Acheroraptor (Beasts of the Mesozoic: Raptor Series by Creative Beast Studio)

Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy

With only two weeks left for the Beasts of the Mesozoic ceratopsian series campaign (as of this writing), it’s about time I got to writing perhaps the last of my reviews of these figures. either until I acquire more of the raptors or until I can get my hands on the ceratopsians. The figure that will be the focus of this review is the Acheroraptor temertyorum, the “underworld thief.”

Acheroraptor lived in what is now the Hell Creek Formation (found in
the upper part of it), which dates to the Maastrichtian, the end of
the Cretaceous period. Anyone familiar with Hell Creek fauna or the video game Saurian will know that it was contemporaneous with the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops prorsus (as opposed to the better represented species, T. horridus), Dakotaraptor steini, Ankylosaurus magniventris, Anzu wyliei, Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis, and numerous other species. Being a small dromaeosaurid that lived among many giants, it was probably left to prey upon small lizards, frogs, mammals, and perhaps even birds, if not baby dinosaurs. In turn, it was possibly preyed upon by any of the larger predators it lived with.

Acheroraptor was very similar to its more famous relative, Velociraptor, but is currently only known from some teeth and a partial skull. With that in mind, most of this figure has been sculpted based upon its relatives, although the skull shape has been taken into account. Most of the key features of dromaeosaurids are featured here, namely the body being covered in feathers, including wings. Lips cover the teeth and, like other figures in the line, this one does not feature pronated wrists or shrink-wrapping. The color scheme was derived from the blue-footed booby, with blues, brown, and white, and striking pale eyes, all of which, surprisingly, has translated rather well as a color scheme for a dromaeosaurid (even if the blue is possibly unlikely for a predatory animal). It even has a blue tongue.

And speaking of that color scheme, back when the campaign for the raptor series figures first went live, and the color scheme for the concept art of the Acheroraptor was revealed, I couldn’t help but think it might turn out just as goofy-looking as the actual bird itself, what with that vibrant blue. Thankfully, I was wrong on that front, and once I saw the finished package art by Jonathan Kuo, I saw that it could still be taken rather seriously, and dare I say, it even looked rather menacing. Of course, that was long before the prototype was finished and painted, but by then I was set on wanting it. In fact, this Acheroraptor is now easily one of my favorites out of the entire selection of the raptor series.

As with many other figures in this line, the figure is in 1/6 scale, making it approximately 12 inches/30+ cm long and about 5 inches/12+ cm tall. It features 26 points of articulation, including the shoulders, hips, knees, neck, lower jaw, tongue, tail (which is made of rubberised plastic with a bendable wire inside), toes, wrists, and ankles. It also comes with a base painted vibrant green and featuring stones painted in a blue grey shade, which displays nicely alongside the Wetlands Accessory Pack. It certainly gives off a swampy vibe, as if it was covered in foliage or moss, which is probably appropriate considering what the environment of the Hell Creek Formation would have been like all those millions of years ago, or in some parts of it, at least. Despite all that, the sculpting detail of the bases is the same for all of the Deluxe raptor figures.

If you are interested in this figure, or any of the other raptors, they are available at the Creative Beast Studio website, Big Bad Toy Store, Dan’s Dinosaurs, Everything Dinosaur, and MiniZoo. As mentioned earlier, the Ceratopsian series Kickstarter is currently going on, so any extra interest will hopefully help unlocking other figures (as the main campaign goal has now been funded). The main four include the Zuniceratops, the Kickstarter exclusive Monoclonius, the Styracosaurus, and even though it was not the species that would have been contemporary with Acheroraptor, the subadult Triceratops. In fact, I am eager to have that one on display with the Acheroraptor here.