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Jurassic World Primal Ambush · Wild Roar
Cristatusaurus Wild Roar First look at Mattel's first ever Cristatusaurus — olive green, a bone-white skull mask and a back full of light-up spines
Cristatusaurus is one of the brand new species in Jurassic World Primal Ambush, Mattel’s 2027 toy line, and it arrives in the first wave of Wild Roar figures with lights and sounds. The figure is not out yet, so this is a preview built from the official packaging: what it looks like, what it does, and the story of the real spinosaur behind it. The full hands-on review, DNA scan code and photo gallery will be added here once it is released.
⏳ Preview · not yet released⭐ First Mattel releaseWild Roar · Wave 1💡 Lights & soundsMattel · 2027
▲ First Look
Cristatusaurus has never had a Mattel Jurassic World figure before, and Primal Ambush gives this obscure African spinosaur its debut in the electronic Wild Roar assortment. The packaging shows an olive green predator with a pale, skull-like face and a long row of translucent green spines along its back that light up. Like the rest of the line it is boldly stylised rather than a museum reconstruction, with exaggerated features and colours that pick up where the Survival figures left off. Everything below comes from the boxed figure as shown on the official packaging, so treat it as provisional until we have it in hand.
🔬 Why This Species Is Worth Knowing
Cristatusaurus is the spinosaur that almost nobody has heard of, even though it was named in the very same year as its famous neighbour Suchomimus. Both were described in 1998 from the same rocks in Niger, and palaeontologists have argued ever since about whether they are two different animals or one. Cristatusaurus is known only from pieces of jaw and a few vertebrae, which is too little to settle the question, so some researchers treat it as a doubtful name and others think it could be the same animal as Suchomimus. Its name means “crested reptile”, after the low bony ridge running along the top of its snout.
Paint Scheme — From the Packaging
The body is a mid olive green from the neck to the tail, with a lighter, yellower green on the hind legs. The head is where the design gets bold: the whole upper skull is painted a pale bone white, so the animal looks as if it is wearing its own skull as a mask. A jagged black line runs back from the eye and along the edge of the upper jaw, and the eye itself is a vivid orange-red that stands out sharply against the pale face. The lower jaw, throat and both arms are a dark chocolate brown, and the same brown is brushed along the flank behind the shoulder. Along the back, the spines are moulded in translucent green plastic rather than painted, which is what lets them light up.
The inset picture on the box shows the feature in action: the spines along the neck and back glow red-orange when the lights are on, which should look striking against the green body and pale head.
Sculpt & Detail — First Impressions
Head and Snout
The head is long, low and crocodile-like, exactly what you want from a spinosaur. The snout narrows toward the front and the upper jaw is lined with a row of small, evenly spaced conical teeth that show even with the mouth closed. The pale paint follows the sculpted contours of the skull, with raised bumps above and behind the eye, which is what gives the face its skeletal look.
Spines, Neck and Back
Instead of a solid sail, this Cristatusaurus carries a long crest of separate, backward-leaning spines that starts just behind the head and runs down the neck, over the back and onto the tail. They are tallest over the shoulders and hips and get shorter toward each end. It is the line’s exaggerated styling at work: the real animal probably had a low ridge along its back, not a mane of spikes. The skin across the body is covered in a pebbly, bumpy texture rather than large individual scales.
Arms, Legs and Tail
The hind legs are thick and heavily textured, with a large, rounded thigh that likely houses part of the electronics. The tail is mostly hidden by the packaging, so we cannot say much about it yet beyond the spines continuing along the top. We will cover the tail, the feet and the underside properly in the full review.
Features & Articulation
✓ Light-up back spines✓ Sound effects✓ Try-me packaging? Jaw — to be confirmed? Arms and legs — to be confirmed? Tail — to be confirmed
Wild Roar is the electronic assortment in Primal Ambush. The packaging carries both a light icon and a sound icon, and an arrow on the box points at the spines over the shoulders, where you press to set the feature off. What we cannot tell from a boxed figure is how it moves, so the articulation list stays open until release. We will test every joint and add the results here.
