Jakapil (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Danger Pack by Mattel)

Jakapil is a genus of basal thyreophoran discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Argentina and described in 2022, it is also one of the coolest dino-discoveries in recent years, although I might be biased since I have a thing for basal thyreophorans. Naturally, this dinosaur was sensationalized in the news with headlines like “Newly Discovered Dinosaur Looks Like a Cross Between a Stegosaurus and a T. rex”, which conjures up an image of something more akin to Godzilla than something the size of a cat that’s really not too dissimilar to other basal thyreophorans.

Jakapil is a Puelchean word meaning “shield bearer” and the species name, kaniukura, means “crest stone” in Mapudungun, in reference to the dinosaur’s deep jaw. Jakapil is known from a single partial skeleton that includes a complete lower jaw, some osteoderms and vertebrae, and elements from the limbs and pelvis. The deep lower jaw appears to be an adaptation for processing tough plant material. Jakapil lived during the late Cretaceous.

Not surprisingly, but perhaps frustratingly to some, Mattel is the first company to give us a representative of this unique dinosaur. It is part of their Danger Pack range of figures, which means it’s small but still far larger than it should be for Mattel’s generally 1/18 line. Jakapil is estimated to have reached 4.9’ (1.5 meters) while the toy measures 7.5” (19.05 cm) long, putting it at about 1/8 in scale. Jakapil would have been a great candidate for Mattel’s two-packs of smaller figures, like the one containing Eoraptor and Stegouros.

There is no action feature with this toy, just some very limited articulation. The legs and arms can rotate around, and the neck can move up and down. That’s it. The arms don’t even swing in and out.

With its deep jaw, armor-clad hide, small arms, and bipedal posture, the toy gets the broad strokes for the genus correct, but it also possesses many of Mattel’s oft frowned upon characteristics. The head is too large, the theropod-like feet are too large and missing their dewclaws, the tail is way too short, the arms are too large, and the hands possess only three fingers when they should have five.

Fine details are a bit overdone here, with an excessively rough texture over the face, and unlikely large, armored plates over the back and thighs. Aside from the osteoderms along the back they’re also on the jaw, arms, torso, and legs. Again, it’s a bit much. I think a covering of pebbly scales between a conservative covering of osteoderms would have been preferable but hey, it’s Mattel.

Most of the osteoderms are part of the sculpt but there are two rows of rubbery inserts running down the back with the scan code hidden under a pair of them and a few more along both sides of the torso. I wonder why Mattel would bother with rubbery inserts but maybe it was cheaper than painting them since the osteoderms that are part of the sculpt aren’t painted, save for some on the head. Like the other toys in this wave the figure has some battle wounds, including osteoderms with broken tips and deep gouges in the skin. One of the rubbery osteoderms on my copy looks like it was chewed off and I have to assume it is a factory defect.

This toy is a two-toned combination of brown and creamy white, with some of the osteoderms on the head painted light brown and the rubbery osteoderms cast in light brown. All the osteoderms on the tail are unpainted. The legs are cast in brown with no additional paint and the arms are cast in white with no additional paint. The eyes are yellow with black pupils and the upper beak is black while the lower beak is unpainted. I like that the two primary colors run across the entire body and although I can accept the unpainted limbs (typical of Mattel) I really don’t like the unpainted jaw.

I’m going to be honest; this is an ugly toy. I really don’t like the extreme amount of detail, like the knobby face and armored plating, and the wonky proportions bother me more here than they usually do. The color choices are unattractive too, and the unpainted jaw is off putting. I doubt that Jakapil was an attractive looking animal, but it had to have looked better than this thing. The only reason I really wanted it is because it’s a Jakapil, a dinosaur that I like a lot that we might not get another toy of anytime soon. It’s rare that I buy a Mattel dinosaur for that sole reason, but I’ve done it before (Mononykus comes to mind) and thankfully the price point is low for this hideous abomination. If nothing else, it’s neat that Mattel made a toy of this dinosaur two years after it was described.