The chaos continues! Dinosaurs have evolved, and more species are on the loose! This may sound scary, but it does not have to be. The usually docile, bighorn sheep-sized Avaceratops has been spotted at high altitudes, getting comfortable in their modern colder environments. Their sharp horns are a reminder that, while they generally have a gentle disposition, they should be approached with extreme caution. If you would not approach a moose, then you probably should not approach Avaceratops. Some specimens can even grow as large as a moose! Join me, Emperor Dinobot, as we study one such specimen, recently captured by our team and brought back to Jurassic Park: Pacific Northwest Division.
As we have all expressed before, the great thing about Mattel is that for every raptor repaint, they continually produce new molds, especially of dinosaurs that do not often get their second life in plastic forme. The Dino Trackers subline was made of mostly new molds and new species, and if some species were already covered, a whole new figure now bore its name. Avaceratops is brand new, though. .As for the new packaging, it is very subdued, very grey, very…snowy, and very apt for a series of figures that were released in the 2023-2024 winter. They have continued the different habitat zones theme they had going during the Dino Trackers line, which is a theme in the facts app.
As you can see, Avaceratops have adapted to live in snowy, cold environments.
We named this subadult specimen “Casper” after the Friendly Ghost due to the coloration of the skull. It really does look like a white skull, which contrasts well with the warm grey body. The horns and beak are of a medium cool gray, and the eyes are the only part of the body that are not in a gray gradient, being goldenrod yellow. The spots on the top of the back are of a different grey than the head’s off-white; a cool light grey. The claws are unpainted, and I wish they had been painted in the same color as the horns and beak. Same with the parietal hornlets, and the epijugal horn, which are sculpted, but are hard to see.
Articulation is standard for this class of Mattel dinosaurs: rotating tail, hips, shoulders, and the neck can move up and down. The head cannot rotate at the base, though, and I really wish it did. Still, the sculpt is very nice, exactly what we have come to expect from Mattel!
I have to say though, the little code tab inside them exists only to keep the code sticker from falling out. I am starting to really not like them. The dinosaurs feel like toys rather than actual dinosaurs because of that little groove on the back (well, they ARE toys, who am I kidding?). I hope they can figure something out for next time, but I doubt they will. It is nice to have an app and all, but…again, the groove is starting to become a bit distracting, and now I have over 40 or so dinosaurs with them. They are very obvious on the smaller dinosaurs, such as Avaceratops. The darker colors hide it pretty well, though!
Casper stumbles upon a Loth-Cat.
It was Rebel Hero and bounty hunter Sabine Wren who helped us wrangle this dinosaur down.
Casper found an adult Avaceratops to play with.
Avaceratops was a small dinosaur between 2.5 meters to 4.5 meters so the 1:18 scale works here. It is the same size as the basic sized ceratopsians, and it looks fine with 3.75 inch tall humans.
After a quick check-up by park Doctor Ellie Sattler, Casper is ready to join the other animals at the park.
I personally think this Avaceratops scales better with humans than the BOTM one, which is really big for 1:18 scale. They should have made it in the size of Zuniceratops instead, as Avaceratops was max 4.5 meters long. They scale better with 4 inch sized humans anyways. I’m handing Mattel the win on this one, though, even though BOTM Avaceratops is the superior sculpt. Scaling still matters. Avaceratops could have been bigger, though. The holotype ANSP 15800 seems to represent a juvenile, and other, bigger specimens may represent the same genus, but this is being debated. In the end, it depends which figures you picture them with.
All in all, Avaceratops is a sleeper hit, and I would enjoy to see a repaint down the line, though this coloring is pretty good and quite interesting. Welcome to the park, Casper!
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to me, the new dna scan codes make the figure feel more “professional” and not js some kid’s toy. the new scan code feature gives these figures a “collect them all” vibe. it can also be entertaining to pull out at times
I guess that is true. Many of the pre-Dominion figures lost their foot stickers easily, too. This keeps them secure.
I absolutely adore the coloration on this, and it’s another charming small ceratopsian from them. Great review too. I didn’t even know there was a 1/18 scale Loth Cat figure out there. I don’t particularly collect Star Wars figures (gee I wonder why, hmm starts with Jurassic), but I absolutely adore Rebels and those little guys too.
Haha thanks! Yeah Vintage Collection Sabine comes with a bunch of accessories. I don’t have Aliens in my collection, not even within Star Wars, so I just pretend the Loth Cat is a genetically modified feline, kinda like Bubastus from Watchmen.
Probably going to pick this up. I was disappointed by the way over scale BOTM figure. This one is a dandy size for 1/18.
Thanks for the review!
You’re welcome! Thanks for commenting! Yeah some BOTM ceratopsians are much bigger than they really are, especially for 1:18. Centrosaurus, Zuniceratops, Albertaceratops, all way overblown. Einiosaurus, Triceratops, Chasmosaurus, Juvenile Centrosaurus (should be adult Centrosaurus), Styracosaurus are properly scaled. If anything, Avaceratops could have used Zuniceratops’ body (with a different tail), and could have gotten away with a large, or fully mature specimen.
I can’t tell you how much I love this figure. It’s so cute and creepy at the same time!
Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking about when the made Centrosaurus adult such a huge figure…..no evidence at all to support that size. I guess they just wanted another big figure to re-use body parts and Centrosaurus drew the short straw.
The Pachyrhinosaurus is way too big too, at least for the species it’s supposed to represent. It’s not too bad of a size for P. canadensis , which was a much larger species (largest skull yet found around 2 meters) so I converted it to that…..just took a minor rework of the frill horns……the head is a bit small for the body though.
Wave 3 of the ceratopsian series had a bunch of over sized figures…..in truth even Triceratops and Torosaurus were too big since, in 1/18 scale, they are both larger than the largest specimens yet discovered…but I can live with them.
I found it ironic that so many of the ceratopsian figures were too big in 1/18 scale….I was expecting the opposite when the series was announced….
They scale better with Kenner Jurassic Park figures.
le triceratop et torosauus ne sont pas surdimmensionné car il aurait pu eux deux atteindre 9 M max se qui fais 50 cm si il sont a l’ ecelle 1/18 si on ce bases sur des fragmentaires donc il sont pas surdimmentionne aux final mais je suis d’accord pour le reste même si centrosaurus aurait pu atteint jusqu’a 6.1 M si on ce bases sur la representation de ramdonDINOS de devienart