What better-suited rival for the “devil-horned face” than the “gore king” tyrant?
Some animals know the dangers of their environment by instinct. Other animals have to learn by experience – provided they can survive it. For young nestling Diabloceratopses exploring life in Late Cretaceous Utah, knowing danger could mean recognizing the difference between the casual bustle of the foraging adults, and the sound of the herd suddenly tensing in fear. The noise of the horned dinosaurs, hooting and grunting calmly, turns to honks of alarm as large bodies begin packing together. Parents begin corralling the young close for protection, who chirp and dart their gazes around in confusion. What has the herd so spooked, the nestlings wonder?
One nestling, having strayed farther than most from the herd, hears the adults’ alarm and begins obliviously sauntering back on the path it came. The nestling emerges from the foliage, herd in view just ahead, when it stops – a pair of legs stand in between the youngster and the herd, legs taller than anything the nestling has seen before. Tilting its head to the side and craning its gaze upward, the nestling makes eye contact with a giant – the tyrant theropod Lythronax, bane of all herbivorous dinosaurs around. The nestling has less than a moment to absorb this new encounter before Lythronax, briefly surprised to have stumbled across such a perfect chance,has snatched up the nestling in its jaws for an easy morsel. The adult Diabloceratops realize too late what the predator has found, and one charges in anger. Lythronax lopes into the woods, paying the herd no more heed. The nestling can do nothing but futilely squeal for its life as predator and prey disappear into the woods.
In my opinion, Lythronax is one of the more fun dinosaur names we’ve had in the last couple of decades; it carries all the sensationalism we love to attach to big meat-eaters (the name translates literally to “gore king”), coded in easily pronounceable language that avoids obvious English terms or pop culture characters. As for the dinosaur itself, Lythronax was a notable discovery for being the oldest of its kind to date. First discovered in 2009 and described in 2013, this theropod dinosaur was excavated from rocks of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, dating back 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous. Lythronax is currently the oldest-known member of the famous Tyrannosauridae family – including the likes of Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Tarbosaurus, and of course Tyrannosaurus itself – indicating the tyrant dinosaur lineages had been diversifying earlier than previously thought.
Lythronax’s debut as an action figure came in 2023, among the 2nd wave of 1/18 Tyrannosaur figures from the Beasts of the Mesozoic line, a passion project by Creative Beast Studios owner David Silva dedicated to producing scientifically-accurate articulated dinosaur figurines. After several years of campaigning and design, the Tyrannosaur Series began shipping to customers in 2023, marking the first or second-ever toys produced of many tyrant genera like Lythronax (Collecta, ever reliable, released the first toy of Lythronax in 2016). The figure comes packaged in a sizable and well-decorated box, with space enough for the figure and the accessories to be snugly packed but still display well. The tail is detached, but easily applied with heat and a little patience. In addition to the standard collectible card (featuring artwork by Gabriel Ugueto), the accessories for the figure include two extra pairs of feet for walking poses, and a “standing” pair of lower legs/feet with limited articulation for stability. A two-piece rocky landscape base is included for Lythronax to stand on, with a metal peg that can be inserted into either of the “standing” legs; regrettably, although the base looks nice, it’s not really engineered to maximize stability of the dinosaur itself; I advise caution when displaying the figure for long periods of time. Since the release of the Tyrannosaur series, David Silva has also released separate clear plastic stands for larger figures, which may be worth considering for collectors hoping to display their figures more securely.
There has been a recurring challenge faced by the Beasts of the Mesozoic line: how do you maximize articulation without compromising scientific accuracy? Some collectors have lamented limitations in design for many of the dinosaurs, from gracile raptors to robust ceratopsians, which impact the poseability and stability of the figures in favor of maintaining a realistic sculpt. With the Tyrannosaur Series, I think something of a sweet spot was discovered in the mid-sized tyrants; these figures seem to have achieved some of the best stability and flexibility for their size in the BotM line, albeit not without some liabilities. Lythronax features 22 advertised points of articulation. Starting at the head, the mouth can open roughly 20 degrees; the tongue appears to be on a ball joint, but I have yet been unable to budge it. The neck, meanwhile, is much more accommodating – criticisms have been levied against the “hood” aesthetic of the Tyrannosaur neck engineering, but Lythronax can turn its head 180 degrees straight left to right on the double ball-joint system. The head can also look up about 40 degrees and be positioned forward straight ahead, with a little downward motion – the latter being one area of range these figures could still use a lot more work on.
