Triceratops Plush (Kohl’s/Yottoy)

Buy on

Buy on

This cheap plush toy certainly won’t win any top 10 lists for quality restorations, but it’s plenty charming for what it is.

Kohl’s is a USA-based retail chain that primarily sells clothing, but like any big store, they do offer a few other kinds of merchandise as well. One line of collaborative merchandise is the Kohl’s Cares line, a charity-led series which couples new and old children’s books with plush toy characters. Normally, I don’t pay much heed to these plushies, but when I happened across THIS sweet little three-horned face for the mere price of $5, how could I say no?

The Kohl’s Cares Triceratops 2020 comes with a tag featuring the cover art to My Little Golden Book About Dinosaurs, based on the 2017 printing with illustrations by Steph Laberis. Copyrights on the tag include (besides Kohl’s) Penguin Random House, Classic Media, and YOTTOY, who appear to be the actual toy manufacturer. The stuffed toy itself measures about 35 cm (14 in) long, which would place the plush around 1:25 scale – although I dare say scientific scale is less of a concern for this figure as is playability or, better yet, huggability (which it seems pretty good for, but I haven’t tested with a child to confirm the best results). 

The plush toy is a fairly generic take on Triceratops – the obvious three horns and frill are present, but the overall shape of the toy looks a little hunched and dumpy, reminiscent of more old-school renditions. The result is pretty cute, though. Large, round feet help the toy remain stable standing on its stubby little legs; only three small toes are present on each foot. The floppy frill, though not very accurate to fossil shapes, frames the gentle mouthless face nicely. Although no scutes are present on the toys backside, a scaly texture is applied to the frill and main body, which is a nice detail for play and display. Oddly, the orientation of the three horns is set back on the skull drastically: the nose horn is positioned between the eyes, and the brow horns almost look like bunny ears. I don’t want to be too hard on a $5 stuffed animal, but this is one detail that’s hard to un-see.

Coloration is simple on this toy: a dark chocolate brown dominates the body, with a lighter brown to the belly and a faint pinkish hue for the horns. Sadly, the more colorful frill patterns seen in the art of the Golden Book cover are entirely absent, but I suppose that probably would have affected the toy’s price. The eyes are stitched with a bright yellow outline and a reflected dot of light in each pupil, so this toy looks very alert and utterly friendly.

This Kohl’s Cares/Little Golden/YOTTOY Triceratops plush certainly won’t win any top 10 lists for quality restorations, but it’s plenty charming for what it is. It might not make it into every reader’s own collection, but hopefully you enjoyed this short review anyway; if nothing else, I take this toy as a pleasant reminder of the surprising areas new dinosaur merchandise can appear in. While Kohl’s no longer lists this particular toy on their website, you might be able to find some for reasonable prices on eBay. And, of course, you can always watch for new Kohl’s Cares friends of the prehistoric variety, either online or in stores.