Kentrosaurus (Jurassic World Dino-Escape, Roar Attack by Mattel)

With the addition of a re-sculpted Stegosaurus, Chialingosaurus, and now this Kentrosaurus to the line, Mattel has given the stegosauria clade much love this year. Until now the only member of this group represented in the line was the 2018 Stegosaurus and its re-paint. The Kentrosaurus we’re looking at is also significant in that it’s the first action figure of the genus released since 1989, the last one being the Tyco Kentrosaurus, one of the standouts of that line (EDIT: Chap Mei also made a Kentrosaurus). Indeed, my love for the Tyco Kentrosaurus and a desire to see them displayed together is what motivated me to get Mattel’s.

The Mattel Kentrosaurus is part of Mattel’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Dino-Escape, Roar Attack series. It has only just now hit toy shelves, to coincide with the release of season four of Camp Cretaceous where a Kentrosaurus, named Pierce, features as a prominent character. Although his name is not on the packaging, I will be calling the toy by his onscreen name throughout the review.

Since the distribution of Mattel toys can be hit and miss, I decided to order Pierce through Target’s website as soon as it showed up online. Normally, I prefer to see Mattel toys in person before committing to them, but the occasional exception is necessary. Upon opening the shipping box, I was slightly startled to find Pierce missing his shoulder spikes! My fears were quickly vanquished once I saw that the spikes were indeed there, only unattached.

The tail also comes unattached from the body, but all these bits snap easily into place even though the tail is removeable even after being inserted into the body. Breaking these toys up into easily assembled pieces is an effective way for Mattel to save on shelf space without sacrificing the quality of the toy and I really hope they start doing it with their theropods, which would finally allow for longer tails.

Pierce comes with an action feature similar to the previously reviewed Chialingosaurus, where the front half of the body is separate from the back half so that he can swing back and forth, jabbing at foes with his shoulder spikes. In this instance it’s a sliding button that employs the feature. When the button is slid once it cocks the toy towards the right, slid again and the front half of the toy swings leftwards. If the button is pushed in one smooth motion the effect is a quick right, then left swinging motion.  Two distinct roars accompany the action feature. Although the sliding buttons are visually obnoxious it’s well hidden here, on the back between the plates.

In addition to his action feature Pierce is also articulated. The head and tail swivel around in all directions while the hindlimbs pivot in and out and can rotate completely around. The forelimbs pivot in and out and can rotate around too, but not completely since the shoulder spikes get in the way.

Pierce measures 12” (30 cm) long and stands just over 5” (12.7 cm) tall at his highest point. This makes him much too large to scale well with most of the line, but Mattel’s scale is all over the place anyway. The actual Kentrosaurus measured about 15-18’ (4.5-5.5 meters) so although this toy dwarfs its Chialingosaurus pal they should be roughly the same size. The size is of no importance to me, Pierce is about the same size as the Tyco Kentrosaurus and it’s nice to have a large stegosaur action figure with some shelf presence.

In overall proportions and sculpt, Pierce is one of the best Mattel toys this year. With his tail held high in the air he’s also more modern looking than the Mattel Stegosaurus, with its low-slung tail. Although it is quite clearly a toy it is about as realistic in execution as a Mattel dinosaur can get. It has some flaws, like five clawed digits on the forelimbs and four on the back. The plates are broad and rounded in a way that I’ve never seen for Kentrosaurus before, and I would have preferred it if they were more narrow, pointed, and wide in the middle as is usually depicted. Although none of its inaccuracies are seriously offensive there are enough of them to make the 32-year-old Tyco Kentrosaurus the more accurate of the two in many respects.

Pierce’s face is detailed with minute, pebbly scales that give way to larger scales on top of his head and even larger scales down the back, with some large plate-like scales running down between the plates and spikes. Instead of scales, wrinkles and cross hatching cover most of the rest of the body and limbs. This could be seen as a flaw as normally Mattel has no issue in the detail department but here it seems like they cut a few corners. It doesn’t bother me too much, as detail work elsewhere makes up for its absence in other places, but even the diminutive Chialingosaurus was given a full covering of scales.

The rubbery plates are nicely detailed with grooves and ridges and the plates and spikes are attached to the skin in a realistic way. The first three spikes on the left side of the body are longer than those on the right and I’m not sure if this is the case in Pierce’s onscreen counterpart.

The body is predominantly tan, and the back is saddled in dark brown that bleeds down the sides. Tan fades to yellow around the forelimbs. The dark brown on the back stops at the tail and unfortunately the tail spikes are left unpainted and are the same color as the tail itself. It would have been nice if the dark brown coloration extended down the tail, and better still if the tail spikes AND plates were all a different color from the body. The eyes are painted yellow, and the odd slit shaped pupils aren’t painted at all. Overall, it’s a boring paintjob that looks unfinished, but not technically terrible. The colors suit the toy well and aren’t off putting themselves, it also matches Pierce’s onscreen counterpart.

Despite the weirdly shaped plates, lack of bodily scalation, and mediocre paintjob, I still really like this toy and I consider my criticisms to be minor. It’s great to see Mattel finally diversify their stegosaur lineup with a Kentrosaurus and the overall execution results in a fun toy that is aesthetically pleasing, for the most part. The Mattel Kentrosaurus is currently available online and in stores for about $14.