Nakamo

We are already getting deep into the 2026 movie season but I wanted to make sure I wrapped up on catching up on the 2025 movies I wanted to see before putting together my yearly list. 2025 had a ton of great hits and one of the best summer seasons we've seen in years! There were high point movies, and low point movies, and from everything that came out that I managed to see either in theater or at home on streaming these are the top 10 films of 2025 that in my humble personal opinion are my favorites of the year.  (Images Source) Honorable Mentions: Last Breath and Revenge of the Sith rerelease Last Breath was a movie that came out pretty early in the year and I heard virtually no one talk about it. It was a tense, small film with a great line up of actors capturing an incredible true story that has to be seen to be believed! While it doesn't make my top ten, I had to mention it simply to bring up more conversation about this great film many seem to have overlooked. My other ho...

Jurassic World came back hard with Rebirth, one of my favorite films in the franchise and one that brought a hefty load of fun dinosaur scenes to reinvigorate the series with! The Hammond Collection was firing on all cylinders as well, topping last year's offerings of the Therizinosaurus and Giganotosaurus with some of the very best dinos released in the line thus far, beating out all the competition from the mainline, and to kick off my 2025 figure retrospective I've compiled my top 5 personal favorite Jurassic World figures from Mattel in this list! (Images Source) 5. Troodon The Troodon was a non-movie addition to the line and a very welcome one as I loved its design, its coloration, the smoky eyeballs along with the quills running down its back and head. While a small addition to the line it was a mighty one, and a big win for non-movie Dinosaurs following suit from prior releases like the Irritator.  4. Stygimoloch This had been a long time coming and I was very excited to...

(Image Source) Stop motion animation is something that has been lost in media usage these days with the abundance of CGI; however, this tactic of bringing to life larger than life creatures and designs has such a nostalgic and unique style that it makes me wish  we would see more of it. The recent Primevals was a glorious love letter to this age of film, and there was one master above all else that put stop motion on the map: Ray Harryhausen. His stop motion work produced several iconic films and impressed each time his projects were put to film. With a look back to the classic age of stop motion, these are my top 5 favorite films of Ray Harryhausen that I found most well done and most impressive.  5. The Valley of Gwangi As a major dinosaur I was more than excited to check out The Valley of Gwangi and was very impressed by what I saw. This was a time we saw a lot more dinosaurs in film than just Jurassic World, and their usage in Valley of Gwagi was a very fun plot that saw t...

The next Dinosaur species type that I'll be looking at in anticipation of the upcoming Jurassic World movie are the Ankylosauria, one of my all time favorite species type with the titular Ankylosaur being one of my top two favorite dinosaurs of all time. This species has not seen quite as many releases by Mattel in their Jurassic World line of figures but it is one that I always love to see when made, and these are five more species I hope to eventually see made.  5. Nodosaurus (Image Source) The member of the Ankylosauria family has no club on the end of its tail, no spikes running along its body, it just had a thick body and tail lined with beaded plates of armor. This type of dinosaur species has always been one of my favorites of the Dinosaur species, and I'd love more to go with the Hammond Collection Ankylosaur and some of the smaller species we've gotten. 4. Crichtonsaurus (Image Source) The spikes along this dinosaur's body are very unique and seem to only plate...

Mattel's Dinosaur line of figures had a great slew of offerings last year from both Hammond Collection and the mainline, especially with the release of Chaos Theory season 2. This year sees the release of the next big Jurassic World movie and I'm sure we will see a massive roll out of new products and new species with the Dinosaur brand headlining the entertainment industry again. Ceratopsians are a species type I haven't talked about quite yet on the blog, so here I'll count the five from these species I would like to see Mattel produce next! 5. Agujaceratops (Image Source) The crest of this dinosaur splits off at the head, turning into two rounded portions that each have their own horns marking the tips of either side. I expect there will always be some ceratopsians coming in the line each year, and this one would certainly appeal to any children who are wanting something that looks similar to a Triceratops, but big time dino fans will recognize as a new unique specie...

(Images Source) Just yesterday we got the epic reveals of the Therizinosaurus and the Giganotosaurus which look to be two of the best dinosaurs to be released in the Hammond Collection line by Mattel so far! Mattel has certainly continued to perfect their craft with the Hammond Collection line and it really shows. A while back we got the Ankylosaurus which had been one of my most anticipated figures in the line, and for this revised list of most wanted dinos I am taking off the Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus because I know the bendy wire method is a smart choice but for whatever reason it appeals less to me than all the other prehistoric figures we get. There are beginning to be only a handful of on-screen dinosaurs for Mattel to choose from until we get more obscure cuts like Irritator and Metricanthosaurus,  and this list will be counting down my next five most wanted! 5. Stygimoloch I am a bit surprised that this dino hasn't been included in the smaller price point quite yet, and...

(Banner Image Source)   (Following Images Source) The introduction of the Mosasaurus into the Jurassic World movies really brought a lot of attention to the prehistoric life forms of ancient Earth; however, Mattel's Jurassic World line has still been slow to really pump out a lot of the different creatures that used to populate the Earth! I can nearly count on one hand how many marine reptiles of olden days Mattel has made, with recent figures like Elasmosaurus and Dakosaurus finally putting us over the count of less than five. The Jurassic World Evolution 2 videogame has featured several prehistoric marine reptiles which I hope means they're at least on Mattel's radar to eventually get to! 5. Shonisaurus The Shonisaurus is the first of five that I will be breaking down in this list, and one that would be very welcome into the line. Its body is vaguely similar to creature types like Kronosaurus; however, differs with its more oval appearance, and the thin, long mouth ahead ...

(Banner Image Source)   (Following Images Source) The next branch of prehistoric creatures I will be diving into is the ancient crocodilians, a species which over time look very similar to their prehistoric counterparts, though there were certainly some wild crocodilians back in the day. From the massive Sarcosuchus, to the "boar croc" Kaprosuchus Mattel has been diving steadily into this species line; however, I hope we get plenty more beyond the recently released Gryposuchus, starting with the five on this list! 5. Simosuchus Simosuchus would fit into one of the smaller price point categories for Mattel similar to Postosuchus, and the squat nature of this croc reminds me a lot of present day species. The most defining feature of this ancient crocodilians would have to be the extremely short nature of its skull for which it was named after, and which sets it apart from most crocodilians who have extensive jaws.  4. Fasolasuchus One of the largest crocodilians of ancient time...