Mattel - New for 2024

[Gwangi]

The Mapusaurus is decent but that Bajadasaurus is over the top. Those proportions are just too wonky for me. I haven't been too impressed with the Epic Evolution line so far. I like that plush Para the most!

[Prehistory Resurrection]

Okay, so Bajadasaurus is has gained quite some popularity recently. Its appearance in the Jurassic World The Game, Jurassic World Alive, CollectA's and now this year, as if one from Schleich wasn't enough, we got one from Mattel too. What's the reason behind this sudden surge in popularity? Maybe it has dethroned its close relative, Amargasaurus as the weirdest, most unusual looking sauropod because of the neck spines curving forward instead of backwards like in Amargasaurus. I guess unusual dinosaurs with unique features/ ornamentation sell well?

It has been rightly pointed in the review of the CollectA Bajadasaurus on the blog that "majority of Bajadasaurus restoration show these neck spines as being covered in thick sheath of keratin and with visible striations that covers the bone, very much like that of the modern -day antelopes like the Oryx", and we saw that with the Schleich version and now this version from Mattel this year, so props to Mattel for including that.

Wonder if it has some kind of action feature action feature that makes the neck spines expand and contract when activated.

Mattel's body proportions for the Ampelosaurus for the Dominion line were weird and we see that again with this Bajadasaurus. Is that some kind of beak that I see? What an irony to include a beak, a speculative, recently suggested feature that sauropods may have had, but still put the nostrils up.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

As for the Mapusaurus, its head doesn't look like that of a carcharodontosaurid at all; rather like that of an abelisaurid. The retracting spikes action feature is kind of becoming repetitive; we saw that with the Neovenator too. This feature was first seen on Hasbro's Jurassic World "Hybrid" Green T-Rex. It would be good without those ridiculous spikes. Also, are those osteoderms running from the head to the tail or rocks?

[DinoFan2010]

We can't forget the 4 plushies releasing, and (I at least believe) they are:
Parasaurolophus
T.rex (obviously)
Spined Theropod (Spinosaurus?)
Sauropod, most likely Apatosaurus.

[DinoFan2010]

Also, I don't know if anyone noticed this, but Mattel also released a new Fierce Changer. It's Ceratosaurus and Ankylosaurus "Bumpy".

[Faelrin]

Caught wind of this because of a post from paleo artist Mario Lanzas, but this year is the 200th anniversary of Megalosaurus initial description (as a genus). What better year then for Mattel to release a figure of it. Seems PNSO and CollectA were a tad bit early in that regard (though much appreciated regardless).

@DinoFan2010 They were shared on the last page (see my post), and I have them in the first page of the thread now (in the Other section). I also added that set to the 2023 Mattel thread (along with some of the other new ones). See the Fierce Changers section.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

Some Chaos Theory toys revealed.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

Dan Surprise got the latest Hammond Collection Owen Grady figure.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Those figure sets are..odd?  I mean I guess I get Ben he's being packed like Darius was with just random dinos.  Nedry on a motorcycle with a raptor? None of that is Kenner-esque.

[crazy8wizard]

Nedry on a motorcycle with a raptor? None of that is Kenner-esque.

It does however fit with the Kenner tradition of not having the Dennis Nedry figure not look anything like Dennis Nedry in the movie, however.
The set does seem to have the spray gun from the original set though, although it would have been way more fitting to pack Malcolm with the Velociraptor and Nedry with the Dilophosaurus

[Faelrin]

So absolutely strange they went with Becklepsinax, which was made synonymous with Altispinax back in 2016, nearly a decade ago, but is also extremely fragmentary. Why not something like Acrocanthosaurus (or Carcharodontosaurus) which is pretty popular in comparison? I wonder if they just went with this to have an excuse to design a dinosaur from scratch, but without going down the hybrid route again.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Nedry on a motorcycle with a raptor? None of that is Kenner-esque.

It does however fit with the Kenner tradition of not having the Dennis Nedry figure not look anything like Dennis Nedry in the movie, however.
The set does seem to have the spray gun from the original set though, although it would have been way more fitting to pack Malcolm with the Velociraptor and Nedry with the Dilophosaurus

  That's true!  I'm sure Wayne Knight would love the motorcycle inclusion as well lol It's just so..weird. I may get these sets on discount at Target not sure I'd preorder them. At least the other two previous ones included new sculpts.

