The media could not be loaded. 2022 Mattel Jurassic World Dominion “Strike ‘N Roar” Giganotosaurus “The biggest carnivore the world has ever seen” comes home at last! The mighty Giganotosaurus has finally arrived at retail in the US! This long anticipated figure is packed with fun features, but also has some unfortunate flaws. For the most part, the sculpt of the Giganotosaurus is decent, and represents its on screen counterpart pretty well. The one major difference is the teeth. In the film, the upper teeth overlap the bottom teeth, giving the Giganotosaurus sort of a sinister smile. On Mattel’s figure, the teeth interlock, making it look a bit more like the Indominus rex. The detailing is kind of a mixed bag here. There are some areas where the details are crisp and clean, but other areas where the details are a bit muddled. The head is a great example of this. The upper portion of the head is wonderfully sculpted. It features plenty of scales, scutes, and bumps. There are even scars sculpted throughout the face. The lower jaw, on the other hand, is a bit less sharply detailed. There is still texture there, but it’s dull compared to the face. The inside of the mouth has great texturing as well, especially the tongue. The neck, however, is beautifully sculpted all the way around. The sides of the neck are mostly sculpted with heavily wrinkled skin. The throat features a row of large scales that remind me a lot of the belly of a snake. The top of the neck has rows of large, keeled scales. A row of large spikes begins at the base of the skull, and runs down the length of the neck. The front section of the body is another area which is more lightly detailed. Again, there is some nice detail there, but it doesn’t pop as much as the rest of the body. I believe this particular area’s lesser detail is done so that the action gimmick operates more smoothly. The rest of the body is beautifully sculpted with a mix of wrinkles, crosshatching, and pebbly scales. Many scars are scattered across the body as well. The back is covered in rows of large keeled scales, as seen in the neck. The large hump of giant scutes also begins here. The scutes are a bit less detailed than I would have preferred, and there is an odd seam line in the top left of the spikes. One of the activation buttons for the gimmick is located at the rear of these spikes. As far as large buttons go, it blends in decently well. I like the feel of it too, as it is a softer, more rubbery material. The texturing becomes more muddled once again once you reach the first tail joint, and continues this way to the very tip. The limbs have good muscle tone, and are textured nicely. The arms are more of a wrinkled texture. The hands look good, and the wrists are (thankfully) not pronated. The legs have a beautiful pebbled scalation, and are probably the best textured part of the entire figure. There are some great scars sculpted in as well. The feet are textured perfectly also. The feet are decently proportioned too. They are still a little oversized, but are nowhere near as large as the feet on the other massive carnivores Mattel has produced. The main paint applications are excellent until you get to the tail. The patterning on the face and body are beautifully done, especially on the face. However, that beauty fades quickly when you get to the tail. The patterning just ends, and the rest of the tail just has these odd splotches. There are also odd light colored splats of paint in seemingly random places on the figure. I’m not sure what the designers were thinking, because these places look extremely out of place. I am very happy that the toe claws are painted, but I wish the hand claws were painted too. The eyes look great, and the teeth are painted beautifully as well. The articulations are fairly limited, as most movement is tied to the action features. Arms and legs can move forward and back. The ankles can rotate. The tail has two separate joints which can swing back and forth. However, these tail joints are incredibly loose. Everything else is tied to the actions. The main action gimmick is actually my biggest issue with the Giganotosaurus. Pressing the button on the back causes the front portion of the body to thrash wildly, while the dinosaur emits thrashing sounds and roars. It’s a fun and unique feature, and I really love the way it works. However, the issue is that the neutral position is ridiculously bad. Instead of making the neutral position a proper, standard pose, the front of the body just flops to the side. You can pose it in more of a normal stance, but only with the body turning upward and slightly to the left. This makes posing for photography particularly frustrating. The second action feature is much better. To activate it, simply press the button on the bottom of the tail base. This causes the mouth to open and let out a mighty roar! I know this review has been more on the negative side. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very fun figure, but this one is definitely not geared towards collectors. For me, the wonky posing, mixed sculpt, and questionable paint issues are very unfortunate. I don’t regret picking this one up, but I do hope we get either a Hammond Collection version, or a “Devour” version later on down the line. This is very much a kid’s toy, and that target audience is going to adore this Giganotosaurus!
