Einiosaurus (Beasts of the Mesozoic by Creative Beast Studio)

Review and photos by EmperorDinobot, edited by Suspsy

Hello, dinosaur toy lovers! Today we shall continue making merry as we delve deeper into the godsend that are the Beasts of the Mesozoic ceratopsians line! Allow me, EmperorDinobot, to be your host as we look at the bison lizard, Einiosaurus, and what makes it more special than the others, not that the others are not special, of course. Let us have a look!

I did not feel like taking a picture of the figure in the package; I was in too much of a rush to bring it out into the world! The packaging is as you would expect with BotM, with artwork of Einiosaurus on the front and back done by Raul Ramos, and a checklist of wave 2. Included inside are the instructions on how to put the tail on (soaking it in hot water should be enough for the 10 inch long body types), and a collector’s card, with the same Ramos artwork.

The back of the card features a photo of the figure in its environment as usual, and reads as follows:

Einiosaurus procurvicornis

(Buffalo lizard)

Length: up to 4.5m (14.8 ft) long

Location: Two Medicine Formation, Montana, USA

Time Period: Late Cretaceous 74 m.y.a.

Named by: Scott Sampson- 1985

Known by its unusual nasal horn, procurvicornis means ‘forward curving horn’. Einiosaurus is thought to represent an intermediate stage of centrosaurines, in between those with a straight nasal horn and those with a blunt nasal boss i.e. Pachyrhinosaurus.

The background insert features some kind of marshy environment. The herd of Einiosaurus from the Two Medicine Formation was buried in a shallow lake, so this environment represents what summer looked back in the day.

This is a gorgeous dinosaur figure. The colors are unusual too, opting for a mostly grey scheme rather than the bright and vivid ones of the rest of the line. It is based on the black spiny-tailed iguana, but takes a lot of liberties. The body is grey as I mentioned before, with dark grey stripes running across the body and legs as well as the outer rim of the parietals and jugals. I love that the curved horn is striped too. The horns and hornlets come in a lighter grey. The bottom of the body is also a lighter gray with a nice spray of terracotta, the same color that is on the front end of the body, and on the frill. It is certainly quite the departure.

As with the rest of the line, this figure boasts an impressive 18 points of articulation as you shall see in the next set of pictures. It measures 10 inches in length, and it utilizes the same body type as the Fans Choice Monoclonius/juvenile Centrosaurus, the Kosmoceratops, and others in the same size class. The only difference is the unique head.

The high level of articulation allows the Einiosaurus to pose in all manner of dynamic forms, but you already knew that!

The story of Einiosaurus from its discovery to its naming is fascinating to say the least. Starting with the issues with access to the dig sites based on old notes, to the discovery of the giant bonebed only featuring members of the same species, to its description, naming and renaming, Einiosaurus is a legendary member of the ceratopsian family, not only because it represents an entire transitional chronospecies in the fossil record of ceratopsians, but because it gives us a very detailed look at the environment it lived in when the herd was vanquished by the cruelty of nature.

This may be an awkward transition, but this is a beautiful, well-made figure that fits in nicely with any 1/18th scale figures as you can see.

Naturally, it can be found at the Creative Beast Studio website, retailing at $49.99 plus shipping.