Dimetrodon (Jurassic World: Dominion, Extreme Damage by Mattel)

With the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, Dimetrodon has finally made its long-awaited film debut. But despite only just now being featured on-screen, Dimetrodon has been long associated with the Jurassic franchise. A toy of the Permian synapsid was released all the way back in 1993 as part of Kenner’s first wave of Jurassic Park toys. In my case, the illustrations of Dimetrodon featured on the Kenner collector cards have been burned into my brain for so long that Dimetrodon and Jurassic Park are synonymous with each other despite its absence in the first 5 films.

Today we’re looking at Mattel’s second Dimetrodon released in its Jurassic World range, the Extreme Damage Dimetrodon. This toy is a huge improvement over its predecessor and appears to be easier to acquire, despite being a Wal-Mart exclusive. Although I’m not a big fan of the Extreme Damage gimmick I liked this Dimetrodon enough to look past it. If I had been a bit more patient, I could have held out for yet another, arguably better Dimetrodon but, c’est la vie.

The Extreme Damage Dimetrodon measures 7.5” long and stands about 3.5” at its tallest point. Slash marks are sculpted into both sides of the figure and a button, cleverly integrated into the sail, switches the green coloration within the slashes to red. Behind the action feature button is the hidden scan code, also integrated into the sail.  

Articulation wise, the mouth can open and close and the neck can swivel around at its base.  A small portion of the sail that is present on the neck also moves with it, which is weird looking but when posed neutrally, of little notice. The forelimbs can swing in-and-out and rotate completely around, and the hindlegs can pivot outwards and rotate around too. The tail can also needlessly rotate.

The head sculpt on this toy, while better than the previous Mattel Dimetrodon, isn’t great. It has the general shape of a Dimetrodon skull, being tall and narrow, but the gap in the upper jaw, and the differentiated teeth, are absent. Dimetrodon means “two measures of teeth”, but all the teeth here are identical. Overall, the head ends up looking like a generic theropod skull. Even more so since there are sunken antiorbital fenestra on the toy when Dimetrodon didn’t have antiorbital fenestra at all since it was not a dinosaur, or even an archosaur.

The rest of the body looks alright, it’s the traditional look applied to Dimetrodon over the decades. The limbs are sprawled out and have the correct number of five digits on each. The body is nicely detailed with small, pebbly scales, with larger keeled scales evenly spaced along the hide, from neck to tail. The belly is smooth, and the sail has a nice, fibrous texture.

The body is lime green with a pale jaw and a bright, red sail. Dark brown slashes and speckles are painted running across the eyes and on the body along the base of the sail. Brown slashes are also painted on the sail but only on the portions that aren’t part of its action feature or scan code. Small bits of sail on the tail, as well as the toe claws, are unpainted. The teeth are white, and the tongue pink but the roof of the mouth is unpainted. The eyes are yellow with round pupils.

Overall, I really like this coloration and consider the paintjob a big part of this toy’s appeal. That said, the recently released figure that comes in a two-pack with Dr. Grant has a much more naturalistic and subdued paintjob. Because of that, in addition to lacking the slash marks, it is the better of the two Dominion Dimetrodon figures. Of course, if your preference is for brighter colors, you might prefer this one. There is also a Ferocious Pack Dimetrodon on the way, although I like that one less than the two-pack figure, or this Extreme Damage one. Either way, you have choices. Personally, I’m happy enough with this Dimetrodon that I don’t feel compelled to get another.

The Extreme Damage Dimetrodon is a huge improvement over its Dino-Rivals counterpart. My only real complaint about it is the inaccurate head sculpt but that won’t bother most Jurassic World collectors. The paintjob is eye-catching and nicely executed and the toy itself nicely detailed and sculpted. The good news is that if there are features you don’t like about this one, or if you cannot acquire it, two other Dimetrodon toys will be available shortly. The Extreme Damage Dimetrodon is currently available at Wal-Mart for about $10.