Creative Beast Beast of the Mesozoic Dromaeosaurus Action Figure Creative Beast, 2018
Day #2,120: August 22, 2019
Dromaeosaurus #16, Second Release Variant
Beast of the Mesozoic Second Release
Item No.: No. n/a Manufacturer:Creative Beast Includes:Display base, open claws Action Feature:Opening mouth with articulated tongue Retail:$49.99 Availability: March 2018 (this is the second release, March 2019) Other: Second release
Creator David Silva has been a toy collector and sculptor/designer for years. I've been corresponding with him on and off for a while, and I was surprised to find out he made (and still makes) things I've been enjoying from Hasbro, Neca, and beyond. Dromaeosaurus is one of nearly two dozen animals to come out of what started as a small Kickstarter project, which I found daunting. There were tons of styles of feathered raptors, each with awesome real-life bird inspiration, and at the price I had to settle on one. The 1:6th figures are stunning, and the perfect size to menace your 1:12 humans if you're into Jurassic Park scale. This one was inspired by the Finnish Goshawk, which I did not realize at time of purchase. Others are inspired by all sorts of birds including roadrunners both real and imagined.
With lots of articulation, this 12-inch long critter has a wired, bendy tail and at least 26 points of articulation. Due to the unique pose of these creatures, you will need to use the display base to get this little guy standing upright. While a lot of figures boast some level of "this is not a toy, this is for adult collectors only" I would emphasize that this is absolutely not for kids. This is a plastic animal for adult dinosaur fanatics, toy photography fetishists, and people who want museum-quality figures that are better than anything you will ever find in a museum gift shop.
The figure has rocker toes, an articulated big talon, a bendy tail with some articulation in the back area, multiple neck joints, an opening jaw, a jointed tongue, and multiple leg joints - to name just a few. Getting it standing up and balanced is a little daunting, but thankfully the stand does a lot of the heavy lifting. It needs the help - and the stand is pretty unobtrusive. Plop the clear rod in the sandy base, and you're good to go. Warning/guarantee: I had to run the base under boiling water to get it loose enough to shove the pole in the hole. Once you get the stand set up, the sky is the limit - they can look like they're scouring the desert, attacking another animal, or generally just hanging out.
There's a definite familiar high-end figure smell here, and more paint than I'm used to on releases for the American market at this size. If you've been buying Four Horsemen and/or NECA figures, it's a bit closer to those. The sculpted feather detail is amazing, and the paint work is some of the best I've seen on a creature in recent memory. The mouth glistens, the tongue hangs perfectly, and the joints offer countless options for expressing its personality. It's a very good figure, and delivers on the promises of companies who have, over the years, promised various forms of "best dinosaur ever." This is it. Until they can make something with real feathers and a metal skeleton or something, this seems like the apex of what can be delivered in this kind of animal figure at this size.
I really dig it, and if they were cheaper I'd collect them all. I'd love to see what a mass-market version of this sculpt may look like with less articulation and maybe less paint, but I doubt the creative beasts behind it would approve. After futzing around with Mattel's perfectly nice raptors for a year, this is a hard shift into a new direction. While I realize feathered dinos aren't for everybody, I just had to get one. It's too nifty. Functionally, they're all very similar so just pick your favorite. You're probably going to enjoy having it menace your other toys.
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