Mattel - New for 2023

[Eatmycar]

I am in LOVE with the Corythosaurus from what I've seen.

It's a shame it lacks wrist articulation for GOOD quadrupedal poses.'
It's a shame Para's tail is less proportionate when compared to Cory.

It's a shame my Corythosaurus won't be here until Friday! This is such a gorgeous figure and I hope Mattel brings us more hadrosaurs in the future for this line, canon be damned... aside from the Dominion okapi-looking Parasaurolophus. Please, bring them as soon as possible.

I also want to take a moment to express surprise that they bothered to resculpt the body and the thigh. This could've been a complete redeco with a head swap and been correct to the films since that's what ILM did for their Corythosaurus. Hasbro would've never did that.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Flaffy]

Loving the HC Metri and Corytho so far. Still a shame about the minor things here and there, like lack of wrist articulation on both, and the polydactyly on the Corythosaurus's manus. I like how Mattel always manages to screw up the hand sculpts of their Hadrosaurs/Ornithopods.
Parasaurolophus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Edmontosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Corythosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Ouranosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 5
Iguanodon: Missing finger, should have 5 (including thumb spike!)

Small pet peeve on Mattel's hadrosaur sculpts, but I don't like how all the toes are basically the same length, when the middle should be the longest. Along with the odd overemphasis of the tarsal scutes.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Eatmycar]

Loving the HC Metri and Corytho so far. Still a shame about the minor things here and there, like lack of wrist articulation on both, and the polydactyly on the Corythosaurus's manus. I like how Mattel always manages to screw up the hand sculpts of their Hadrosaurs/Ornithopods.
Parasaurolophus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Edmontosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Corythosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 4
Ouranosaurus: Extra finger, should only have 5
Iguanodon: Missing finger, should have 5 (including thumb spike!)

Small pet peeve on Mattel's hadrosaur sculpts, but I don't like how all the toes are basically the same length, when the middle should be the longest. Along with the odd overemphasis of the tarsal scutes.

How much of that is Universal's fault though? It certainly seems a lot of these mistakes come from Universal's questionable designs.

I honestly wonder why they screwed Iguanodon up last year. The Giga is certainly not based on the final design, and neither is Moros...

[Flaffy]

How much of that is Universal's fault though? It certainly seems a lot of these mistakes come from Universal's questionable designs.

I honestly wonder why they screwed Iguanodon up last year. The Giga is certainly not based on the final design, and neither is Moros...

I'm willing to bet that it's entirely Mattel's fault. All of the ornithopods listed above have the correct number of digits on their on-screen / canon designs. It's just Mattel being Mattel and not doing the proper research or referencing beforehand.

I don't mind if these designs were scientifically inaccurate, that's not the point of Jurassic products afterall. But what I DO care about is having them be screen accurate, which Mattel is very hit or miss with.

[Flaffy]

From Toyopolis on their recent letdowns, and news regarding the Hammond Collection:

"We wanted to share a update on the Hammond Collection after our meeting with Mattel this week we voiced our concerns from feedback we have received
We know distribution cancellations and many other factors have been shocking in the UK and we firstly want to apologise for that we go off info we are given and without them realising when they change things last minute the ongoing effect it has on as retailer and the customer shows poor service and cancellations and that's not what we are about!

But onto the good news Hammond Collection should now release around the same time as America. Mattel UK have solid understanding of what's coming and when it's coming now as you can see the previous waves have been coming in without delay and readily available with more incoming shortly before it's discontinued.

Exciting points to bring up:
- Reproduction of the Hammond Collection Tyrannosaurus Rex (we had more stock arrive from imports for existing customers)
- Reproduction of Waves 1 & 2 & 3 this Summer including Triceratops and others
- Release of the Hammond Collection Brachiosaurus
- Latest Wave Including Dennis Nedry & Mr Hammond himself plus other dinos in this wave

Our main priority from older orders is to fulfil and ship the small amount of outstanding orders to clear the order books in full so we can have a clean start for upcoming waves hence no pre-sales at moment. All the new products are incoming for June/July and these will be available once in at Mattel and confirmed allocations given and then we will ship to customers after a small back order period instead of the long waits previously expected with imports.

