One of the most famous large theropod dinosaurs is also the most enigmatic. As one can see from the title, it is none other than Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. While first named in 1915 by Ernst Stromer, it was initially discovered in 1912 by Richard Markgraf in the Bahariya Formation, of Egypt. While it was not the first spinosaurid material discovered (that would be Suchosaurus cultridens, teeth, by Sir Richard Owen in 1841, and S. girardi, a mandible and tooth in 1897 by Henri-Émile Sauvage, identified as such far later), it was the first to have post-cranial skeletal material described, and is what the Spinosauridae came to be named after. This initial material was the holotype specimen BSP 1912 VIII 19, and it consisted of a partial lower jaw, some of the tall vertebrae that formed the iconic sail, and minimal other fragmentary material (teeth, maxilla, ribs, and gastralia). This sail material is what Spinosaurus got its name from, meaning “spine lizard”. With the original remains destroyed during World War II in 1944, and aside from the potential “Spinosaurus B” material described by Stromer in 1934, it would be several decades later before another animal like it was discovered. From then on, our understanding of it would constantly evolve over time.
Hailing from the Weald Clay Formation in England was Baryonyx walkeri, named in 1986 by Alan Charig and Angela Milner. It was originally discovered in 1983 when William Walker found part of a claw, and later more remains, eventually leading to an excavation at the Smokejack Clay Pit. Unlike the holotype of Spinosaurus, this was the first time there was substantial skull material (beyond teeth, a maxilla, and the partial lower jaw), and any limb bone material from a spinosaurid (from both the forelimbs and hind limbs), albeit incomplete. In addition there was material from all parts of the spine, and ribs, allowing for a near complete understanding of what these animals looked like for the first time. However at the time of its discovery it was not recognized as a spinosaurid. Instead it was described as belonging to a new family of dinosaurs, the Baryonychidae. Although a number of spinosaurids were named in the years following (Siamosaurus suteethorni also in 1986, based on teeth, and in 1996 with Angaturama limai, based on a snout tip, Irritator challengeri, a partial skull, and Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis, based on vertebrae), it wouldn’t be until 1998 with the description of Suchomimus tenerensis (Sereno et al), before there was a much more firm understanding that these animals were all directly related. Like Baryonyx, Suchomimus had substantial fossil material to give an almost full picture of the animal’s general anatomy. In addition to those, more material itself was found for Spinosaurus around the time. In 1996 Dale Russell named a new species of Spinosaurus, S. maroccanus, based on assorted fragmentary material consisting of vertebrae, and parts of the dentary, or lower jaw. More material was again attributed to this species in 1998 (by Philippe Taquet, and Dale Russell), and it was the first time there was any substantial upper jaw material recovered for Spinosaurus, with the specimen MNHN SAM 124, although it was still pretty incomplete. While Spinosaurus maroccanus is typically considered synonymous with S. aegyptiacus these days, it was an incredible stepping point for what would eventually come later. It’s also worth mentioning that the earliest reconstructions of Spinosaurus were carnosaur-like (such as with how the 1992 Carnegie Collection figure, or the 1997 Kenner The Lost World: Jurassic Park Series 1 electronic “Slice” were designed), and the discovery of Baryonyx and Suchomimus helped to massively change future depictions of it, particularly going into the 2000’s. This was especially so with the 2001 film Jurassic Park III, which no doubt helped to cement it as one of the most popular dinosaurs of all time now.
The release of Jurassic Park III was a significant mark in my life. I had just turned 10 years old then, and my dinosaur craze might have been at its peak (short of in recent years again as an adult), thanks to BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs (and Ballad of Big Al), and Disney’s Dinosaur, which released just a few years prior, never mind the two preceding Jurassic Park films. It was the first time I got to watch any Jurassic Park film in the theaters, and it was also the first time I became a collector of sorts (with my parents financial support of course), with Hasbro’s toy line for the film. I had nearly all of the small or standard size electronic Re-Ak A-Tak figures save for the Pteranodon (oh how I wanted that so badly back then, but alas), Tapejara, “Alpha” Velociraptor, and maybe the “Aqua” Spinosaurus (can’t remember if I owned it or not). I also had the Raptor Attack Playset, a rehash of the original Kenner 1993 Jurassic Park Command Compound that allowed my imagination to go wild. Unfortunately I lost my first collection of sorts, when it ended up in my parents storage unit in the following years from a number of moves, and was ultimately auctioned off in 2003 or so. All that aside though, it was surprisingly my first real introduction to the theropod Spinosaurus (outside of books based on the older carnosaur-like reconstruction perhaps), and it quickly became a new favorite of mine. Aside from its controversial win after battling with a Tyrannosaurus, the bright colors, ear shattering roar, large arms with huge claws, and that Dimetrodon-like sail, it quickly jumped up into one of my top favorite dinosaurs, joining the likes of Allosaurus, Carnotaurus, Iguanodon, Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor (or perhaps rather Deinonychus), and others, at the time.
