Mattel - New for 2025

[crazy8wizard]

I'm convinced that Mattel is deliberately picking the most obscure dinosaurs they can find. This is the oddest lineup yet.

They've been doing that for years now. Do you think anyone would intentionally choose Xuanhanosaurus or Quilmesaurus? Don't get me wrong, those are surprisingly good figures, but the point remains. I'll gladly take weird obscure genera over recolored velociraptor #45.

[Gwangi]

I'm convinced that Mattel is deliberately picking the most obscure dinosaurs they can find. This is the oddest lineup yet.

They've been doing that for years now. Do you think anyone would intentionally choose Xuanhanosaurus or Quilmesaurus? Don't get me wrong, those are surprisingly good figures, but the point remains. I'll gladly take weird obscure genera over recolored velociraptor #45.

I know that, I've been collecting them since the line launched, but this has to be one of the largest drops of odd taxa yet.

[crazy8wizard]

I'm convinced that Mattel is deliberately picking the most obscure dinosaurs they can find. This is the oddest lineup yet.

They've been doing that for years now. Do you think anyone would intentionally choose Xuanhanosaurus or Quilmesaurus? Don't get me wrong, those are surprisingly good figures, but the point remains. I'll gladly take weird obscure genera over recolored velociraptor #45.

I know that, I've been collecting them since the line launched, but this has to be one of the largest drops of odd taxa yet.

Agreed. Aside from Hypsilophodon and Huayangosaurus this wave seems to be the "only one preserved body part" club.

[Faelrin]

Gotta agree about how odd this one is. But well it's fresh faces at least for whatever that's worth.

Also found a few more on JPToys. Repack of Herrerasaurus from 2023, and new Pyroraptor based on this year's Epic Attack retool (with the larger wings).





Edit: OP is updated now. Also now that I think about it, Hysilophodon is another that would have benefited from another smaller (Eoraptor) sized figure.

[Faelrin]

@Flaffy Just saw your notification now. That explains that then, although at least it isn't a straight copy and paste of that artist's design for The Isle. A bit of deviation with the coloration, and the shape of the tail. Kind of had a feeling there might have been some bird of paradise inspiration involved too with those interesting head feathers.

I know there's like a few other times Mattel has based their figure design directly on another game's design. There was also the Mattel Tapejara, similar to the Ark dossier design (at least coloration wise), and the Carcharodontosaurus with the JWE design, but at least the latter is from an official Jurassic game. One might also be able to include the Edmontosaurus figure (JWE), and the HC Irritator (JPIII Park Builder), but in some more minor ways.

[Flaffy]

@Flaffy Just saw your notification now. That explains that then, although at least it isn't a straight copy and paste of that artist's design for The Isle. A bit of deviation with the coloration, and the shape of the tail. Kind of had a feeling there might have been some bird of paradise inspiration involved too with those interesting head feathers.

I know there's like a few other times Mattel has based their figure design directly on another game's design. There was also the Mattel Tapejara, similar to the Ark dossier design (at least coloration wise), and the Carcharodontosaurus with the JWE design, but at least the latter is from an official Jurassic game. One might also be able to include the Edmontosaurus figure (JWE), and the HC Irritator (JPIII Park Builder), but in some more minor ways.

I find it a shame that Mattel did not reference the novels official description of Hypsilophodon(t?). Hellraptor's interpretation of the novel design as shown.

[EmperorDinobot]

I think they have been reading the blog.

[Brontozaurus]

The Thapunngaka is absolutely going into my Australian genera collection - it's the first toy representation of the genus and only the third Australian pterosaur toy ever after Yowie's 'Ornithocheirus' and generic azdarchid from 20 years ago (!). It's so bizarrely gnarly too, like Mattel overcorrected from the toothless Ornithocheirus and gave it way too many teeth plus ripped wings and a tail vane??

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's weird lineup for sure. The Hypsi is pretty weird but not without merit, the new stegosaur is just an odd pose? I haven't even heard of some of these.

[Halichoeres]

Some funky choices. I have some ichnotaxon figures (Chirotherium, Koreasaltipes), but in this case I'd certainly rather have had Vespersaurus than Farlowichnus. I'll probably skip that one, but I'm in for Thapunngaka and possibly Guemesia (though I feel like I already have a lot of Mattel abelisaurs).

[bmathison1972]

...Vespersaurus...Farlowichnus...Thapunngaka...Guemesia

Blaine: Those are made up words.
Thor: All words are made up.

      

[Halichoeres]

...Vespersaurus...Farlowichnus...Thapunngaka...Guemesia

Blaine: Those are made up words.
Thor: All words are made up.

      

Ha, yeah, and a lot of them are made up by taxonomists!

[stargatedalek]

The Hypsilophodon reminds me of the isle design. Very cute.

[Eatmycar]

I'll be honest, as a former Isle fanatic (almost 1,000 hours), I am elated that they pretty much copied the Hypsi sculpt wise.

But... oh my God that color palette is an offense to the eyes. What on earth were they thinking when they picked these colors?! Yikes. And only having the top part of the beak painted? Come on. I get the budget is probably limited for this slapped together, pre JP 7 wave, but seriously?

Lately, it feels like one or two figures in a wave receive the bulk of the love (Mapusaurus, '93 Young Rex), and the others just get the scraps of the paint budget. Can we maybe consider cutting down on the number of figures then per wave so we get better quality?

Their choices of repacks/reruns of older figures is also bizarre, and a missed opportunity. I know some collectors might not want to see something they have take a release slot, but there are a number of figures that had horrible distribution, or no distribution. Perhaps Gasosaurus could return with a retool for the DNA code and a slightly different deco? Or the light blue Albertosaurus that Walmart never picked up in the states? Instead we're seeing this dimetrodon on what... it's third run now?

That said, I have Ceratosuchops in hand and I am absolutely loving it. I feel the same about Kryptops as well, mostly because I found their excuse for a stumpy Mattel tail to be quite clever. It has the latter half of the tail bitten off by something.

[Faelrin]

New set with a certain dinosaur from S2 of Chaos Theory (spoilers for those that haven't gotten to episode 8 or later):

Spoiler

[close]

[JimoAi]

New set with a certain dinosaur from S2 of Chaos Theory (spoilers for those that haven't gotten to episode 8 or later):

Spoiler

[close]

looks like Rudy from Ice age and is that painted claws?!

[crazy8wizard]

And look, paint that goes all the way to the tail!

[Flaffy]

I want that Monolophosaurus, but I could care less about the Bary. I'm glad they updated the head sculpt at least to feature more detailed teeth.

[Faelrin]

So some images of the new Mighty Little Biters assortment are getting out there. According to this instagram post they were posted to ebay originally. 

Be warned about film spoilers, since one of them might be respective of one species designs for the film (and it would also potentially spoil the surprise of it being included in the film).

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCeP5BuuLci/?img_index=8

Why I think these are the new Mighty Little Biters, is from the assortment description that was put up by Entertainment Earth (way too early, and since removed), which I saved here, before it was removed:

https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=10921.msg378418#msg378418

Once official images get out there, I'll add them to the op.

[crazy8wizard]

Close enough, welcome back Snap Squad