Mattel: 1 - Our expectations: 0 : First reveal of the Mattel line!
By Raptoralpha, Saturday 17 February 2018 at 10:34 AM :: #617
Hey folks! Today (well, yesterday) was the day JPtoys fans have been waiting for since 1997: we finally have a new toyline worthy of what Kenner did in the Lost World line, and dare I say it, a toyline that is better than the TLW line in many aspects. Bold statement, I know, but here, take a look at this small preview of what we can expect from this line:
Yup, what you seeing is real: giant Mosasaurus, 3" 3/4 figures (including, yes, an Alan Grant figure from the first movie), dinos in scale with the human figures, new vehicles (including a RC Gyrosphere), new species and older ones that definitely needed an update (I'm looking at you, '94 Gallimimus). This alone would have been a dream line when Hasbro owned the license. So, can you believe that this picture shows a very small part of what Mattel has in store for us, including a 3 feet long Super Colossal T-Rex, big vehicles, a classic line inspired by the first movie (the Alan Grant figure seen above comes from that line), an Herrerasaurus confirmed by Universal to be designed after the Telltale game version of this animal, obscure species never seen before in the various JP lines (Suchomimus, Protoceratops, Minmi, and many more), super-articulated figures (ball-jointed arms and legs on dinos, and an Indoraptor with over 15 points of articulation? Indeed!), an awesome packaging which pays homage to the first movie line, and many more? And to think word on the street has it that Mattel had to rush this line and couldn't spend as much time in Research & Development as they would have liked (hence the huge feet several figures sadly sport), we can only wonder what the following years will bring us, if this line is a success. And we're sure it will be.
As we mentioned above, a selection of items from this new line were shown yesterday during the Universal Pictures Toy Fair preview day event, where our good friend Chris Pugh, from Jurassic Outpost, was present and managed to take hundreds of pictures (which you can see on their Facebook page). He also uploaded a very cool video, which gives you an nice overview of what was shown:
Feeling the excitement yet? We know we do! After years of having to settle with sub-par quality toys and total lack of new ones for several years, we can say that Mattel is a true blessing for our small collecting world. And it's just the beginning... To give you an idea of how much Mattel is leaps and bounds beyond Hasbro, we uploaded Hasbro's (hopefully) last line in our database: the Dino Hybrid line. It speaks for itself...
Also, NY Toy Fair is just getting started, and many more new items will be shown in the following days. Stay tuned for our next article, which will be a complete checklist of every Mattel figure, with loose and boxed pictures when available. It will give you a sense of how large this new line is. Trust us, we're all going to be so broke...