In the years following, more material was assigned to Spinosaurus, including another upper jaw, MSNM V4047, this time in a more complete state then the previous specimen MNHN SAM 124. There was also another part of the skull recovered, UCPC-2, which consisted of the nasal region and included a crest. Both were described in 2005 (Cristiano Dal Sasso et al). After the discovery of this material, reconstructions of Spinosaurus no longer relied heavily upon the material from the likes of other spinosaurids like Baryonyx and Suchomimus for the head. Indeed some examples of this that have gone forward with the new material were the 2009 Carnegie Collection Spinosaurus figure, or within the 2011 BBC Planet Dinosaur documentary. In addition there was material suggesting it preyed upon fish like Onchopristis, having been fossilized within, or alongside MSNM V4047, helping to cement it even more as a fish eater, like its relative Baryonyx that was found to have fish scales in its stomach (in addition to iguanodontid material). And in 2014, the controversial subadult specimen FSAC-KK 11888 was described (Ibrahim et al), and along with it a brand new drastic reconstruction with an M shaped sail, shorter legs, and give or take a knuckle walking quadrupedal posture. I’ll be honest, at the time having been used to the prior reconstructions, I was initially taken a bit back by it all, but I eventually came to accept it, as science marches on. It wasn’t until 2020 when more material for this specimen was recovered (Ibrahim et al), with the addition of a unique partial tail, the first of its kind for this animal, if not any other theropod, which gave it a whole new refreshing appeal. Oh, and it seems like bipedal Spinosaurus was back in favor again (although some were skeptical of the quadrupedal stance long before then). Another recent paper revised the shape of the sail to be more rounded, similar to how it was in older reconstructions (Sereno et al, 2022).
Moving on to 2025, Spinosaurus has once again found itself on the big screen, in Jurassic World Rebirth, and this time based on this new post 2020 reconstruction for the most part (and even with several color variants). Along with the film came another toy line, this time produced by Mattel, and as expected it would feature a toy of the new Spinosaurus design (the Tail Thrasher, among others). Perhaps rather surprisingly though, they’ve also produced a new sculpt based on the classic Jurassic Park III design for the collector oriented Hammond Collection, and what a beautiful figure this one is, though it wasn’t without a continuous outpouring of demand in prior years. Definitely a treat for fans of this dinosaur this year, having not one, but several beautiful renditions based on both the modern and classic takes. Being a long time collector of Mattel’s figures since their first line launched alongside Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom in 2018, it’s nice to finally have a highly articulated figure of the 2001 design, and with more detailed paintwork. While they did produce a Spinosaurus back in 2018 for the Legacy Collection (which was among my earliest reviews for the blog here), it lacked in paint work, had limited articulation, and had goofy proportions (over sized feet, short and thin tail, and dull large teeth). While it wasn’t the most ideal depiction, it still satisfied me for all this time, as it was the first time I truly had a large Spinosaurus figure in my collection. This time around though it is much more faithful to the original Stan Winston Studios material (maquette and animatronic), though not without some minor flaws of course.
Starting with the head sculpt, the most notable thing about it is that it largely resembles Baryonyx, at least mostly how it was depicted in the early 2000’s and prior (like in the 1997 paper by Alan Charig and Angela Milner). Aside from the limited material that was available at the time, Jurassic Park III had a troubled production, and earlier on Baryonyx was intended to be the dinosaur antagonist for the film. This is even evident on the final poster for the film as well, as despite the presence of the tall vertebrae that form the sail, the skull is still clearly based upon Baryonyx for the most part. While the specimen MNHN SAM 124 had been described several years earlier, I imagine the incomplete nature of it would have needed the gaps filled in by its relatives anyways, were it to be used. In any case, Jack Horner helped make the push for using Spinosaurus instead, and eventually Stan Winston Studios got to work on the design. The sculpt of the head on the figure does seem to slightly deviate from the final film design, give or take some minor texture differences, and perhaps the number of teeth. In particular, the head is too wide, especially when viewed from the front, if not other minor proportional differences. Despite that, it has its charm, and I find it endearing and even kind of adorable. Moving on, the teeth are made of rubber, and look nice and sharp. I went into more detail about this aspect with my prior Chaos Theory Suchomimus review. The jaws are easy to open, but closing them is another story, as the rubbery mouth tissue pieces can be a bit of pain to get back into place correctly. This is perhaps more so an issue with my figure, as the one on the right side of the head was folded in the wrong position in the box. The eyes are made out of glass like with many of the other Hammond Collection figures, and they look pretty decent this time around. They’re also cast in a striking green color, which is accurate to the film design. There’s also ear holes sculpted behind the jaws.
