When Wild Safari began pumping out figures that all of a sudden were leaps and bounds better with regards to detail and accuracy then their previous work, it shouldn’t be surprising then, that they decided to revisit many old classic kinds of dinosaurs and give them much needed face-lifts. One such dinosaur was good old three-horn, Triceratops.
Let’s start out with scientific accuracy. This figure is pretty much flawless. The head is awesomely true to the actual animal’s skull. Take a look at how huge that beak is! The front legs are slightly splayed as they should be and the back legs are also in the correct position of being fully erect. The tail is not too long or too short and all the feet have the correct number of digits on them. The only teeny tiny detail that is wrong would be the fact that most scientists believe now that ceratopsians carried their front feet with their palms facing each other, much like theropods do. The front feet on this model have the feet facing forward. This figure was most likely made before this relatively recent discovery, however.
The detail on this piece is awesome. It’s completely covered in carefully sculpted scales that vary in size and pattern according to where they are on the dinosaur’s body. I especially love the face where they get really super tiny around the dinosaur’s eye. It also has a fair amount of well placed sags and wrinkles. I really like how this model seems to have real a sense of weight to it as well. You can tell this is supposed to be a big animal by checking out the detail put into and around its feet and legs.
The pose is very interesting and quite possibly the thing that impresses me the most about this figure. Its positioned with its head down and to the side. This is something that I have never seen in another ceratopsian toy. They are all almost always posed with their heads up in the air as if they were in the middle of fighting off a Tyrannosaur or something. Not this guy though. What it appears (at least to me) to be doing is fighting off a fellow Triceratops in head to head combat over territory or mating rights. I think that this was a good choice for a pose since A: it’s different and B: it’s most likely a much more common occurrence for Triceratops to be dueling one another than defending against a predator.
The colors on this model are pretty cool too. They are not too drab or boring but at the same time they aren’t overly flashy either. The dinosaur is a rusty brown for the most part with a really pretty forest green covering most of the face and going down the top of the animal’s back. The horns, beak and epoccipitals (little bony bits lining the frill) are all painted a very light brown and detailed with dark brown. The claws are black. The paint application on this figure is very clean and has none of the sloppiness that’s commonly applied to Wild Safari and Carnegie’s older figures.
All in all, this figure is fantastic. It’s probably the best toy of a Triceratops commonly available on the market right now. Also I should mention that yes it is in 1:40 scale. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in dinosaur models. It can easily be picked up at most toy stores or other places that sell Wild Safari merchandise.
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Would this toy be considered a specimen of T. prorsus? The large nasal horn suggests so, but given the prominence of the epoccipital horns suggesting it’s a subadult, maybe there’s another possibility.
[…] on this toy is not as good as version 1 or 2 of the Carnegie’s, and falls well short of its Wild Safari replacement. The model does have sufficient bulk along with loose skin and slight muscle bulges. The texture […]
[…] hands correctly show five differentiated digits, only three of which have claws (compare with the Triceratops from a few years ago). While the fingers are bunched together (presumably to make manufacturing […]
This seems to be the best Trike on the market. Griffin, do you know any places in North Jersey sell this figure and some other Wild Safaris?
A well-sculpted dinosaur toy. Really wish I had one. Interesting about the depronated feet.
This is my favorite Triceratops, outside Battat. Very interesting bit about the digits; are there any extant animals with that orientation?
This triceratops was made in 2008, so that fault is forgiven.
Hmm I dunno. This is a link I was given by the paleoartist I’m working with about the most recent reconstructions of ceratopsian particularly triceratops. If you watch the short animation all 5 digits on the front limbs are being used.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/triceratops/Triceratopsdigital.htm
I dunno you still could be right but that’s just the source I go by.
Of course, by ‘model’ I mean ‘cheap toy’, and also I’m being anal. Again. This is by far the best affordable Triceratops out there. Kudos for the all-over scalation and well-rendered horns, Safari!
I believe a study from last year established that the 4th and 5th digits were vestigial, with no claws. However this model may have predated that.
Whether or not claws on digits 4 and 5 on the front limbs existed is debatable. As of now I think its still acceptable.
I’m not sure that all of the digits on the hands should have claws, as they do with this figure. It’s very nice nevertheless.