We know some customers who have cancelled are waiting on refunds due to PayPal 180 day policy this is also being sorted and finalised. We don't want this post to turn into negativity or complaints we know everyone waiting and no one's orders are forgotten. All cancelled orders will be reinstated when stock starts to arrive and allocated to customers. We hope this clears it up and as normally we always want to be upfront with customers

Also we have one of the biggest deliveries of items upcoming from Mattel Hong Kong *hint hint*"

[Flaffy]

Good to hear that Mattel is doing reruns of previous HC waves, as a lot of people missed out on some of the rarer dinos like Gallimimus and Dilophosaurus; and aftermarket prices are crazy atm.

Wishful thinking but maybe they'll be fixing the issues with the sculpts as well for the reruns? e.g. feet size and that awkward raptor jaw articulation.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

finally!

[DinoFan2010]

Good to hear that Mattel is doing reruns of previous HC waves, as a lot of people missed out on some of the rarer dinos like Gallimimus and Dilophosaurus; and aftermarket prices are crazy atm.

Wishful thinking but maybe they'll be fixing the issues with the sculpts as well for the reruns? e.g. feet size and that awkward raptor jaw articulation.

I just got the 2022 Rex as I missed out at first. truly a great figure, but my only HC figure .

[Faelrin]

@Flaffy I'm doubtful they'll fix anything, but if they were it would be appreciated if the pupils on the Dilophosaurus were fixed, and the terrible glass eyes on the T. rex were too. I wouldn't expect any major retooling though. There's a lot more that they could fix if that was the case.

An up to date list of all major issues and inaccuracies:

Spoiler

Baryonyx: add wrist articulation
Parasaurolophus: should have four digits on hands, 3 on feet, thinner/more accurate head sculpt, proper TLW paint app (current is based on JW film), add wrist articulation
JP Velociraptor: more accurate JP head sculpt (see mainline 2022 Legacy Kitchen set sculpt for example), smaller feet
Ceratosaurus: add wrist articulation
Triceratops: add jaw articulation
Tyrannosaurus: individual upper and lower jaw articulation, fix the pupil placement on glass eyes, smaller feet
Gallimimus: new toothless head sculpt, proper JP paint app (current is based on 2015 JW viral website design), and maybe the feet if it there's more then 3 digits (can't remember)
Dilophosaurus: add missing white outline, replace slit pupils with round ones
Ankylosaurus: add purple markings on side, and paint the claws
Geosternbergia: should have pycnofibers
Pachycephalosaurus: more accurate TLW colors and patterns (especially on back and legs)
JPIII Velociraptor male: more accurate headsculpt/quills such as on the original 2018 jumping Legacy sculpt, or the recent Strike Attack Atrociraptor, smaller feet
JPIII Velociraptor female: more accurate headsculpt, such as on the original 2018 jumping Legacy sculpt, smaller feet, cut the maroon or red belly paint app
Corythosaurus: should have four digits on hands, 3 on feet (edit: appears to correctly have only three toes from what I'm seeing in reviews), add wrist articulation
Irritator: add wrist articulation
Metriacanthosaurus: add wrist articulation
T. rex baby: more accurate paint apps, stripes should be much thinner, and barely present or subtle on legs

[close]

I might even add this list to its own thread with images of the figures and source material later today.

[Gwangi]

I know the Triceratops should have an articulated jaw but looking at it the other day I was almost thankful that it didn't. A lot of these articulated jaws have really ugly seams. The Triceratops is one of the best looking dinosaurs in the Hammond Collection, in part because of the fixed jaw. Unpopular opinion, I know. And like I said, I know it should have it. But mine spends 99.9% of its time standing on a shelf and if I do feel like photographing or playing with it I still don't really miss the jaw being unable to open. The main reason it should is so Ellie can look at the tongue but how many times are we really recreating that scene in our homes?

[Shane]

I know the Triceratops should have an articulated jaw but looking at it the other day I was almost thankful that it didn't. A lot of these articulated jaws have really ugly seams. The Triceratops is one of the best looking dinosaurs in the Hammond Collection, in part because of the fixed jaw. Unpopular opinion, I know. And like I said, I know it should have it. But mine spends 99.9% of its time standing on a shelf and if I do feel like photographing or playing with it I still don't really miss the jaw being unable to open. The main reason it should is so Ellie can look at the tongue but how many times are we really recreating that scene in our homes?

