If there’s one group of dinosaurs that have never before graced a child’s toy box then it would almost certainly be the alvarezsaurids. Alvarezsaurids are small, maniraptoran dinosaurs whose fossils were found in North and South America, as well as Asia. These dinosaurs had long legs and necks, and were probably feathered, but the main characteristic that sets most of these particular dinosaurs apart, is their insanely tiny arms, which end in a single clawed digit. With that in mind, I can see how these animals could be considered no fun for a kid to play with. However, that has not stopped the brave folks at Mattel from Creating one for their Jurassic World Dino Rivals Attack Pack range. The genus that Mattel had selected is Mononykus, an animal that appeared in the movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at Lockwood’s manor in the form of a few fibreglass statues. The genus has also appeared twice on our blog before. However, unlike The BOTM and MiniMax figures, this one was made with kids in mind, rather than adults.
As I said in my Blue review last year, one of the things I like about the Attack Pack range is that they are very simple figures with no gimmicks to worry about. The Attack Pack Mononykus has six points of articulation. The neck moves up and down, the tiny arms can rotate, the legs can move back and forth, and the tail can rotate as well. In terms of accuracy, this model is flawed, but thats because it’s a Jurassic World toy. However, unlike other Jurassic World toys, this model has feathers! There is a tail fan at the end of the tail, and little arm feathers sculpted on the single digit arms. Sadly, it would not be a Jurassic Park toy if it were completely feathered, so the rest of the toy is covered in scales. The scales are sculpted in the form of tiny little bumps across the back, and the sides of the legs.
The feet are obviously oversized, which is intentional so the model can stand. However, there is one other issue that is not visible at first glance. If you take a look at the head, you can see that there are some exposed teeth sculpted on the upper jaw. This is wrong because Mononykus (like other alvarezsaurids) had minuscule teeth, so tiny that I doubt that they would stick out of the jaws like this. The teeth are not immediately visible because they are painted the same color as the majority of the head (I will get back to this later).
This model gets several things right. The arms are nice and tiny, with only one digit, and the animal has at least some feathers. When it comes to colors, the plastic the toy is moulded in is grey, while the tail fan and head are painted navy blue. This also includes the teeth, which is why that inaccuracy is barely noticeable at first glance. There is red on the throat, light black lines on the back of the model, and yellow for the eyes and feet. when it comes to size, the model is six and a half inches from head to tail and close to four inches from the highest point when the head is in its default position.
Overall, I am conflicted on whether or not to recommend this toy. This is by far one of the most unusual animals to ever grace the Jurassic World toy line, as it is the first real toy replica of not only Mononykus, but also the whole family of Alvarezsauridae. Sure, there is the BOTM model, but that one is aimed at more mature collectors and is expensive to boot. This figure, on the other hand, is aimed at kids ages three and up, while also being a lot cheaper. Another thing that conflicts my decision, is that the model might possibly become rare, given the poor distribution I have encountered with the Dino Rivals line this year. To make matters worse, the only sellers I saw on ebay.com are scalping the model for ridiculous prices, and there are currently no listings for it on Amazon.com whatsoever. If you want this particular toy, and see it at a local store, then snatch it up if you can, because who knows how rare this model will become?
Edited by Dinotoyblog
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This is like some kind of alternate history toy. I can totally believe that if Mononykus had been in Jurassic Park 1, it might have looked like this.
Then again, I think “mononykids” were still thought to be avialan birds back then, so maybe not.