Fans of Jurassic Park 3 were delighted when they learned that the Spinosaurus would be making a long awaited return to the franchise in Jurassic World: Rebirth, only to be quickly disappointed that the Spinosaurus got a design overhaul that leaned into a more paleo-accurate interpretation. Conversely, some were pleased to see the 24 year old Spinosaurus design replaced by a more modern one. Whichever you prefer, Mattel has you covered. For 2025 Mattel has released four Spinosaurus toys, two with the JP3 design and two with the Rebirth design. Today we’re looking at the Tail Thrasher Spinosaurus from Mattel, one of their flagship toys for the Rebirth line.
Measuring 22.5” (57.15 cm) long and standing 10” (25.4 cm) tall to the top of its sail, the Tail Thrasher Spinosaurus is an astonishingly massive toy. The Jurassic World: Rebirth Spinosaurus is said to have measured 39.4’ (12 meters) in length. Estimates for the actual animal vary but the most recent length estimates for Spinosaurus put it at 46’ (14 meters). This puts the Tail Thrasher at 1/21 in scale for the Rebirth Spinosaurus and 1/24 in scale for the actual Spinosaurus.
The Tail Thrasher Spinosaurus comes with an action feature befitting its name. When you pump the button on the back of its sail the toy becomes a mini-animatronic, whipping its head and tail to the left and right, opening and closing its mouth, and roaring. The more you pump the button, the longer the toy moves around. The tail is hinged in four different places, giving a fluid life-like motion to it as it thrashes around. It really brings to mind the various life-size animatronic dinosaurs exhibits I used to visit as a kid, and I adore it for that. The arms are also articulated with hinged ball joints.
As is immediately noticeable, this new Spinosaurus design presents Spinosaurus with a horizontal posture, non-pronated hands, paddle-like tail, short legs, and M-shaped sail. Although the look of Spinosaurus changes often, this is mostly in keeping with our current understanding of the dinosaur. There’s also not much shrink-wrapping here, with the toy presenting the animal as meaty and robust.
It’s not all perfect of course. The claws on the hands are way too small, and the head is a mixed bag. The Skull is too wide, lacks the nasal crest, and is somewhat gnarly looking overall. But it does have the sub-narial gap and varied dentition. And the nostrils are correctly placed about halfway up the snout.
I’ve seen it said that the neck is too short, but we don’t actually have the neck of Spinosaurus, so I’ll let it slide even if it seems unlikely when compared to other spinosaurs. Spinosaurus was an unusual animal, even among its close relatives. The toy also has some “awesome-bro” elements you should expect from any Jurassic World dinosaur, but it gets the broad strokes for Spinosaurus correct and represents a major step forward for dinosaur designs in the franchise.
Turning to the finer details we get some finely sculpted, rubbery teeth inside the mouth. Ridges run along the roof of the mouth and underneath the roughly textured tongue. The head is the only part that suffers from some shrink wrapping. It has a shriveled, wrinkled texture sculpted over it. Even the roots of some of the teeth can be seen protruding through the thin layer of skin. A shallow crest runs over each eye, and they have a cool buzzsaw-like arrangement of scales over them. There are few scales over the head, with it being mostly wrinkled skin, but there are some fine scales over the top of the snout and closer to the base of the skull and lower jaw.
The neck is thick and fleshy with sagging skin along the underside. Scales here are larger along the top and gradually transition to a smaller size along the sides. The underside has crocodile-like belly scales that continue along the underside of the belly and tail. Scales of various sizes are sculpted over the entirety of the toy and follow the formula of larger above and along the bases of the limbs, and smaller closer to the underside and along the ends of the limbs, with a nice transition between them. Rows of osteoderms run from the head, down along the flanks, and along the tail. Scutes run down the toes and extremely fine scales are sculpted over the fingers and surfaces of the hands.
The sail is thick along its base and organically emerges from the body, unlike the tacked on looking sails of many other Spinosaurus toys. Although thick, the faint outline of spines can still be discerned. Inserted rubber spikes run along the top of the sail and are replaced by plastic spikes running partway down the tail.
The toy is painted dark chocolatey brown with orange stripes running down the neck, sail, and tail. The head has a burgundy colored wash over it. The teeth are creamy white, and the inside of the mouth is pink and glossy. The eyes are yellow with unpainted pupils. The spikes along the back are orange and the toe claws are a separate piece that’s molded in black. The claws on the hands are not painted. The underside of the throat and chest are tan.
As usual, this is a simple paint job from Mattel. But thanks to a continuous pattern running from head-to-tail, and the simple inclusion of black toenails, it appears satisfactorily complete, and by-and-large matches what we see in the film.
The Tail Thrashing Spinosaurus is one of the coolest action figures to come from Mattel this year. With an impressive size, a decently accurate design that still fits within the franchise aesthetic, and a fun gimmick, it should easily find itself on the shelves of Spinosaurus and Jurassic World fans alike. This toy is currently available online and in stores for about $50. I almost skipped it because of the price but sales are frequent and I waited for one before purchasing mine. Keep your eyes peeled for deals, especially with the holiday season upon us.
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