So absolutely strange they went with Becklepsinax, which was made synonymous with Altispinax back in 2016, nearly a decade ago, but is also extremely fragmentary. Why not something like Acrocanthosaurus (or Carcharodontosaurus) which is pretty popular in comparison? I wonder if they just went with this to have an excuse to design a dinosaur from scratch, but without going down the hybrid route again.

I'm sure your really close.  It has a good theropod feel, spikes, sail, teeth..just something new and vicious they could add to the set.

[Takama]

I saw rumors about the Becklespinax from as far back as December on a Instagram post, but I took it all with a grain of salt.

Well I guess its really going to be a part of the Show?   If so, it can go one of two ways.

The Dumb way (that Hollywood seems to do too damn often "cough 65, cough la brea season 3, Cough") Is just hide the fact that its some random theropod they picked from a hat and said, screw it. Not realizeing its been lumped with a diffrent species in modern years.

The SMART and Logical way is, they play it off like one of the OG scripts for Jurassic Park 4, and show they discoverd more fossils for the creature somehow "in universe" and go from there.

Seriusly. I really hope that last one is how it will play out🙄

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Is the Imaginext set part of the new show?

[Eatmycar]

Those figure sets are..odd?  I mean I guess I get Ben he's being packed like Darius was with just random dinos.  Nedry on a motorcycle with a raptor? None of that is Kenner-esque.

The Nedry set is a reference to Skinner from the Evil Raiders line. His outfit is similar, and the bike has a similar deco/gimmick. I imagine the original Raiders and Trackers from the Kenner days are Hasbro property and thus can't be revived (nor do I think a figure of a dude named Doctor Snare or would catch eyes much to people who aren't hardcore JP fans).

The raptor's a call back to the Reak Atak JP3 Alpha Velociraptor in terms of deco. Head sculpt is wrong (should have quills), and the rat tail is disappointing, but these figures definitely make sense. '93 Classic just seems like a grab bag of references to the original toy lines, which makes sense because Ian was as much a Kenner TLW figure nod as he was a Kenner JP homage.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Those figure sets are..odd?  I mean I guess I get Ben he's being packed like Darius was with just random dinos.  Nedry on a motorcycle with a raptor? None of that is Kenner-esque.

The Nedry set is a reference to Skinner from the Evil Raiders line. His outfit is similar, and the bike has a similar deco/gimmick. I imagine the original Raiders and Trackers from the Kenner days are Hasbro property and thus can't be revived (nor do I think a figure of a dude named Doctor Snare or would catch eyes much to people who aren't hardcore JP fans).

The raptor's a call back to the Reak Atak JP3 Alpha Velociraptor in terms of deco. Head sculpt is wrong (should have quills), and the rat tail is disappointing, but these figures definitely make sense. '93 Classic just seems like a grab bag of references to the original toy lines, which makes sense because Ian was as much a Kenner TLW figure nod as he was a Kenner JP homage.

I saw the comparisons of those on FB, I think it's too much of a jumble though and there aren't any new dino sculpts like we had previously.  They could have done Muldoon, Sattler, Tim, there are several from the original line.   I would actually be ecstatic at this point if they did a novel based line. Plenty there for them to capitalize on.

[Gwangi]

I'm just happy to see the JP30 line isn't dead. I really thought it was just a gimmick to celebrate the 30th anniversary and what we got was going to be it. I didn't get the human sets but I got the T. rex and Explorer/Scutosaurus. I'm excited to see what other dinosaurs they might do for the line.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm just happy to see the JP30 line isn't dead. I really thought it was just a gimmick to celebrate the 30th anniversary and what we got was going to be it. I didn't get the human sets but I got the T. rex and Explorer/Scutosaurus. I'm excited to see what other dinosaurs they might do for the line.

As long as they aren't all straight up repaints I agree. Hatchlings with no articulation can't cost that much to make.

[SpartanSquat]

I asked the same when becklespinax was leaked in the toy listings. I ask my self, why not a concavenator due size? But seeing the figure is pretty big why not use an acro? For me to make differences between acro and giga, make acro more beefy and without dermal spines. And a size between giga and rex. But we are talking with people who did a tarbo as a spiny t-rex. Ngl I love tarbo colour pattern and flat eyebrows resembling to skull island vastatos.

[Takama]

At least Tarbosaurus is KNOWN FROM A COMPLETE SKELETON and not lumped (most of the time) with another species

Too see where im getting at. I dare you all to look up becklespinax right now and see what comes up.