Diabloceratops (Haolonggood)

Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Check out their large selection of animal and dinosaur figures by clicking the banner below.

When Haolonggood announced their Diabloceratops it was one of the few ceratopsians by the company that I didn’t intend to purchase. You see, I’m trying to avoid repeating genera I already have in my collection, with admittedly mixed success, and I already have three Diabloceratops figures, by Safari, Kaiyodo, and Mattel. Still, I’m a sucker for ceratopsians, they’re easily one of my favorite groups to collect and review, so when the time came to choose my review samples from the gracious folks at Happy Hen Toys, I buckled. The fact that the pickings were slim on dinosaurs I didn’t have or weren’t already reviewed were also contributing factors. No one had reviewed or called dibs on reviewing this figure, so I decided I could fit just one more Diabloceratops onto my shelves for the sake of the blog. Thankfully, it’s a small figure.

How small? About the same size as Haologgood’s Chasmosaurus and Kosmoceratops. This figure measures about 4.75” (12 cm) long and stands about 2” (5.08 cm) tall at the shoulder. The actual Diabloceratops is estimated to have measured 15’ (4.5 meters) in length. This puts the figure at 1/35 in scale, which is the scale it is advertised in. Diabloceratops wasn’t a particularly large ceratopsian.

Diabloceratops is only known from one specimen and it’s just a partial skull and piece of the lower jaw. Halonggood does an excellent job in reconstructing the head, making it short and deep, with a tall, narrow frill. A small horn can be seen on the nose and there’s a pair of upward curving brow horns over the eyes. On my copy one of the brow horns is warped. Its namesake “devil horns” sit atop the frill and curve slightly forward, they’re a bit warped on my copy too but the horns are so thin and soft that I don’t think a hot/cold treatment will do much to straighten them out, but some asymmetry doesn’t bother me anyway.

Fine details on the face include a covering of minute scales with larger scales clustered around the bases of the horns and along the frill edges, such as where the squamosal meets the parietal bones, and down the midline of the frill. The larger horns are also encircled by grooves down along their bases. The nasal areas have a wrinkled texture, making them look like deflated sacs. The back of the frill is also detailed with scales. The beak is sharper and more defined than on the Haolonggood Kosmoceratops.

The body is sculpted in typical centrosaurine fashion, with a rounded torso, wide hips, short tail, and slightly sprawled forelimbs with the hands angled outward. The forelimbs possess five digits, with the last two greatly reduced but inaccurately possessing claws. Why this minor inaccuracy still plagues so many ceratopsian models puzzles me, even the 11 year old Safari Diabloceratops managed to get this bit of anatomy correct. All bodily orifices are accounted for.

The body is detailed in small pebbly scales with larger feature scales scattered throughout. Wrinkled and sagging skin is sculpted where appropriate, including along the neck and throat, lower sides of the torso, and around the limb joints. On the left side, where the limbs are close together, the skin sags more than on the right side, where the limbs are pulled apart and the skin is more taught. This figure is rather dynamic by Haolonggood standards. It’s presented trotting along with the head lowered, perhaps charging a rival or predator, or fleeing a rival or predator.

As usual, there are two color options for this toy, blue and yellow. I had no preference so didn’t specify which I wanted from Happy Hen Toys, and they sent me the yellow one. The patterning on both the Diabloceratops figures is the same, with only the colors differing. The yellow one blends many different shades together but is predominantly darker along the back and paler on the flanks and underside.

Dark vertical stripes run down the back and transition to horizontal stripes and spots on the hips and spots on the forelimbs and head. Splashes of blue decorate the frill, and these are darker in the middle and paler along the edges. The horn bases are black but transition to bright orange that gradually gets duller towards the tips. The beak and toenails are brown, and the eyes are yellow with black pupils. The paint application is excellent, and the stripes blend nicely with the other colors, although superficially similar they’re a far cry from the wormy markings I dislike on other Haolonggood figures. Both color schemes are attractive, which is why I had no preference, I don’t think you can go wrong with either.

The Haolonggood Diabloceratops has largely flown under the radar it seems. This might be because it was sandwiched between larger or more exotic releases, or because people are content with the Diabloceratops options that are already available. It should not be overlooked though. As much as I love my old Safari Diabloceratops (and will not part with it) there’s no denying that Haolonggood’s is the superior model in many respects, and the best Diabloceratops currently available. I’m happy to have given it a chance. The Haolonggood Diabloceratops is currently available, and you can purchase it at Happy Hen Toys, here.