Mattel - New for 2023

[CityRaptor]

You know, I wonder how much Mattel actually gets paid for these. Probably not much.


And yes, I also think that the upcoming HC Rex is gonna be the TLW Male. I also don't think this is Eddie Carr. Looks more like a TLW variant of Ian Malcolm.

Edit: Just saw another in hand pic of this on the instagram group chat I'm in, and they painted the belly red. Smh. The lack of care on their part is pretty disrespectful to those of us patiently waiting over 5 years for them to do both of these raptors.

Yeah, that doesn't come off entitled at all.Nothing personal, it's just that annoying attitude way too common among Jurassic Fans.

[Faelrin]

So what's your alternative here?

I find it frustrating a company as large as Mattel can't make their figures accurate to the source material, when they have the license and access to Universal's archives (which they've stated in some of the Beyond the Gates videos) especially when there's no alternatives for Jurassic Park action figures (short of extremely limited fan made alternatives or customs). If there was a higher quality alternative (that was readily available and affordable) for Jurassic series action figures I would be taking my business there.

Folks have been asking them to do the JPIII raptors since the Legacy one was canceled in 2018. This is the first time we have options that are somewhat readily available (though distribution is still slow or poor as usual), and they are bare minimum attempts being passed off of these beloved designs SWS came up with. I'm far from the only one that's been really let down about how poorly they've been handled here.

This isn't to say everything Mattel has done is terrible, or so on. But they clearly need to do better in certain respects, especially for a collectors line intended for older audiences.

[Carnoking]

Even by current standards, that is some bare naked plastic on that rex. The vehicle is tempting, and had it been Eddie I almost certainly would have been swayed, but yet another Ian? I get that it's a different look and that he's the lead of that film but do I really need another Jeff Goldblum but in a different outfit? Probably not.

[MLMjp]

The lack of paint on that Buck T.rex is just criminal.

Just ditch the Legacy Collection already, keep only the main and "damage" lines. Hammond Collection does the job of catering to the first films better anyway. Not to mention it is becoming "easier" to get than the legacy lines, cause at least international buyers can get HC through Amazon.com and BBTS. Meanwhile, if a legacy collection set does not arrive to your country, it becomes much more expensive to get since it will only be sold at Target or Smiths with no international shipping for those.

I had to say goodbye to the Roland Tembo and Sarah Harding set because of that...

[Gwangi]

The vehicle is cool but I'm not enough of a Lost World fan that I need to have it. The Jeep and Explorer are the only two I ever needed. I have the one that came with Roland but my daughter picked it out for me as a Christmas gift. The only thing Lost World of interest to me are the dinosaurs. An HC Bull might do the trick but this one does not, the paint app on that T. rex is atrocious. And you know that the HC Bull is coming, which makes forcing us to buy another Mattel T. rex with vehicle set just mean at this point. And it really should be Eddie with that set, although fans need a Lost World Malcolm too.

As for complaints about inaccurate sculpts, I get it. Most of them are inconsequential nitpicks to me but I'm still in shock that toys like this exist at all I guess. Too used to toys by Kenner and Hasbro which were even farther from screen accurate. But some of them are still frustrating. The JP3 raptors are weak. I will say this though, for all the complaining I see I don't see a lot of people hitting Mattel where it hurts. Almost everyone that complains about these still ends up buying them, which encourages Mattel to do absolutely nothing.

[Cretaceous Crab]

The first Indoraptor was the first Hammond Collection figure before it was cool.

[Faelrin]

@Gwangi Honestly I kind of feel the same. I actually skipped the Legacy set with Roland since there was so many other things on my wishlist, and the vehicles just take up a bit of display space I could use for something else. Didn't really care for the poorly done Parasaurolophus either, and I feel the same with this new T. rex, especially since there will probably be a better painted HC one coming out. That said I am at least glad they made the vehicles, and these characters after all this time. I could always change my mind later, and pick them up if I have more display space to work with at some point. I also think they should have done Eddie with this set, and it's a shame he doesn't have a figure yet. Hopefully gets a HC release or something later down the road. I guess the last vehicle they need to do from this film is the trailer then right? Still quite a bit of characters missing from the film too (and some like Dr. Wu from the first).

As for your second point it's why my wishlist is so much smaller for this year then any prior. Granted if last year didn't have the movie tie-in, it would have been pretty small too. Though even still I skipped some of the film species too since they didn't appeal to me (Iguanodon and Moros), and although I do want the Dreadnoughtus, I've had to skip that for now, since I'm still in the process of moving, and it just isn't a good time for it. Still behind on the remaining two Atrociraptor figures, and honestly not sure I'll bother picking them up anytime soon. Not a priority in any case.

As far as the Hammond Collection goes, although I do have a few nitpicks with both the Ankylosaurus (lack of paint apps, and JW body), and Corythosaurus (shared inaccurate-digit Parasaurolophus parts), they don't bother me nearly as much as how the JPIII raptors were handled, and I still really want to pick both of those up. The tail articulation on the Ankylosaurus might even be why it is lacking paint apps, for it to fit all that into the price or budget of the figure, and so I'm willing to work with that, especially how fun it looks to use. Aside from those shared parts, the Corythosaurus otherwise looks really good, and this is the first ever attempt at it (ditto for the JPIII Ankylosaurus). They nailed the coloration of it, or got it pretty close. The Geosternbergia and Pachycephalosaurus on the other hand are a mixed bag for me. In the case of the Geosternbergia, the glaring omission of the pycnofibers is pretty disappointing, but the paintwork looks good, and the rest of the sculpt looks good, and is an otherwise improvement from last year's Legacy one. The Pachycephalosaurus has a decent sculpt, but the paint work is pretty far off from what the film animal looked like (though none before really came all that close either). So I'm not sure if I'll being picking them up yet or not, so I won't be prioritizing them in any case though. The set with Grant and the female JPIII raptor is also a mixed bag, because as much as I'm disappointed by that raptor, he looks done well, and a step up from the rare 2019 pack. The included accessories are also nice. At the same time, will I really get much use of it? I rarely do any toy photography these days, so my money is probably better saved for something else in the line or elsewhere, and it would also spare me from having to pick up a figure alongside it that doesn't appeal to me at all.

