Described in 1979 by Jack Horner (and Robert Makela), the “good mother lizard” and its communal nesting sites in Montana were discovered just in time to corroborate the notion that dinosaurs were active, warm blooded, bird-like animals, that invested time in rearing their offspring. Maiasaura became a poster child for the Dinosaur Renaissance and along with Jack Horner was featured in countless publications and documentaries during the 80’s and 90’s. Maiasaura was also featured in the Jurassic Park novels and although it didn’t make it to the big screen adaptation it’s describer would end up being the film’s dinosaur consultant. Although never seen on-screen, Maiasaura is still a canon species. Keen eyed viewers will see an info-sheet on it in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. All of this makes Mattel’s Maiasaura a welcome addition to their assortment of Jurassic World dinosaur toys.
The Mattel Maiasaura is part of their Wild Roar line, which means that it is a mid-sized figure that makes sounds. Most of the sounds are generic roars but there is one standout noise that sounds like a goose-like honk, a sound popularly associated with ornithopods. The action feature is the emphasis here and there’s not much articulation. Pulling down on the tail lifts the head up while sounds are emitted. The forelimbs are on universal joints but the hindlimbs are not articulated.
The toy measures 12.75” (32 cm) long while the actual Maiasaura reached an estimated length of 30’ (9 meters). This puts the toy at 1/28 in scale, too small to scale accurately with Mattel’s humans, vehicles, and the bulk of their dinosaurs.
The figure has a decent posture and proportions, with a graceful swan-like neck, dainty forelimbs, high hips, and a decently lengthy tail. It has the lean build that was in vogue from the 80’s until quite recently. Nowadays the trend is to bulk ornithopods up, but this look has only recently begun to be implemented in the hobby.
The figure has the distinctive “roman nose” of Maiasaura but lacks the solid crest that runs between the eyes, instead having just a small horn between them. Haolonggood made a similar mistake with their Maiasaura too, giving it a horn over each eye but not connecting them. Such are the perils of only using lateral views as references when designing a dinosaur toy! The hands are also inaccurate, with two weight-bearing digits and a smaller digit on each side instead of having the weight-bearing digits fused within a flesh mitten and supported by a single hoof. The hindlimbs have four forward-facing digits when there should be three.
The face is covered in fine, pebbly scales, while the rest of the body is mostly covered with large polygonal scales. A row of raised scales runs down the mid-line of the back and deep grooves run over the shoulders in between them. Saggy skin folds run down the neck and wrinkled skin is sculpted around the knees and there’s decent muscle definition in the legs.
One of the figure’s best attributes is its attractive paintjob. The body is teal and much of the muzzle, lower jaw, and throat are white. A mosaic of white patches is also painted along the flanks. The top of the muzzle and horn are vibrant orange and thin orange racing stripes run down both sides of the neck and torso. Orange splotches are painted over the orbits as well. It’s a lovely and eye-catching color combination. The teal color combined with the somewhat shrink-wrapped body give the toy a 90’s flare that I enjoy.
Past the torso the paint apps stop, in typical Mattel fashion. So, you get a fantastic looking front half and unfinished looking back half. The claws and inside of the mouth are not painted. Only the top half of the beak is painted (gray), and the eyes are yellow with orange pupils. The lack of paint on the lower portion of the beak makes it look like a giant tooth but that can be easily fixed.
The Mattel Maiasaura is one of their best offerings in their latest wave and certainly one of their better ornithopods. In pose, form, and coloration, it is an attractive toy with a somewhat retro flavor and a calm demeanor befitting a Maiasaura. For me it was one of the must haves from the Rebirth wave and collectors of taxa mentioned in the books should be particularly pleased. The Mattel Maiasaura is currently available and retails for about $15.
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