Utahraptor (Jurassic World: Rebirth, Wild Roar by Mattel)

Although never featured in any Jurassic Park or Jurassic World film, Utahraptor has had ties to the franchise since the beginning. Remains of Utahraptor were first discovered in 1975 but it wouldn’t generate much attention until the discovery of a claw and additional remains in 1991. It was described in 1993, the same year that Jurassic Park was released. According to Robert Bakker, in his book Raptor Red, it validated the large size of the raptors in Jurassic Park. This has led to some confusion about the Jurassic Park raptors with some claiming they’re actually Utahraptor. They’re not, they’re Deinonychus that are approaching the size of Utahraptor and named Velociraptor. Anyway, this led to the release of the Kenner Utahraptor in 1994, a rather quick turnaround from scientific description to action figure!

Because of this close association it’s hard to believe that Mattel took 8 years to release their own Utahraptor. I suppose it’s for the best however, because there’s no way that Mattel would have released a Utahraptor this good even just a few short years ago.

The Mattel Utahraptor is part of the Wild Roar line, which means it is a mid-size toy that emits sounds as part of its action feature. The action feature is activated via the tail, where pushing down or pulling up on it causes the head to lift or lower, snap its jaws, and roar. The roars are rather generic of course; some shrieks and hisses would have been appreciated. Twisting the tail left and right tilts the head back and forth also. For articulation, the arms can rotate around and swing in-and-out and the legs can lock into place at various points.

The Mattel Utahraptor stands about 4.5” (11.43 cm) tall at the hips and measures 12.5” (31.75 cm) long. The actual Utahraptor is thought to be one of the largest, if not the largest, dromaeosaurs. They’re estimated to have reached 20-23’ (6-7 meters) and 1,100 lbs. (500 kg). Basically, Utahraptor is a giant ground-eagle the weight of a polar bear. Attempts to scale Mattel toys are always a bit futile since they all have wonky proportions. In this case, the tail is too short. But using body length, we get a scale of 1/19-1/22.

The toy has a burly and compact build and is decently accurate to dromaeosaurs in general but has some inaccuracies when compared to the actual Utahraptor. For example, the teeth in the front of the lower jaw should be projecting somewhat forward along a slightly downward arching jaw tip. Aside from that, and the short tail, the toy looks spectacular for a Jurassic World action figure. It has the boxy head of a Utahraptor without much shrink wrapping and the hands are accurately facing inward. Also, there are the feathers…

While Mattel has played around with feathers in the past, they usually only sculpt on a bit of fluff here-and-there. Not so here. Only the face, hands, and feet are bare…the bits that make sense. Everything else is covered, including the underside. They aren’t hugging the body either, the toy looks appropriately floofy and more like a bird than a lizard dressed as a bird.

The feathers are nicely detailed too. Contour feathers run down the body in overlapping layers and the larger feathers on the arms and tail are individually detailed with shafts and veins. A feather crest runs along the back of the head, and some pointy feathers decorate the brow. The underside has less detail but looks soft and downy. The only problem with the feathering is that the feathers stop at the wrist when they should continue down the middle finger but the rest of the figure more than makes up for it.

The bare portions of the face are detailed with cracks and wrinkles, with scales along the lips. The teeth are the fine rubbery inserts we’ve come to love from Mattel. The hands have scales sculpted at the base and scutes running down the fingers. The claws appear sharp and formidable, but the arms are made entirely of soft and pliable rubber. The feathers on the legs transition to scales about halfway past the knees and scutes run down the toes. Faint grooves are sculpted over the surface of the claws.

The paintjob starts strong on the head but gradually tapers off to non-existent the farther back you go. The usual from Mattel. The bare portions of the face and the throat are black and there are some white spots under the yellow eyes. The inside of the mouth is glossy pink and the teeth are white. The rest of the head and neck are orange and orange streaks along the sides give way to a brown body. The arms are entirely orange with no paint apps, and the tail is entirely brown. The only color on the legs are where the orange streaks end on the thighs. The paintjob is very similar to one of Mattel’s Herrerasaurus toys, in the comparison image, below.

A little bit extra would have gone a long way with the paintjob here. Some colors on the tail would have nicely complimented its shaggy tip and the claws should have been painted. On a dromaeosaur especially, the claws are important focal points. I don’t like to modify my toys, but I’m tempted to paint the nails on this Utahraptor.

This toy is both Mattel’s best feathered dinosaur and best dromaeosaur to date and truly unlike anything Mattel has made before. Even though a lot of us are trying to prioritize the Hammond Collection at this point, toys like this in the main line are hard to ignore. The Mattel Utahraptor is currently available for about $17-20 but don’t wait too long to acquire it as it seems the figures from this wave are already being replaced by the next.