Hasbro Jurassic World Stegoceratops Action Figure Hasbro, 2015
Day #1,219: July 7, 2015
Stegoceratops Bashing Attack!
Jurassic World Bashers and Biters
Item No.: Asst. B1271 No. B1272 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:n/a Action Feature:Tail serves as joystick to operate head mechanism Retail:$10.99 Availability:April 2015 (May 11, 2015 street date) Other: Green - Version 2 is Brown
One of my absolute favorite toy concepts in the 1990s was Chaos Effect, a brief line of Jurassic Park toys in neon colors with stylized, hybrid designs. They were weird. The Jurassic World line tries to do a more "realistic" take on the notion with the Stegoceratops toys. Each one is basically a Stegosaurus toy with a Triceratops head. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's a twofer - you cover a lot of bases for kids, and Hasbro gets to make one dinosaur mold instead of two. If you like what you see, it's a pretty neat toy - otherwise, skip it.
The way licensed toys are these days, it's somewhat ironic that Hasbro can't play around with them. With Star Wars and the like, things need some form of in-universe reference usually - there are exceptions, but they're far and few between. Hasbro has been allowed to make up all-new designs of non-movie dinosaurs since day one of Jurassic Park and it made for some spectacularly neat toys. Being able to deviate from the actual animals makes for interesting, if scientifically b.shtmlhemous, creations like this one. You've got a three two-horned head, plates on his back, and an honest-to-goodness thagomizer back there. The tail is a great little control mechanism. Push it down, and the head juts out. Move it to the side, and the head wags from side to side. It's a little tricky, and I suspect thrift stores will have broken ones down the road, but it's fun to mess with. The movement is significant enough that you can see it, but it's limited to the point where it's not great at toy combat. You're not going to knock over much using the tail mechanism. Just bashing the whole toy into another toy works better.
The sculpting and deco are good, and you get four articulated legs here. The head moves with the tail as a lever, but cannot be posed alone. There's a nice gash on the side with a few exposed bones, plus you get the obligatory "JW" marking on the back hip. The coloring is good, but not phenomenal - the orangeish highlights are nice, and the eyes are painted on straight on my sample. A light spray on the spines looks nice, but I don't doubt a few extra pennies could make better paint masks that really knocked your socks off. Much like the bigger toys, most of the deco budget has gone to its head. You'll also notice a painted belly, which you'll probably never notice. It's just not visible when he's standing on a table.
This little weirdo is a fairly sturdy-feeling toy minus that neck mechanism. I wouldn't suggest keeping it in a box with your other toys, but if you've got a shelf it should stay nice for years. Just be sure to get it before the try-me packaging allows non-customers to wreck it in-store prior to purchase. Did I mention I hate "try-me" open-tray packaging? Well, I do. Thankfully the dinosaur is neat, because the ignoring of the whole feathers and spines thing is amusingly balanced by making a freak of science. Get it if you've got ten bucks to burn, I think the Ankylosaurus is a sturdier plaything but I can't deny that this is too weird to not buy.
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