Minmi (Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Attack Pack wave 3 by Mattel)

It’s fantastic to see Mattel make so many different species of dinosaurs for the Jurassic World FK line. Minmi is another one of those wonderful rarely seen dinosaurs that is gracing us in plastic form.  This animal is not just a mini me version of an  ankylosaur. It is quite unique and is considered one of the basal most of the ankylosauria. Unfortunately some of the information that we thought we knew about this animal has changed a little bit due to the fact that the most complete fossil remains that were once attributed to Minmi are now known as Kunbarrasaurus.  When compared to other ankylosaurids, Minmi had longer legs, horizontally oriented plates of bone, belly armor, and a tail that does not end in a club.

About the toy:  The toy is 6 in long (15.24 cm) and 2 1/2 in high (6.35 cm).  It is small toy when compared to most of the dinosaurs that have been made for JWFK line.  It easily fits in your hand like a small kitten. Sooo cute. Guess what, if you have the Super Colossal Tyrannosaurus rex, it can be swallowed by it!  Slides right down the hatch.  Even if you do not have that huge t-rex, this toy pairs up nicely with other Jurassic World toys.

It is a simple toy with basic articulation.  The legs move forward and back and stops when it reaches the armor on its sides.  The tail twist around in circle.  Why? Not really sure the point of that articulation unless you want the armor facing another direction. It can also nod its head up and down and swivel all the way around.  The mouth is not articulated but with the size of the figure I think that is forgivable.  The  toy is made up of two different plastic types. On the back, all the osteoderms (which look like spikes) are made of a softer plastic.  It looks like they are embedded in the skin.  The texture on the figure goes from smooth small circular scales on the skin, all the way to big osteoderms on the thighs and forelimbs.  The belly has no armor and is rather smooth with some small scales.  The tail has segmented lines that wrap all the way around.

The color is rather plain and basic.  The main color is a pea green and the scutes are more of lima bean color.  The only other color on the toy is the eyes and the area around it.  The eyes are yellow with black pupils.  Around the eyes are dark brown which flows backward like the tail of a comet, and trails off towards the neck.  The toes are the same color as everything else.  It would have been nice to have some accent colors on this toy.

Accuracy wise there are some issues with this toy. Lets face it, when we think of ankylosaurs, our first thought is on the armor.  On Minmi it would consist of large and small scutes on the body and limbs, around the neck, and triangular spiked scutes behind the hips and all along the tail.  It also was armored underneath as well.  The scutes on this toy look similar to every generic ankylosaurus that has been made.  They are spikier and uniform then they should be.  The head is quasi the correct shape but has multiple squamosal horns. There are also jugal horns, which point backward and down that is followed by more little spikes that are under the head which give it the appearance of wearing a small beard.   True, we are no longer sure what the skull looked like since the only skull that has been found is assigned to Kunbarrasaurus, but this head is completely overdone. A positive is that the toy does have long legs which is something the species is known for.

Overall:  It is a strange beast.  On one hand I love the fact they choose to do an obscure species in Minmi, on the other, it is not a very accurate toy.  Personally, I do tend to be nicer to the Jurassic Park/World toy lines (as you could tell from my Hasbro JW toy reviews) as they are not meant to be accurate, they are meant to be toys.  With that idea in mind, Mattel has done a great job.  This toy is small, simple and rather plain in its colorization.  That doesn’t make a great toy but its not bad either.  I would not call this toy a must have, but it is a sculpt of cool animal that has some personality, playability, and works fine on a shelf with other Jurassic World toys.