Review and photos by Takama, edited by Suspsy
So, the time has come to review my first Jurassic World toy from Mattel. I have chosen the Battle Damage Tyrannosaurus rex that comes with a Monolophosaurus, which is exclusive to Walmart in North America. The main reason I chose to buy this toy as opposed to the Thrash ‘N Throw version is simply because it is cheaper and it comes with a dinosaur that I’m not sure will be released on its own in the future. Now, one thing I want to make clear right off the bat is that this is the exact same toy as the Extreme Chompin’ T. rex from the Legacy line that is exclusive to Target. The only difference is that this one has some visible battle scars that were simply painted on. And again, it comes with the Monolophosaurus, which I will review at a later date.
As far as first impressions are concerned, this T. rex makes for a pretty well-crafted toy, one that puts most of Hasbro’s attempts at a T. rex to shame. Once it is removed from the box, the toy only requires the tail to be attached. Once it is attached, it is probably impossible to remove, as I cannot seem to remove it easily, and I do not wish to accidentally break the toy in the process. The T. rex stands roughly around 20 inches long and 6 inches high at the hip. When I first took it out to play with, I was not impressed due to the static pose it came in, but then I discovered about an hour later that the head and neck were actually poseable. My feelings for it then changed drastically! When this toy was first revealed, some people were not impressed by the seams around the neck region, but the reason those seams are there is because of the neck joint.
The T. rex has several points of articulation. In addition to the neck being ball-jointed, the tail can rotate, the legs can swivel, and the arms can move around. Also poseable are the clownishly oversized feet, which can be rotated a full 360 degrees. However, they can *only* rotate, and are not ball-jointed like most of the other parts of the figure. Perhaps one of the most important things I should mention is this toy’s action feature. If you press a large button on the back of the head, the mouth opens wide and the tongue sticks out. This, however, is where I think the toy loses some points, as the tongue is sticking out of the middle of the mouth, and gets in the way of anything you try to put in it (which is something I’m sure a lot of children would like to do, as well as many adult collectors like us). Another thing I do not like about this feature is that it’s impossible to keep the mouth open without keeping the button pressed, so you cannot recreate the famous breakout scene from the first movie and photograph it without your hands getting in the way.
In terms of durability, the model feels (and most likely is) pretty hollow. However, it also feels really sturdy, and could probably handle some abuse, (unlike Hasbro’s Bashers and Biters toys) but I’m not willing to bash this toy around with other dinosaurs to test its limits. In terms of scientific accuracy, there is not much to talk about. It’s a JW toy made for kids. So this toy is going to have the angry eyebrows and box-like head that made the JP T. rex so recognizable. Other issues with this toy should be obvious from the photos. The feet are way too big to be realistic, almost clownish in appearance. The arms are too long, but at least the fingers are not of equal length, and the head features binocular vision.
The colors on this T. rex are nothing too special, as it was painted to look like the animal from the movie. The base paint is a sandy color, while most of the figure is painted in different shades of tan. The eyes are painted yellow, the teeth are painted in an off white, and the hind claws are painted black. Unfortunately, the foreclaws are not painted at all, and the red scars on the figure look very artificial. For the most part, there is little to no paint run off, however, there are little specks of sandy-colored paint on some parts of the body. I’m not sure if these were intentional or simply accidental drips from the factory. The colors inside the mouth are all the same, basically a dark pink.
Overall, I think this is an awesome T. rex, one that I’m glad I purchased, and it really goes to show how committed Mattel is to creating toys that are better than (almost) everything that Hasbro released in the past. It’s just a shame that you cannot make it hold things with its mouth, or pose it with its mouth open without some pressure on the button. If you want a T. rex from this new line, it is a fairly cheap version that is in scale with most of the other toys, and does not require any extra batteries to make it roar. It is also a very poseable figure, although if your expecting articulation and accuracy akin to the Beasts of the Mesozoic toys then you will be disappointed.
Available from Amazon here.
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Hello just purchased for my nephew what batteries does it require. Cannot find it on the box…….…………Thank you
Hi, you may have already found the answer to this, but in case you haven’t, this toy doesn’t require batteries.
I love this Rexy figure. Her feet are big for standing, but her sculpture, articulation and details are great!
Just wanted to mention that the cream colored flecks are intentional- all the Mattel rexes have them for extra detail. I’m really impressed with the screen accuracy of all their T. rex figures! The oversized feet are the most pronounced in these Extreme Chompin’ versions, but they all stand perfectly well on their own as a result 🙂