With its crown of thorny spikes and a name meaning “demon from the river Styx”, Stygimoloch is one of the coolest dinosaurs around. Too bad then that many consider it to be a juvenile of Pachycephalosaurus or a different species of Pachycephalosaurus. Regardless of whatever Stygimoloch is, it will live on immortalized in the Jurassic World franchise. Stygimoloch made its on-screen debut in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and was later featured in Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory, and in Jurassic World: Dominion, albeit briefly. Mattel has been making Stygimoloch toys since 2018 but for whatever reason I didn’t purchase any of them. When the Hammond Collection was launched it topped my wish list of desired figures, along with the tiger Velociraptor and Stegosaurus that were also released this year. It’s been a good year for this Jurassic World collector!
The Hammond Collection Stygimoloch measures about 7.75” (19.68 cm) long and stands about 3” (7.62 cm) tall at the hips. In the Jurassic World franchise, Stygimoloch measures 6-10’ (2-3 meters) which puts the model at 1/15 in scale, a bit too large to properly scale with Mattel’s 1/18 vehicles, humans, and many of their dinosaurs including the Pachycephalosaurus.
Stiggy boasts 14 points of articulation. The jaw is articulated in the same way as many of Mattel’s other HC herbivores, such as the Pachycephalosaurus and Parasaurolophus. The head is articulated at its base, but it doesn’t allow for any up-and-down or side-to-side movement, all it’s good for is twisting the head around. The articulation at the base of the neck allows for a decent range of up-and-down motion but not much side-to-side motion. Overall, it’s not as good as the articulation on the Pachycephalosaurus, which could look over its shoulder. You can’t do that with this one.
The arms have universal joints on the shoulders and elbows. The legs can pivot in and out and are articulated at the hips, knees, and toes and the articulation on those is good, allowing for a range of poses including a running/ramming pose, which is important for a pachycephalosaur action figure. The rubbery tail is packaged separately and once attached cannot be removed. It is articulated at its base and a wire inside the tail makes it bendable.
In likeness the toy is spot-on with what we see in the franchise’s depiction, at least to my eyes. That includes scientific inaccuracies as well, like too many spikes on the head, but I’ve always considered the Jurassic World Stygimoloch to be one of the franchise’s better creature designs. It’s both adorable and threatening in appearance.
The head is appropriately gnarly and knobby looking, with lots of fine detail in the form of horny bits and rugose texturing. The nose is tipped with a small horn, and the cranial dome is surrounded by small spikes. The largest spikes run along the back of the head, and these are detailed with faint grooves. The glass eyes are similar to those on its wave mate, the previously reviewed tiger Velociraptor, and much better looking than past HC releases. The pupils are round though, while in the films they’re horizontal ovals, like a goat’s eyes.
The rest of the figure is detailed with small pebbly scales, stippling, wrinkles, and skin folds. Rows of osteoderms or feature scales are sculpted on the neck and body, and down the thighs, and along the tail. Scutes run down the toes. Saggy skin folds run along the underside of the neck and along the torso.
Stiggy is brick red in color with dark stripes over the face, down the neck, along the back and tail, and down the thighs. The lower jaw, throat, belly, and back of the legs are dull gray. The beak and nose horn are brown, and the toenails are dark gray and glossy. The hallux toes and fingernails are not painted. The inside of the mouth is pink. The spikes and dome are bone colored with a brown wash that brings out their finer details.
The paintjob is mostly accurate to what we see in the movies, but I do feel like the stripes are a bit too thin and crowded, like the tiger Velociraptor, and it is almost identical in color to the HC Carnotaurus. It would have been nice if the gray on the underside extended down the tail, but I’m not surprised that it doesn’t. Aside from that, it looks fantastic.
The Stygimoloch improves upon past Hammond Collection figures in just about every way. Just compare it to the Hammond Collection Pachycephalosaurus and you’ll see how far Mattel has come with their paintjobs, proportions, and detail. There’s still room for improvement with the articulation but for $15 it’s hard to complain.
The Hammond Collection dinosaurs continue to be the best action figures around for their price. Visually, it might be Mattel’s best small sized figure in the collection. The HC Stygimoloch is currently available but seems to be elusive in stores, you might want to order it on Target’s website instead. Get it while you can because there are hints that its shelf life might be short. Some collectors have already reportedly seen it on clearance!
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Not my favourite. The head doesn´t move much and mine´s left arm doesn´t move and stands badly!