Flocking this way and back into our hearts, here comes the Gallimimus, not only is it featured again in the Jurassic Park franchise’s 5th installment but it’s back on the toy shelves as well. Gallimimus has featured in all but one Jurassic Park movies to date. That’s quite an accomplishment for a genus that belongs to one of the most ignored dinosaur groups in the toy market, the Ornithomimosaurs. Even among the Jurassic Park toys there are only a few now rare examples of the Gallimimus, all of them produced for the first film. For Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom it seems that Mattel is committed to bringing as many genera to the shelves as possible, both obscure and common, some in the film and some not.
The Attack Pack Gallimimus represents one of Mattel’s “lower tier” products. A small figure with a low price point, you can pick it up singly or in a larger boxed collection of small toys. From nose-to-tail it measures about 7”, which hardly puts it in scale with the human action figures included in the line. Let’s not forget that at 20’ in length the real Gallimimus was only small in contrast to other dinosaurs and it was still the largest member of the ornithomimid family.
The model balances well on two ridiculously oversized feet, and oversized feet seem to be the rule with most of the Mattel theropods thus far. But it won’t fall over, which is not something that can be said for their Kenner predecessors. Aside from that it’s a close match to the Gallimimus we see in the Jurassic films, which is to say it’s terribly inaccurate, scientifically. Pronated hands and a featherless hide horribly date this 2018 toy all the way back to 1993. Still, it’s arguably the best rendition of the film’s representation that we’ve been given thus far.
The legs and arms on the toy can rotate around completely and in addition to that the head and neck can be raised up and lowered. That’s about it for action features but it’s not bad for a small toy. It can at least drink or graze if you want it to. Aside from a hard plastic body the rest of the toy is constructed with soft, pliable plastic. The posture is alert and active, as it should be, with the stiff tail lifted high off the ground and two strong, muscular looking legs.
The paint job on this toy is mostly bland, but I honestly kind of like it. Overall it’s a pale sandy color, with some brown stripes along the back. Small dark flecking along the body and limbs accentuate the sandy appearance, this must be a desert adapted representation of the species. The claws aren’t painted, which seems to be the norm for the Attack Pack toys. The eyes are yellow with slit pupils the same color as the animal itself. Slit pupils; was Gallimimus nocturnal? Probably not and a keen observer will note that those in the movies have round pupils. If you don’t like these color choices there are a couple other variants with different paint jobs, you could even start your own little flock with them.
Overall I have to say that this toy is probably a pass to anyone but the most committed Jurassic Park fan. I picked it up because I’m a sad nostalgic, forever in love with the Gallimimus scene from the original film. Also, it was cheap. If you’re looking for a decent depiction of the animal featured in the films this little fella will have to do. But even I, an obsessed “Jurassic Park” fan, am getting weary of these outdated dinosaurs.
Available from Amazon.com here.
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Call me crazy, but I love this toy. It’s the action figure I wish I had when I was a kid, as the original Jurassic Park line was missing such a figure (the original Gallimimus was impossible to get here in the UK, and looks nothing like the movie version anyway). It is supposed to be retro, so I don’t care about the missing feathers at all.
Unless Wikipedia, the Jurassic Park wiki, and my own memory are all failing me, Gallimimus was not present in JP3. Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, and Velociraptor are the only genera featured in all of the films (though Parasaurolophus and Triceratops are largely confined to unnamed cameo roles in all of the films).
I could have swore they were in the stampede or river scene in JP3 but you’re probably right. I’ll have to look into it and edit the review accordingly.
Feathered Gallimimus would have been nice to see back in JW, but too bad. In any case I am glad there are numerous variants of this creature in this toyline, which have been absent for all but Kenner’s first toyline (and even then that one was rare and not based on the film’s creature). I am holding out for the Wave 3 Legacy Collection one, otherwise I would have picked this one up, since I’m trying to complete my film species collection. But who knows, maybe I will get this one later too.
Ugh.
That sums up my take on this toy.