Edmontonia (Recur)

The last of the review samples sent to me by Recur is their 2015 rendition of the heavily armoured nodosaurid known as Edmontonia. Let’s see what this one has to offer, shall we?

Like all Recur toys, this Edmontonia is quite large. It measure almost 18 cm long and is 10 cm tall due to the raised tail. The colour scheme is pretty standard for an ankylosaur toy: golden brown on top and pale yellow on the bottom. The spikes and osteoderms are beige with dark grey wash, the hooves are dark brown, the mouth is dirty pink, and the nostrils are black. The eyes are rather weird, as they’re coloured half red and half light blue. I don’t know, maybe this Edmontonia is torn between being good and being evil.

Regardless of its affiliation, this animal is clearly poised for battle, with its limbs planted, its head turned to the left, and its tail raised high, ready to deal a blow to whatever set of jaws comes too close. As far as ankylosaurs are concerned, you can’t get much more dynamic than this. The limbs and underbelly are covered in faint scales and thick wrinkles. The top of the head is covered in small plates and the spikes and large osteoderms on the back and the plates running down the tail are grooved. To the casual eye, this certainly looks like a pretty cool and realistic ankylosaur. And as with all the other Recur products I’ve reviewed, the PVC makes it one tough cookie. I can literally put this toy down on a bare hardwood floor and step on it with all my 200 or so lbs, and it will simply pop back into form after. I would never dare to do that with anything from Battat, CollectA, Papo, or Safari!

That being said, this Edmontonia is far from being scientifically accurate. First off, the head. The muzzle should be longer and narrower and there should not be small horns protruding from behind the orbits. And second, the armour. There are not enough spikes on the sides and not enough large osteoderms over the neck and shoulders. The many osteoderms covering the back are small and smooth when they should be larger and keeled. And while the three rows of plates covering the tail look intimidating, there should probably be lots more osteoderms as well. As well, the hind limbs are too long and there’s a large and unsightly seam line running right through them and the underside of the tail.

Overall, this Edmontonia is representative of the Recur prehistoric line as a whole: visually impressive, very well-sculpted, and highly durable, but falling short in terms of accuracy. Hopefully this will change in years to come. As I noted in my very first Recur review, I think that this company has a great deal of potential and that they’re worth keeping an eye on. I’d like to thank them once again for sending me so many review samples, and I wish them the very best in their future.

Thanks also go out to Dr. Adam S. Smith!

Available from Recur’s AliExpress store