Up until this year, the largest Mattel toy in my sons’ Jurassic World collection was the Dino Escape Mosasaurus. I had had no intention to bestow anything greater than that upon them. But as it so happened, the latest Super Colossal Tyrannosaurus rex went on sale last December for a whopping 55% off, which I reckoned was a bargain simply too good to pass up (and come to think of it, that was pretty much the exact same thing that transpired with the previous Mattel T. rex that I reviewed). And so it was that on my younger boy’s sixth birthday, he tore off the wrapping paper on the most ponderous of his presents to behold this bodacious behemoth. You should have seen the expression of delight on his face. And you should have seen the expression of shock on my wife’s face too. I’d told her ahead of time that he was getting “a great big T. rex,” but she grossly underestimated what that actually meant.
Like other Super Colossal toys, this T. rex comes disassembled in its most humongous box. Some physical force is necessary, but my boys had no difficulty snapping the legs and the tail onto the torso all by themselves. They really are growing up! Once it is assembled, the toy holds together nice and securely.
This is most definitely the biggest T. rex I’ve ever reviewed; indeed, this is the biggest toy I’ve reviewed for the blog yet. It measures a Brobdingnagian 100 cm long and stands 35 cm tall at the head when positioned in a horizontal stance. And it weighs in at a solid 1862 g/1.862 kg/4.1 lbs. Naturally, it would be much heavier were it not for the fact that it is largely hollow inside. It positively dwarfs all the other Mattel and Kenner toys in our household and it outsizes even my beloved old Aurora T. rex. So monstrous is it that I am forced to foresake my usual desk setting in favour of the floor.
Like pretty much every other Mattel T. rex, this one is posed in a standard walking stance with the head raised and facing directly ahead, the left foot extended forward, and the tail held out behind and curving downward, with the tip swaying to the left. But the arms, rather than being straightened out, are bent sharply at the elbows and held in close to the chest. They look much more realistic that way.
And unlike the majority of those other T. rexes, this one does not have brown as its main colour, and thank goodness for that most welcome change! The main colour is instead burnt ember grey (which is what the T. rex in JW: Rebirth was originally supposed to be coloured) with dark grey for the hind claws (the dewclaws and the foreclaws are unpainted) and for the stripes on the back and neck. There’s also light grey on the throat and a large but subtle splash of dark brown on the back of the neck and over the shoulders. The skull is dark grey with light grey markings on the sides while the lower jaw is light grey with dark brown patches. The eyes are egg yolk yellow, the teeth are off white, and the inside of the mouth is glossy punch pink. It’s far from the flashiest Mattel T. rexes, but it looks realistic, handsome, and intimidating, and again, it is a most welcome change from all that brown.
The other thing that I really, really enjoy about this toy, and about the other two T. rexes released under the Rebirth label thus far, is the bulk. From the beginning, Mattel’s T. rexes were grossly scrawny, to the point of looking downright malnourished. Even the old Super Colossal one, I’m afraid. As a lifelong (give or take four years) king tyrant lover, I must confess that I did find it more than a bit insulting. But this here T. rex is beautifully, bodaciously bulky. Its great head is boxy, wide, and deep. Its short neck is thick and even deeper. And its giant torso is bulging and deepest of all. Its tail is long, its arms are muscular, its legs are gigantic, and its feet are the most walloping I’ve ever seen. Way too walloping for any theropod, but they clearly had to be made that way in order for this toy to remain standing.
On that note, there’s really no point in detailing the other scientific inaccuracies to be found on this toy, which are mainly centred around its very familiar-looking head. In spite of its strapping physique, it is still most definitely a Jurassic Park/World-style T. rex.
The sculpting detail here is pleasing enough. Lots and lots of scales of varying size and shape, and plenty of heavy folds and wrinkles too. The textures on the head are particularly diverse, ranging from tiny scales on the fenestrae to large, thick-looking osteoderms on the lower jaw. A number of faded scars are visible on the snout, including a large cleft on the mouth, below the right nostril. And of course, there’s those exaggerated brow ridges as usual. Three rows of keeled osteoderms are running down the neck, along the back, and to the very tip of the tail. The feet are covered in rows of scutes and the claws are grooved. The JW logo is sculpted on the sole of the right foot, and it looks very miniscule indeed on such a gargantuan toy.
The tail can rotate at its base and ratchet from side to side, and the tip rotates as well. The legs ratchet at the hips, but have a relatively limited range. The T. rex can stand in a horizontal pose, rear up a bit, or hunch over so that the chin is mere centimetres off the ground. The left foot can rotate inward slightly, but the right one appears to be sealed firmly in place. The arms rotate at the shoulders and the wrists rotate too, so you can achieve correct hand positioning. The head rotates at the neck in either direction, but it too has a limited range.
And that brings us to the jaws. Both sections of the skull are hinged, allowing the mouth to open to about 70 degrees. The many pointed teeth are made of safe, soft plastic, and are very well defined. They are even grooved rather than smooth. The palette has a ribbed texture and the huge tongue is pitted and bumpy.
The box depicts the T. rex being fed some of those JW miniatures, which we have never bothered with. But we do have quite a few toys in the Danger/Fierce/Frenzy/Wild Pack and Strike Attack series, and nearly all of them can easily fit down this king tyrant’s throat. They are then retrieved via a hinged door located on the belly. My boys have had a great deal of fun with this feature. They’ve stuffed down toy after toy, or held competitions where they attempt to toss toys into the mouth from a distance. They’ve even set up a Hot Wheels track leading into the mouth and then launched their cars into it. And they do so love to loudly joke that the T. rex is “pooping” out its meals when they fall through the belly hole. Especially whenever their mother is in the vicinity.
The Super Colossal Rebirth T. rex is yet another toy that I would have gone completely bonkers over as a child. Indeed, I would have been hounding my poor parents round the clock for this one. It is spectacularly immense, it is far fuller than any previous king tyrant in this size category, it has a good colour scheme, it’s well sculpted, and it is most assuredly a ton of fun to play with! My only caution to you then is its price tag. It is normally (and not at all surprisingly) quite an expensive toy, retailing at over $100 Canadian; I was extremely fortunate to acquire it for less than half that price. But I can confidently say that, as long as you are willing to fork over the money, you or your children will be most pleased with this truly mighty dinosaur toy!
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