Ceratosaurus (IToy)

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Review and photos by Paul Carter AKA Carnosaur, edited by Suspsy

I-Toy is a fairly new toy and model maker from China. They have been getting the attention of dinosaur collectors lately with their new Resurrection series.

This new Ceratosaurus is the second figure they released, the first being a Jurassic Park-styled Velociraptor. While the overall presentation of this figure is reminiscent of Rebor’s recent Ceratosaurus model. That’s all the two have in common. I-Toy’s Ceratosaurus is larger, and in my honest opinion, the better-looking and more accurate of the two. It does, however, suffer the pronated hands so common with theropod figures.

The box is covered with English despite being a Chinese product and lined with protective foam a la Rebor. I actually found it somewhat amusing that there is a reference made to the Ceratosaurus that appeared briefly in JPIII on the back of the box. The dinosaur itself is made of PVC like the figures from Papo and Rebor.

The base the dinosaur stands on is a resin piece, and while detailed, it is not as nice as the Rebor base.

This Ceratosaurus stands easily on its own, not requiring its base at all. As far as I know, this figure doesn’t seem to suffer from the warped limb issues that seems to be commonplace with Rebor. And while the Rebor figure has a more interesting color palette, the I-Toy Ceratosaurus is very nicely painted and expertly washed and blended with a pale underbelly that fades into a reddish brown body with darker brown stripes on the body and ashen highlights on the hands, feet, claws, and face. There’s even some red on the head and neck though it’s hard to notice in dim light.

In overall length, it’s on par with Papo’s Running T. rex, but not as tall. There have been some comments on the Dinotoyforum about the tail length, and I am happy to say the tail looks much better in person. Maybe just a bit thin, but the length seems fine. It’s likely the pose made it difficult to be sure. In any case the tail does its job of counterbalancing the model. The skin is beautifully detailed with scales, scutes, wrinkles, and folds around the neck, hips, shoulders, and head. The wash really make the skin pop, and the back is covered by armoured crocodilian-like scutes.

Like Papo and Rebor, the figure features articulated jaws, and the teeth and mouth are nicely painted. Unlike the Rebor figure, however, the head of the I-Toy Ceratosaurus is not shrink-wrapped and may add to what some referred to as a more Tyrannosaurus-like look. The horn and hornlets are very prominent and are painted in paler tan with ash to make them pop.

In total, I give this figure a 9 out of 10, the pronated hands being its only real flaw. I think it’s a beautiful figure, and it’s nice to see Ceratosaurus getting some attention as a fairly well known dinosaur, but one that doesn’t often get the toy treatment. It’s a worthy buy.