Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy
For the first time in Jurassic Park‘s history, Mattel now has the license from Universal to create toys for this franchise after Hasbro and Kenner had it for years before. No doubt Hasbro’s disappointing attempt at the previous toy line for Jurassic World (featuring screw holes on the sides of the figures, permanent flesh wounds on most, no sense of scale, and poor quality control) was the push that was needed to hand the reigns over to someone else. After the official reveal of their new toys at the New York Toy Fair this year, Mattel seems to have proven quite capable of having the license by offering figures that have a consistent sense of scale and highly detailed, near-film accurate sculpts and color schemes (for the most part), both of which have not been a thing since the Kenner days. The figures also feature interesting action features and more articulation then most JP and JW figures. A collector’s dream come true, it seems.
This review will cover the Battle Damage Velociraptor “Blue” figure. This is one of several figures of Blue that Mattel has in store for their JW toyline. Blue features several points of articulation at the neck (up and down and side to side), jaw, arms (up and down and around), and legs. Being part of the Battle Damage line, she has a little hatch on her side, which when pressed, will expose a bit of flesh. It is a solidly working feature, but not something I’ll fiddle around with much. Though I can imagine it will serve as something fun for kids when they engage this figure in battles with other creatures in the line.
There is not much here to cover for accuracy. Being a JW raptor, this figure is far from being scientifically accurate (no feathers, no wings, pronated wrists, etc). However, this figure is pretty film accurate, which is great after Hasbro’s last disappointing attempts (that didn’t even have any blue in the paint scheme). The figure’s body is made of a grey plastic with small dark flecks in it. She has her asymmetrical blue striping on both sides, complete with the white lines, as seen in Jurassic World, and the upcoming sequel. Her eyes are a nice amber color and her hind claws are painted grey, although the claws on her hands are not painted at all. The tongue and lower part of the mouth are painted pink, but the palate is not. The belly is also painted the same cream color as the teeth.
Considering how small this figure is, it packs quite a number of details into the sculpt. The head sculpt is spot on for a JP Velociraptor, being one of the first figures in any of the JP/JW toylines to nail this look. The feet are a little bit oversized, and I wish the famous sickle claw was in a bit more of a raised pose, but it is not too bad the way it is. The sculpt also features lots of wrinkly details, comparable to the Velociraptor maquette and animatronic from the first film. This toy measures about 7 inches (17.8 cm) long, and 4 inches (10 cm) tall, which scales nicely with the 1/18th (3 and 3/4) scale human figures, and many of the other creatures in this toyline.
This figure is currently a Walmart exclusive in the USA, but might be hitting international stores too. Available from Amazon here.
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Very nice Blue, I love all the points of articulation. Another great Mattel piece to consider buying!
I have this version of Blue and I love it. Mattel hit this line out of the (Jurassic) park.