Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
Ornitholestes was a coelurosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America. It most famously appeared in the BBC Walking With Dinosaurs series and featured in the second Jurassic Park book, The Lost World. Its appearance in the latter continued the tried and true Crichton trope of dead dinosaurs washing up on beaches. Like quite a few species that only appeared in the original books, Ornitholestes has made the jump from page to action figure in Mattel’s Jurassic World line, this time in 2020’s Primal Attack series.
I’m going to be frank: this 6.75″ long figure doesn’t resemble the animal in the fossil record outside of being a theropod. Ornitholestes was more closely related to maniraptoriformes, but this figure looks more like a coelophysid. Its most apparent inaccuracies are found in the head and neck. The real Ornitholestes’ neck was very short for a theropod and didn’t have nearly as pronounced of an S-curve. The head is also completely wrong; it’s too long and flat, resembling a coelophysid/Jar Jar Binks mashup more than the short, rectangular skull of the real animal. Noticeably missing is the erroneous nose crest so common in Ornitholestes reconstructions, so Mattel gets some points there.
The arms of Ornitholestes would be about 2/3 the length of the short hind limbs, however, the toy’s arms are only about half as big as the legs. The hands are at least supinated, but the fingers are all about the same length, which isn’t right. The second and third digits should be considerably longer than the first. And while this Ornitholestes does have a pubic boot, it is far too short, causing the animal to look malnourished around the waist.
Also, did I mention that Ornitholestes is a maniroptoromorph? This means that one could plausibly reconstruct it with feathers, although there is no conclusive evidence for them. Another potentially missing feature is the lack of an enlarged “sickle” claw on each of the inner weight-bearing toes. Some experts have argued against this feature, however, as this particular digit has not been well preserved. And so it is that this figure simply has standard theropod feet.
The colors on this figure are a little bland, but that’s okay, especially for the Mattel line, which is sometimes too vibrant. The green eyes and orange markings on the face stick out in a good way, and I like that the cream stripes carry on to the tip of the tail, a feature which many Mattel figures unfortunately lack. The articulation is standard for an Attack Pack theropod: articulated jaw, hinged neck, swivelling arms and legs, and a swivel at the base of the tail.
Overall, I don’t think this will be the definitive Ornitholestes for anyone; the inaccuracies are just too numerous. Luckily, given this species’ relative star power compared to some of the other obscure animals Mattel has put out, I’m sure it’ll get a more accurate figure at some point soon (hopefully). But if you want a fun dinosaur figure, you won’t regret purchasing this one.
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Last year there were rumors that Mattel would make a Segisaurus. I wonder if that was the starting point for this figure, but they changed the name to something more familiar.
Glad they produced an Ornitholestes without the nasal horn, but it ends up so generic that it could be anything. Generic theropod 47 here