Triceratops is easily one of the most iconic and recognizable dinosaurs ever discovered. Possessing three lance-like horns and a solid bone frill, this largest member of the ceratopsian group has been depicted in countless movies, books and other media involving dinosaurs all around the world. It lived at the very end of the Cretacious alongside the other iconic dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex.
In the early 90s, Kenner, the company that was responsible for Jurassic Park action figures at the time, released a rendition of everyone’s favorite horned dinosaur that to this day stands out amongst other triceratops toys. First of all, this figure is quite large. Being over a foot long, its only dwarfed by one other figure in the first JP toy line, the adult Tyrannosaurus which was also reviewed not that long ago on this blog. The beast’s body is made of a soft rubbery material that the folks at Kenner lovingly refer to as “real feel” dinosaur skin. I myself have never actually had the opportunity to pet a real Triceratops before but this toy certainly feels more lifelike than one made from hard plastic I suppose. The head and lower legs, however, are made from hard plastic.
The figure has an action feature but it isn’t really that exciting. When the figure’s shoulders are squeezed together, there is a mechanism inside that causes the head to jerk slightly upwards. Another interesting feature found on this guy (or girl I suppose if you go by what the movie says) and many other Jurassic Park toys is the aspect of “dino damage”. The animal has a gaping (rather unrealistic I might add but hey it’s an action figure directed at little boys what do you expect?) wound that exposes the animal’s spine and shoulder blade in front of some muscle (did I mention unrealistic?) that can be concealed up by a removable piece of skin that fits snugly into the opening. It makes for some interesting playtime when this guy is fighting it out with a JP Tyrannosaurus.
As for accuracy…well, it depends on what you mean by “accuracy”. To science the figure isn’t bad but it’s not perfect. The front legs should be sprawled out a bit more, the number of digits on the limbs is either wrong or their lengths are not correct and I think the head could afford to be bigger. However, this figure is based off of a movie and in that department it is much more “accurate”. The coloration and the details are pretty much spot on to the Triceratops briefly depicted in the movie. I kind of wish the beak was painted, however.
If you like Jurassic Park, definitely try to get this figure. Like most of JP’s dinosaurs, it has a lot of flavor and personality. For those of us still young at heart it’s a lot of fun to play with as well. Since this toy’s line left the shelves back in the early 90s, your best bet to acquire one would be ebay.
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[…] The similarly sized Jurassic Park figures had considerably less. Let’s take the original Triceratops for comparison, which has a single measly point of articulation (sort of…). The Carnage […]
It’s worth noting that a more accurate Triceratops model was prototyped and created for Kenner’s The Lost World:Jurassic Park toyline. Unfortunately, as well-detailed as it was, it never made it to the toy store shelves. It seems there was some concern about the horns being too long and sharp for kids. An unpainted prototype has reportedly sold for $710 so someone else might get lucky after some hard searching. In the meantime, the toy can be viewed in all its glory here:
http://www.jptoys.com/toy-database/lost-world/lost-world-series-2/prototypes/triceratops/index.htm
[…] the like, which doesn’t compare favourably with other JP toys (such as the original series Triceratops) that have all-over scalation. It’s also a shame that the legs are all fixed in position. […]
[…] horns. Pulling the toy’s rear left leg causes the head to raise up, similar to the original JP Triceratops, and a bellowing sound to be emitted. It’s quite a decent noise – much better than some […]
Worthy of note – this Triceratops doesn’t have ‘fossil’ horns like the one in the movie (or the Papo one). In that respect it’s actually an improvement!
I like the rhino-like folds of skin on the elbows and knees.