Jurassic Park III: Triceratops

Year of release: 2001

Description: this four legged rhino-like dinosaur is easily recognizable by its large head with the round crest around it and three horns on it, two large ones above the eyes, and a smaller one on the snout. It has a beak resembling the beak of a parrot. The crest is adorned with small black spikes sticking out of it (16 in total), as well as several white bumps (19 in total). It has a sturdy body, about twice the length of the head, ending in a small thick tail. Four thick elephant-like legs support the body. Very noticeable, this figure sports a dino damage wound on its left side, showing ribs and muscle tissue. A small button can be found in it, which produces a low howling growl. A second sound can be made by pushing the tail upwards, which also causes the head to rise upwards, as if attacking something with its horns. This second sound is more aggressive, like a hissing growl. A black JP III logo is located on the Trike’s left hind leg. This Ceratopsid is coloured in various tones of brown, with a large copper green tint on its back. Its belly is tan brown, while the rest of the body, including the head is light brown with darker brown stripes. The horns and beak are coloured greyish white.

Analysis: this is not a bad Ceratopsian dinosaur figure. The size is good enough, though a little bigger would have been nice. The colours are pretty bland, but reminiscent of the colours the Trikes in the first two JP movies sported. The dino attack action is a bit unoriginal, since almost all Triceratops figures have had a head butting move. But since the head and horns are such a prominent feature this is not surprising. The mechanism used to make the head move isn’t very good though. The tail has to be pushed quite hard for the head to move, which means it’s best to hold the figure in your hands to get it really right, making it harder to realistically strike an opponent. It could have used a better design.

The sounds are good, and it’s believable an animal like this could have produced such low growling noises (though of course we will never know for sure). However, it would have been better if the sounds were reversed, because the attack noise sounds a lot like the creature is squealing in agony, while the dino damage noise is less dramatic. Like all JP III dinosaurs the dino damage would of this figure sadly can not be covered up. It’s something we’ll have to live with. Fortunately this figure looks well enough to ignore such minor disappointments.

Playability: the playability this figure provides is pretty good. Unlike most of Hasbro’s dinosaur figures this sculpt stands in a relatively neutral position. It assumes a slightly defensive posture, but nothing as extreme as most of the other dinosaurs Hasbro produced. Though the mechanism of the dino strike action isn’t the best ever, it works good enough, and the head can also be lifted up by just using your hands. All four legs are poseable, though some of them won’t get very far because of its body shape getting in the way, but that’s not a huge problem. This dinosaur is electronic, so if you want the electronics to keep working you shouldn’t play too rough with it. But other than that it’s playable enough.

Realism: though it’s rumoured there are Trikes in JP III (probably in some of the vista shots), I’ve never been able to spot them. So I can’t tell you whether this dinosaur looks like them. It does look very similar to the Triceratops we saw in the first movie, both in shape and colour, and not unlike the Trike one can see in TLW, though that particular specimen had a huge crest on its head, much bigger than this one’s. This Ceratopsid is also pretty similar to the regular real Triceratops, though its upper horns might be a tad too long. Also, compared to the figures, it might be a bit too small (some Trikes could get awfully big), but it’s not stated this animal is an adult per se. It certainly is recognizable enough.

Repaint: no. This animal would be repainted twice though, for the JP Dinosaurs 2 and JP 2009 toy lines.

Overall rating: 7/10. It’s not the best Triceratops figure (in my humble opinion that honour goes to the large JPS1 Triceratops, though mostly for nostalgic reasons), but it’s good in its own right and worth having. It’s not rare, so if you want one or can get one for a good price, you certainly shouldn’t ignore it.