This Ankylosaurus from Favorite is one of the best plastic ankylosaurs out there. It’s just not Ankylosaurus…
A little background: in 2004, a paper by Ken Carpenter was published that redescribed Ankylosaurus and finally gave it a definitive modern ‘look’. Before that, restorations of the animal’s armour tended to be based either on the original description (like the Walking With Dinosaurs Ankylosaurus) or on Euoplocephalus. It’s the latter that’s occurred here. I’m not sure exactly when this model was first in production, so it doesn’t seem fair to count this as a criticism – however, it is worth comparing with the Carnegie Ankylosaurus which has the ‘new(ish) look’ armour. (Notice in particular the lack of shoulder spikes, which were very common on old Ankylosaurus restorations, but were borrowed from Euoplocephalus.)
This figure has plenty of aspects that are worthy of praise, regardless of any misidentification. The armour matches up very well with Euoplocephalus tutus. The sculpt overall is fantastic, and one of the very few to accurately capture the strange appearance of ankylosaurs – especially their stupidly wide hips. Detailing, as in all Favorite models, is extremely crisp – in particular, I am always impressed by the scalation. Even if the scales would be smaller at this scale, it gives the model a very refined appearance and reinforces the creature’s reptilian character (rather than making it look too much like it has mammalian skin, which admittedly is a bigger problem with sauropods).
In fact, and in spite of the relatively drab colours, it’s one of the best Euoplocephalus models you can buy, except in one respect – the head! The head of Ankylosaurus is pretty well known – when your skull’s a huge hunk of reinforced bone, rather than all dainty and riddled with openings, it tends to be preserved pretty well. I’d argue that the head on this figure resembles Ankylosaurus magniventris more than Euoplocephalus. Although the spikes may not be quite stout enough, the shape of the snout pretty much confirms it for me – this is a freaky hybrid. It’s Euoplocephalus with an Ankylosaurus head!
Still, this hardly detracts from what is overall an excellent figure, particularly as the head is pretty small anyway. The stately (but not static) pose, superb detailing, and the well-researched sculpt all make for a worthy addition to anyone’s ankylosaur collection. It’s still available wherever Favorite models are sold.
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Where can I find this figure? It looks amazing, especially the osteoderms.
[…] by Favorite, is something to marvel at. The sculpture is a revisited version of the older Favorite Ankylosaurus which was more or less a Euoplocephalus with the head of an Ankylosaurus. This time the anatomical […]
So this figure is actually Euoplocephalus. The new one (seen here: http://www.f-favorite.net/contents/weblog/products/000254.cgi) which is labelled Ankylosaurus, seems to actually be Ankylosaurus, although I’m not sure about the head… What do you guys think?
[…] Euoplocephalus, rather than simply de facto representing the genus (like the Favorite “Ankylosaurus” and original Schleich “Saichania“). So, how has this rubbery little fella aged […]
[…] of ankylosaur anatomy, that is to say incredibly wide-hipped and strange. The similarly mislabelled Favorite “Ankylosaurus“ shows how it should be done, even if it is not quite as lovely to look […]
Aunque como ya se ha dicho que el color es monótono,y la mezcla que hay entre el Anylosaurus y Euplocephalus, que dicho sea de paso es bastante manida en las reconstruciones de especÃmenes de dinosaurios armados, la figura no deja de perder la belleza, no ayuna de bastante candor. Es de todas formas una gran obra.
Sin embargo, y ya que los que realizan reconstrucciones épicas de dinosaurios, me parece que este taxon de herbÃvoros, ya que tienen excelentes reconstrucciones en manuales y libros eruditos de paleontologÃa. No deja de tener su belleza. Espero que Safari vuelva a reeditar algún dÃa al Euplocephalus, que descatalogó actualizándolo debidamente.
@Victoria: Thanks very much for the comment – that’ll learn me. I’ve inspected the model closely and it doesn’t actually have any visible nostrils, but I’ll take your word for it as you’re pretty clued up!
That’s a pretty great model!
I’ll add my two cents here to tell you just how much more of a hybrid this guy actually is. The head is actually pretty definitively modeled off Euoplocephalus. One of the diagnostic characters of Ankylosaurus is that the narial openings aren’t visible in dorsal view – they essentially point downwards because of the osteoderms overtop. This model has a Euoplocephalus nose! Moving along the body, the trunk armour is classic BMNH R5161 (“Scolosaurus”, since synonymized with Euoplocephalus). Once you get back to the tail, it’s ROM 784, Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus. And finally, the tail club knob is almost certainly modeled after AMNH 5245, another possible Euoplocephalus. Again, it’s a great sculpt and in particular I really like the attention paid to the cervical half rings (these are often pretty strange in ankylosaur toys).