Right off the bat I want to give my sincerest thanks (again) to David James Armsby, who sent me this figure and for free, after a lovely conversation on the forum here. Not only that but with a wonderful little sketch as well. I cannot stress my extreme gratitude for his generosity enough. And yes that is Dead Sound himself, creator of the wonderful Dinosauria series (and many other great animated short films). This figure itself is in fact based directly upon his “Old Buck” short film, released back in September 2021, which was also the very first to be released in the Dinosauria series. If you still have yet to watch that, I’d highly recommend doing that first, and then coming back to this review, as well as the corresponding “Making of” video. Do note there is some animal on animal violence in it though. In any case, seeing that this figure (well either version really) still has yet to have had a review for the Dino Toy Blog, I figured that was the least I could do to help pay it forward in a way. In fact the very night I received this, I went about getting most of the images for this review, from just how excited I was. Oh and before I forget, I should also mention that Styracosaurus is my favorite ceratopsian, ever since I saw it in “The Valley of Gwangi” when I was a kid. Anyways, before digging in on the wonderful figure itself, a little background first.
This figure did release in two iterations, one clean, and free of wounds, the ‘Old Buck’, and the second, the ‘Old Buck’ (bloody), the latter of which is what I was gifted here. Both of these are mostly a repaint of the original Styracosaurus released back in late 2020. However the horns have been completely re-sculpted by David Silva to match up with the character in the short film (more on that later). The original figure has already been wonderfully reviewed by EmperorDinobot in 2021 (who sadly passed away last year), although it may be worth mentioning that the original figure was also sculpted by a mix of artists, with Jake Baardse who digitally sculpted the original Styracosaurus body, Raul Ramos who designed the articulation and part separation, and David Silva who did the scale detail on the body, as well as sculpting over a skull that Raul Ramos also did. This also shares the same body with the Medusaceratops, and the Fan’s Choice version (among others), the latter of which I reviewed back in 2023, so anyone who’s read either of those reviews will be familiar with the body sculpt detail, and the articulation for the most part. As expected, the articulation is pretty fun to toy around with, and I do think the ceratopsians in general have had some of the better articulation of the Beasts of the Mesozoic figures thus far (at least that I own anyways). I had quite a bit of fun posing this one within the short time I’ve had it so far.
Like said Medusaceratops, this is also a Fan’s Choice version of the original figure. A poll was held back in January 2022 across the various Creative Beast social media pages for what would later end up as the next four Fan’s Choice figures (well technically five). I actually did participate in this poll back then (I uh went and did some digging to confirm), and was one of many to vote for the ‘Old Buck’. Glad to know I was able to help make this a reality in a very teeny tiny way (aside from backing the Ceratopsian Series kickstarter in late 2019 to help get the original Styracosaurus and many others funded in the first place). The ‘Old Buck’ also won by a landslide, with 648 votes total (the second place winner, the Walking with Dinosaurs Torosaurus, had 437 votes in contrast). This very figure existing is also like going full circle in a way, as the original Styracosaurus held a pretty sizable role in helping make the Old Buck short film a reality in the first place (as seen in the “Making Of” video for it).
Normally I’d include a few shots of the packaging, the included collector’s card, and the background insert, but I don’t have those as this was sent to me loose. The above mentioned artwork was actually sent in place of the card, as he could not find it. Honestly though, I find the artwork of far greater sentimental value anyways, and I will cherish it for years to come. Still it’s at least worth mentioning that the package art (which is also the collector’s card artwork), and the background insert inside the packaging were all wonderfully done by David James Armsby. If interested, be sure to check out the links I’ve included prior. Here’s the artwork for those curious as well.
So finally on to the figure itself. What a beauty this beast is. Although the color scheme is mostly monochrome, with a bit of red flair, it is simply gorgeous. The figure is mostly in various shades of black and grey, with white striping on the frill horns and on the back of the figure. There are also some black spots here and there, adding a touch more detail. There are eye spots on the frill, colored with a mix of red, brown, and white, with these swirly circular patterns. The end result is rather hypnotizing. Of course there’s also some red streaks on the body, and the nasal horn has a mix of red mixed with the rest of the pattern. If you’ve watched the short film, then you will know why this particular version is intended to be bloody in the first place. A minor little thing I also noticed is that the fourth digits on the “hands” have been painted like the claws on the first three digits. As far as I know ceratopsians lacked such. I didn’t notice this in the prototype paint images, and it certainly isn’t present on the ‘Old Buck’ design itself, so perhaps could be a minor QC thing, I don’t know. Perhaps worth noting this has also occurred with my Chasmosaurus, which I only recently picked up on, despite having it for a few months now. It doesn’t particularly bother me in any case, but figured it would be worth pointing out, just in case anyone else catches on to it.
