Surely enough as the seasons change, and time goes by, toys will be forgotten. Such is the case with this one, a 3 year old toy that I got second-hand in a lot of dinosaurs primarily purchased not as a collector, but as a father. So now I have a Jurassic World Hasbro toy, something I never actually wanted. It’s a Dimorphodon incidentally, kind of amusing when you consider my last review. Now holding one of these notoriously awful toys in hand, has my opinion changed? Is it as bad as we all thought it was back in 2015?
The Hasbro Dimorphodon measures 11.5” in wingspan and 8.5” long from nose to tail. It’s an average size for a dinosaur toy, but a behemoth of a Dimorphodon. Keep in mind that the real Dimorphodon only had a 4’ wingspan, about the size of a raven. Exactly what action figure or dinosaur toy is this pterosaur supposed to scale in with? Big pterosaur toys are only nice when they represent big pterosaur species. Hasbro didn’t pay any attention to scale and while it might seem superficial on the surface it’s frustrating for collectors of set scales, or even kids who might want to recreate a scene from the film.
The overall posture of this toy is really awkward. The arms and legs are sprawled out to the sides of a misshapen and bloated looking body. It looks less like a pterosaur and more like a bloated rat corpse along the roadside. This can be somewhat forgiven when the action features are taken into account. The hind-limbs are a trigger to make the wings move, mouth open, and create a flapping sound effect. There is also a dino-damage button on the back that lights up red and causes the pterosaur to shriek. The body has to contain all of the devices necessary to make these action features work and the features are actually kind of fun, but the aesthetic of the toy suffers greatly from it. There were perhaps more clever ways to implement these functions; this just comes across as lazy.
For a Dimorphodon the proportions are all off. The body is entirely too large, the head too small, tail too short, wings too small, and legs too large. Instead of five digits per hind limb this toy only has three, like a bird, except birds have four digits. For what its worth and it’s not worth much, the forelimbs do have the correct number of digits.
The attachment sites for the wings are exceptionally weird looking. The membrane correctly starts at an elongated fourth finger but then it ends back at the armpit instead of attaching to the body. I understand why they did it; they wanted it to flap, but a lot of other pterosaur action figures have the exact same function without this weird anatomy. Again, lazy.
Is there anything to like about this toy? Sure, the detail work is actually pretty good here. The head is especially well detailed. It looks like the movie Dimorphodon, so it’s ugly, but it’s certainly better looking than the Hasbro Tyrannosaurus. Scales cover most of the head and body with a small patch of pycnofibers along the back; the wings are fibrous and veiny looking. The color choices aren’t completely off-putting but it’s basically jungle camouflage and unnatural looking on what’s supposed to be a living animal and not military aircraft.
Despite many criticisms being launched at this toy, it’s far from the worse toy in the Hasbro Jurassic World range. It’s fairly sturdy with this one having been subjected to three years of play and still working (we’ll see how long it lasts with my daughter) and it’s fun to play with for the younger set. That said, the Mattel Dimorphodon I reviewed previously is far better proportioned, properly in scale with other toys in the line, displays better, and is ultimately a lot more fun even with the lack of intricate electronics.
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This was the first JW toy I bought. I have all the Hasbro ones…mainly because I’m collector. But…yeah, they were awful.
The first time I came across this toy in a store, I marvelled at how much the line had fallen since Hasbro took over from Kenner.
Yup, those were dark times. Although you don’t seem particularly thrilled by Mattel either.
So far I’ve purchased only one Mattel product, but I *am* impressed by the quality of the line overall. It’s clearly not Safari or CollectA or Battat, but comparing Mattel and Hasbro is like comparing steak and roadkill!
No, certainly not Safari or similar collectible models. But you can’t really compare them to those anyway, these are action figures that are meant to be played with, and in that regard they excel.
Haha, funny you mention Battat. These are leagues better than the Battat action figures. 😉