Once I reviewed the unique Hammond Assortment Velociraptor, I used to be fairly forgiving of it, however reality be instructed, it has not aged effectively in my eyes. Whereas I don’t remorse buying it, I finally disliked it sufficient to not hassle with the following Hammond Assortment JP3 raptors that featured all of the faults of their predecessor. I’m now of the opinion that the unique Hammond Assortment Velociraptor ranks among the many very worst of the Hammond Assortment.
So, I believed I used to be accomplished with Hammond Assortment raptors, however then Mattel went and rebuilt them, making them higher, stronger, sooner (do the younger individuals get that reference?). The poster-dino for the Jurassic World franchise was subsequent in line after the JP3 pair. Blue the Velociraptor, who should have at the very least a pair dozen toys to her identify. Mattel made some much-needed enhancements with this one, ditching the snowshoes for extra proportional toes, bulking out the arms, legs, and torso, and refining smaller particulars just like the tooth. Regardless of what number of toys there are of Blue I didn’t have one, so I made a decision to get this one and reward Mattel for enhancing upon their raptor designs.
Blue measures about 9” (22 cm) lengthy and stands about 3” (7.62 cm) tall on the hips. Blue measures about 12.8’ (3.9 meters) lengthy within the movies which places the determine at 1/18 in scale, as is meant.
Blue boasts 14 factors of articulation. Her head has an articulated jaw and is articulated at its base in addition to on the base of the neck. The arms are articulated on the shoulders and elbows like previous HC figures. They’ve ball joints that enable them to swivel and rotate each which approach. The legs are articulated with ball joints on the knees and base of the toes. The legs can rotate round and pivot out on the hips. The tail can rotate at its base and is made from rubber with a bendable wire operating via most of its size. The vary of movement right here is superb, as my images will hopefully illustrate. It will have been good if wrist articulation was included however its absence isn’t an enormous deal. On my copy the jaw opens so vast that it pops ahead a bit, creating an underbite when closed. It’s simple sufficient to push it again in but it surely did scare me at first. Apart from that the jaw closes good and flush although.
Particulars on the pinnacle embrace properly outlined forehead ridges and smaller tooth than previous raptors. The tooth rows are nonetheless singular items of uniform size with out a lot particular person definition although. The not too long ago launched HC Delta has higher tooth than this one, with every one individually sculpted, additional enhancing on the HC raptor design. The eyes, which have been painted on in previous raptors, are actually glass inserts. As has been talked about in different HC toy critiques they appear darkish and lifeless in low gentle circumstances and usually are not what I’d take into account an enchancment.
On the physique you get properly outlined musculature and superb scale element. The physique is bulkier than the unique HC raptor, which was far too skinny. Muscle definition is most appreciated within the arms, thighs, and calves. Pores and skin folds run down the again of the neck and each above and under the tail. The toes characterize the largest enchancment general and the determine is decently secure regardless of their smaller dimension. The determine just isn’t as secure as previous releases, however I take into account it a welcome tradeoff. You’ll be able to nonetheless get her to face in quite a lot of poses and on one foot, it simply takes nice precision.
Blue is painted darkish grey with a lighter grey underside. Her blue racing stripes have skinny white edges which I want the Dilophosaurus additionally had. The stripes run via the thigh nonetheless, when in previous Blue toys they’ve gone over it. Because of this once you rotate the legs it breaks the stripe, which seems to be ridiculous. That is my solely actual unfavourable criticism concerning the toy, it represents an actual blunder on Mattel’s half. Skinny grey stripes might be seen on the torso, thighs, and higher arms. Save for the tiny dewclaws the remainder of the claws are painted shiny black. The tooth are white, and the within of the mouth is pink. On my copy a little bit of blue paint really ended up on the tooth! A minor high quality management difficulty.
The Hammond Assortment Blue is a wonderful determine and the one actual points I’ve with it are the vacant glass eyes and poorly positioned racing stripes. I’d say that it’s in all probability one of the best you would hope for from Mattel however the simply launched Delta is even higher nonetheless! Though I’m completely satisfied to see Mattel enhance in high quality, I want they might have higher brainstormed these figures earlier of their manufacturing for the sake of consistency. As is, these vastly completely different figures don’t show effectively collectively, and it makes me yearn for higher sculpts of previous raptors that we in all probability received’t get. Mattel clearly may have accomplished higher from the beginning however hey, higher late than by no means.
Sadly, the shelf lifetime of this determine was quite quick and though I attempt to overview these toys whereas they’re in manufacturing, I dropped the ball on this one. Dinosaur toy releases (particularly from Mattel) are so frequent as of late that it’s troublesome to maintain up with them. I don’t suppose Blue is obtainable at retail worth anymore, having now been changed on cabinets by the Pyroraptor and Delta. Hopefully if you happen to’re studying this you have already got this determine, it’s undoubtedly the Blue determine to get above all others.
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