Review and Photos by DinoLord.
In 1994, the Boston Museum of Science released a line of dinosaur figures produced by the toy company Battat and sculpted by professional paleo-artists. While new figures were released in 1996 and 1998, the project was scrapped in 2002, and the line remained discontinued. Commonly referred as “battats” or “battat dinosaurs” in the dinosaur collector community, the figures from this line are considered as some of the rarest dinosaur figures ever. The Styracosaurus was released in 1994, and it is one of the best and most beautiful renditions of this unique and recognizable ceratopsian.
The Styracosaurus is in a pretty calm pose, looking as if it is slowly strolling along. The sculpt is very detailed, with nicely done wrinkling and scales. For a 1/40 scale figure produced in the 90’s, this is pretty impressive. All of the proportions appear to be correct. The plastic the Battat figures are made of is rather flexible, and the Styracosaurus is no exception. One must always be careful not to accidentally bend the horns backwards.
One of the things the Battat line is famous for is its superior accuracy. This figure is one of the most accurate toy renditions of Styracosaurus. The number of horns on the frill is correct, with smaller horns on the bottom half of the frill, a feature that some other Styracosaurus figures leave out. Even the number of toes is correct, with five on the front feet and four on the back. As mentioned before, all the proportions are correct, and the tail is small compared to the body as it should be. The only inaccuracy is that it is now believed that ceratopsians had their wrists facing each other instead of facing backwards. However, this is an extremely recent discovery. The amount of accuracy this figure has managed to keep for over 15 years is extremely impressive.
Another feature that makes this figure so beautiful is the wonderful and detailed paint job. The paint job is very striking yet natural at the same time. Most of the body is a Carolina blue, accompanied by midnight blue stripes. The frill has two large golden yellow spots, and this color is also found on the tips of the horns, albeit in a more subtle form. The bases of the horns are colored the same midnight blue as the stripes. The bottom half is a dark arylide yellow. The eyes are a solid black, and the nostrils are a fleshy pink. Though some other Battat figures have a slightly sloppy paint application, the Styracosaurus has a very detailed and precise paint job. Only the toe claws are a bit sloppy in paint application. However, like all other Battat figures, the paint is prone to smudging, so treat this figure well.
Sadly, the Styracosaurus, like all other Battat figures, has been discontinued for quite some time. The Boston Museum of Science no longer carries this line. Fortunately, the Styracosaurus is one of the more commonly available Battat figures. You could try contacting Gregory Wenzel or Dan LoRusso, the sculptors of the Battat line, to see if they still have any left. However, your best bet to get one is on eBay, where they are usually sold for no more than $20. This is truly a great Styracosaurus figure, and I highly recommend it to all ceratopsian fans and dinosaur lovers alike.
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It’s been another 10+ years now, and this is still one of the finest-looking Styracosaurs – maybe ceratopsians in general – the toy market has ever seen. It’s simply beautiful.
Man this “real” version by Battat has an amazing paint job.
The kicker is I own a cheap dollar store rip off version of this guy, that apart from its paint job, is this figure to a T!
Wishing I could remember the name of the line it was from for people looking for this guy, because compared to the $70 talked about here in the comments I paid a mere $2 for basically the samething (hallow probably being the other issue).
[…] a nice 1:40 scale Styracosaurus and don’t want to shell out the huge amounts of cash for the Battat Version. It is out of production but still can be found on the internet for cheap quite frequently. Related […]
When I was searching for images of this one, I found a link to your website that sold it for $70, though it was out of stock. But from the main page the page selling this one was nowhere to be found. Why is this?
This guy is an all-time favorite of mine.
I used to have a lot of Battat figures. I think I gave them all to my very young cousin a few years ago. This was certainly an excellent model. I like the coloration especially. Battat did good work!
I’m sitting here comparing this to my dollar store “STYRAURUS”. At least they got the frill and the number of toes on the front feet right…
There’s actually a seller on eBay UK who sells these for a BIN of 22 pounds.
I might add that Styracosaurus’ nose horn is no longer believed to have been that long.
I still want one of these…
It does have the scientific inaccuracy of having its front legs too upright like a rhino’s. They should really be more splayed out. Not really the figure’s fault since it was made way before this idea. This is still pretty much the best Styracosaurus model out there.