Becklespinax (Altispinax) (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Battle Roarin’ by Mattel)

Leave it to the Jurassic World franchise to once again thrust an exceptionally fragmentary dinosaur into the limelight and give it the wrong name in the process. Becklespinax is one of many synonyms for the early Cretaceous English theropod now known as Altispinax. The paleontological history of this dinosaur is more interesting than the dinosaur itself, since all that’s known of it are three back vertebrae with tall neural spines. Samuel Husbands Beckles discovered these fossils in the 1850’s and sent them to Richard Owen, who attributed them to Megalosaurus bucklandii. Owen also thought the vertebra were located on the shoulder region, and it is surmised that this is why the Crystal Palace Megalosaurus has a hump along its back. The subsequent naming and classification of these bones is a convoluted affair, and I welcome our dear readers to look up the Wikipedia article on Altispinax so that I won’t have to repeat it here.

The remains of Altispinax are so scant that it cannot even be classified as anything more specific than an allosauroid. Most reconstructions make it look like a carcharodontosaurid, like Concavenator, which also possesses tall neural spines and comes from early Cretaceous Europe. Why Universal used it as the big bad dino in Chaos Theory is a mystery. They could have used Acrocanthosaurus if they wanted another sail/hump backed dinosaur in the franchise. In fact, there was a time when Gregory Paul classified Altispinax as Acrocanthosaurus. Questionable choices aside, I guess I’m happy that we got Altispinax in the franchise because it led to Mattel making what has been unanimously proclaimed as one of the best toys in their Jurassic World line.

The Mattel Becklespinax measures about 18” (45 cm) long and stands 8” (20 cm) tall at its tallest point. Gregory Paul estimated a length of 26’ (8 meters) for the genus, which would put the toy at 1/18 in scale. Perhaps a more accurate scale can be calculated from the spines though. The neural spines of Altispinax measure 13.7” (35 cm) high while the tallest ones on the toy measure 1.5” (3.81 cm) tall, giving the toy a scale of 1/9!

The figure is articulated at the arms with ball joints, the legs can rotate and lock into a few positions and pivot outwards, and the tail can swing back-and-forth. The action feature is activated by using wheels on either side of the sail and both wheels activate the same features. Rotating them backwards lifts the head up and opens the mouth, which then snaps forward. Meanwhile, spines hidden within the tail pop out. Rotating the wheel forward forces the jaw to snap downward and the spines to retract back into the tail. The toy roars while the action features are in play. The scan code is cleverly hidden on a pull tab hidden within the sail.

The figure has a generic sort of theropod body, so it passes as an allosauroid. The head is long, low, and forward sloping, with crests over the brows and along the middle of the head. The shape is reminiscent of the Jurassic World: Evolution Australovenator. The arms are large with three fingers on inward facing hands. The proportions are decent for a Mattel theropod, with large but not excessively oversized feet and an acceptable tail length.

Mattel pulled no punches with the detail on this figure. Starting on the head you get a complete covering of small pebbly scales with larger scales clustered along the back of the jaw and labial scales along the mouth. The crests have the appearance of enlarged osteoderms overlapping each other and clusters of smaller osteoderms are nestled between the rows. Faint grooves detail the surface of the osteoderms that make up the crests.

The teeth are the finely sculpted rubbery inserts that Mattel has been favoring lately. One of the biggest improvements on Mattel theropods in general. Within the mouth the glossy tongue has a pitted texture, and grooves run along the palate. The head is maroon colored with blood red splashes across the face. The lower jaw is creamy white, the teeth are white, and the inside of the mouth is pink. The eyes are yellow with black elliptical pupils.

A row of spines run along the back of the neck, these start out small but increase in size and then taper off when we approach the back. Like the teeth, these are rubbery inserts that are separate from the rest of the toy. The spines are detailed with faint grooves. The neck itself is thick with waves of horizontal skin folds running down its length and sagging skin running down from the edges of the mouth.

Pebbly scales cover the surface of the neck with larger feature scales scattered throughout. The creamy white color of the jaw extends down the neck and terminates there with a gradual blending of color. The maroon color on the cranium transitions to racing stripes along the sides of the neck and across the arms and torso. The rest of the neck is the drab green color that will dominate the rest of the toy but there’s some light green airbrushing along the nape.

The torso is completely covered in pebbly scales, including on the underside. It is also detailed in warty protuberances and vertical skin folds. The smallest scales can be seen on the sail, which is maroon colored with brown splashed between the spines. Larger scales are sculpted along the edge of the sail, where it erupts from the back. The muscular arms are entirely maroon colored, including the claws. They are detailed in small pebbly scales with scutes along the back of the fingers and wrinkling on the inside surface of the hands.

The legs are entirely green, but the claws are painted glossy black! Painted toe claws are definitely worth celebrating on a Mattel dinosaur. The hallux toes aren’t painted though. The legs are detailed with the same pebbly scales we see elsewhere, with scutes running down the toes. There’s nice muscle definition here and there’s horizontal skin folds along the sides and wrinkled knees too. The tail is also covered in pebbly scales and vertical skin folds. The spines on the tail are maroon colored and although I don’t like extendable spines on these toys, they don’t look out of place here and integrate nicely with the rest of the toy.

Mattel has raised the bar on their mainline toys with this figure. Although detail is usually of high quality on these toys this one takes it to another level. No portion of this toy is lacking in detail and the addition of more skin folds, osteoderms, and other bits and bobs make the toy fun to touch and examine. Better proportions and refined features heighten the realism and aesthetics of what is still, at its core, a fun children’s toy. To top it all off we get a believable and mostly complete paintjob.

This toy is Mattel at their peak and hopefully they will continue in this direction. For someone that wanted to focus on the Hammond Collection, Mattel is making it hard to ignore their mainline offerings. Truthfully, this toy is better than some of the earlier Hammond Collection figures! The Mattel Becklespinax is currently available and retails for about $35. That’s a high price for a mainline toy but I’m willing to pay more for a better product, and Mattel clearly delivered that. Sales are frequent too so keep an eye out for those.