Mattel "Jurassic World" Mercenary w/Dimorphodon Review:
As part of Mattel's inaugural "Jurassic World" product, a series of basic action figures with accessories has been released. While there are somewhere around a dozen figures planned for the line, only three have been released so far: two different renditions of Chris Pratt's "Owen" character and an unnamed "Mercenary". I picked up a pair of the 1-per-case Mercenary figures simply for the pack-in mini Dimorphodon and the electrostaff accessory but am pleasantly surprised by the figure itself.
The Mercenary has 10 points of articulation- ball jointed head (somewhat limited movement other than rotation due to the ball joint being placed fairly high into the head), ball hinged shoulders/elbows/hips/knees and a swivel waist. The figure is constructed from a heavier vinyl than "Star Wars" or "G.I.Joe" figures are made from making this much sturdier and less prone to pieces popping off easily. The paintwork is clean and neat for the most part, although one of the two Mercenaries I picked up has some wonky paint on his hairline.
There is one element of the figure's design that limits its usefulness- there is a holster hanging from the belt that pegs into a hole in the figure's right thigh. This holster is made from a fairly rigid vinyl and hinders the movement of the leg when the holster is pegged in place. Options to fix this would be:
1) to leave the holster unpegged, which would leave the rather long peg visible.
2) do the above but trim off the peg.
3) cut the holster free from the belt, cut off the length of belt that connected the holster to the belt and then just peg the holster to the thigh (this is the option I will most likely go with).
Scale-wise, this figure is a true 3.75" scale figure and fits in perfectly with "Star Wars" and "Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S." but comes up short next to "G.I.Joe" and "Marvel Universe" figures which are closer to 4" (or taller).
The Mercenary comes with 2 accessories, a very cool sci-fi-looking electrostaff and an unpainted static mini Dimorphodon. The electrostaff is made from a nice, rigid plastic so it will not sag or warp under its own weight. The electrostaff is long and meant to be handled 2-handed, but the upper half of the staff is too thick to fit into the figure's small hands. The mini Dimorphodon has an excellent sculpt but is completely unpainted. While this is not an issue for someone like myself, I could see a child being disappointed by the rather plain dinosaur.
These figures are quite well made for their $7.99 retail price. I just wish that there had been more selection in the first wave instead of packing all but 1 space in the case with 2 different versions of Owen.