[CarnotaurusKing]

With its broad and downturned rostrum, the skull of the Metriacanthosaurus looks kinda like that of (Scott Hartman's reconstruction of) Teratophoneus.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's not like Target won't have a sale on any of these when they do eventually ( hopefully) make it into stores.

 I always blame Target. Mattel is forced to make decisions based on what retailers demand of them.

[Shane]

It's not like Target won't have a sale on any of these when they do eventually ( hopefully) make it into stores.

 I always blame Target. Mattel is forced to make decisions based on what retailers demand of them.

This is mostly where I place the blame as well. Retailers are the ones who really set the pace for this, and it's even more the case when it's basically a retailer exclusive (I know HC is available online elsewhere, but in terms of brick and mortar it's a Target only thing).

It's been discussed before, but the turn-around window these days for new product waves is much smaller than it used to be. So something might be plentiful on shelves for a few months but when it's gone, it's gone and secondary market is your only bet. Unless it's something that really flew off shelves, it's unlikely to get re-released unless it's a T-rex or a raptor.

Figures like Ceratosaurus and Gallimimus are gone from Target shelves now, but they didn't exactly fly off the pegs when they were first released. So unfortunately I don't see Target asking for Mattel to make more.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's not like Target won't have a sale on any of these when they do eventually ( hopefully) make it into stores.

 I always blame Target. Mattel is forced to make decisions based on what retailers demand of them.

This is mostly where I place the blame as well. Retailers are the ones who really set the pace for this, and it's even more the case when it's basically a retailer exclusive (I know HC is available online elsewhere, but in terms of brick and mortar it's a Target only thing).

It's been discussed before, but the turn-around window these days for new product waves is much smaller than it used to be. So something might be plentiful on shelves for a few months but when it's gone, it's gone and secondary market is your only bet. Unless it's something that really flew off shelves, it's unlikely to get re-released unless it's a T-rex or a raptor.

Figures like Ceratosaurus and Gallimimus are gone from Target shelves now, but they didn't exactly fly off the pegs when they were first released. So unfortunately I don't see Target asking for Mattel to make more.

Exactly, it's rough on those just coming into the line but that's the way it is with collectors. You pay a premium to get caught up usually then you keep up from then on.

Now super exclusives, like the HC JP3 Female Raptor and Grant set..it's only at Amazon and it seems very difficult to get as of now. I preordered mine last September I think?  and it just came in unexpectedly. Things like this that may not get a proper release is a bit of a problem and I understand feeling it's not fair because it's not really.

[Shane]

Exactly, it's rough on those just coming into the line but that's the way it is with collectors. You pay a premium to get caught up usually then you keep up from then on.

Now super exclusives, like the HC JP3 Female Raptor and Grant set..it's only at Amazon and it seems very difficult to get as of now. I preordered mine last September I think?  and it just came in unexpectedly. Things like this that may not get a proper release is a bit of a problem and I understand feeling it's not fair because it's not really.

I ordered this I think in November and wasn't even sure I would ever get it. The delivery date was basically "uhhh we don't know if we're even gonna get it" and I was expecting them to cancel the order but suddenly last week it actually shipped. It's supposed to arrive today.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Exactly, it's rough on those just coming into the line but that's the way it is with collectors. You pay a premium to get caught up usually then you keep up from then on.

Now super exclusives, like the HC JP3 Female Raptor and Grant set..it's only at Amazon and it seems very difficult to get as of now. I preordered mine last September I think?  and it just came in unexpectedly. Things like this that may not get a proper release is a bit of a problem and I understand feeling it's not fair because it's not really.

I ordered this I think in November and wasn't even sure I would ever get it. The delivery date was basically "uhhh we don't know if we're even gonna get it" and I was expecting them to cancel the order but suddenly last week it actually shipped. It's supposed to arrive today.

I've heard some folks have received them now starting last week. It's starting to pop up and so are the scalpers.

[Shane]

I've heard some folks have received them now starting last week. It's starting to pop up and so are the scalpers.

Received my set. It's nice, but the packaging is weird, with what looks like an outer shipping box actually being the figure's packaging.

You weren't kidding about scalpers. I looked these up on eBay and yeeeeesh.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I've heard some folks have received them now starting last week. It's starting to pop up and so are the scalpers.

Received my set. It's nice, but the packaging is weird, with what looks like an outer shipping box actually being the figure's packaging.

You weren't kidding about scalpers. I looked these up on eBay and yeeeeesh.

That's typical of Amazon exclusives, it's odd but not bad, it does take up a lot of display space though.

lol yeah..they are out in force.

[MLMjp]

I´m extremely conflicted about the female raptor.

It doesn't look right, color should be darker, does not have the red around the eye and the head sculpt doesn't quite work. Funny thing is reviewers are saying it looks better than the male...NO IT DOESN'T. On the contrary, the sculpt looks way better on the male, I don't know what these people are looking at, honestly.

Yet I still kinda want it even though the better (and cheaper) option would be to get a legacy one and touch up the paint.

[Carnoking]

Maybe I just haven't looked closely but isn't the head sculpt the same on both, minus the quills?

[MLMjp]

Maybe I just haven't looked closely but isn't the head sculpt the same on both, minus the quills?

They are the same minus quills, thats the weird thing. It's the shame but it looks worse somehow. Maybe the paint job somehow accentuates it?