Whoa now, controversial opinion alert!

While incorporating jaw movement into the Triceratops would have been challenging, I still wish they would have taken the time to do it. The HC Trike looks nice, but it's kind of a brick...it really doesn't do what the Hammond Collection is supposed to. I don't hate it, but it feels a bit rushed. If they were going to omit jaw articulation, I would have preferred a permanent slightly opened mouth.

[Eatmycar]

T. rex really needs eyes fixed and the waist joint tightened or removed tbh. I'd say that's the crucial Hammond issue right now.

After a while they eventually end up loose and their waists can't really be raised... which is fine I guess because the T. rex looks fine in the position it drops to... it doesn't need to have its back arched up like you can do with the Hammond figure, but it unnecessarily breaks up the sculpt then.

The T. rex's ankle joints also suck to be very frank. Those deserve a tightening.

[Gwangi]

I know the Triceratops should have an articulated jaw but looking at it the other day I was almost thankful that it didn't. A lot of these articulated jaws have really ugly seams. The Triceratops is one of the best looking dinosaurs in the Hammond Collection, in part because of the fixed jaw. Unpopular opinion, I know. And like I said, I know it should have it. But mine spends 99.9% of its time standing on a shelf and if I do feel like photographing or playing with it I still don't really miss the jaw being unable to open. The main reason it should is so Ellie can look at the tongue but how many times are we really recreating that scene in our homes?

Whoa now, controversial opinion alert!

While incorporating jaw movement into the Triceratops would have been challenging, I still wish they would have taken the time to do it. The HC Trike looks nice, but it's kind of a brick...it really doesn't do what the Hammond Collection is supposed to. I don't hate it, but it feels a bit rushed. If they were going to omit jaw articulation, I would have preferred a permanent slightly opened mouth.

Yeah, it basically is a brick. As much as I like looking at it the articulation is mostly useless. There is the Habitat Defender Triceratops coming that has the articulated jaw but I'm probably not going to get it.

Being a brick is the reason I haven't gotten the HC Ankylosaurus. It just doesn't look like there's a lot you can do with it. But Ankylosaurus doesn't come across as being a particularly dynamic animal anyway. I have a mainline Ankylosaurus (Bumpy) and I'm not sure I need the HC one. Someone here can probably convince me though, I'm really on the fence about it.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

[Shane]

Being a brick is the reason I haven't gotten the HC Ankylosaurus. It just doesn't look like there's a lot you can do with it. But Ankylosaurus doesn't come across as being a particularly dynamic animal anyway. I have a mainline Ankylosaurus (Bumpy) and I'm not sure I need the HC one. Someone here can probably convince me though, I'm really on the fence about it.

I'll give a +1 to the HC Ankylosaurus. There's a surprising range of movement there. Was pleasantly surprised by it, especially with the range in the neck and tail, you can get some nice poses out of it, even though the main body is fairly static.

The tail having several ball joints really lets you get some neat diversity out of it. It's probably one of my favorite HC pieces.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Being a brick is the reason I haven't gotten the HC Ankylosaurus. It just doesn't look like there's a lot you can do with it. But Ankylosaurus doesn't come across as being a particularly dynamic animal anyway. I have a mainline Ankylosaurus (Bumpy) and I'm not sure I need the HC one. Someone here can probably convince me though, I'm really on the fence about it.

I'll give a +1 to the HC Ankylosaurus. There's a surprising range of movement there. Was pleasantly surprised by it, especially with the range in the neck and tail, you can get some nice poses out of it, even though the main body is fairly static.

The tail having several ball joints really lets you get some neat diversity out of it. It's probably one of my favorite HC pieces.

I'll say I like him a bit myself, you can get several neat poses out of him, walking, standing, sort of sitting,head up, head down, curious looking, depressed, ect.. I don't even really bother with the mouth articulation unless you want to put fake food or something in there.

I have Bumpy as well, but this will replace my main Anky figure, it's not a character just an animal.

[Faelrin]

Wave 3 minis:
Elasmosaurus, Nothosaurus, Bistahieversor, Borealopelta, and more.

I'll get the op updated when I get home later tonight or tomorrow.