Jurassic Park/Mattel

## Jurassic World/Jurassic Park

* JPIII Velociraptor
* Dilophosaurus

Shortly after Hasbro lost the license, the *Jurassic Park* toyline was up for Mattel's taking as they started producing several action figures. Their first wave was made to promote *Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom* and the series would expand to the original *Jurassic Park* trilogy. Many of their figures feature much stellar articulation than Kenner/Hasbro’s and even won the Action Figures of the Year Award in 2019. Though much like the real-life dinosaurs, there were some action figures that were rendered extinct in development.

## Summary

Although Kenner/Hasbro maintained the rights to make *Jurassic Park* action figures from the 1990s to 2016, Mattel, through the Matchbox brand they purchased in 1997, released a line of die-cast vehicles, playsets and dinosaur minifigures to coincide with *The Lost World: Jurassic Park*.  For the release of *Jurassic World*, Matchbox reused preexisting castings with very little of the vehicles being based on specific models as shown on film.

On July 18, 2016, CEO of Hasbro, Brian Goldner, announced that they would no longer handle the Jurassic Park license after 2017, due to Universal’s inability to arrive at a mutually beneficial financial arrangement on the brand. On that following day, NBC chose Mattel to produce toys for the Jurassic saga, their license starting in July 2017. Their first tenure begin in April 2018 with waves of tie-in products for *Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom*. Matell hey released action figures of dinosaurs that either appeared in the sequel (ie. Blue, *Indoraptor*) or were purely made for toys (ie. *Protoceratops*, *Herrerasaurus*), action figures of the human cast such as Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, Maisie, and Ken Wheatley; and vehicles such as the deep-dive submarine, an off-road rescue rig, a Gyropshere, and a Jeep Wrangler from the original *Jurassic Park*.  Riding on the success of their *Fallen Kingdom* toyline, Mattel produced *Jurassic World: Legacy Collection*, which depicted characters and dinosaurs as seen in the other *Jurassic Park* movies. Although successful, many of these figures are hard to acquire, due to them only being stocked in Target stores.  In 2019, Mattel created *Jurassic World: Dino Rivals*, which featured all new sculpts, several repaints and a special action feature. The general gimmick was that some dinosaurs had two buttons side-by-side on their hips, each activating different actions. Most toys came with a trading card, which had stats so young children could face their dinosaurs off and determine a winner through power scaling.  That same year, Mattel released the *Amber Collection*, which was marketed towards collectors and featured figures with more movie accurate sculpts than the average *Jurassic World* toyline.  To promote the release of *Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous*, an animated series that ran on Netflix from 2020 to 2022, Mattel made a whole bunch of products of both the show's human cast and dinosaurs like Toro the Carnotaurus.  2022 was a big year for Mattel as they released a bunch of action figures for *Dominion* - the final sequel in the *Jurassic World* trilogy. Unique to this toyline is the change in the placement of the animal toys' DNA code; whereas the codes from *Fallen Kingdom* and its expansions were place at the bottom of the dinosaur's feet, one of the pterosaur's wings, or one of the marine reptile's flippers, the new DNA codes now pop out from the animal's back via a small latch or retractable tab. Following hte premise of dinosaurs living amongst humans worldwide, the *Dominion* toyline heavily focused on new and obscured species that had never been seen before in any *JP*/*JW* media, along with species introduced in the film such as *Atrociraptor* and *Gigantosaurus*.  2022 was also the year that Mattel phased out the *Amber Collection* in favour of the *Hammond Collection*, which did away with the 6-inch scale and went back to the standard format of four-inches.

Other *Jurassic World* toylines that Mattel has done include more Matchbox vehicles, Imaginext products for a younger demographic, *Primal Attack* in 2020, *Dino Escape* in 2021, *Dino Trackers* in 2023, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of *Jurassic Park*; and *Epic Evolution*, which is set to release in 2024.

Although some of Mattel's earlier *Jurassic World* figures were notorious for being hard to find, due to limited releases at the time of Toys R Us' bankruptcy in the United States, they were still available to find as long you had the right connections and money to pick them up. Down below are the ones that have been lost to time.

## DeconStruct-A-Saurs

Destruct-A-Saurs was a toyline released in 2018 by Mattel, limited exclusively to Toys R Us stores. The line featured colourful repaints of pre-existing dinosaurs, retrofitted with magnets in their mouths that simulate the destruction of the metal cages they came packaged with. Most dinosaurs, such as the *Velociraptor* and *Pteranodon*, were accompanied by a *Microceratus* while the *Dilophosaurus*, on the other hand, came with a *Compsognathus*. Destruct-A-Saur also consisted of the playsets *Pteranodon* Copter Attack and *T. rex* Ambush.

