a bright traffic-cone orange as if it didn’t grab your attention enough already.

So all in all…this figure is pretty good. That is of course if you don’t mind the fact that the crest looks the way it does. It’s a little smaller than 1:40 scale but it still looks at home in a 1:40 scale collection. It can easily be bought at any place that already sells CollectA dinosaur models for a low price. Oh yeah did I mention its crest looks like genitals? Because it does…okay just making sure.

Special thanks to forum member, Postsaurischian, for providing me with this figure to review!