Sand Dig Surprise (Jurassic World Dominion by Mattel)

In the immortal words of Monty Python “And now for something completely different”. Brands will often make a variety of small pieces for kids that are cheap, allowing adults to keep kids quiet for a short while. I happened to see one such on a recent shopping trip and decided to see what you get for a small sum of £3. So, here we have the Sand Dig Surprise from Jurassic World Dominion.

The chest on the box art is far more interesting, what you actually get is a cardboard box with the same consistency as an egg box. Pretty cheap. Inside is a spoon and moveable sand, containing a mystery figure inside. This is a very messy one, if giving to younger children, definitely prepare a surface for easy cleaning. Well, let’s look at the figure!

From this one, I got a Dilophosaurus. It came in four pieces (as all the models seem to) and form a skeleton of the animal. It measures 2.9″ high and 3″ long, a reasonably good-sized model. It is not the most accurate, the neck, arms and feet too short and the horizontal pose utterly wrong, though the head and tail are good (lack of a frill always helps). The quality of the model is the question, and the way kept. Sand gets everywhere, needing cleaning out before putting together. Which is a tricky task, given that these pieces struggle to stay together and tend to want to come apart.

I have never really been one for collecting skeleton figures, so only picked this up as a curiosity, and I wouldn’t personally do it again. This is for children only, and I dare say they would enjoy digging it out, especially for the cheap price. I have seen other models online, including Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, but not a full list of models (if someone finds it, please say in the comments). This is a set for the play pen, not the collectors shelf.