Takara Tomy is a model stretching a variety throughout toy manufacturing, from miniature vehicles to blockbuster IP tie-ins, to wildlife and extinct life replicas. Starting within the early 2010s, Tomy started releasing the ANIA “Animal Journey” sequence, a line of palm-sized motion figures that includes extant and extinct animal life. The ANIA line is primarily cut up beneath small (AS) and huge (AL) classes, with the AL class largely populated the prehistoric animals, nearly all of that are dinosaurs. Quantity 17 of the AL class, the ceratopsian Styracosaurus, was launched round January of 2019 and the primary horned dinosaur because the Triceratops again in no. 02 of the sequence.
The Styracosaurus comes packaged in the usual field seen within the ANIA line; the field is small however sturdy, displaying a photograph of the figurine on the entrance and a reality sheet + art work of the dinosaur on the again. The figurine matches snugly inside with out want for meeting, and is protected by extra cardboard and plastic sleeves. All textual content on the field, naturally, is in Japanese; nonetheless there’s a pair of reality playing cards additionally included contained in the field, one in all which is translated to English.
The figurine measures 10.5 cm (4.12 in) lengthy, which might put it at 1:50 scale for five.25-meter particular person (that is throughout the most identified dimension vary for the genus). The figurine is posed largely static, with its left entrance foot raised and the neck showing to hunch ahead. The mouth is open, maybe reaching for meals or vocalizing in protection towards an opponent. A complete of eight spines and 6 knobs array the big frill, which is cheap ornamentation for a dinosaur identified to show a variety in frill morphology. Every of the horns and spines are sized effectively, and are neatly painted in cream-white to face out. A pair of orange eye spots on the frill give additional persona to the figurine; curiously, the yellow eyes seem to have slit pupils, which I’m not used to seeing in ceratopsian depictions. The within of the mouth is a saturated pink, and a few darker shading emphasizes the beak and the eyes.
Normal physique proportions look good, conveying the standard stout ceratopsian anatomy; one quibble I might make is that the again ought to in all probability have a extra rounded and centered arch, relatively than the squared-off look it has. The legs are tucked beneath the physique within the conventional dinosaur trend, and the toes fortunately keep away from the cliché of bearing stubby elephantine toes, as a substitute being separate and unfold aside with correct digit counts. The pores and skin texture and coloration is perhaps extra harking back to an elephant, although, being predominantly grey and having a bumpy, cracked type of texture.
Articulation varies between ANIA figures, though it’s normally fairly minimal. Styracosaurus includes a single swivel hinge joint within the neck, permitting the dinosaur to look straight forward or bow its head to goal its nasal horn. With some maneuvering, one may orient the joint to show the top facet to facet as a substitute, if one prefers. Whereas one or two extra joints in, say, the entrance legs would have been good, the neck joint does its job at offering slightly additional playability the place many of the “motion” would happen for the animal.
Takara Tomy’s Styracosaurus isn’t a knockout collectible, however for a small 700-yen youngsters’ toy it’s nonetheless fairly good and can serve its function effectively for playtime or for show in a smaller-scale assortment. Regrettably, the spiked reptile seems to be one of many ANIA sequence now not in manufacturing, though it ought to nonetheless be accessible to seek out by means of marketplaces like eBay and Mercari at affordable aftermarket costs.
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