Edmontosaurus (Jurassic World, Basic 12” Figures by Mattel)

The Basic line of Mattel Jurassic World figures is a line of budget friendly toys that are trimmed down in virtually every aspect. They don’t have any action features, the articulation is exceptionally limited, and the paintjobs are typically simplified. So far, they don’t have a presence on the Dinosaur Toy Blog, but today we’re looking at one of the line’s standout figures, the Edmontosaurus, new for 2022.

Like all the Basic figures the Edmontosaurus measures 12” in total length. Scaled down from a 40’ Edmontosaurus regalis (for that is what it is) the figure comes out at 1/40 in scale. It comes packaged with the tail detached and once attached the tail cannot be removed.

For articulation we’re dealing with the bare minimum. The forelimbs can swing forward at the shoulders and the hindlimbs swing backwards at the hip. They cannot rotate completely around as the bulk of the torso limits movement; they also cannot pivot outwards like standard Mattel dinosaurs. The tail can also move about, albeit not much. And that’s it. Nothing else can move. Even the head, with its obvious seam, is not articulated.

So why bother with these toys at all? Well in this case it’s because I liked the sculpt, detail work, and paintjob. Oddly enough, all this together makes for what I find to be an aesthetically better toy than the Edmontosaurus that Mattel produced for the Sound Strike line. Granted, it doesn’t have the bits and bobs of its counterpart but since it will spend most of its life with me on a shelf, and I also collect static figures, it’s a fine toy for its price point.

Proportionally, and in terms of accuracy, it isn’t bad either. This is thanks largely to being modeled off the Edmontosaurus from the Jurassic World: Evolution video game which has a pretty fetching design for the genus. It has the fleshy comb atop the head that we know E. regalis had. The muzzle, instead of a flattened “duck bill”, slopes downward with a nicely sculpted keratinous beak at the end. The forelimbs are slimmer and shorter than the muscular hindlimbs, and the tail is longer than what we would generally expect from Mattel.

Five digits are sculpted on the forelimbs and four on the hindlimbs when in reality Edmontosaurus had four digits on the forelimbs and 3 fingers would have been encased together in flesh, leaving only the pinky finger free from the others. The hindlimbs should only have three digits on each. Digit inaccuracies are par the course for Mattel though. The head is a bit shrink wrapped and the body is less bulky and more laterally compressed than the Sound Strike version. For Mattel however, this is one of their better ornithopods.

The level of detail on this figure might rival the more elaborate Sound Strike version. I don’t have that figure to compare it to directly, but it looks as though that one is mostly devoid of fine detail and instead covered in wrinkles. This Basic figure has a covering of fine, pebbly scales, across its entirety which gives it a pleasing texture and adds a feeling of quality to an otherwise cheap toy.  Skin folds are sculpted in appropriate places, like bunched up along the neck and where the torso meets the belly. A bumpy ridge runs down the back and tail.

The base color of the toy is a dark, olive green. The head and a portion of the neck are yellow, and yellow stripes run along the back. The eyes are brown with black circular pupils and an aqua-green slash runs over the eyes. Overall, this paintjob is somewhat peculiar with the additions of the yellow and aqua-green, but it somehow works, and I like it considerably better than what we get on the Sound Strike Edmontosaurus. Indeed, it’s one of the features that drew me to this toy in the first place.

The paintjob isn’t perfect. The beak and comb are the same color as the rest of the head, and there is no paint on the tail or legs, but while I might gripe about lazy paint apps in other Mattel reviews, we are dealing with a low budget figure here. It’s no worse than what you see on the standard Mattel toys, and compared to a lot of Mattel’s recent efforts, it’s better.

The Mattel Basic Edmontosaurus is a surprisingly decent quality toy despite its low price point and lack of gimmicks. In terms of detail and paint, it’s better than its mainline counterpart, and if all you’re going to do with it is stand it on a shelf it serves that function well. The Mattel Basic toys are somewhat difficult to find in the wild and I had all but given up on ever finding this one. I ended up coming across it at a Big Lots store but it is also available on Big Bad Toy Store for $11.99.