Review and photos by Prehistory Resurrection, edited by Suspsy
Back in 1994, Schleich released its now-discontinued Replica-Saurus line of dinosaur figures, which included perhaps the goofiest, ugliest, and most hideous dinosaur figure ever manufactured, their first Ceratosaurus sculpt, in a quadrupedal stance. It was finally retired in 2005.
Once again, I am going to dive into the world of blind bag dinosaur figures, this time with a Theropod from the Jurassic of the Morrison Formation: Ceratosaurus. This meat eater was famed for its distinctive nasal horn, which gave images of battling the other Theropods (and indeed, other Ceratosaurs), though is now considered to be more for display than headbutting.
This new Ceratosaurus is the second figure they released, the first being a Jurassic Park-styled Velociraptor.
Gripe all you want about Jurassic Park 3 but we must give credit where credit is due. The movie featured a diverse assortment of dinosaurs with arguably the best color schemes in the franchise. Gone were the dull grays and browns of the first two films, JP3 went wild like a kid with a coloring book and the movie was better for it, though not by much.
With a long wiggly tail, nasal horn, preorbital horns, bony scutes along the back, and large blade like teeth, Ceratosaurus was a spectacular animal. This medieval dragon was not the biggest predator during the late Jurassic epoch, but with jaws designed for slicing, it was an active predator that struck fear into the Jurassic herbivores.