One set considered for the single-pack series of Destruct-A-Saurs was an individual package variant of the *Stygimoloch* with a cage and micro-scale *Dimorphodon*. Although it appeared to be the Attack Packs variant, this Stiggy would've came with dual hinge joints in the arms & legs, as well as an attack-pack inspired head/neck joint. Another set would've included the "Savage Strike" *Dimetrodon* mold, now painted red and orange, along with a *Microceratus*. Intended as a Destruct-A-Saur playset was Stygimoloch Laboratory. Even before its cancellation, changes were made as the originally intended action figure of Dr. Henry Wu was swapped in favour of a Owen Grady repackage. This playset would've included a Laboratory Workbench with all sorts of accessories and details including an encased amber fly, drill, crackable eggs in an incubation unit, and several scratch marks & indents for the Stiggy figure to hit.

## Therizi-No Way

Amidst the rumours of new Mattel *Jurassic World* toys in 2019, there was massive speculation that the *Therizinosaurus*, an avian dinosaur noted for its freakishly long claws, would be featured as a front runner for *Dino Rivals*. Fans were excited to see the DNA origin of the *Indominus rex* hit store shelves, though it was later announced that both it and the *Plesiosaurus* would be scrapped. Though while the latter moved onto Wave 2 of the Battle Damage line, the *Therizinosaurus* was not so lucky.

## Forgotten Legacy

When the *Legacy Collection* was first announced, *Jurassic Park* fans got a sneak peek at Waves Two and Three. The latter was the most exciting as it would've featured two dinos in particular. First up was a male Velociraptor from *Jurassic Park III* that would've had highly-detailed paint applications, stripe patterns, movie-accurate quills, and would've fit in perfectly with the *Spinosaurus* toy that was released waves prior. The second figure of interest was the fan-favourite *Dilophosaurus* that, alongside screen-accurate paintwork, would've featured a similar gimmick to the original 1993 Kenner action figure where once you fill it with water, it would "spit" a jet of liquid similar to the scene in the original *Jurassic Park* where it blinds Dennis Nedry with venom. Although they looked like welcome additions to the *Legacy Collection*, according to a Mattel employee, neither the Raptor or Dilo were scooped up retailers and thus, got cancelled from release.

## Jurassic Verdict

While Mattel continues to ride the *Jurassic World* money train, its clear that neither of these aforementioned figures will ever be brought back to life, especially with the Destruct-A-Saur sets due to the line's generally poor performance. Although a *Therizinosaurus* figure was eventually made for the *Dominion* toyline, it is drastically different compared to the *Dino Rivals* prototype; as is the case with the JPIII *Velociraptor* and *Dilophosaurus*, who were revisited for the *Hammond Collection*. It is unknown where the original mock-ups are, if they are still in Mattel's studio or thrown away, but they are, much like their real-life inspiration: **LOST** to time.

## Gallery

The Dimetrodon and Microceratus originally planned for Destruct-A-SaursThe Stigymoloch and *Dimorphodon originally planned for Destruct-A-Saurs*The Stigymoloch Lab Playset originally planned for Destruct-A-SaursMattel Therizinosaurus.jpgThe prototype for the Therizinosaurus that was supposed to appear in Dino Rivals
## Sources Used

* Tom. (2019, March 31). *Collect Jurassic*. RARE & CANCELLED – MATTEL’S LOST JURASSIC WORLD TOYS: PART 1. Online article.
* Tom. (2019, April 7). *Collect Jurassic*. RARE & CANCELLED – MATTEL’S LOST JURASSIC WORLD TOYS: PART 2. Online article.
* *Jurassic Park Wiki*. (Retrieved October 2020). Destruct-A-Saurs. Online article.

## Citations

1. ↑ The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997 Matchbox line). *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
2. ↑ Jurassic World (2015 Matchbox line). *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
3. ↑ Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (toyline). *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
4. ↑ Jurassic World: Legacy Collection. *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
5. ↑ Jurassic World: Dino Rivals. *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
6. ↑ Jurassic World: Amber Collection. *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
7. ↑ Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
8. ↑ . Jurassic World Dominion (toyline). *Jurassic Park Wiki*.
9. ↑ Jurassic World: Hammond Collection. *Jurassic Park Wiki*.