Wuerhosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid that lived during the early Cretaceous in China. Being from the early Cretaceous makes it notable as it means it’s one of the last living stegosaurid genera. While stegosaurids as a group flourished during the late Jurassic, they went completely extinct by the end of the early Cretaceous. A few figures of Wuerhosaurus exist including an old 2009 one by CollectA, a mini by PNSO, and one by Vitae. Today we’re looking at Haolonggood’s Wuerhosaurus, released in 2023.
Remains for Wuerhosaurus are scant and include a mostly complete pelvis and sacrum, some vertebrae, bits of the shoulder and forelimbs, and a couple plates. Wuerhosaurus is typically reconstructed with shallow plates like what’s preserved, but this is probably incorrect since the preserved plates are broken. Indeed, the most recent study on Wuerhosaurus phylogeny places it close to Stegosaurus and it’s likely that it had larger plates than what we typically see.
The Haolonggood Wuerhosaurus has the shallow plates that you would expect it to have. Chances are good that this is inaccurate, but we would need more material to say for sure. The shallow plates are somewhat of a trope for the genus and without them the figure wouldn’t really be recognizable as a Wuerhosaurus, so I’m cool with it for now.
Any reconstruction of Wuerhosaurus is going to be largely speculative anyway but Haolonggood’s figure does have the standard stegosaurid body plan that’s generally accurate for the group. It is presented low to the ground which is correct for the genus. It appears that five digits are sculpted on each forelimb, and it appears that digits 4 and 5 are clawless. I say “it appears” since the digits are so small it’s hard to study them closely. The hindlimbs have three digits. This is all correct as well. You’ll notice that this figure lacks shoulder spikes while Vitae’s has them but there is no evidence for them in Wuerhosaurus and their presence is unlikely.
The Haolonggood Wuerhosaurus measures 7” (17.78 cm) in length and stands 2.5” (6.35 cm) tall at the hips. It is estimated that Wuerhosaurus measured 23’ (7 meters) long which puts the figure at 1/39 in scale. The figure is presented striding forward with the neck bending slightly leftward and the tail with some subtle curves.
This figure comes with two different paintjobs, green and blue. I got the blue variant but it’s really more of a purple. I chose this one because purple dinosaurs are a rarity while green dinosaurs are not and are especially common in stegosaur figures. Patterning is the same on both figures. The main body is purple with a peach-colored underside that radiates in stripes across the body. Darker purple squiggles and spots add further complexity to the figure. The plates are edged in purple with an orange center, looking somewhat like a little sunset on each plate. The smallest plates on the neck are painted the same color as the body. The tail is tipped in vibrant orange in typical Haolonggood fashion. Claws are painted grey, and the eyes are simple shiny black specks.
Overall, I find this paintjob unique, but I don’t care for the darker squiggles. Also, the entire figure has a flat, hazy look to it, like it was dusted with flour. This makes the finer details harder to see and appreciate and it also makes it difficult to accurately represent the figure’s appearance in photographs. I’ve seen other collectors add a dark wash to their copies with great effect.
Although they’re hard to see the fine details are indeed there. The entire figure is covered in fine pebbly scales and saggy looking creases and skin folds. Larger feature scales run in rows along the flanks and clusters of larger scales are sculpted at the bases of the plates and tail spikes. The plates themselves have unique jagged edges and grooves that I enjoy. A cloaca is sculpted on the underside along with a round bulge on either side of it. These remind me of the hemipenal bulges seen in male lizards so I guess it’s a boy!
Even though the figure is largely speculative, and the shallow plates are likely inaccurate, I’m happy to finally have a Wuerhosaurus in my collection to boost my stegosaur diversity. The figure itself is masterfully sculpted and lifelike and I find nothing to take issue with aside from the hazy appearance that can be easily remedied if one felt so inclined. The Hoalonggood Wuerhosaurus is currently available and retails at about $17-20, an excellent price point for a figure of this quality.
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I just got this one in the mail with 4 other Haolonggood figures (the first ones I’ve ever bought). I picked the grayish W. variant. I will order more from them tomorrow on “Black Friday”.
Words fail me.