As far as the body goes, the iconic sail is large and round, much like the source material, but perhaps a bit taller, more in line with the one maquette, then the final animatronic. The arms are large, and the claw on the first digit is correctly the largest of the bunch, though only slightly so. The hands are also made out of a rubber material, but that helps to keep the claws looking nice and sharp, much like the teeth, while being safer for children. The feet are nicely small and proportionate with the rest of the body, but the sculpt doesn’t appear to be based on the film material. In fact I think the middle (or third) pair of toes should be longer, and the toes should probably be spread out a bit more. The claws on the first toe are also molded onto the legs, and not painted, unlike both the Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus from prior years. An obvious cost cutting measure. The tail is also rather thick and long, a much needed improvement over the original 2018 sculpt. A variety of scale shapes are sculpted all over the figure, and while I’m not fully certain how close they got it with those, I do recognize the stand out osteoderm-like structures covering the neck and the sides of the body, along with the bumps on the back of the tail. The figure itself is also the largest Hammond Collection theropod to date. When among the Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, all in a neutral pose, and not including its sail, it easily towers over them. The figure measures roughly about 25.5 inches/64.8 cm long when in a neutral pose. From the feet to the tip of the sail, the figure is about 11.5 inches/29.21 cm tall, again in a neutral pose. The animatronic measured about 44 feet long (or about 13.4 meters), which would put this figure roughly around 1:20 to 1:21 scale. This is close to the 3.75″ scale the figures are intended to be in, or about around 1/18 scale.
The paint work isn’t quite a 1:1 with the source material, and it actually kind of varies depending on the source. That said it does seem to resemble the 1:16 scale maquette created by Jim Charmatz the most, in addition to perhaps the animatronic, rather then like the ILM design, which seems to have a much more grey-like color for the body. The main body coloration is a brown color of sorts, with a bit of a bronze tone on the sides of the body. There’s a striking white pattern on the face, continuing down the neck, onto the body, and onto the tail. A bold brick red covers much of the upper jaw, continuing down the neck, the top of the sail, and on the tail. The sail has a white pattern that comes close to the source material, and has a mixture of blue and orange on it. Unfortunately the blue should be much more prominent in between the white markings. I would have easily traded out the orange for more of the blue, but alas. It’s really the biggest flaw that stands out to me, and does hold it back from being even better (much like how the Hammond Collection Ankylosaurus is missing the distinctive pink markings on its legs), and can make it look a little unfinished even. All the claws are painted black with a gloss coat (with the exception of the first pair of toe claws, as mentioned earlier), giving them a nice shine. Lastly there is white from the underside of the jaw, covering the underside of the neck, down the belly, and the underside of the tail. Overall it is certainly a bit simplified, and with the exception of the subtle blue on the sail, it otherwise does a good job emulating the overall design more or less.
Now this being a Hammond Collection figure, this is intended to have lots of articulation, more then the main line figures. The jaws were already touched upon earlier, so moving down the neck, it has two joints. The first of which is a ball joint of sorts, and it can allow the head to rotate a little bit, with a good bit of up and down motion. The second neck joint is similar, but a bit more constrained from the surrounding sculpt. It almost seems like it has a ratchet in it. The arms have the typical shoulder rotation, and in and out movement that most of the theropods Mattel produced have, in addition to joints at the elbows and wrists allowing for a choice of the anatomically correct hand posture, or for pronation which was rather prominent on the animatronic. The legs have movement at the hips, knees, ankles, and about where the toes are. The leg joints are similar to the 2024 Giganotosaurus, or some of the smaller figures like the Allosaurus. The tail can be rotated around, and has a bendy wire structure of sorts within it, allowing it to snap into various poses. This structure is also used on the Giganotosaurus, Therizinosaurus, and Allosaurus, and I believe was first used for the neck of the 2023 Brachiosaurus as well. Overall there’s quite a lot of exciting poses one can get this guy into, rather it be its iconic head thrown back roaring pose, celebrating its victory over the most famous theropod (or any other), on the hunt for a fish, and even many other sillier ones if one so chooses to.
Rather it be the modern understanding of the animal, or the classic Jurassic Park III design I grew up with, Spinosaurus will always be in my heart. This figure is a fantastic tribute to the film that introduced me to the dinosaur, and to Jurassic Park fans overall. It’s been an absolute joy toying around with it, never mind the incredible shelf presence it has from its large size. Distribution has been kind of a hot mess with it this year in the states, and possibly elsewhere, so if you want it, and can get your hands on it for retail MSRP, and don’t already have it yet, I’d advise getting it as soon as possible. Considering the high demand for this one, and the already outrageous prices charged by scalpers online, expect this one to go for quite a pretty penny on the aftermarket in future years. I got mine from Entertainment Earth, but Target, Amazon, and Big Bad Toy Store have all had it prior. Some online have reported it showing up in stores again in Target after a long absence after its initial release in the summer, creating a strange short intermittent shelf life. For those outside the US, Amazon might be the best bet, but perhaps other retailers might be carrying it.
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