Released back in 2024 is this interesting little Danger Pack set consisting of Eoraptor and Stegouros for the Mattel Jurassic World Epic Evolution line. Both dinosaurs were from what is now South America, with Eoraptor hailing from the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina, and Stegouros from the Dorotea Formation of Chile. However they couldn’t have been more far apart, as Eoraptor is from the earliest part of the Late Triassic period, being one of the earliest true dinosaurs, and Stegouros was around near the end of the Late Cretaceous period.
Starting with Eoraptor, long have I waited for a figure of this animal. Ever since I first played Jurassic Park III Park Builder on my Gameboy Advance when I was about 10 years old in the early 2000’s, I had been enamored with this little dinosaur. To think it would eventually show up in a Jurassic toyline was almost like going full circle for me. Eoraptor was first discovered in 1991, and named in 1993 by Sereno et al. It was originally described to be an early theropod, but there has been quite a bit of back and forth on what it was in the time since. More recent studies support it as an early sauropodomorph, the group that would eventually give rise to the largest land animals that have ever lived. Eoraptor lived alongside a handful of other earlier dinosaurs such as Eodromaeus, Herrerasaurus, and Panphagia, and a plethora of other animals such as Exaeretodon, Hyperodapedon, Ischigualastia, and Saurosuchus.
Although highly stylized, I adore Mattel’s take on this animal. If I had to guess, the sculpt appears to have been inspired by the male design in Dinosaur Revolution, as it also sports quills on the back of the head. The head is similar in shape to the fossil material, and the general proportions are close, with the exception of the over-sized hands, feet, and typical short tail. While it correctly has four digits on the hands (per Sereno, Martínez, and Alcober, 2013), the shape is a bit off from the fossil material (digit three should be the longest, and digit four the shortest), and most notably digit four likely lacked any claws. The coloration is rather simple, being a mix of a red on the upper jaw, neck, and forelimbs, a cream jaw, and green for the rest of the body. It reminds me of a watermelon.
Changing focus to the other animal included in this set is the Stegouros, an ankylosaur. Stegouros was discovered in 2018, and named in 2021 by Soto-Acuña et al. It was a relatively important find as it helped bring about a better understanding for ankylosaurs as a whole, particularly for those south of the equator (such as Antarctopelta, and Kunbarrasaurus, the latter which was formerly associated with Minmi). It also featured a rather distinctive tail ornamentation, similar in shape to the Aztec macuahuitl. The most notable animal from the Dorotea Formation, aside from Stegouros, is the ornithopod Gonkoken, though there are fragmentary remains of other dinosaurs, mammals, fish, and some reptiles (including a turtle).
Mattel is one of several companies (aside from CollectA, and Safari Ltd) to have jumped on the train to producing a figure of this animal rather quickly. Perhaps no surprise as they have been trending towards putting out figures of recently named taxa for a number of years now (such as the Guemesia and Iani I reviewed last year). While Mattel’s Stegouros won’t win any awards for accuracy, it’s still a wonderful charming take on this cute little ankylosaur. It is however at least worth mentioning the distinctive tail is also missing some pairs of bony osteoderms (it should have at least six or more, but the figure only has four). The head shape is a bit too deep as well. It may have too few rows of osteoderms on its back, as most reconstructions tend to give it at least six instead of four like on this figure, although the osteoderms were not preserved in articulation so there is a degree of speculation in restoring them, aside from inferring from its relatives. As far as digits on the forelimbs, it only has four but should have five, and while it has the right number of digits on the hindlimbs (four), they are all uniform in size, while the first digit should be reduced compared to the latter three digits. The figure is mostly a dark green color, with a bright orange for the eyes, some grey for the beak, cream for the tail osteoderms, and a few yellow stripes.
Overall a fun little set, and this is sadly one of the few times this size range was used before being abandoned by early 2025 with the similarly small Jakapil and Hypsilophodon back to being at the typical Velociraptor size (more or less). The only other figures in this size range was Velociraptor Beta (a juvenile animal), the Lystrosaurus, and the Guanlong. A tad unfortunate as there was a lot of potential for other small critters in the line like these. Anyways not much more to say, but if you’d like to get your hands on these your best bet now is with the aftermarket as these came out in early 2024, alongside Avaceratops, Plesiosaurus, and Poposaurus.
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