It’s safe to say that all the team at The Jurassic Park Podcast are big fans of the Jurassic World toy-line which has been created by the awesome team over at Mattel. This has been one of the most in-depth toy lines to ever be created for the franchise, so we were incredibly excited when we had the opportunity to catch up with Brian, Billy, Christine, Greg and Rafael recently to talk all about the creation of this incredible toy-line. You can listen to the full interview in episode 220 of the Podcast, which is live now. Today, however, we are going to go a little bit deeper into the discussion from the podcast – and touch on some of the most exciting details which debuted as part of the podcast.
One of the more exciting elements we got during this interview was the confirmation of a BRAND-NEW dinosaur which will be joining the line soon – the Siats Meekerorum. This dinosaur is a theropod from the late cretaceous period and is a large carnivore with a design which is like that of the Allosaurus – albeit it with its own unique flair. I think it’s safe to say that this dinosaur is not really one which has ever been exposed to fans of the Jurassic series – so it’s exciting to see the Mattel team once again diving deep to uncover new and interesting dinosaurs which they can introduce as a part of the line. I am excited to see how the sculpt of this figure ends up looking, as well as seeing what colour scheme the team decide to give the Siats in the end, too.
Another exciting thing which the team got the opportunity to talk about was the inclusion of Human characters in the mainline – and the importance of having these human characters within the core line. Whilst they were unable to comment on specifics (such as the current MIA nature of the Franklin Webb action figure), they could acknowledge that humans are an important part of the format for Jurassic Park, and were certainly keen to emphasise that more will be coming in some form in the future. Indeed, it sounds like playsets like the Baryonyx Breakout set proved popular for the wholesome play pattern that they included within a singular package – so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more in the form of playsets which incorporate human figures soon.
Further to this, we also had the exciting tease that another Comic Con exclusive item will be approaching on the horizon – with the Mattel team confident that this one is a unique choice which fans are going to really appreciate. It’s safe to say that the introduction of John Hammond was unexpected but very well received, so I am excited to see how the team take the success and momentum that Hammond saw to produce another fantastic item. If I’m able to get my hands on it here in the UK, then I will be very eager to see what this item ends up being.
In addition to this, the team were also excited to talk about the Amber Collection – asking if we had seen the recent tease which debuted on Entertainment Earth. It’s safe to say that whilst we are all pretty sold on the idea that Dennis Nedry and a Dilophosaurus are coming, there will be even more in the way of Amber Collection products coming soon. How these are made available to collectors remains to be seen, but it looks as though the Mattel team will be continuing to build a strong relationship with Entertainment Earth throughout 2020 – so I would expect to see more Amber Collections debut there first. Who would you like to see join the line after Nedry? Do you want more original characters, or do you think another modern character like Claire should join the line next? Make sure to let us know in the comments down below!
Arguably the most exciting thing to come from the whole podcast episode, however, is the fact that the team acknowledged that they have been seeing a lot of the different requests which have been pouring out from fans throughout the past couple of years – and they are excited to be able to release more of the highly-requested items in 2021 when we have a new film in cinemas and Mattel are therefore able to put many more products in stores. It’s safe to say that items like the Ford Explorer and Tiger Stripe Raptors are likely to be on the horizon – and it is also exciting to hear the team acknowledging some of the positives around things like ‘Real Feel’, which I think many fans would like to see come back into the line beyond just the Mosasaurus. The team working on this license are fans like all of us – so I’m confident that they have a good idea on the products which we all still want to see released as a part of the line.
That’s all the key things I wanted to touch on within this article, but there is still a ton more information which can be gleamed from the production process – including insight into how Mattel choose which new species to produce, and how they went about creating some of their own ideas, like Dino Rivals and Primal Attack. All that insight is best heard from the mouths of the team themselves, however, so I highly recommend that you go and take a listen to this episode, as it provides some real insight into just how the toys which we all love end up on shelves where we can all appreciate them. I’d like to take a moment at the end here to thank Brad for working so hard to put together a special episode which I think we can all enjoy as big fans of this toy license.
That’s all for today – we hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak-peek behind the scenes. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what you want to see next from the license in the comments below, and make sure to tune in for the next episode of the Podcast very soon!
Written by:
Tom Fishenden