The diminutive arms are set in ball joints at the shoulders, with swiveled hinges for the elbows and wrists. Quite a bit of expression can be worked out of the little arms: they can be tucked against the torso to streamline the body shape, or spread out for display or attack (they’re just long enough one might even try using the arms to grasp at prey). A ball joint in the torso helps glean a little more mileage out of action poses while working on the legs for the foundation of the pose. The legs, admittedly, can be the biggest challenge. The hips appear to be ball-jointed, but are functionally more like swivels. The knees and ankles are swiveled hinges and offer serviceable ranges of motions, but can take some working and heating to loosen up enough for easy handling. One caveat I discovered early on is: when it comes to the feet, the basic standing pair of feet can easy become loose in the ball joints, impacting the figure’s overall stability. Lythronax can, in fact, be balanced all on its own without aid from a base, stand, or even its tail – at least for a short time. However, careful attention to the rigidity of individual joints should be maintained, lest the gore king take an unsightly nosedive off the table or shelf. Rounding out the articulation are three joints in the tail and a bendy-wire tip, all of which are serviceable but perhaps the most clunky joints in action on the figure. I think perhaps even one more joint in the tail would have been a benefit to the effect.
All this may sound very critical and maybe discouraging, but honestly out of the Tyrannosaur figures I own, Lythronax has probably been the most rewarding to handle. The figure isn’t so large that its own weight becomes a detriment, and the body type balances a fine line between robust and gracile tyrannosaur morphs to great effect. Other fine details to the sculpting help enhance certain articulation points, and with practice and patience, this figure becomes extremely photogenic.
Another feature adding to the figure’s photogenic nature is, of course, the color scheme. The Tyrannosaur Series drew inspiration from a variety of modern birds and reptiles for the dinosaurs’ color patterns, with the primary inspiration for Lythronax being the striking high-contrast coloration of the black-chested spiny-tailed iguana from the Honduras. Deep blacks and creamy yellows, blended by gradients of of ruddy reddish-browns, decorate the tyrant dinosaur with elaborate splotches and stripes that might appear haphazard at a glance, but quickly captivate the eye with their complexity. Of course, while this pattern immediately stands out in an isolated environment, it’s not hard to envision the excellent camouflage coloration like this might have provided in the Cretaceous wetlands, blending the large predator with dappled sunlight and murky waters as it patrolled silently for prey from day to dusk. I’ve generally always been favorable to the color schemes designed for Beasts of the Mesozoic figures, but Lythronax might be one of my absolute favorites in final execution. The high contrast patterns feel grounded and plausible, while still giving immediate presence to the figure and even carrying a certain menace in the balance of light and dark values across the face and body, with carefully restrained artistic flair. As I said before, an extremely photogenic figure.
Lythronax is known from a single specimen consisting of a partial skull and leg, plus some pieces of the hip and ribs. Of particular note to the skull is how wide the rear was compared to the snout, to an extant seen in only a few other tyrant dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus itself. This pronounced skull shape is particularly well-emphasized on the figure, and looking at the face head-on is almost uncanny with how clear the binocular vision is. Viewed in profile, one can notice how tall the rear of the skull is as well, reflecting the pronounced parietal bone over where the braincase would be. The nasal bears a rugose pattern of bumpy ridges under the scales, and the jawline is well-defined, with the lips rounding out the silhouette of the skull and mouth a little extra. Inside the mouth Lythronax appears almost to have fangs; the maxilla of Lythronax displayed unusually large teeth (even for tyrannosaurs) near the front of the mouth. The “canine” look reconstructed on the figure may be exaggerating this feature somewhat, although it does give the figure a unique portrait among the Tyrannosaur Series; sadly this also means the mouth has trouble closing flush with the lips, at least in my copy.
Anatomy on the rest of the figure is a little more speculative by necessity; but the length of the leg bones and depth of the hip region match proportions very closely to skeletals of the animal. The overall build of Lythronax is similar to fellow tyrannosaurids Teratophoneus and Bistahieversor. Tyrannosaurs could be quite leggy for large theropods, and Lythronax seems to have been no exception. Finer details in the sculpting include distinct nostrils and earholes, as well as bunched-up folds of skin on the neck, which I think add to the “rugged” appearance of the animal in portrait. Subtler sets of skin folds are present around body joints like the hips and base of the tail. Exceptional scale detailing is applied almost flawlessly across the figure, with gentle dark paint washes to the face and select other regions that enhance the detail. Fingers and toes are given distinct lengths, tipped with pointy claws and talons. This is a prime specimen of a top Cretaceous predator.
Dinosaur toys can be a form of paleoart in their own right, and David Silva’s Beasts of the Mesozoic line continues to be a stand-up effort in merging the aesthetics of cutting-edge science and high-end pop collectibles. Lythronax may be creeping its way up my list of favorite theropods, and that is largely thanks to how splendid of a likeness this figure has proven to be. I highly recommend this charismatic action model for any fan of big predatory dinosaurs. Sadly, as of this publishing, Lythronax has become sold out at most retailers; hopefully it might be considered for a reissue down the road, though.
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