Pteranodon (Zuru)

Review and photographs by stargatedalek, edited by Suspsy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve submitted a review to the DTB, and I’m back with something rather unusual. Zuru is a company that makes novelty, largely animal-themed toys that are a sizable presence among toy aisles at most brick and mortar department stores. And they’ve recently thrown their hat into the dinosaur action figure ring.

I almost never purchase “blind pick” products, but most of the dinosaurs in this series looked pretty fun, so I decided to take the risk and buy one. They come in rather fun segmented spheres, which are resealable (though the segments are closed with wrappers so stuff might mix around inside when reusing them). I got Pteranodon, the exact one I was most hoping to get!

The Pteranodon is made up of a head, torso, two legs, and two wings in four pieces. The jaw is articulated and moving the head up and down causes the wings to flap. The wingspan is 18 centimetres and the length is 9 centimetres. Also included is a vest-like armor that connects around the Pteranodon, two cannons that can mount onto the vest in various ways, and a helmet that seems to be heavily modeled after a falconry hood. All of the armor fits snugly without the need of holes or clips on the Pteranodon itself.

Every point of assembly acts as a sort of articulation, which combined with the modularity of the armor gives an interesting feeling of customization that makes it feel that much more poseable. The sculpt is very detailed despite the simplistic paint application, though it lacks pycnofibers. Instead, the Pteranodon is coated entirely in fine scales.

Whether sci-fi minion or tamed companion, this lovely little Pteranodon and presumably many of its cohorts should fit right in among toy boxes and serious action figure collections alike.