Guest review and photos by ‘Aliciaraptor, edited by Plesiosauria.
Ceratopsians are truly fascinating beasts. The first dinosaur I was introduced to as a child, was good ol’ three horns, Triceratops. Back then I used to collect AAA dinosaur toys, which at the time seemed like the best dinosaur toys around. For a few years I lost my interest in dinosaurs, but a re-watch of the original Walking with Dinosaurs documentaries sparked my interest in them again. For me, the ceratopsians are still the most fascinating dinosaurs that ever walked the planet. As I got older (I will be 18 in August) I realise we are now living in an era where there are many much more impressive dinosaur toys and models to be bought. But one particularly interesting species of this family is the recently discovered Kosmoceratops richardsoni, dubbed “the horniest dinosaur” by numerous news articles. It was discovered in Utah and its name means ‘ornamented horned face’. Despite how distinctive Kosmoceratops looks, it hasn’t had a whole lot of appearances in toy form other than as a Dinosaur Train (which I’m a sucker for… I know, very childish but it just looks so cute and full of character) InterAction figure, a Dinosaur Train mini figure (which has not yet been released, but is featured on a poster with a list of all the figures), a Kaiyodo miniature…and this CollectA model which I am about to review. Fortunately, despite the low amount of Kosmoceratops toys, this CollectA model is a really nice representation of this creature.
First off, CollectA’s models are generally small, but this model in particular is tiny, as shown below next to my Papo Pachyrhinosaurus for scale. However, this doesn’t mean the quality of this model has been diminished. The model is covered in little scales that get smaller and smaller towards the skull, which I think is a really nice touch. The scales on the head are particularly small and look almost non-existent on the frill unless under close inspection. There are 15 horns, true to that of the real Kosmoceratops. They’re all painted in red and are smooth in texture. The colour scheme is a dark green with a lighter green blended in underneath. On the belly reads “CollectA KOSMOCERATOPS 2012 MADE IN CHINA”. The position this model is in looks like it was meant to be intimidating, by scratching the ground and getting prepared to charge.
This model is very aesthetically pleasing. I particularly like the fine little scales, wrinkles and skin sags. My model, at least, is nearly flawlessly painted. My only complaint is that I’m not too keen on the colour scheme and I would’ve preferred something a bit lighter and more interesting, such as in the CollectA Torosaurus (which happens to be one of my favourite CollectA models [Not yet reviewed on the dinotoyblog, any takers!? – Editor].) This doesn’t bother me too much though as the quality of this model is superb.
Now onto the scientific accuracy, as I know you folks particularly like to know about that (I’m the rare type of collector who prefers aesthetic quality over perfect scientific accuracy). One common error many people make with ceratopsians is depicting them with long tails. In reality, the ceratopsian’s tails were short and stubby. The tail on this CollectA model is exactly that, just as it should be. The feet also seem accurate as far as I can see. The front feet have five toes with only two claws on each. The back feet have four toes. The placement of the horns on the frill are also accurate with 15 horns, again as it should be. Even the feet have texture underneath and the model has um… a cloacal opening. Yup, nice detail, right there.
Overall I really like this model and definitely recommend it. A ‘must have’ for all collectors, especially the ceratopsian nuts like myself. The only thing that may put some people off is the small size, or for some people, the colour scheme. But that’s hardly anything to worry about. This is a very accurate model and the aesthetic quality is great. Another job well done by the ever-improving CollectA brand.
Available from Amazon here and Ebay here.
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[…] companies have also made note of the bizarre appearance of Kosmoceratops with models produced by CollectA, Kaiyodo, and now […]
Besides the cloaca being unnecessarily painted brown, what bothers me about this figure is the eyes. Only the part of the eye inside the sclerotic ring would be visible externally. On this figure the externally visible part of the eyes is the same length as the eye socket’s length, meaning it goes well outside the sclerotic ring! The result doesn’t look right, as too much of its eyes are visible. If this figure’s eyes were correct, we would probably see them as the same size as its pupils.
If the CollectA Kosmoceratops has only two claws on its hands, that would probably be incorrect as ceratopsians have three claws on their hands.
Moreover Aliciaraptor commentary is fabulous and congratulations, and wish I had the gift of this beautiful comment from that article and great way with his age.
Fabulous review! thank you for sharing!
Good review. The CollectA Utahceratops, a creature whose remains were found in the same bone bed as Kosmoceratops, is quite nice, as well.
Cheers.
Great for your first review
Hopefully make a deluxe version of Kosmoceratops Collecta. It would be great news.
I would very much like to see a deluxe version of the kosmoceratops. I’d buy that as soon as it would be released.
Since then Alice, a luxury version of the Kosmoceratops be exciting. I agree with you. Incidentally this figure from my humble understanding is a figure toy-collection very good.