Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy
When most dinosaur-related series cover ceratopsians, Triceratops is the animal most often chosen to be featured. However, while Triceratops made a cameo appearance as a T. rex‘s courtship offering in the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs, the main ceratopsian was the lesser known Torosaurus instead (whether it or not it turns out to be a mature Triceratops, we will see). They also chose it as one of the animals to be featured in the (annoyingly collectable) Toyway line, and that is what I will be reviewing.
At 9.1” long and 4.2” long, it’s a reasonably large figure, though in keeping with the rest of the line. The colours are accurate to its appearance in the TV series, if a little less vibrant, but the largely grey body is accurate to large animals today, and I feel it works well. The texture and details are amazing on this figure, lending well to an amazing sculpt all around. As a Walking With Dinosaurs figure, it does suffer from an extremely static pose in which it seems to not be doing anything at all. The main reason for this is that it is based on the models used for the series, thus it is slightly forgivable. On the plus side, if you have two, they are in a great pose for jousting!
As for scientific accuracy, the toys are based off the series, so it rates very well. Torosaurus possessed one of the largest skulls of any vertebrate in relation to its body due to its massive frill, and this is well represented here. The horns are also the right length, not too long or short. The length of the legs are correct, with the back legs much longer than the front legs, resulting in the sloping back. The tail could be a little longer, but this is negligible, really.
Overall, this is a great figure of a species that is much less represented in comparison to its more famous cousin, and maybe the best among them (with the exception of the Collecta version). It is from a discontinued line, and an incredibly collectable one, making some of the figures harder to find. Torosaurus is among the more common ones and appears fairly regularly for a reasonable price on eBay (mostly from British sellers). If you are a fan of this dinosaur or trying to complete your Walking With . . . collection (as I am!!!), then definitely pick it up!
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For me the best toy torosaurus made to date, is a good partner by the torosaurus Schleich. Pena who are both out of print and out of the market dinosaurs.
It was a lot more tan colored in the series.