Beasts of the Mesozoic Avaceratops (ceratopsian series)

Sorry for the absence. I have been gone for some time to take care of personal issues, but never think that I, Emperor Dinobot, have forgotten about you, my dear readers. As you may know, ceratopsians are my favorite group of dinosaurs, and this is evident not just for my love of BOTM’s ceratopsian line, but because I always…I always imagined them as super-large companions. Not pets, but companions, like big horses. I have always…loved them.

This is a very personal review because of some events that happened in my life. I was supposed to do this in the beginning of March, almost a few days after my Mattel Avaceratops review. But I will tell you more as we go on. Let us look at the box.

Standard BOTM box, we do not even have to discuss it. I threw it away kind of soon though, I needed the space bad, and I am a loose collector. But at least I got the credits, which are almost always the same. All ceratopsians come with a card though, and I apologize for the bad picture you are about to see. Note to self: Scan these. I have one of those “magical scanner wands” so there is no excuse.

The beautiful art for this figure was made by Master Raul Ramos.

Avaceratops lammersi (Ava’s horned face)

Length: up to 4.2m long (14ft) long

Location: Judith River, Montana, USA

Time Period: Late Cretaceous, 77 m.y.a.

Named byL Peter Dodson, 1986

Avacceratops is a bit of a curiosity due to its skull frill lacking fenestrae (bony openings used to lighten the skull’s parietals). It had a solid frill, a characteristic shared only with Triceratops. Despite this similarity, the closest known relative is Nasutoceratops. Avaceratops lived in wet, heavily forested environments.

Well, it uses the same body as some dinos we have already seen, but ceratopsians kind of had the same body type anyways. Mostly. I still wish Silva would have done an Anchiceratops, but that is just me.

I also with I had taken more pics of it with its fellow Judithian dinosaurs, but it was too complicated given my trash camera. Oh well. It uses the same medium/small body as Kosmoceratops, Nasutoceratops, Centrosaurus (juvenile), Einiosaurus, etc, but the head is different, of course, to reflect the species.

Avaceratops was the first ceratopsian named since Pachyrhinosaurus, which was named in the 50’s. It was found in the ranch owned by the Lammers family, which is where it gets its binomial name, but Avaceratops is really a beautiful name in my opinion. My grandmother was named Eva, but might as well dedicate it to her. But this was named after Eddie Cole’s wife, Ava, who discovered the fossils near the aforementioned Ranch (Mr. Cole, that is, though I have no doubt Ava helped).

Always highly articulated, these boast 20 points of articulation, which makes them very expressive, and Ava is no exception.

I always did appreciate the sitting position! Ava here has a beautiful green, inspired by the flying dragon-lizard. It has a green gradient from the back to the belly, which turns greenish-yellow-cream. This one of the better colored ones by FAR. It reminds me of a green guacamaya rather than a flying-dragon lizard. The back has dark reddish-brown stripes; the horns are eggshell brown, and the hornlets on the frill are light brown. The claws are black, and the nose bump is dark canary-yellow. The eyes are green. The frill, well, see for yourself in one of the pictures. I am unable to describe it. This is not like the others.

“here, let me remove this gunk off”

Well, here is one of my least favorite subjects to talk about. Scale! The remains of Avaceratops, while not scale, do depict several juveniles. They were all the size of sheep, never as big as this 1/18 scale figure. But you never know. Dinosaurs just kept growing so I would not be surprised to see a specimen of Avaceratops that validates this scale, which once again, is better suited for Kenner figures. Or something taller, perhaps?

“I think it is clear that Casper wants to go back to the snow, and Ava back to the swamp”

The colors on Avaceratops are absolutely some of Silvas’ team’s best work, in my opinion. They are all beautiful, but Ava’s color was definitely inspired. I have almost all of them (the ceratopsians), and this is one of the best colorations I have seen on any dinosaur ever.

Someone must have told them that I had forgotten about my other Judithian dinosaurs. Looks like this caretaking job is not ever going to end.

Highly recommended. You can still find them here: https://creative-beast.com/product/1-18th-avaceratops-action-figure/

I would like to dedicate this review to my grandma Eva, who passed away years before I was born, and to my sister Lucy, who helps edit these for me. She is doing better every day. I hope she comes home soon to help me with these. She helps me with my animals from time to time, and I hope we can continue setting up the PNW Dinosaur Research Institute (Or Jurassic Park PNW Div.) here at our home. They miss you, Luffy. Come home.