Kentrosaurus (Jurassic World, Color Change Captivz by ToyMonster)

With the new year comes a new set of Captivz Pop N Lock dinosaurs to collect. If you’re unfamiliar with what Captivz are, they’re blind bag figures hidden inside plastic eggs. Also included in the egg is a bag of slime (the figure is separate from the slime) and a token or trading card with the figure’s stats. Apparently, you’re supposed to battle your dinosaurs using the stats provided ala Pokémon but that’s of little interest to most of us. This latest wave’s gimmick is that the figures (and slime) can change color depending on the temperature. The included card replaces the tokens of earlier sets, but cards were also used in the Jurassic Park 30^th Anniversary set. The cards are cool so it’s nice to see them continue to use them.

This new set mostly consists of familiar faces, animals used in past sets just with different colors. Things like the Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Atrociraptor that would probably bore most of our readership. There are a few interesting critters though, including a brand new sculpt for Kentrosaurus. The Kentrosaurus, modeled after Pierce from Camp Cretaceous, was the figure that caught my eye the most and I’m happy to report that in hunting him down the third time was the charm.

This little Kentrosaurus measures roughly 3.5” and stands 1.75” at its tallest point. The actual Kentrosaurus is estimated to have measured 13-15’ (4-4.5 meters) so that would put this figure at about 1/45 in scale which might appeal to some scale conscious collectors. Thanks to its small size a lot of the inaccuracies that Pierce’s onscreen counterpart or larger toy has are absent or hard to discern here. Indeed, this is a rather fetching Kentrosaurus without anything worth complaining about. The plates are broad and rounded like in the show, but I don’t consider that an offense worth complaining about.

The figure is presented in a visually appealing pose with the body and tail curving in a soft S curve that makes the toy fun to look at from multiple angles. The figure is well detailed despite its small size. Grooves are sculpted into the plates, the body is covered in irregularly shaped scales along the back and torso, and wrinkles dominate elsewhere. Tiny eyes are meticulously painted, a beak is present, and folds of sagging skin are sculpted along the torso.

When cold, or at room temperature, the figure is maroon colored along the back, plates, and outside of the forelimbs. The rest of the figure is cream colored. When warmed up the maroon portions change to hot pink. Thankfully it’s the maroon color that the figure normally displays. The spikes and beak are painted gray, and the eyes are black. The paint application is excellent considering the size of this toy.  The Mattel Kentrosaurus measures 12” and they couldn’t even bother to paint the spikes on that one. This figure is a fraction of its size and still has a complete and attractive paintjob. If you don’t like this color, I believe another Kentrosaurus will be available in another set, but I don’t know much about that one yet.

The Captivz Kentrosaurus is an absolutely delightful little figure and one of my personal favorite Captivz figures. There aren’t many Kentrosaurus figures out there, which makes this one a welcome addition to my collection. I personally think it’s better than Safari’s re-released Kentrosaurus! It’s a shame that Captivz figures are tied to the Jurassic World franchise because they could probably make some great Kaiyodoish figures otherwise. This current wave of Captivz is widely available at the moment but if you’re not the gambling sort your best bet for a guaranteed Kentrosaurus would be eBay, or trading with fellow collectors.