Fans of the dome headed pachycephalosaurs are hard pressed to find toys representing this group with one exception, Pachycephalosaurus itself. While not as popular as the likes of Tyrannosaurus or Triceratops this genus is unique enough to have been reproduced in plastic many times over, even by substandard companies like UKRD. In fact, UKRD made at least a few pachys in their day, of varying sizes and color schemes. None of them were especially good mind you, but this one is particularly bad.
All of the UKRD Pachycephalosaurus toys have the same basic pose, as far as I can tell. They’re bipedal tripods, with the head tilted down, and the hands randomly waving about. This toy fits that description well. It’s one step above a generic Chinasaur, but literally only one step.
If it weren’t for the head you would be hard pressed to identify this dinosaur as a Pachycephalosaurus. The body carries none of the hallmarks of the genus and it’s just a generic bipedal dinosaur. Without the head it could just as easily be substituted in for a theropod or ornithopod. That said the toy does have five digits on each hand, the correct number for a Pachycephalosaurus. That’s of little solace though because the hands look like oven mitts on this thing.
The head on the toy is actually fairly well done with the characteristic dome and knobby skull. I suppose that in order to represent the genus you have to at least get that distinctive head right. Aside from those knobby bumps there is little in the way of detail work. Even the wrinkles are just lazily cut and crossed-hatched into the model. There is a nice fleshy dewlap on the neck however.
The paint scheme on this toy is just the worst. The body is bright blue, the underside brown, and the head, hands, and legs are green. Other Pachycephalosaurus toys by UKRD aren’t quite as off putting. This one really looks like something you would find in a dollar store bargain bin.
Despite his poor lot in life this toy looks like a happy little fellow and I suppose he’s probably good enough to make a few children happy too. That said I certainly cannot recommend this one to the majority of our readership. Unless of course you’re nostalgic for the UKRD line, this toy is after all approaching a vintage age at over 20 years old.
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I don’t think it’s that bad, really, it looks quite close to John Sibbick’s Encyclopaedia restoration, which many of the UKRD dinosaurs were based on. I’d go so far as to say the head is pretty spot on for this type of toy.
I have the slightly larger yellowish UKRD Pachycephalosaurus. It is certainly not the worst figure I own, but it is not exactly a museum figure. The paint job is an improvement, at least.