Size & Specs
Cristatusaurus ships in the first wave of Wild Roar alongside Gryposuchus, Sinraptor, Tsintaosaurus and Zhejiangopterus. Mattel has not published measurements, so we will add the length and height, plus a size comparison with other Mattel theropods, as soon as we can put a ruler to it.
Early Verdict — One to Watch?
On looks alone, yes. A brand new spinosaur species is always welcome, and the skull-mask face over an olive body gives this one a strong identity of its own rather than reading as another Baryonyx or Suchomimus. The spiky crest will divide opinion among collectors who prefer accurate animals, but it fits the exaggerated Primal Ambush style and gives the light-up feature something dramatic to show off. Whether it is worth buying depends on things we cannot judge from a box: paint quality on the production figure, how well it poses, and how good the lights and sounds are. This is not a review yet, and we will give a proper verdict once we have the figure.
✦ What We Like So Far
- First ever Mattel Cristatusaurus
- Obscure spinosaur species choice
- Striking bone-white skull mask
- Orange-red eyes pop against the pale face
- Translucent spines that light up
- Big clawed spinosaur hands
- Lights and sounds built in
✦ What We Don't Know Yet
- Exact size and scale next to other figures
- Number and range of joints
- Paint quality on the production figure
- How the sounds actually sound
- Price and exact release date
- Stylised spines rather than an accurate sail
About the Cristatusaurus
Cristatusaurus lapparenti is a spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Niger, in West Africa. Its fossils come from the Elrhaz Formation at Gadoufaoua, on the edge of the Ténéré desert, and are roughly 112 million years old. The bones were collected in 1973 and formally named in 1998 by the palaeontologists Philippe Taquet and Dale Russell. The genus name means “crested reptile”, and the species name honours the French palaeontologist Albert-Félix de Lapparent.
Cristatusaurus belonged to the baryonychines, the branch of the spinosaur family that also includes Baryonyx from England and Suchomimus from Niger. These were large, long-snouted predators with crocodile-like jaws full of conical teeth, strong arms and a huge hooked claw on each thumb. They lived around rivers and floodplains and are thought to have eaten plenty of fish, along with whatever else they could catch. Nobody knows exactly how big Cristatusaurus was, but its jaw bones suggest an animal about the size of Suchomimus, at around 10 metres long.
The trouble is that Cristatusaurus is known only from fragments: pieces of the upper and lower jaws and a few vertebrae. Suchomimus was named from much better remains found in the same formation later in the same year, and the two are so alike that many palaeontologists suspect they are the same animal. Because the Cristatusaurus fossils are too incomplete to prove it either way, the name is often treated as doubtful. That makes this one of the more unexpected dinosaurs ever to get an action figure.
How to Unlock
How to unlock Cristatusaurus from Wild Roar in the Jurassic World Primal Ambush Collection?
Once the figure is released, open your Jurassic World Play App (previously known as the Jurassic World Facts App), press the Scan button and point it at the DNA code. The Cristatusaurus scan code is not available yet. We will post it right here as soon as we have the figure, so you can scan it straight from this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cristatusaurus is part of Jurassic World Primal Ambush, Mattel’s 2027 toy line. It is in the first wave of the Wild Roar assortment. Mattel has not confirmed an exact release date or price yet, and we will update this page when it does.
Yes. The Primal Ambush Wild Roar Cristatusaurus is the first Cristatusaurus figure Mattel has produced for the Jurassic World toy line.
Yes. Wild Roar is the electronic assortment in Primal Ambush, and the Cristatusaurus packaging shows both a light icon and a sound icon. The translucent spines along its back light up.
Possibly. Both were named in 1998 from fossils found in the Elrhaz Formation of Niger, and they are very similar. Cristatusaurus is known only from jaw fragments and a few vertebrae, which is not enough to prove whether it is a separate animal, so many palaeontologists treat the name as doubtful or as a possible synonym of Suchomimus.
Cristatusaurus means crested reptile. The name refers to the low bony crest that runs along the top of its snout.
Once the figure is released, open the Jurassic World Play App, tap the Scan button, and point it at the DNA code on the Cristatusaurus figure. The code is not available yet, and we will add it to this page on release.