The chaos continues! Dinosaurs have evolved, and more species are on the loose! This may sound scary, but it does not have to be. The usually docile, bighorn sheep-sized Avaceratops has been spotted at high altitudes, getting comfortable in their modern colder environments. Their sharp horns are a reminder that, while they generally have a gentle disposition, they should be approached with extreme caution. If you would not approach a moose, then you probably should not approach Avaceratops. Some specimens can even grow as large as a moose! Join me, Emperor Dinobot, as we study one such specimen, recently captured by our team and brought back to Jurassic Park: Pacific Northwest Division.
As we have all expressed before, the great thing about Mattel is that for every raptor repaint, they continually produce new molds, especially of dinosaurs that do not often get their second life in plastic forme. The Dino Trackers subline was made of mostly new molds and new species, and if some species were already covered, a whole new figure now bore its name. Avaceratops is brand new, though. .As for the new packaging, it is very subdued, very grey, very…snowy, and very apt for a series of figures that were released in the 2023-2024 winter. They have continued the different habitat zones theme they had going during the Dino Trackers line, which is a theme in the facts app.
As you can see, Avaceratops have adapted to live in snowy, cold environments.
We named this subadult specimen “Casper” after the Friendly Ghost due to the coloration of the skull. It really does look like a white skull, which contrasts well with the warm grey body. The horns and beak are of a medium cool gray, and the eyes are the only part of the body that are not in a gray gradient, being goldenrod yellow. The spots on the top of the back are of a different grey than the head’s off-white; a cool light grey. The claws are unpainted, and I wish they had been painted in the same color as the horns and beak. Same with the parietal hornlets, and the epijugal horn, which are sculpted, but are hard to see.
Articulation is standard for this class of Mattel dinosaurs: rotating tail, hips, shoulders, and the neck can move up and down. The head cannot rotate at the base, though, and I really wish it did. Still, the sculpt is very nice, exactly what we have come to expect from Mattel!
I have to say though, the little code tab inside them exists only to keep the code sticker from falling out. I am starting to really not like them. The dinosaurs feel like toys rather than actual dinosaurs because of that little groove on the back (well, they ARE toys, who am I kidding?). I hope they can figure something out for next time, but I doubt they will. It is nice to have an app and all, but…again, the groove is starting to become a bit distracting, and now I have over 40 or so dinosaurs with them. They are very obvious on the smaller dinosaurs, such as Avaceratops. The darker colors hide it pretty well, though!
Casper stumbles upon a Loth-Cat.
It was Rebel Hero and bounty hunter Sabine Wren who helped us wrangle this dinosaur down.
Casper found an adult Avaceratops to play with.
Avaceratops was a small dinosaur between 2.5 meters to 4.5 meters so the 1:18 scale works here. It is the same size as the basic sized ceratopsians, and it looks fine with 3.75 inch tall humans.
After a quick check-up by park Doctor Ellie Sattler, Casper is ready to join the other animals at the park.
I personally think this Avaceratops scales better with humans than the BOTM one, which is really big for 1:18 scale. They should have made it in the size of Zuniceratops instead, as Avaceratops was max 4.5 meters long. They scale better with 4 inch sized humans anyways. I’m handing Mattel the win on this one, though, even though BOTM Avaceratops is the superior sculpt. Scaling still matters. Avaceratops could have been bigger, though. The holotype ANSP 15800 seems to represent a juvenile, and other, bigger specimens may represent the same genus, but this is being debated. In the end, it depends which figures you picture them with.
All in all, Avaceratops is a sleeper hit, and I would enjoy to see a repaint down the line, though this coloring is pretty good and quite interesting. Welcome to the park, Casper!
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