Mapusaurus is a carcharodontosaurid that lived in Argentina during the late Cretaceous and is also one of the largest theropods known. It was only slightly smaller than its close relative, Giganotosaurus, and the skeletal differences between them are minimal. Today we’re looking at Mattel’s Mapusaurus. Spoiler alert, it’s a really cool toy but a pretty bad Mapusaurus.
The Mattel Mapusaurus measures 14” (33.56 cm) long and stands about 5.5” (13.97 cm) tall at the hips. The actual Mapusaurus is estimated to have measured 33-40’ (10.2–12.2 meters) long which puts the toy in the 1/28-1/34 scale range. Woefully small when compared to Mattel’s 1/18 large theropods, vehicles, and humans. But unless it is a film canon species you can generally expect it to get shrunk down.
The figure has two wheels along the back that activate the same action feature, which is somewhat odd. Rolling either wheel forward makes the head move up and down and the jaws snap open and closed. What’s nifty about this action feature is that you can essentially change the pose of the head by only partially rotating the wheel. It can be displayed with the head lifted and mouth open, or neutral with the mouth closed, or facing down with the mouth open.
A row of spikes hidden in the back can be extended via a button on the underside. I’ve never liked the retracting spikes on these toys but they’re easy enough to ignore. The arms and legs are articulated with the rubbery arms being able to rotate around and swing in and out, and the legs being able to rotate and pivot outwards slightly. The feet can also rotate around.
Mattel completely botches the one feature that could make this figure identifiable as a Mapusaurus, the head, which in carcharodontosaurids is generally long, low, and narrow. On this toy it looks more abelisaurid like, being somewhat short, deep, and blunt at the snout. Mattel loves abelisaurids and has made a lot of them. It looks like they want to make their other theropods look like them too! The rest of the body has a generic theropod look with your typical cartoonish proportions. Oversized feet and the like.
Mattel may have gone overboard with the details and bodily embellishments here, but the toy is all the better for it. The head is detailed with snake-like diamond shaped scales that are larger on the lower jaw than elsewhere. Labial scales line the mouth, and a cluster of large scales is sculpted on the back of the lower jaw, a frequent addition to Mattel theropods. The teeth are the fine rubbery inserts we’ve been enjoying lately. The tongue has a rough texture, and grooves are sculpted onto the roof of the mouth.
Twin rows of giant jagged osteoderms run down the back with smaller osteoderms clustered between them and along the outside edges. The rest of the body is covered in fine pebbly scales, and this includes the underside as well. Small groupings of osteoderms, or feature scales (whatever they are) can be seen on the shoulders and arms, along the flanks, and on the thighs, with those on the thighs and tail base being large, flattened, and round. Bird-like scutes run down the fingers and toes.
Mattel pulled no punches with the paintjob, with a complex and complete paintjob covering most of the toy. The figure is painted with a combination of dark blue and dull orange. The color combo runs down the entire toy, including the tail, and legs too. The only unpainted portion of the toy is the arms but even the toenails are painted here, shiny black. The teeth are white, the inside of the mouth is pink, and the eyes are brown with black elliptical pupils. The retractable spikes inside the back are red. Two subtle color variations of this toy exist with the other being dark blue and white.
The Mattel Mapusaurus wins few points for accuracy but in being a gnarly badass toy it succeeds beautifully. I imagine it will be popular with its target kid demographic, but I think it should prove equally popular with adult collectors that are still children at heart. The Mattel Mapusaurus is currently available for about $25 but since this is the holiday season I’m sure there’s a sale you can take advantage of.
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