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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Triceratops and Loana Vinyl Figures
One Million Years B.C.

Star Ace
Date Published: 2021-08-02
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3.5 out of 4

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One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Introduction

Ray Harryhausen created many of the creatures that influenced the kids of the 1950's and 60's. From Mighty Joe Young to Clash of the Titans, his stop motion work elevated mediocre films to classic status.

But we haven't gotten a lot of these characters as collectibles. Star Ace has been working to remedy that with a series of vinyl figures based on the film One Million Years B.C, among others. They already released an Allosaurus (which was available with or without Tumok), and are following that up with the Triceratops. Like the Allosaurus, the Triceratops comes in two versions. The regular is by himself (herself?), and the special release comes with Loana. The latter set is the subject of the review today.

These vinyl statues are expensive, no doubt about that, and this pair is particularly so.  The single Triceratops will run you around $225, while the pair goes for closer to $300. Even so, they are sold out at many retailers at this point.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Packaging - ***
The large box works well, and they've used some nice photos of the figures themselves. Inside, a couple plastic trays hold the dinosaur and the damsel, but it's not quite as collector friendly as some releases. There is one big ass twisty tie holding the big beast in place, but it's not too odorous to remove.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Sculpting - ****
The weight of this score is going largely toward the Triceratops. He's a beaut. The heavily textured skin, the lifelike glassy eyes, the open mouth and tongue, even the bone appearance of the horns, all of it looks amazingly realistic and quite screen accurate. He's big too, about 16" long and a little over 6" tall at his highest point. The scale works quite well with the earlier Allosaurus (see the last photo for a comparison).

He's posed with one front foot slightly raised, moving forward. This foot actually sits nicely on the included base if you want to go that route, but he also stands just fine on the other three feet.

But what about Loana? Well, the fur bikini is well done, and the general proportions and scale are good. She stands about 6" tall, and the detail work on the outfit is quite nice. The pose is pretty classic too, and works well in combination with the dinosaurs. But is it Raquel Welch as Loana? I'm going to have to say it's closer to cosplay Loana that on screen Loana.

While she comes with a base as well, she stands just great on her own on any flat surface.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Paint - ****
The paint work on the dinosaur might not seem critical - it's not a lot of operations. But getting it to be the right color, the right shading, the right finish, all lead to the end result and whether it's toy-ish or realistic.

They nailed it, with just the right variation in skin color, a super realistic bone finish on the horns and nose, and taxidermy quality eyes.

Loana also looks great. She has the smaller details, including the tiny eyes and lips, as well as the highlighting and edging on the fur. The blonde hair is tricky of course, since any shade of yellow just looks yellow. They went with a more metallic shade, which works about as well as you're going to get in t his scale.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Articulation - N/A
This is an information only category. These are vinyl statues, hence there's no articulation on either one.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Accessories - ***
This category is a bit tricky, since you could consider Loana an accessory herself.

I did, and that elevated this score. It's really nice to have the human figures, in scale, to go with the Harryhausen dinosaurs.

Even if you consider her a main figure and not an accessory, there's technically two more extras. There's a larger base for her, about 4"x4", covered in sand and rocks. It works well, and I believe you can interconnect it with the one from the earlier set.

There's also a small rocky base with the One Million B.C. logo on it, which the triceratops can place his raised foot.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Fun Factor - ***
At first glance, it might not seem like these have a lot of fun potential for adults. Oh, if you gave them to a kid, they'd have a great time, articulation be damned. But for adults, posing and re-posing in the display is a big part of the fun, and with no joints and no extras, you'd assume that would be limited.

But with two figures, you can do some rearranging over time. Also, if you add these two into the set up with Tumok and the Allosaurus, you'll have even more opportunity for 'play time'.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Value - *1/2
The price on these is the big drawback - they aren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. You'll pay just over $200 for the dinosaur only, and when you add in Loana, expect to pay another $75. This isn't unusual in the high end vinyl statue market, especially when they are imported from companies overseas. Still, it's the biggest factor that will play into your final decision.

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Things to Watch Out For -
This is like a high end statue...but since they are vinyl, you don't have to worry about breaking anything easily.

Overall - ***1/2
If this set was $100, it would be an easy four star review. The price is the only thing pulling it down, and depending on the collector, this may not be a deciding factor. As much as I love Harryhausen, it is definitely a key consideration.

Combining this set with the earlier Tumok/Allosaurus really takes them to the next level. Star Ace is doing a terrific job with these, and should make fans of the stop motion master quite happy.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - N/A
Accessories - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***1/2

One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- had this guy at $295, but appear to be sold out. They also had the Triceratops by himself, but look sold out there too.

- Entertainment Earth was at $230 for the dinosaur alone, but are also sold out. Definitely a popular set!

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
You'll want to check out the Tumak and Allosaurus set that I used in some of the photos.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!

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One Million Years B.C. Triceratops and Loana figures by Star Ace

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This product was provided for the review by the manufacturer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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