July | 2010 | The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Monthly Archives: July 2010

Achelousaurus (Antediluvia Collection)

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Griffin | 2 Comments

Yes, another Achelousaurus and yes, that’s a nickel its standing on. Let me introduce the second member of the Antedeluvia collection to be reviewed here on the blog, David Krentz’s rendition of Achelousaurus. If you would like more information on this particular ceratopsian dinosaur simply scroll down a bit and read the first paragraph of my review for CollecA’s version of it.

Painted by Griffin

Like all of the members of this line, this little guy comes separated from its base and unpainted. A little handy work with super glue and paints (If you so choose) is required. While some may find this a hassle, to me, this is half the fun. This one is pretty easy to glue on since it’s a quadruped and it’s in a sitting pose so there are four points of figure-base contact. Therefore, unlike the bipedal models, you don’t need to stand there holding it in place while the glue dries.

The sculpt itself is beautiful. First of all let me say that this is as scientifically accurate as it gets. The proportions are all right with a nice big head and a short tail and the arms are correctly splayed slightly to the sides. The only tiny detail that is slightly off due to very recent information is the fact that the palms are facing backwards. Still, this is a very accurate figure.

The pose is really cute. David Krentz featured a whopping three ceratopsian models in this line (much to my delight) so I suppose it was decided to make this one’s pose a little different so that they all don’t look too similar. Achelousaurus is sitting down much like a puppy dog with its left arm raised up and its head tilted to the side. For a model based off of a twenty foot beaked, frilled dinosaur with a lumpy mass of bone on its face this still manages to look absolutely adorable.

Detail is impressively acute for a figure that’s in 1:72 scale. There are a fair amount of wrinkles and even little bumpy scales raised up all down the figures back. The bosses have ridges and the toes and epoccipitals (bony bits lining the frill) are all nicely defined. This figure comes unpainted so there is no color or paintjob to review. You are just going to have to put up with my paintwork for this entire review just keep in mind that this is not the way it comes. The owner is free to paint it however he/she pleases.

Unpainted photo provided by Postsaurischian.

In conclusion, like any member of the Antedeluvia line, I have nothing bad to say about this guy. It’s tiny, it’s detailed and its accurate. This is one of the smaller figures in the collection so it is on the cheaper (relatively speaking) side. It was about seventeen US dollars if I remember correctly. I highly recommend it to anybody.

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Posted in antediluvia, ceratopsian

Achelousaurus (CollectA)

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Griffin | 4 Comments

Achelousaurus was a ceratopsian that lived during the Campanian stage of the late Cretacious period. It is named after the Greek river deity, Achelous who, according to myth, had his horn broken off during a fight with the famous Greek hero, Hercules. The skull of Achelousaurus has a low, flat boss (or lumpy mass of bone) on its snout that looks like the animal has had its horn broken off. All three discovered skulls of Achelousaurus look like this. Achelousaurus is a close relative of Pachyrhinosaurus and in life would have coexisted with dinosaurs such as Daspletosaurus, Maiasaura, Eouplocephalus and its fellow ceratopsian, Einiosaurus.

Collecta’s version of this interesting dinosaur is a bit of a disappointment unfortunately. If you want to look at it from a scientific accuracy point of view there is quite a bit wrong with it. First off, the head is way too small in proportion to the body and seems to be the wrong shape overall The snout should me much taller. Also, the tail is too long. Ceratopsian tails are typically rather short. In my opinion the legs are all too skinny and the front legs need to be sprawled out to the sides more with the palms facing inward not backwards (a rather new discovery so I don’t hold it against this figure, however). It has the correct number of digits but they are not of appropriate lengths. It is, however, still recognizable as Achelousaurus because the low boss on the nose and eyes accompanied by the two long horns on the frill are present.

The detail on this figure is actually pretty good. It is covered in little pebbly scales with a nice amount of wrinkles and creases as well. The only thing is it seems that the more modern reconstructions have a more crocodilian-skin look to them with wide rectangular scales on the back but again, I won’t hold it against this figure since this is also a very new idea. It’s nicely detailed none the less.

The model has a base color of sandy gold with a warmer amber colored belly and horns with dark brown toes, beak, frill lining and striped pattern on the body. The frill holes and bosses are all red and the e tongue is painted pink. Finally, like almost all CollectA dinosaurs, the eyes are orange with vertical slit pupils.

One last thing I feel a need to point out about this figure. It looks like it was chasing parked cars. By this I mean that if looked head on, the snout of this figure is totally crooked as if it were smashed resulting in a broken nose. Boo.

As a whole I would say that most people should skip on getting this figure. Not only is it inaccurate, but it’s just plain ugly. I have it because I collect ceratopsians specifically and this figure happens to be roughly in 1:40 scale. If you do feel a need to get this model it can be readily available anywhere CollectA dinosaur models are already sold.