As it stands there is only one review for Irritator on the blog, Irritator being an early Cretaceous spinosaurid from Brazil. That toy is by CollectA and it’s pushing a decade old and quite clearly “early CollectA” in terms of quality. There are a few other Irritator out there but none that are as accessible or as mass produced as that one. But now there is another, and naturally it comes to us from Mattel. By this point no one should be surprised at Mattel and their penchant for bringing obscure dinosaurs to life as action figures. They’ve been doing it since the beginning. That said, it still amazes me that I’m able to go into a Wal-Mart or Target and find an action figure for something like an Irritator or Callovosaurus.
The Sound Strike Irritator measures just under 13” in length and stands just over 4” at the hips, its highest point. Being a Sound Strike toy this dinosaur represents toys in the mid-size range and is new for 2020. Since this is a Sound Strike it has an action feature whereby the head can be moved about by moving the tail, also making it roar in the process. Therein lies my first criticism of the toy, the roar sounds less like an animal and more like a busy construction site. Like the other Sound Strike toys it is also really sensitive to touch and the slightest wiggle will cause it to screech like a bulldozer knocking over a dilapidated building, with jackhammers breaking concrete in the background.
In addition to the action feature the mouth can be manually opened and closed, which I appreciate for display purposes. The legs of course rotate and lock in place in various positions. The arms can also swivel about in every which way. But my toy is going to spend most of its time on a shelf, so the action features and noises are mostly irrelevant to me. Kids will still enjoy it. What I care about is how the toy looks, and this one looks pretty darn cool, despite a slew of inaccuracies that I’ll only briefly discuss without getting too nitpicky.
The inaccuracies here are many with the overall skull shape being the most obvious offender. Instead of being vertically narrow as it should be the head is instead wide and flattened like an alligator. The teeth are also more crocodilian looking than on the actual Irritator. Admittedly the effect is pretty cool, because the teeth lock together in an interesting way, but it’s a far cry from accurate. That’s a shame because with Irritator the skull is really all we have to go by when it comes to appearance. I am not the first to point it out, but the toy looks very much like Rudy, the albino Suchomimus from Ice Age 3. It’s not all bad though, the nasal openings are placed mid-way up the skull as they should be. The distinctive sagittal crest between the eyes is also included.
Like other Mattel theropods there are proportional issues as well. The tail is short, and feet oversized. On this particular toy the feet also have really thick and visually distracting pads behind the toes. These are to aid in stability because this toy has a unique horizontal posture unlike many other theropods in the line. The posture is one of my favorite things about the toy. The body is held horizontally with the tail and hips lifted high in the air while the torso and head are tilted downwards. The toy can also be positioned with the tail tip touching the ground and the head lifted high, but I prefer the default posture.
So far Irritator is mostly known from its skull, the holotype of which was acquired secondhand from fossil dealers that had modified its appearance. The process of restoring and making sense of that skull was apparently a frustrating endeavor, hence the unusual name. The Mattel Irritator is presented with a gap in the sail, like the Asian spinosaurid Ichthyovenator. On the toy it seems likely that this was done primarily so the tail could be moved independently from the body but what the actual sail looked like is speculative.
The detail work on this toy is admirable and consistent with many of Mattel’s recent releases. Different scale shapes and sizes are present over the body. Those on the head are large, flat, and irregularly shaped. Moving down the body the scales take on a more pebbly appearance and texture. Bird-like scutes are present on the toes, and small pebbly scales on the hands. Folds of skin run down the sides of the neck, body, and tail. The faint hint of the shoulder musculature and the rib cage are subtly present beneath the skin. Striations are etched along the length of the jagged sail and there’s a small sail on the underside of the tail as well. The tongue has a rough, bumpy texture.
For the most part the body is brown but, on the head, neck, portions of the back, and sail we have an attractive two-toned blue paintjob. Lighter blue patches overlay the darker blue base color. Unfortunately, this paintjob stops at the tail and I would have really preferred it if it at least continued down the rest of the sail. A lighter brown patch is painted on the underside where the sound mechanics are located. None of the claws are painted, the teeth are white, the tongue is pink, and the eyes are green with blue pupils.
The Mattel Irritator was one of my most anticipated Jurassic World toys for 2020 and it does not disappoint. The usual and expected anatomical issues aside there is a lot here that I really like, including the overall posture, detail work, and color design. I’m ecstatic that there’s now an action figure for one of my favorite spinosaurids and an Irritator for my toy shelf. The Mattel Irritator retails for about $15.00.
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Please do a deep detailed review on Hammond Collection Irritator
Another one of the blog’s reviewers is supposed to do that one. I have no idea when they plan to though.
Not thrilled with this one. Not one of Mattel’s better efforts, in my view. Certainly nowhere near as nice as the Majungasaurus.
I was under the impression that the prevailing wisdom is that Irritator does not have a sail, just a high arched back, like the Collecta Deluxe Baryonyx.
It is also likely that Irritator had some type of tail fin, like its big brother the closely related Spinosaurus., though the tail fin may not be as well developed as on Spino.
Seems the JP/W designers just can’t get spinosaur snouts right… Odd, because they look pretty cool and distinct, scarier than the generic croc snouts they give them.