One of Favorite's Largest Playable Figures Made of Soft Material
A premium figure of Ankylosaurus, a popular armored dinosaur, joining the Vinyl Model series. Over 50 cm long, it makes an impressive display piece. Made from child-friendly materials, it can be enjoyed safely in the living room or a child’s room.
AnkylosaurusAnkylosaurus
Classification: Ornithischia/Ankylosauria/Ankylosauridae
Size: Total length 11 meters
Period: End of the Cretaceous
Ankylosaurus was one of the largest and most representative ankylosaurs. Its back, from the neck to the tail, was covered with numerous bony plates and spikes. Its skull was thick and sturdy, with triangular horns projecting from the back of the head. A hard, hammer-shaped bony club at the end of its tail is thought to have helped defend against attacks by carnivorous dinosaurs. Ankylosaurs had very small, weak teeth and are thought to have swallowed soft leaves whole, digesting them internally.
Interview with Supervisor Kazunari Araki
- Ankylosaurus has joined the Dinosaur Vinyl Model Premium Edition lineup. As a representative armored dinosaur, what are your current impressions of Ankylosaurus?
- To be honest, I used to find armored dinosaurs a little intimidating to sculpt. They require many repeated armor plates in different sizes along the back, which was a difficult challenge for me.
However, well-preserved fossils have been discovered in recent years, and an exhibition dedicated to armored dinosaurs was held in 2023. Their popularity seems to be growing, and I have become more fond of them too (laughs). - Ankylosaurus has already been released as a Soft Model, Vinyl Model, and Mini Model. Were there any sculpting considerations beyond size that were specific to this Premium Edition?
- As mentioned earlier, some armored dinosaurs are known from well-preserved fossils that reveal the arrangement of their armor. For Ankylosaurus, however, only parts of the skull, tail club, and armor have been found, so reconstructions of the armor’s shape and arrangement have changed as related species are discovered.
The earlier Soft Model was based on a reconstruction from a period when the body was thought to be somewhat narrower. For this model, I used a broader body shape and a more recent interpretation of the armor arrangement.
Of course, this interpretation may change again if new fossils are discovered. - The paintwork uses deep brown tones to convey a sense of weight. What impression did you get from the finished product?
- I had personally imagined armored dinosaurs in gray tones. Before making the full-size Premium Edition, I painted a small sample, and I already thought the color looked great. But when I saw the painted sample of the full-size Ankylosaurus, its scale and presence exceeded my expectations.
- Finally, do you have a message about the Ankylosaurus Vinyl Model Premium Edition?
- Despite their recent popularity, there have not been many toys or figures of armored dinosaurs. This Ankylosaurus Premium Edition is excellent and well worth buying. Bring home this nearly impregnable dinosaur, like a fortress that even Tyrannosaurus could not defeat. The only regret is that it did not come out a little earlier to coincide with the 2023 dinosaur exhibition!
Supervisor Profile
Kazunari Araki
One of Japan's leading dinosaur model artists, he creates dinosaur reconstruction models for natural history museums and master models for dinosaur encyclopedias and other publications.