After our pricey fellow reviewer EmperorDinobot’s (Luis Perez) premature passing again in late July, there’s been a niche left behind with critiques he deliberate to do when he was nonetheless with us, however sadly by no means bought to complete, and now sadly he by no means will. Among the common reviewers right here have already graciously stepped up and completed a few of these in tribute to him lately, such because the Hammond Collection Dilophosaurus by Gwangi, the Epic Evolution Kileskus by Suspsy, and the Papo Protoceratops by Primeval12 and crazy8wizard. In my Guemesia review I wrote an in depth tribute to him opening the assessment (and I urge of us to learn it to know the way I really feel about his passing), even when it wasn’t one he had deliberate to do when nonetheless with us. Nicely now this one, the Dino Trackers Regaliceratops, will likely be. I solely lately realized it was one he had supposed to do initially. In a greater timeline maybe we may have gotten the chance to learn his ideas on this one, however sadly it’s not this one. Right here I’m choosing up the torch left behind with this one, however could we always remember his many contributions right here.
Regaliceratops is one among my favourite ceratopsians, regardless of solely being named ten years in the past now. In truth it instantly caught my curiosity again then. The one identified specimen to this point is the holotype TMP 2005.055.0001, nicknamed “Hellboy” after the Darkish Horse Comics character created by Mike Mignola, and was described back in 2015 by authors Caleb Brown and Donald Henderson. It was initially present in 2005 by geologist Peter Hews in what’s now the St. Mary River Formation, in Alberta, Canada. The species identify “peterhewsi” honors him. It lived throughout the Maastrichtian stage, 68.5-67.5 Ma, close to the very finish of the Late Cretaceous Interval. The fabric solely consists of a close to full cranium, however the cranium is exclusive among the many ceratopsians in having a crown like form to its frill, therefore its identify, that means “royal horned face” (along with being held on the Royal Tyrrell Museum). That particular crown formed frill is what drew me to it. Regaliceratops can also be a part of the subfamily Chasmosaurinae, and would have been associated to ceratopsians like Chasmosaurus, Kosmoceratops, Pentaceratops, Triceratops, and variety of others.
This determine of it launched in late 2023 as a part of the Dino Trackers line, and was a part of the Wild Roar assortment of medium sized digital figures. As I discussed in my latest Chasmosaurus assessment, Mattel has produced a complete of 18 ceratopsian genera now. This was distinctive on the time because it was the primary within the line to be sculpted with quills on the again, a paleo meme solely based mostly across the Psittacosaurus specimen SMF R 4970. There’s no direct proof within the Ceratopsidae for this function nonetheless, the household during which Regaliceratops belongs to, or some other ceratopsian to this point but. Regardless of that, many paleo artists and even determine corporations like CollectA have lengthy included this function into their works. This Mattel Regaliceratops nonetheless is now not distinctive in that regard, as they’ve now produced a Spiclypeus this yr with this function as nicely.
Because the cranium is the one factor identified from Regaliceratops, and is what helps set it aside from different ceratopsians, it will be smart to copy its iconic options, and I believe Mattel did a superb job with that right here. Practically the entire frill’s horns or spikes are current, with just a few of the underside most pairs absent. And naturally the distinctive single one in the midst of the highest of the frill is current as nicely. The size of the forehead and nasal horns may be a tad exaggerated, however not egregiously so. Each the jugal or cheek horns are current as nicely. All of these horns have been painted, no less than on the guidelines, which is a plus I suppose, as another ceratopsian figures within the line lack paint on this space. The remainder of the sculpt is your typical Mattel ceratopsian with elephant like ft (and bizarre massive aardvark-like claws this time round), and with an incorrect variety of digits no less than on the forelimbs, with 4 as an alternative of 5, and as regular digits 4 and 5 on ceratopsid ceratopsians ought to lack claws. There’s additionally these attention-grabbing little osteoderm issues combined in with the scales sculpted on it. The very first thing that got here to thoughts was that fossilized Triceratops skin impression, although the form of the scales surrounding them are totally different.
So far as the remainder of the paint goes, it’s fairly primary, with just a little little bit of a darkish olive inexperienced coloration speckling on the frill, and a raccoon-like masks across the facial horns, and eyes. The beak is just not painted, and neither is the tongue oddly, regardless of the mouth being completely left open. This darkish olive inexperienced coloration covers a portion of the again, together with the rubbery quills, whereas the remainder of the paint on the determine consists of darkish brown spots on the thighs. The determine is generally solid in a yellow plastic. I’ll be sincere I discover it removed from interesting in that regard, so I sort of hope this one will get a repaint down the road. Granted I’m simply not an enormous fan of yellow getting used a main coloration anyhow. If I recall proper the Dino Trackers line additionally had environmental theming on its packaging and the corresponding cellular app, and I believe this one was a part of the desert biome, therefore the colour selections.
So far as the articulation goes, it’s the everyday easy articulation on the shoulders and hips that almost all figures on this measurement vary get. The motion function consists of a slider just like the 2021 Dino Escape figures, which is just a little jarring. The pull tab for the scan code for the corresponding cellular app is no less than nicely hidden, beneath among the quills on the again, in contrast to many different figures from 2022-2025 with this function. Transferring the slider barely left, tilts the top left (frill pointing to the precise), and absolutely left, pulls the top in a bit too. Transfer the change to the precise, and the reverse happens, though the top nonetheless pulls in, when pushed all the way in which. The electronics in mine are both sadly broken, or maybe the batteries have died, so no description of the sounds it as soon as made right here, or perhaps a brief video sadly.
All that stated, I do get pleasure from having this one in my assortment, even when won’t be essentially the most interesting ceratopsian they’ve made (nicely to me anyhow), and that’s regardless of Regaliceratops being one among my favourite ceratopsians. I believe I bought mine again in early 2024 at Walmart perhaps. It’s wave-mates have been the Irritator, Nigersaurus, and Orkoraptor (all of which have been previously reviewed, by EmperorDinobot, Gwangi, and Cretaceous Crab respectively). Appears to nonetheless be available with on-line retailers like Amazon, if not elsewhere like ebay, with costs ranging round $10 for free to just about $30 for brand spanking new sometimes.
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