Vault Review: Imaginext
(Dino-Riders) Triceratops

I had five dollars of Geoffrey Bucks burning a hole in my pocket, so I headed down to Toys R Us to see what I’d find.  But our TRU’s been lacking in decent restocks lately, and I didn’t want to buy anything too expensive. Hello Imaginext Triceratops.

I’m a bit behind on my Imaginext Dino-Riders reviews.  Between the exclusive K-Mart Gift Set and an Ankylosaurus sitting on my desk, I probably should have held off on the Triceratops.  But this little guy is so fun and frustrating that I felt compelled to do him first.

The largest Dino-Rider dino I had as a kid was the Triceratops.  He towered over the tiny figures of the line and slowly lumbered through any obstacle with his battery powered movements.  I still have a few scattered pieces of his robotic armor, but sadly the figure itself is long gone.  But with my nostalgic fondness of the old figure, I’ve been eagerly anticipating his newer counterpart.

The Triceratops is an entirely brand new figure.  Now that I have a few different dinosaurs from this line, I’ve noticed they all share a similar design pattern.  Running down the backs of the animals are raised areas that have a jagged pattern to the edges.  These patterns also appear on the shoulders, hips, and sometimes the tops of their heads.  This design choice brings a nice sense of cohesion to these newer dinos, but it’s also one more thing that makes them stand out from the older Imaginext prehistoric reptiles.  This could be a negative for those who want to mix and match.

Like most Imaginext toys, the paint jobs are at a minimum.  The only parts that are painted on the Triceratops are his eyes, beak, head spikes, and toe nails.  Everything else, including his armor, is molded the color it needs to be.  One nice touch is the dark flecks that have been added to the plastic itself.  It adds a sense of depth to the mostly cartoony design.

The figure in this set is one of the good guys.  He uses the basic Imaginext male “buck” with a gray and neon green uniform.  Nothing too different from the norm.  Continue to page 2…

10 thoughts on “Vault Review: Imaginext
(Dino-Riders) Triceratops

  1. Oh man, that looks awesome! I freakin’ LOVE dinosaurs. Darn it, now I have to find a store that stocks Imaginext here! Thanks a bunch, IAT!

    1. Yeah, dinos are the best. They’re pretty easy to find, so you shouldn’t have much trouble. TRU, Target, Walmart, and K-Mart all carry them. There is an exclusive K-Mart two pack though, but it’s just the Raptor in green and the Pterodactyl in blue.

  2. I am more and more impressed by the Imaginext line. The ‘dino-riders’ line is very impressive (and would have been on my must-have list at 8 years old!) but some of the other sub-lines just blow my mind, like the whole ‘quasi-retro’ airplanes thing. And playsets. The Batcave playset is astonishing.

    And then, at (of all places!) a ‘Burlington Coat Factory’ outlet I stumble on what I consider the most amazing thing ever.

    Police Tank.

    There was a sub-line that was kinda sorta… I don’t know, future dystopia? Where cops have tanks and armored power suits and the crooks have powered suits as well? I’m not sure and I don’t care because POLICE TANK!

    And it’s a mini-tank. With a big-ass gun. Yeah, that’s right, it’s kinda sorta Dominion Tank Police. I think I need to go back and buy that thing.

    First I start buying select My Little Ponies*, now I’m going for Imaginext. I think I’m regressing or something. Or maybe I just want toys that are actually toys, right? *sigh*

    *you want to talk ‘off model’ crisis? Why can’t Hasbro make a show-accurate Applejack with a proper cowgirl hat? huh? HUH!?

    1. I’ll have to check out that police tank, it sounds pretty cool.

      Also, I have no idea why Hasbro can’t seem to make a cowgirl hat for Applejack. It’s like the simplest request, but they can’t seem to pull it off.

  3. my only complaint, being a dino-nerd, would be the scale… that triceratops should be much larger in the overall scale of things, in comparison to the other dinos.

    and yes, after real steel, faux joints are in my sights as well. what a cruel thing to do to a toy.

    1. Scale wise he is a bit small, but maybe he’s just a young Triceratops. 😉

      Spread the cause. Down with faux joints!

  4. Fun review, as always! I’m just glad these things aren’t done in a realistic fashion, or I’d be wringing my hands over how to get them, and then how to pay for them, and then where to put them.

    And false joints do indeed suck thagomizers big time. For shame, Mattel!

    1. Thanks Beedo. You’re definitely not alone. I seem to be suffering from a similar lack of money and space.

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