Photographs by Doug Watson, edited by Dinotoyblog
The North American marginocephalian, Pachycephalosaurus, has been reconstructed as a toy or model quite often. This review is the best example for this thesis. To put it bluntly at the beginning: The Battat Pachycephalosaurus is one of the best Pachys out there, due to its anatomical correctness, very detailed head, credible posture, and unusual paint job.
The Battat Pachy is one of the smaller marginocephalian models, 1:40 in scale, which means the original Pachycephalosaurus was about 6 metres long.
These herbivores had to digest a lot of food per day, so they needed a broad and bulky chest to contain the guts, much like the Ankylosaurus from the same time. The Battat Pachycephalosaurus is one of the few replicas out there that pays tribute to this observation. Most other Pachys are rather depicted as specialised ornithopods, which also represent the scientific opinion on Pachys 20 or so years ago. Little was known back then about their closer relationship to the ceratopsians.
The paint job gets along with five colours: lavender (body), light red (head, tail, stripes on body), yellow (eyeballs, toes and claws, tips of the spikes at the head), grey (beak) and black (pupil). This choice is extraordinary, but fits the animal very well.
The head defintively deserves being regarded more closely: the figure was given a melancholic, yet alert gaze. The Pachy has cheeks, a beak, and many large and small spikes pointing backward.
It’s still controversial if Pachycephalosaurus really used its head for ramming. Many scientists now prefer the courtship point of view: the more extraordinary head dress and colour become, the more chances there is for the male to conquer the heart of his beloved. 😉
I highly recommend this 18-year-old figure to every serious collector! Unfourtunately the Battat Pachycephalosaurus is said to be rare. Sometimes there is a chance to get it on ebay.
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Great photos, Doug! Nice to finally see some closeups of this toy.
My pleasure!
[…] accuracy you could check out the CollectA Pachycephalosaurus ,which is rather small, or the old Battat one if you are lucky enough to find […]
I got one of these suckers mint in it’s box, I absolutely love it. I don’t mind the paint job, it could be a mating coloration type thing. As for the paint obscuring detail I can see a very large amount of detail so I don’t mind so called “sloppy” paint.
I have heard about the live birth thing too. I didn’t know it was discredited. While I can’t imagine a dinosaur having a placenta, is there still any possibility the animal was oviviporous like an Boa constrictor, Prehensile-tail Skink or Rattlesnake?
Sorry guys, I hate this paint job. Hate, hate, hate. I could not get rid of it fast enough. My batty pachy may be gray, but it was hardly “slapped on”…..
The live birth thing was discredited some years ago I think, although omnivory has never been entirely discounted!
I’m usually not a fan of battats but this is one of the few that I actually would really love in my collection. Too bad its so darn hard to get.
The paint job is splendid- it’s good to have a change from the boring greens and greys which are usually slapped onto dinosaur figures.
This is a nice Pachycephalosaurus, but the hips are very wide. Although I have heard somwhere that it is thought the boneheads may have given birth to live young.
There are many theories for the head ornamentation of Pachycephalosaurus- some people insist that the dome was the base of a single, large keratinous horn. The Battat’s horns look a little like Stygimoloch’s head ornaments.
It’s still very nice, though.