As noted earlier, the horns on this sculpt are brand new, and are intended to be based upon the design for ‘Old Buck’, which is also based specifically upon the specimen USNM 11869, the holotype of Styracosaurus ovatus (as mentioned in the “Making Of” video). This species was initially described in 1930 by Charles W. Gilmore in his paper on dinosaurs from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana (on page 36). The specimen is a partial part of the upper frill, with those distinctive horns, and was collected by George F. Sternberg in 1928, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Gilmore himself noted that describing this fragmentary specimen as a new species may be met with question, though he had hoped more complete material would disclose more about the nature of the animal. Sadly this has yet to occur. Well there were other specimens previously assigned to this species, and this species was even assigned to its own genus at one point (Rubeosaurus, McDonald and Horner, 2010), but that’s fallen out of favor in recent years. One of those was MOR 492, which was moved into the new genus Stellasaurus in 2020, by Wilson, Ryan, and Evans. The other specimen once assigned to it, was the immature individual USNM 14768 (in 2011 by McDonald et al), which was formerly assigned to Brachyceratops. This specimen was considered to be undiagnostic by Wilson et al, due to its age, and so only the valid specimen of Styracosaurus ovatus is the holotype USNM 11869. Oh and after being assigned to Rubeosaurus, it was moved back into Styracosaurus by Holmes et al in 2020, which has been supported by later papers (Brown, Holmes, and Currie 2020, and Wilson et al, 2020), rather as a specimen of S. albertensis or S. ovatus.
In any case as far as I’m aware, this and its cleaner variant are the only figures out there of this particular individual, if not species. Anyways, despite the material from USNM 11869 being from the Two Medicine Formation, the rest of the sculpt is still largely based upon material from Styracosaurus albertensis, which is from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. May be worth mentioning the genus itself was originally named by Lawrence Lambe in December, 1913 (a month later he would also describe the first material for Gorgosaurus), and the initial material, a skull, was discovered by Charles H. Sternberg earlier in the year, by the Red Deer River. The rest of the material of this individual was not recovered until 1935, when the son of Charles Sternberg, Levi, was on an expedition with the Royal Ontario Museum. The rest of this material is now held at the Canadian Museum of Nature, along with the original holotype skull (CMN 344). The character Old Buck in the Dinosauria short film was also depicted as an individual of S. albertensis from the Dinosaur Park Formation, which is made abundantly clear from the presence of Lambeosaurus and Daspletosaurus (though the latter is known from elsewhere).
The unfortunate news now is that this figure, and the cleaner variant, are both long gone. This particular version sold out sometime last year at each of the various retailers that had lingering stock from its release back in early 2023 (alongside wave 1.5 of the Tyrannosaur Series with Guanlong, Yutyrannus, etc). The cleaner variant sold out prior to this particular one selling out sometime in mid-late 2025. The original Styracosaurus which was reissued back in early 2024 (along wave 3 of the Tyrannosaur Series) also sold out last year around a similar time frame. Sadly the aftermarket will be your only chance of obtaining this figure (and the others), which tend to go for far more than the original MSRP of $74.99, assuming one is for sale anyways, unless you get exceptionally lucky. Without David Armsby’s generosity, I myself would have been in a similar boat, as I sat too long and let it slip out of my grasp (though some of that was due in part from unfortunate financial circumstances I found myself in shortly after it released). While it remains doubtful that either of these Dinosauria versions would ever see a restock, one can only hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Styracosaurus from Creative Beast Studio, now that the Cyberzoic line is a thing (and if I recall correctly, it is or was David Silva’s favorite ceratopsian). Of course I would also love to see yet another figure based on the Dinosauria Series in the future (such as the recent Hunted by Moonlight Dilophosaurus for example, among others), though I imagine it may not be for some time with everything in the works at the moment. And no I didn’t forget about the original Styracosaurus, but my poor boy is still trapped in storage (along with most of my other Beasts of the Mesozoic ceratopsians). One of these days I hope to have the two side by side, but I imagine it could be a bit of a wait still.
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