Haolonggood has LAPPED PNSO, and I’ll tell you why:
a. Accuracy wise, they are almost up to PNSO. I’ll still give PNSO a SLIGHT advantage there on some sculpts; BUT – then Haolonggood hits a ‘GRAND SLAM HOMERUN” with:
b. THEIR. PAINT. JOBS. OMG – Words fail me. Out of this world doesn’t begin to describe the detail and beauty of their colors. And, at a MUCH lower price than PNSO’s offerings.
Haolonggood is now #1 with me. And one more thing – the colors on the figures look much BETTER in person than even in their stock photos. Like, when has that ever happened before?!?
I am slightly sceptical the plates of Wuerhosaurus really have an unknown shape given how precisely they are “broken”. I am satisfied with the Haolonggood Wuerhosaurus. I don’t see a haziness to the colouration, but that’s just my opinion. As I mentioned in another comment, I have the green version.
A Cretaceous stegosaurian is amazing and it was one of the reasons why I was excited to get this figure, along with just liking it a lot. It seems Dravidosaurus is seen as most likely a Cretaceous stegosaurian again too, although I wonder if it could be something weird like a relative of Jakapil.
I hadn’t noticed larger scales near the tail spikes, but I did notice larger scales on the underside of the neck!
I didn’t notice the larger scales on the underside of the neck. I might have to edit the review now. A lot of the finer details are really difficult to spot, at least for me.
It could be that the the plates really were low and square; with so few other Cretaceous stegosaurs to compare, it’s hard to be sure. But since only three plates are known (AFAIK) I’m not sure it’s that unlikely, if they were fossilized in a relatively straight line, for them to all fracture in the same plane during diagenesis, for example. I’d like to see more researchers examine the plates and give their opinions.
Anyway, nice review of a nice toy, Gwangi!
I appreciate that Haolonggood at least designed the plates a LITTLE bigger than usual, with a hint of the triangular instead of the typical shallow oblong. Overall it’s a very satisfactory figure for the genus. It’s surprising to realize how many toys this genus has to its name!
I hope we never learn the ‘truth’ about their plates, as I want this to remain the quintessential figure for this species for the foreseeable future LOL 😀
Mine is also ‘purple. For the most part, I don’t prefer one color over the other for Haolonggood figures, with the exception of the Ouranosaurus, where I really preferred the green one.
My review for the Tianzhenosaurus is written but need to take pics. I am nervous about submitting it LOL. I don’t have a lot of dinosaur expertise, and there is little known about it; I am afraid I missed something in my analysis LOL
Yeah, I would be content with never having to buy another Wuerhosaurus again. As far as color goes I actually liked the green versions better for both the Ouranosaurus and Wuerhosaurus but with plenty of green on my shelves I opted for what I considered the more unique colorways.
Looking forward to your Tianzhenosaurus review. Don’t be nervous, I’m certainly no expert myself and it doesn’t stop me. Every one of these reviews requires a crash course of some sort and I’m sure you’ve done that. Even still, there are almost always things that I miss.
Haolonggood has made it a very exciting few months for dinosaur collectors with a penchant for ornithischians and sauropods. I’m hoping they will add to this and their Dacentrurus with a full house of stegosaurs!
They seem to have taken a break from the ornithischians but I hope it’s not a long one, they are by far my favorites of their offerings. More stegosaurs would be swell!
I love the Haolonggood Wuerhosaurus and Dacentrurus, I have the green version of both. I need a Tuojiangosaurus from Haolonggood! Although not necessarily in green.
I don’t have the Dacentrurus and debated getting it since I have Battat’s but I’ll have to get it eventually. It’s just too good. I doubt I would get a Tuojiangosaurus though, since I have PNSO’s.
I love both the Haolonggood and the Battat Dacentrurus. They are both excellent. I have the PNSO Tuojiangosaurus and it’s nice, but after it was pointed out to me that it doesn’t look much like the real animal (mostly due to the plates pointing backwards instead of straight up), I can’t unsee it. Comparing the PNSO Tuojiangosaurus to Scott Hartman’s skeletal of it shows quite a big difference. It’s still a good figure IMO but I prefer what Tuojiangosaurus actually looked like and I would very much like a figure that does that justice.
Yes, I’ve heard about the issues with the PNSO Tuojiangosaurus but I think it was after I reviewed it. I don’t think I mentioned them in that review, I should probably go back and edit it.
Assuming that this one is for sale at a decent price on Everything Dinosaur later this month, I shall be adding it to my collection.
Which color variant will you choose?