Stellasaurus is a centrosaurine that lived in North America around 75 million years ago. Its name of course means “star lizard,” and it was bestowed upon this particular species both for the shape of its frill and as a homage to the late, great David Bowie. It lived alongside its fellow centrosaurine Einiosaurus, the hadrosaurs Hypacrosaurus and Maiasaura, the ankylosaurs Edmontonia and Euoplocephalus, and the tyrannosaur Daspletosaurus.
PNSO is the first company to make a toy of Stellasaurus, and naturally, they have named theirs ‘Stella.’ She is posed with her tail turned to the left, her right hind leg extended back, her left front leg half raised off the ground, her head turned to the right, and her mouth open. Her eyes are wide and alert, as though scanning the scene for danger.
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Stella measures about 16 cm long and stands nearly 8 cm tall at the tip of her nasal horn, which makes her one of the smallest PNSO ceratopsids (not including the miniatures). Her main colour is a light orangish brown with dark brown for the large patch on her back, the stripes on her sides and tail, and her feet, which have muddy brown claws. There is also warm red orange to be found on her neck, belly, and tail. Her head is dark and medium brown with red orange for her beak, horns, brow ridges, eppocipitals, and jugals. The tips of her horns are very dark brown for good measure. Her mouth is pink, her teeth are white, and her bright blue eyes are streaked with white. Topping it all off are the simple false eye patterns on the front of her frill. She looks very nice indeed this way.
She also has top notch sculpting, as expected of any PNSO product. Her head is covered in tiny scales, with patches and rows of larger scales here and there. Her brow ridges are thick and bumpy. Her horns are pleasingly pointy and mostly smooth, although the nasal one features grooves near the base. The inside of her mouth is also painstakingly detailed, right down to the very tiny but still visible rows of teeth.
Stella’s body is also covered in tiny scales. Larger scales cover her belly and dozens of round osteoderms dot her sides. Also plenty of wrinkles to be found on her too. And of course, her musculature is beautifully defined. She looks regal, graceful, and redoubtable.
So what’s the difference between a Stellasaurus and a Styracosaurus anyway? For certain they are very similar, to the point where one might confuse them at first glance. However, Stella’s nasal horn is much more sharply curved than that of Styracosaurus’, rather like half of a crescent. Moreover, she numbers only four large spikes growing out of her frill as opposed to six, and they are noticeably shorter. Stellasaurus is presently thought to be a transitional form between Styracosaurus and Einiosaurus, which in turn is thought to be ancestral to Pachyrhinosaurus. Always cool to have toys that you can arrange in an evolutionary parade.
Stella’s accompanying poster is a little bit of a letdown in that it’s simply an image of the toy rather than a painting. Similarly, the information section of her booklet only contains toy images. But at least there’s a nice illustration in the how-to-draw section. And my younger son likes having the poster on his wall.
Overall, Stella the PNSO Stellasaurus is a very cool and very well made toy all around. Most definitely worth the purchase.
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