Review and photographs by Laura Jennings aka Droemar, edited by Plesiosauria.
Creative Beast offers a wide selection of interesting model resin kits in addition to a poseable Velociraptor and Oviraptor available in various plastics at 1/12th scale. I ordered the basic raptor, because I was enchanted with idea of being able to use it as a drawing maquette, but I also requested the Oviraptor tail and wing because they fit my personal aesthetic for how raptors should look. The parts were easily interchangeable. The Velociraptor is about 6 inches long and has 28 parts to the kit.
As far as scientific accuracy is concerned it has got a lot going for it. The hands are not pronated and it has at least some feathers. For surface detail, however, you’re looking in the wrong place. The strength of this stylized piece is its flat planes, which are perfect for blocking out values and basic shapes. The jaw and tongue is a nice touch, and the skull, while stylized like everything else, has the correct shape. The kit is made of soft resin and I received instruction to apply a very thin coat of super glue to the ball portion of each ball-socket joint.
This is where I encountered problems. I started out with the largest pieces, the midsection and the hip, but these broke. I have experience building models and customized action figures that need joints tightened with superglue, so I adjusted the mix to be milder, but I still ended up snapping the ankle joint and claw joint. I did repairs with Apoxie Sculpt, managing to get decent replacements on the midsection and ankle. The claw I just glued in place, considering it a price to be paid for my clumsiness.
After some sanding down, the replacement midsection and ankle joint worked all right. But things fell apart, literally, every time I touched the raptor – an arm, a heel and foot. The calves would not support the thigh piece and dropped off at the slightest nudge, and I was unable to recreate any of the poses advertised in the pictures. I diluted the superglue even further and tried to tighten up the hip joints, but promptly snapped the femur. I emailed the creator to request replacement parts for the broken pieces, or a refund, but Creative Beast replied to stress that this figure is not intended to be moved around too much as it is not a toy, and this is not its intended use.
Pros: This is a great idea, a really fantastic concept that, as a paleoartist myself, I can appreciate. The sculpting work is good and the stylized appearance is pleasing.
Cons: In my personal experience faulty ball and socket joints can result in parts breaking. For $70, I was hoping for something that could perform more like what I saw in the pictures. I really wanted to give this a good review, but was overall disappointed, so it is important to have realistic expectations.
A more detailed version of this model is currently in the works, so hopefully the production issues I encountered in this Velociraptor will be resolved in future kits.
Available from Creative Beast here.
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FYI the New models you linked to will be Action figure Toys, made out of Plastic instead of resin.
Assembly and display as shown in advertisements is “not its intended use”. That’s uh, some customer support there alright. Thanks for the warning, a real shame too since I like the art style.