Velociraptor (The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Hammond Collection by Mattel)

Although I no longer hold The Lost World: Jurassic Park in high regard, I do have nostalgia for it. I was 13 when the movie was released and I don’t think I was ever more hyped for a film, aside from the first Jurassic Park, perhaps. The marketing campaign for it was intense and with the movie being announced two years before its release the wait felt eternal. I loved the movie when I saw it, but I was a kid, and most of the film’s shortcomings weren’t obvious. It delivered what I wanted most at the time, cool action sequences and dinosaurs. My love for the movie may have waned but some of my favorite designs in the franchise came from it. The bull T. rex, Stegosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, and the tiger striped Velociraptor.

Although maybe not as striking as the designs of the JP3 raptors, the tiger striped raptors have always appealed to me most, and a Hammond Collection figure of those raptors has been on my wish list since the line was launched. The figure is just now hitting store shelves but the reception over it has been mixed. Some collectors hail it as Mattel’s best raptor to date, and others think it’s among their worst. What do I think? Well, read on!

First off, the packaging. A few things are notable here. For one, the figure is erroneously marketed as a Jurassic World figure. All Hammond Collection figures have packaging that reflects the movie the figure is from. There are no raptors like this one in the original Jurassic World, so this denotes an oversight on Mattel’s part. Secondly, there’s the addition of this “True FX” graphic on the front. That seems to imply that the figures have enhanced paint apps, details, or better film accuracy but to me it looks like a marketing gimmick. Lastly, the Velociraptor image on the front of the packaging is not a Lost World raptor but rather a re-painted JP3 raptor. That’s not quite as bad as what we get on the Troodon packaging but I’m not reviewing (or even buying) that one. This is probably disappointing for in-box collectors but I’m not one of those so…moving on!

The figure stands about 4” (10.16 cm) tall and measures about 8.75” (22.225 cm) long. Scaled down from a height of 6’ (1.8 meters) we get a scale of 1/18, as intended. I won’t go over the articulation too much as it’s the same as the other 5 Hammond Collection raptors, two of which have been reviewed already (someone wanna do the rest?). What I will mention is that the neck articulation has been seriously downgraded with the articulation at the base being functionally worthless. There’s barely any up and down motion and you cannot even get the figure to look over its shoulder like you could with past raptors.

Some lousy articulation aside, the figure looks otherwise fantastic. I’ve seen some complaints about reused parts from other raptor figures, or even the Atrociraptor figure, but I honestly see nothing wrong with recycling parts from figures of the same animal, or similar ones. I don’t have the Hammond Collection Atrociraptor so cannot compare them directly. I’ve also seen some claim that the lacrimal crests are too pronounced, but I’m looking at images of the tiger raptors as I type and I see no drastic difference between them and this figure. They might be slightly more exaggerated here.

Looking at the fine details, the teeth are a marked improvement over past Hammond Collection raptors.  Delta had finely detailed dentition too, but I didn’t get that one. The teeth in the upper jaw are all individually pointed and well defined. The teeth in the lower jaw are sculpted against the tongue and not as individually discernable but I’m alright with it, since we have to fit these teeth into a lipped mouth and the figure is rather small. I’ve seen some collectors mention an underbite on their figures. And it’s true, at least some of the figures come with it. The underbite is easily fixed on my figure however, as the jaw can be pushed back and pulled forward slightly. I experienced this issue with my Blue figure, the jaw would pop forward if the mouth was opened too wide.

Mattel finally seems to have figured out the glass eyes. Earlier raptors had painted eyes but Blue and Echo had soulless looking glass eyes that only looked real under specific lighting conditions. This raptor’s eyes shine from all angels and in any light conditions. Fine details over the body are also better than its predecessors, with fine scale detail all over, labial scales along the mouth, scutes on the fingers and toes, abundant wrinkles and skin folds where appropriate, and good muscle definition. The claws on the hands and feet are finely sculpted and nicely pointed. The feet are proportional, but the figure is not as stable as its bigfooted cousins, a fair trade in my opinion.

Naturally, the figure is orange with black tiger stripes. The colors and contrast are crisp, bright, and vibrant, so I suppose that means this is a male raptor, as the females were duller colored. Compared to those in the movie, the stripes are too thin and clustered together. The movie’s raptors had wider stripes that were spaced further apart. Also, the stripes along the face are only painted on the sides and should connect, up and over the snout. Also, the orange coloration leans a bit too far red and should have been a pinch duller.

I’ve seen complaints that the colors don’t match on different parts of the figure, but I feel like this is an illusion that’s exacerbated by brightly lit photographs. For instance, the tail appears to be a brighter shade of orange than the rest of the body but in reality it is carrying over the bright orange coloration that is along the back, between the stripes, and is just more visible on the tail. Likewise, the legs have no bright orange, so they contrast somewhat with the blended tones on the main body. Any inconsistencies that appear obvious in pictures all but vanish when viewed in person.

The underside of the figure has a dull orange-tan color that nicely blends with the brighter orange along the flanks. The claws are glossy black except for the hallux toes, which are unpainted. The teeth are white, and the tongue is pink. The eyes are yellow with black elliptical pupils.

Although not a perfect representation of the tiger raptors we see in The Lost World, the flaws of the Hammond Collection Velociraptor have been greatly exaggerated by many collectors. My only real criticisms about it are that the striping is too thin and heavy and the neck articulation is worthless. Anything beyond that would constitute as nitpicking and those flaws aside I think this is Mattel’s best Hammond Collection raptor so far. I only wish the Hammond Collection was this good from the beginning and that Mattel need not experience so many growing pains. As is, some of the older figures in the collection don’t even look like they belong in it anymore.