Time for some MEGA MATTEL MADNESS! Three large figures from their dinosaur figures inspired by the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom movie…one of them is among the earliest, the others are more recent. All three of them definitely demonstrate how much better things are with Mattel making them (the Hasbro were…there). There are of course issues (they’re toys first, after all) but they’re also pretty decent as far as toy dinos go.
Mattel Jurassic World Pachyrhinosaurus
First off, a dinosaur that was among the first Mattel Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom large figures, and the one with quite the story. This is the dinosaur that is clearly Pachyrhinosaurus, part of the original Roarivores line, item FFM23. But, oddly, it was originally listed as Sinoceratops…which is from a weird story. Apparently Pachyrhinosaurus was originally going to be the big ceratopsian in the JW:FK movie, and that’s what Mattel was told. Then, at some point, the movie was switched to Sinoceratops for some reason (I’ve heard speculation including more interesting horns, appeal to a Chinese species, using a dino that hadn’t been seen in a movie before). Who knows. But it appears that either Mattel didn’t have time to change the model, or didn’t want to…but renamed the dinosaur. It’s too bad, since it’s not a bad Pachyrhinosaurus (always with the ‘as a Jurassic World figure’ caveat) and/or Sinoceratops hadn’t been done as a widely available figure (I have a Japanese one of course). Mattel did of course eventually rectify this, and yes, we have it! But not today! This one, true to the ‘ROARivores’ name, has a button that causes it to make noise (and the head moves)…not my favorite feature.
Mattel Jurassic World Stegosaurus
The next dinosaur is one of two from about two years ago in the Dual-Action line, so named as the figures have two separate buttons that cause ‘action motion’. Wherein the tail swings and the head swings. One of those is more exciting on Stegosaurus of course. This one is GDL06, and while the sculpt appears to be the same as used on an earlier Stegosaurus model, the colour is, to me, a vast improvement–and of course, the the button-activation movements are different. If I have to guess, my son probably bought this one, since I am not sure if I would have actively sought this one, but it is nice and looks good on the shelf.
Mattel Jurassic World Suchomimus
Not like this model–I am not sure if I’ve mentioned, but I do appreciate the spinosaurid dinos, and it’s always great to have a different one. I even remember stumbling across this one in a TRU and didn’t even think twice about getting it (and, yes, saw the above Stegosaurus at the same time). Normally, I would have at least reconsidered since I already had the original blue ‘Action Attack’ model, but it is just so pretty! So I added item GDL07 to the collection! Like the stegosaur the buttons move the tail (odd) and let the head swing forward and chomp, which is more interesting.
I don’t normally do multiple sets of photos for a figure in a ‘frenzy’ but this one is more fun. It is awkward to get it to stand nicely–it needs to be weirdly upright, or have the feet placed in a strange way. But it is fine, and again, I do like the spinosaurid dinos so I have most of them (although oddly I don’t have the Spinosaurus figure). Of course, Mattel does seem to bring out and retire figures frequently–I do not believe any of these particular figures are still available but it is possible updated/modified/repainted versions may get released as the turnover from the Mattel Jurassic World toys seems to be pretty frequent (of course, the availability and distribution can vary a lot–I have been lucky to see many around me though). I am sure they can be found, and they do make great, large display figures or (probably) toys.
