Triceratops (Baby by CollectA)

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Review and Photographs by Triceratops83, edited by Suspsy

CollectA has grown over the years from a curiosity producing mediocre figures at best to a leading brand rivaling Safari as the favourite makers of toy dinosaurs. One of their earlier, and admittedly better efforts was the Triceratops baby, released in 2007.

CollectA released several baby dinosaurs, most of which didn’t look very good (only a few of them actually looked like what they were supposed to). Until Papo and REBOR released their Triceratops juveniles, the only major competition this figure had was Safari’s. And while the Safari version was cuter, this CollectA baby is arguably more accurate.

This figure is 8.5 cm long and is a pudgy little thing. The body is very deep and the back arches strongly–perhaps a little too much. The tail is a nice length for Triceratops. The legs are thick and elephant-like, and although it has four toes on its hind feet, they are all planted on the ground, without the shortened inner digit. It only has four digits on the front limbs, and all are unfortunately hoofed, with no vestigial fingers. The left hind leg is bent at the ankle, giving the limb a weird bent look. The skin is wrinkled and lightly scaled.

The skull is the standout feature on this figure. The entire growth series of Triceratops is known and this toy matches a hatchling or young juvenile. The frill lies flat against the back and the horns are short and stubby. The epijugals, however, are weirdly thick and kinda look like jowls. Another drawback to the otherwise fine skull are the deep lines and wrinkles around the mouth and neck, giving it a baggy appearance.

The figure is mostly grey and dry brushed with a drab olive green. It’s a very dull and depressing paint job and gives the toy a mammalian look. The eyes are brown with a shiny black pupil. It’s a wonder they didn’t paint it blue to match the standard sized adult Triceratops (although they may have been trying to distance themselves from that particular model as it’s quite bad).

The CollectA Triceratops Baby is halfway to a good figure, mixing accuracy with, well, ugliness. The wrinkled skin, dull colours, and poorly sculpted limbs detract from what could have been the best baby Triceratops available. I’d still say the figure is worth getting, even though the Safari, Papo, and REBOR versions are more visually appealing. I hope that CollectA, with their improved quality, will one day update this toy.