Velociraptor “Blue” (Jurassic World: Ferocious Pack by Mattel)

Review and photos by Prehistory Resurrection, edited by Suspsy

Mattel has made more ”Blue” toys (as well as other Velociraptors) than you can shake a stick at. Today, we will be taking a look at one of several incarnations of the beloved raptor: their Jurassic World Dominion Ferocious Pack version. Blue is the fourth and final figure forming part of the first wave of the FP line to be reviewed; the other three figures being Dsungaripterus, Miragaia, and Moros.  Like those ones, Blue comes in an open package. The advantage of this is that you can check to see if there are any paint mishaps on the figure before buying it. The packaging has the same usual Dominion-inspired artwork, the logo on the bottom left side, and pictures depicting how to scan the DNA code.

Blue measures about a little over 17 cm long and 11 cm tall when the tail is raised to its highest point. The body is a brand new sculpt compared to all the previous versions of Blue as well as other previous raptors. However, the head appears to me to be the same as those of previous raptors. The brow ridges look a bit taller on this one, though. The same figure also comes in a set with Atrociraptor ”Red,” except without the white outlines around the blue stripes running along either side of the body and with the blue stripe continuing on the tail, in the ”Capture ‘N Crush Truck” set with an orange and brown color scheme, and in the Legacy Collection JP Kitchen Encounter Pack with a brown color scheme. 

In terms or articulation, the lower jaw is hinged, the neck turns, the arms and legs can be moved forwards and backwards, and the tail can be swiveled. The tail feels quite rubbery and flexible, suggesting that it is made from a different material as compared to the body. It has a nice, elegant curve to it, replicating the sleek and elegant look of the animal in the film. This makes this figure very fun to play with indeed. The DNA code slot is located just on the hips, which you must pull out and scan to bring your Mattel figures to life with the Jurassic World Facts App, available to download from the App Store and Google Play.

As usual with Mattel’s JW figures, this one has cartoonish proportions, starting with perhaps my biggest pet peeve: the oversized feet (but I must admit that they are not as much of an eyesore as with other figures, at least to me). Moreover, the hip area is quite wide, in order to accommodate the space for the DNA code slot. As a result, the body has an almost pear-shaped body. And lastly, the tail is awkwardly short and thin, and almost looks like a rat’s. It would definitely look better with a longer tail.

Of course, as this is a figure based on a creature from a pop culture film, I won’t be judging it based on scientific accuracy, but rather on how screen accurate this figure is. The detail work is decent. The snout area and the eyelids are sculpted, there are creases on top of the head, wrinkles on the throat and all over the body and the tail, texturing such as bird-like scutes on the hands and feet, and muscle definition on the arms, legs, and tail. As we move onto the paint job, it is almost screen accurate. The base color for the overall body is grey and the eyes are yellow with black slit pupils. Inside the mouth, the gums and tongue are pink (the roof is left unpainted) with white teeth. The claws on the hands and feet are all left unpainted for some reason.

On the figure’s left hand side, the blue stripe starts on the neck just after the head; on the right hand side, the blue stripe starts running around the eye, which is correct. And pleasingly, the white outline around the blue stripe on either side of the body is painted too, which is correct as well. But one big disappointment is that the blue stripes on either side of the body stops abruptly just above the legs, when in the film, the blue stripes continues onto the tail too. In the prototype images, the blue stripes did continue onto the tail, but this is not the case with the final product, and I cannot stress how disappointing this is. Finally, the underside of the body is light yellow, but the paint application is abrupt; it starts on the chest area and stops on the groin area instead of the whole underside of the body. I wonder what’s with Mattel’s quality control but to be honest, this is not surprising with them. Some figures have the wrong number of digits on the hands, some have the claws left unpainted, and my biggest pet peeves are the clown feet and cartoony proportions. This is why I am not very fond of Mattel’s offerings. But, of course, I understand that these are meant to be children’s toys and not high-end collectibles.

All in all, Blue is a pretty decent offering from Mattel for me. I like this new body sculpt more than the previous versions save for the unpainted claws and oversized feet, the blue stripes stopping abruptly above the legs, and the short, rat-like tail. As I stated earlier, this is a toy and not a high-end collectible, so it is not perfect. And this is Mattel. If you are or your little one(s) are fond of the Jurassic World franchise and looking for a nearly screen-accurate figure of Blue, then I would recommend this one. It should be available on online sites like Amazon or wherever Mattel JW figures are sold.