Review
Liopleurodon Gigantic Thrashers Jurassic World Survival Review
Mattel release so few marine toys so every new one becomes a big deal among the fans. The Survival Liopleurodon is an impressive figure. It is larger than the previous Dominion Liopleurodon. It's color is just mindblowing (thanks Survival) neon blue with a full wet-look finish across the entire body, and a swimming flipper action feature that actually looks like the figure is swimming.
🎮 About the Survival Line
📋 Sculpt Note
About the Toy
1. Sculpt and painting
Paint Scheme: Blue, Neon Blue, White, Black and Red
The Neon blue details are one of the best features of the figure. If you remember the Dominion Liopleurodon was kind of dull colored in couple of very close tones of dark yellow.
This time the primary blue body has a almost metallic or wet sheen depending on the angle of the light. Even the black areas on the flippers and underside carry a gloss coat, maintaining the wet-look effect throughout. It is one of the more distinctive finish choices Mattel has made on a marine figure.
The face is probably the most boring part of this figure. The texture are smooth covered with less of the vibrant scale definition that appears in the body.
Inside the mouth, the Liopleurodon is loaded with multiple rows of rubber teeth in the same soft material used across the newer Mattel figures for a genuinely sharp look. They are all painted in an off-white to yellowish white. The tongue is nicely textured and given a light pinkish hue.
Moving away from the face, the detailing improves dramatically. Large fish scales cover the upper body, varying considerably in size as you move through the figure, from smaller scales toward the sides up to larger scales toward the top. The neon blue finish makes these scales appealingly catch light.
All four flippers are sculpted with good detail and given the full black and gloss treatment. The flippers can be manually repositioned into different angles before activating the action feature, which is a practical touch that adds to the swimming illusion.
2. Action Feature & Articulation
There are two separate action features.
Swimming flippers are activated by a button on the back of the figure. Flippers start moving in a swimming motion. The flippers can be repositioned before pressing, so the swimming movement starts from different positions, adding variety. The ridges on the back also extend slightly when this button is pressed. The swimming effect is genuinely convincing and satisfying to trigger.
The second feature is the jaw snapping motion. A second button on the opposite side activates the jaw snap, which works as expected and was great fun for my kid to devour the poor Mosasaurus. Both the upper and lower jaw articulate as part of this feature. The chomp is clean and the rubber teeth stay visible when the mouth is open.
- Both jaws (action feature linked)
- Jaw snapping
- All four flippers (swimming action feature)
- Flippers (manually repositionable)
- Tail swivel
Verdict Should I buy it?
Yes, and especially if you have a soft spot for marine reptile figures. The Liopleurodon is one of the more complete and polished figures in the Survival Gigantic Thrashers line. The neon wet-look finish is genuinely distinctive. The multiple rows of rubber teeth are intimidating, and the swimming flipper action feature is the kind of playful mechanic that makes the figure memorable.
How to unlock
How to unlock Liopleurodon Gigantic Thrashers in Jurassic World Survival Collection?
Open up your Jurassic World Play App (previously known as the Jurassic World Facts App), press the Scan button and point it towards the DNA code here:
3. About the Liopleurodon
"It is the diversity of life we are discovering that I find to be most interesting. Take this animal, the Liopleurodon, for instance. This is a carnivorous marine reptile that is optimized for efficiency, both for swimming effortlessly through the water and for relentlessly hunting its prey."
— Jurassic World
Liopleurodon (meaning “smooth-sided teeth” in Greek) is a genus of large carnivorous pliosaurid that lived approximately 160 to 150 million years ago during the Middle to Late Jurassic period in the seas that covered Europe. Three species are recognized: Liopleurodon ferox and L. pachydeirus from England and France, and L. rossicus from Russia. As a pliosaurid rather than a plesiosaur, Liopleurodon had a large head, a short neck, a massive trunk, and four powerful paddle-like flippers, built for speed and ambush rather than the long-necked filter-feeding style of its distant relatives.
Liopleurodon became widely known to the public through the 1999 BBC documentary Walking with Dinosaurs, which depicted it as an enormous animal reaching 25 metres in length and 150 tonnes. This estimate was based on fragmentary fossils and is now recognized as a significant exaggeration. Current scientific estimates place Liopleurodon at around 5 to 7 metres (16 to 23 feet) in length, with some researchers allowing for individuals approaching 10 metres. Even at those realistic sizes it would have been a formidable apex predator, using its powerful jaws filled with large conical teeth to hunt fish, cephalopods, and other marine reptiles.
The Survival Gigantic Thrashers Liopleurodon is significantly larger than the original Mattel Liopleurodon. It also features an neon blue color scheme with a wet-look finish, full black underside painting, multiple rows of rubber teeth, and additional action features including a swimming flipper mechanism and a jaw chomp button.
A button on the back activates the flippers in a synchronized swimming motion, mimicking how a Liopleurodon would propel itself through water. The flippers can be manually repositioned before activating the feature, allowing different swimming poses. The back ridges also extend slightly when the button is pressed.
Yes. The Neon blue runs across the upper body and sides, the black covers the entire underside and all four flippers, and the ridge detail along the back is painted in black throughout. It is one of the more completely painted large figures in the Survival line.
No. The 25-metre depiction in Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) was based on fragmentary fossils and is now recognized as a significant exaggeration. Current scientific estimates place Liopleurodon ferox at around 5 to 7 metres, with some researchers allowing for individuals approaching 10 metres. It was still a powerful apex predator of the Jurassic seas.
Open the Jurassic World Play App, tap the Scan button, and point it at the DNA barcode on the Liopleurodon figure.
