Review and Photos by Nicholas Anning (“Brontozaurus”). Edited by Plesiosauria.
CollectA/Procon is somewhat unique among dinosaur toy companies in that they have an extensive range of dinosaur toys which represent relatively obscure dinosaurs. While these toys seem to vary in quality (to say the least), they at least deserve points for trying.
Which brings us to today’s subject, the deluxe Agustinia, an unusual sauropod from Early Cretaceous Argentina. What sets it apart from other sauropods is its armour. While armoured sauropods are not unknown, Agustinia sported large spikes and plates along its back, more like a stegosaur than a sauropod. Despite this being arguably a more interesting sauropod dinosaur than the ones that are usually made into toys, there have not been many Agustinia toys. CollectA/Procon previously released a smaller, green version (reviewed here), and then later released this one, in the Deluxe size along with more well-known dinosaurs like Spinosaurus. I do not have the smaller figure, so I am not going to really compare the two aside from what I can see in images of the smaller Agustinia.
The Deluxe Agustinia is fairly large, being 39cm long and 11.5cm high. Unlike the smaller version, which was green, this one is predominantly light brown in colour. It fades to white on the belly, and also has some blue in the form of stripes along the neck and tail, and the actual armour. While not terribly exciting, this colour scheme seems to be aiming more for realism than anything else, and to its credit this does seem like the kind of colours the actual dinosaur could have had.
There is a lot of nice detail here in the form of wrinkles and other skin textures. These in particular give it something of a similarity to an elephant, appropriately enough. The spines rise up from the neck along the main body, with smaller spines along the tail, as well as other spikes on the neck and sides of the body-it is worth noting that the remains of Agustinia leave a lot up to the imagination regarding the placement of the armour. It is posed in a neutral position, with a slight angle to the head, suggesting it is looking around. There is also a slight bend at the very tip of the tail, making it look like the tail is moving. The Agustinia has been reconstructed here with four toes on the front feet (with the innermost claw larger than the others, as on other sauropods), and three large claws on the back feet. Both sets of feet look slightly wrong to me, as they don’t look like the kind of feet sauropods had.
This brings me to the largest issue I have with this figure, the head. It quite simply does not look natural, what with the mouth being rather cartoonish with the rounded jaws. It makes me think more of Homer Simpson than a dinosaur. The eyes also don’t quite line up with each other.
Despite these issues, I quite like this figure. While some aspects may not be realistic, it has some nice detail and a colour scheme that appears natural. Of course, with another figure of the same dinosaur by the same company also out, there’s a bit of choice when it comes to obtaining an Agustinia toy. The original small Agustinia is cheaper than the Deluxe, which would make it good if you’re on a budget. But if you like your dinosaur toys large (and have the money, obviously), then the Deluxe is a good pick.
Frequently available on eBay here, but be careful not to confuse the deluxe figure with the smaller standard figure.
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If only this figure had a better looking face, I’d of bought it in a heartbeat.
*World. Obviously. It’s the wrong time of the day here.
Cordylus, please – it’s ArgentinOsaurus. As a word-class pedant and dinosaur nerd I feel this is something you should get right. Comrade.
This animal’s position in the sauropod family tree isn’t entirely clear yet. It’s very fragmentary.
Er, meant to ask if Agustinia was a titanosaur, I already knew that argentinasaurus was! I was just thinking of argentinasaurus while I wrote that I guess, haha.
Titanosaurs don’t even have digits on their front ”Hands”, just the actual hand bones with little stubs on the end in that column – position like other sauropods, so the fingers and claws on the front feet of this one really confuse me!
Argentinosaurus was a titanosaur…but what’s that got to do with anything? (Other than the fact that Agustinia might have been one too.)
The feet are indeed very wrong on this figure but that’s pretty normal. As far as the head goes, it does look very cartoony, but then since no Agustinia skull has been found maybe it really did look like that. 😉
Wasn’t argentinasaurus a type of titanosaur?