Epic Evolution Danger Pack Plesiosaurus Yes flipper feet Jurassic World Epic Evolution Danger Pack Item No.: Asst. HLN49 No. HTK48 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: n/a Action Feature: Pull tab to reveal app-scannable DNA Retail: $8.47 Availability: November 2023 Other: New mold, I think
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I stumbled on this Plesiosaurus at a Walmart. Lucky me! Usually the Walmarts I visit don't even have the cheaper assortments, and as far as I can tell this is a new mold that's similar to the existing ones with flipper levers and dino-damage. This one is much simpler, and also cheaper - you can pop out the DNA tab, move the neck, tail, flippers, and jaw. It's not a bad little toy for the asking price, especially given inflation and the current marketplace competition. There aren't any Star Wars figures this cheap, and the closest you might see around this price might be the 3 3/4-inch Spin Master's generally pretty great DC guys. Hasbro has abdicated the "value" end of things, and Mattel isn't doing a lot of figures under $15. A 3 3/4-inch scale dinosaur - in this case, one that's about 7 1/2-inches long - at this price is quite amazing in 2023, and honestly that's more or less what I would have expected a similar figure to be during the first Kenner Jurassic Park line in 1993.

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At about 7 1/2-inches long, it is a very decent toy - it's not fancy, there are no mechanisms. It's not as hefty as a Schleich dino, but you do get those rotating fins, a swivel tail, and an articulated neck plus a moving jaw. It's not a lot, but it's not like these guys normally come with rocket launchers or lightsabers. This one is painted in a grayish blue which fades from dark to light, with red skin around the eyes that I admit I just don't get. The teeth outside the mouth - which were on the previous toys too - are also a little unsettling, giving this one much more of a monstrous appearance for an ancient animal. The interior of the mouth has some red paint, plus she has yellow eyes with a little black dot. The deco is simple, but good.

The detail is as good as ever, with lots of little wrinkles and folds over an imagined musculature. Is it what they looked like? Probably not. But it's not like we've found a lot of breakthroughs. It's a pretty good toy, and is the kind of thing I wish we saw other toy manufacturers take as inspiration. Jurassic World is a kid line where collectors jump in and buy stuff because it's good. That's how Star Wars used to be, and generally speaking that's how you do better volume on these things. It's really easy to skip $25-$30 basic figures, but a $8-$9 figure? I might not buy them all, but if anything even close to "I wish I had one of those" pops up I grab it and go to the checkout, and you can look at the reviews at the bottom of this page to prove it with the Nothosaurus and Dakosaurus toys. (There's a pattern.) I'd recommend trying these guys out if you see one you like, mostly just as an example of the kind of toy-making you can do at mass retail if you work really hard at appealing to a wide audience and not maximizing features... or the retail price.

Additional Images

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