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In stock everywhere and nobody has to pay $49.99 for it this week. Amazon and Walmart are both selling it first-party at list, but one of the big-box chains has it at $39.99, a full 20% off, right now. Resale listings run $59.99 to $99.99, which on a toy this available is somebody hoping you didn't check.
Spin Master has a decent claim to owning the hatching-toy category outright. The Primal Hatch Jurassic World T. Rex took overall Toy of the Year and finished last year as the number one item in youth electronics, and this is the follow-up: same trick, bigger animal, and one significant upgrade.
Below: where it's genuinely cheapest today, what happens when you add the water, the single most useful thing an owner has said about it, and whether the shark is actually better than the dinosaur that won everything.
Where To Buy The Megalodon
This launched on Amazon in July and only reached Walmart on August 22, so the shelf picture is still settling. Both big listings are first-party, both are within two cents of each other, and both ship this week.
| Where | Status | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AmazonSold and shipped by Amazon. Rated 4.0 across 16 ratings so far. | In Stock | $49.99list | Check Stock Status |
| WalmartSold and shipped by Walmart, live since August 22. Rates higher there at 4.6 across 22. | In Stock | $49.97arrives Aug 29 | Check Stock Status |
| Primal Hatch T. RexThe one that won Toy of the Year. Now cheaper than the shark, and rated far higher. | In Stock | $38.494.7, 1,569 ratings | Check Stock Status |
| Hybrid Hatchers Mini EggThe blind-box version at a third of the price, if you want the mechanic without the outlay. | In Stock | $16.99500+ a month | Check Stock Status |
The number worth carrying around is $39.99. That's the discounted big-box price this week, it's 20% under list, and it means the two listings above are both beatable if you shop around before you click. On resale it runs $59.99, $74.99 and $99.99, none of which makes sense for a toy sitting in stock at every major retailer.
This is the single most useful thing an owner has said about it, and it's the headline of a five-star review: "Don't throw the egg away like we did!"
The big upgrade over the T. Rex is that this one re-hatches. Add water, watch it burst out, then reset it and do the whole thing again. But the shell is the part that resets, and in the wreckage of a birthday morning it looks exactly like packaging. One family binned theirs during the cleanup and got precisely one hatch out of a toy built for unlimited ones. Tell whoever is tidying up before they start.
Worth knowing too: the second lock on the egg is stiff. One reviewer's shell gave way while they were still wrestling with it and the shark launched before the tank had any water in it. Take that one slowly.
A sealed lab tank with an egg suspended inside it. Fill it to the line and the water sets off a fizzing reaction that turns the whole thing red, the eyes light up inside the shell, it roars, and then a sixteen-inch Megalodon breaks out with its jaws working. Batteries are in the box, the shell resets, and the shark is a normal chompy toy afterwards.
What Actually Happens
The set is two pieces: a clear plastic tank on legs, and an egg that sits inside it. Everything else is chemistry and a motor.
Then, and this is the bit the T. Rex couldn't do, you reset the shell and run it again. Spin Master's line is "endless pranks and surprises," which is marketing, but the mechanism genuinely is repeatable rather than a single-use gimmick. The shark also has a touch-reactive scar on its side and keeps working as an ordinary chomping toy once the theatre is over.
Is It Better Than The T. Rex?
Fair question, because the dinosaur is the one with the awards and it currently costs eleven dollars less.
On the numbers the T. Rex wins comfortably: 4.7 out of 5 across more than 1,500 ratings against the shark's 4.0 across 16. Some of that is simply age, since the Megalodon has been on sale a matter of weeks and small samples swing hard. But it isn't nothing either.
What the shark has is the reset. And at least one owner who bought both was clear about which they preferred, writing that even though they only managed one hatch before losing the shell, "I was much happier with this one than the dinosaur version we had before." If the hatch is the whole point of the purchase, a version you can run more than once is a meaningful upgrade.
What Buyers Are Saying
Sixteen ratings on Amazon at 4.0, twenty-two at Walmart at 4.6, and the two sets pull in different directions in a way that's worth understanding.
Sixteen ratings is a small pool, so expect these to move as more arrive.
"It was a whole family bonding experience watching the shark hatch. I like that once it comes out you can actually play with the shark like a normal toy."
Amazon reviewer, 5 stars"My son thinks this is the best gift of his birthday. The shark looks super realistic once it comes out."
Amazon reviewer, 5 stars"I was much happier with this one than the dinosaur version we had before."
Amazon reviewer who owned both, 5 stars"My 6 year old son thought this was really cool.. for about 5 minutes. After the hatching was completed my boy quickly got bored."
Amazon reviewer, 2 stars"The shark is poorly made, has awkward jerky motion that is limited and cheap."
Amazon reviewer, 2 stars"The top lock of this egg was giving both my husband and I a hard time... the shark exploded out before my son even got to touch the bucket."
Amazon reviewer, 4 starsOur Read On The Reviews
Every hatching toy ever made produces the same argument, and this one is no exception: one group is buying an event and the other is buying a toy.
The five-star reviews describe a moment. A family standing round a tank, a five-year-old getting the best present of his birthday, a shark that looks properly menacing when it finally comes out. Fifty dollars for that, once, in front of an audience, is a trade plenty of parents will happily make.
The critical reviews describe the eleven minutes afterwards. "Cool for about 5 minutes." Bored by lunchtime. The motion is jerky, the speaker is tinny, and once the water has drained there's a plastic shark on the floor like any other plastic shark. Both of those things are true at the same time.
What tips the balance here, and it's specific to this model, is the reset. The complaint that killed the T. Rex for a lot of families was that the spectacle happened exactly once for forty dollars. This one is built to run again, which is precisely why the egg matters so much and why binning it is such an expensive mistake. Keep the shell and you've bought a party trick you can pull out repeatedly. Lose it and you've bought a fifty dollar shark.
Who It's For
- You'll be in the room. The hatch is the gift, and it wants people watching.
- The kid is five to eight and deep into sharks, dinosaurs or anything with teeth.
- You'll keep the shell. The repeat hatch is the entire argument over the T. Rex.
- You can get it at $39.99. At that price the maths gets a lot friendlier.
- You want lasting play value. The shark afterwards is fine, not remarkable.
- You're posting it or hiding it early. Somebody has to be there for the reveal.
- Fifty dollars is the ceiling. The T. Rex is $38.49 and rates far higher.
- You just want the mechanic. The $16.99 mini eggs do the same trick smaller.
What You Should Actually Pay
List is $49.99, the street price this week is $39.99, and everything above list is optimism.
Take it
Fair
Above list
No
Restock History
Too new to have a restock story yet, which is itself the useful information: this is the window where it's easy to get.
The thing to watch is mid-September, when the retailer holiday lists publish. Spin Master has put the it-toy of the season on shelves more than once lately, the predecessor won Toy of the Year, and a hatching shark is exactly the kind of thing those lists pick. If it lands on them, $39.99 in August will look like a good decision.
Primal Hatch Megalodon FAQ
The Bottom Line: Spin Master knows exactly how to build one of these, and the Megalodon fixes the complaint that dogged the T. Rex by letting you run the hatch again. That makes the egg the most valuable thing in the box, so don't let anyone throw it out. Buy it for a five to eight year old with an audience present, don't expect the shark itself to hold anyone's attention for a fortnight, and above all don't pay list when it's twenty percent off in shops this week. At $39.99 it's an easy yes. At $99.99 on resale it's somebody taking advantage of a toy that's sitting in stock everywhere.
