Pleased Hen Toys has generously offered me with my first ever Haolonggood evaluate topic: Dacentrurus. The very first stegosaur to be formally described and named in 1875 (the unique title was Omosaurus till somebody realized in 1902 that it was already taken), Dacentrurus is estimated to have been as much as 9 metres in size and 5 metric tons in weight, making it presently the second largest recognized member of its household after Stegosaurus. The kind specimen was present in 1874 within the Kimmeridge Clay of England, which is of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age. Dacentrurus’ contemporaries seem to have included the iguanodontian Cumnoria, the sauropods Cetiosaurus and Duriatitan, and the theropods Juratyrant and Torvosaurus, the latter of which can have been the pointy-tailed plant eater’s chief predator.
Haolonggood’s modus operandi is to launch two of the identical mould in numerous color schemes, which is one thing I wouldn’t thoughts different corporations taking on. This one right here is the “Lingzhen” scheme with the opposite being “Xuning.” The principle colors on its physique are brownish-orange and beige with loads of darkish brown stripes, gray claws, and brown and beige shoulder spikes. The pinnacle is extra of a medium orange with gentle inexperienced eyes and airbrushed medium brown on the snout. The plates and spikes operating down the neck, again, and tail are darkish brown with fiery orange ideas. And at last, there’s an odd white wash on the highest of the pinnacle, again, and tail, which I reasonably want hadn’t been utilized. Aside from that, this appears fairly good. It’s admittedly just like the PNSO Miragaia‘s color scheme, however not similar. One might simply conceive of Lingzhen right here as a male and the duller-coloured Xuning as a feminine.
Lingzhen is a good-sized stegosaur toy at 22 cm lengthy and eight cm tall on the ideas of his plates. He’s sculpted in a placid strolling stance together with his head held excessive and turned barely to the left. His left entrance leg is raised in mid-step and his stupendously spiny tail can be swaying to the left. He appears calm and regal this manner, but in addition very alert and gimlet-eyed, able to defend himself if wants be.
Upon eradicating Lingzhen from his packaging, one of many first issues I seen was that a variety of his plates and spikes are warped, bending to at least one facet or the opposite. I can look previous this, however I do hope that this can be a case of random dangerous luck versus a frequent prevalence. It’s additionally price noting that the guidelines of the plates and spikes are fairly sharp. Clearly, this can be a determine aimed primarily at older collectors; it isn’t an all-ages product like those offered by CollectA, Safari, and Schleich. I definitely wouldn’t really feel secure letting my little ones play with it.
The element on Lingzhen is most spectacular. His pores and skin is roofed in tiny rounded scales with bigger osteoderms adorning his sides and a number of however delicate wrinkles lining his stomach, thighs, and tail. His entrance ft finish in 4 digits with claws on three of them, whereas his hind ft have three clawed digits. His throat is protected by nice gular armour and his closed mouth doesn’t characteristic cheeks, not like many earlier stegosaur figures. Additionally, there are significantly giant and bumpy scales on the very tip of his thagomizer, virtually like a sheathe of armour to assist reinforce it throughout fight.
Assessing the accuracy of this determine is considerably tough because of the truth that Dacentrurus, like so many different dinosaurs, isn’t recognized from full stays. However, we do know that it possessed a lot smaller plates than Stegosaurus and a number of spikes on its tail. Lingzhen options ten pairs of skinny plates on his again, adopted by seven pairs of spikes on his tail. He additionally has spikes jutting out from his shoulders similar to on Kentrosaurus. These are purely speculative at the moment, however completely believable, they usually definitely do add to Lingzhen’s intimidating look.
Lingzhen’s torso, nonetheless, could also be his largest inaccuracy. You see, one of many extra fascinating options of Dacentrurus is that it possessed an especially extensive pelvis. I’ve seen the holotype specimen up shut and private on the Pure Historical past Museum in London, England, and it actually is very large. Lingzhen is much from skinny, I grant you, however his girth isn’t as nice as that of the Wild Safari Stegosaurus or the PNSO Tuojiangosaurus. Haolonggood may need been in a position to do higher on this regard.
On the entire, although, I believe this can be a splendid stegosaur determine. Certainly, the perfect Dacentrurus thus far, surpassing each the CollectA and Battat variations. Not solely does its sculpting and total look simply rival that of PNSO’s stegosaurs, however additionally it is a superb deal extra reasonably priced (and I actually do hope that Haolonggood retains their merchandise that approach in future). Each variations are at the moment accessible on Happy Hen Toys’ website. Thanks once more exit to them for the pattern!
You possibly can assist the Dinosaur Toy Weblog by making your dino-purchases by means of these hyperlinks to Ebay and Amazon.
Trending Merchandise
