Parasaurolophus (Dual Attack Dino Rivals)(Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom by Mattel)

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Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy

One of my favorite herbivores, the Parasaurolophus is perhaps one of the most iconic of the hadrosaurids, and perhaps one of the more iconic herbivorous dinosaurs as well, with its large tube-like crest. This creature has been featured in every Jurassic Park film so far, yet has been hardly represented in the toy lines for the various films. The first one made was over 20 years ago, when Kenner made the first Parasaurolophus for any JP toyline. Up until now, it was the only one made for any JP/JW toyline. I had been holding off picking up the Kenner one for one reason or another. Has it finally paid off?

The subject of this review is this Dino Rivals Parasaurolophus, part of the Dual Attack assortment of JW figures. The figure comes with a card, as do all of the main line Dino Rivals figures (and the artwork on it gives it some strange theropod-like hands, but is otherwise a pretty faithful rendition of the toy’s design, and in turn, the film design). Like many of the previous JW figures made by Mattel, this figure has a sticker on the sole of its foot that can be scanned to add it to the JW facts app.

The figure offers two action features, in keeping with the Dual Attack theme, and some articulation in the legs, arms, and head. The head can move up and down and rotate some, and the arms and legs have the articulation typical for many of the creatures in this line so far. The figure’s default pose is on all fours, but with some work, it can be posed in a bipedal stance (and slightly tripod, since the tip of the tail will likely touch the ground). The right arm is gracefully raised upwards, and the left arm will be touching the ground, if the figure is in a quadrupedal stance. Pressing the first button on the back moves the head and neck down, as if it is headbutting something. Pressed rapidly though, it can certainly look as if it is headbanging. The second button delivers a tail attack, which many of the Dual Attack figures feature, as well as the Bite ‘N Fight Tyrannosaurus.

The color scheme is a callback to the design from The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which has also been used for the JW films (aside from there being more red along the back). The iconic striping is featured, and there is some red on the head and back of the neck. The belly is white. The body is a bit of a bright yellow color, whereas the film creature was more of a tan coloration (which Kenner’s toy did quite right). Perhaps this was done to make the toy more appealing to children, since brighter colors seems to sell better with them. It also helps it stand out among or with the rest of this line’s creatures. The eyes are solid black with red pupils (not unlike the Action Attack Carnotaurus) instead of being primarily orange colored with round pupils like in the films (or at the very least in the JW ones, and was very noticeable to see in the scene where it was featured as a hologram in Jurassic World).

The figure also seems to feature two separate types of plastic on the arms and the tip of the tail from the rest of the body, but I cannot perceive it in person (only the camera picks up on it). It is also about the size of the other Dual Attack and Roarivores toys produced, nowhere near as large as it would have been in life compared to the humans and the other creatures in this line. It is about 12 inches long by 5 inches tall when in a quadrupedal stance.

For accuracy, this Parasaurolophus gets most things right, and perhaps only some proportions are off (such as the large feet), since this is based off the film design. Only the front digits should not have claws, and should instead form a fleshy “mitten.” There is also a tiny bit of shrink-wrapping along the head. The skin texture does not resemble the real creature’s tiny polygonal scales, except perhaps over the top of the back, although they are quite large. The wrinkles and such do match the film version’s to some extant though.

I’m very satisfied to have this figure in my collection now, especially after all the years of waiting (and continuously putting off getting the Kenner version for one reason or another) for a JP Parasaurolophus toy. It is also the last herbivore produced so far that I have needed (outside of the Brachiosaurus coming later this year) for my film species collection, which is nearing completion now (the only other one I need is the Indominus Rex, which is also coming out later this year, if not counting the other species film variations coming out, such as the rest of the raptor squad, etc). I did not have luck finding this figure once in stores, and being impatient, I got it off Amazon for more than retail price. However, if you have better patience then me you may be able to have luck with finding it at Walmart (if you are in Canada or the US), or another store that may carry the Dual Attack assortment.