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Tyrannosaurus rex (Jurassic Park 2009 toyline)

Posted on April 12, 2010 | 13 Comments

For Jurassic Park fans, the news of a new toy line back in May of ’09 made many excited, and others indifferent. Hasbro was going to release another line of Jurassic Park toys that was only made out of repaints. Or so we all thought……

JP fans had come across a list of the toys in the line and their prices. There was a “large tyrannosaurus” slot with a $60 mark next to it. Most JP fans expected this “rex” to be a repainted issue of the “Ultra T-rex” from the Jurassic Park 3 toy line, because its inflated price matched up with the rest of the new prices of the 2009 line. So when pictures of this retooled “Bull Rex” came out, everybody was extremely pleased and everyone was also filled with shock and awe.

Why do I say retooled? Because this figure is very different from its “ancestor” from 1997. The back legs can move, the body is made of solid plastic with a button on its back, it can’t swallow figures completely, and the ankles are ball-jointed; all are the opposite in the original “bull rex” from 1997.

Luckily, those who have always had trouble finding an original “bull rex” can have essentially the same thing but have so much more. One plus is that it has ten different movie-accurate roars and it makes stomping sounds (because no dinosaur from jurassic park can walk around without registering on the richter scale), which make it much more fun.

The sculpt is very detailed, and this dinosaur toy is HUGE. It’s 29 inches long! It really is the biggest dinosaur toy out there, maybe aside from the definitely dinosaurs “Ultrasaurus” (which is a largely poor dinosaur toy). It is full of lovely wrinkles and different textures. I love the teeth in the mouth; some are big and strong while others appear to have been cracked off, as if he has been munching on some bones (the differing teeth also make this figure more of an individual as opposed to a regular mass-produced drone like some dinosaur toys are). The eyes look kind of walleyed though, because the pupils are painted on the surface of the eye rather than sculpted in the middle. The figure has huge, slightly posable feet that are perfect for stomping around in and they also help it stand.

The color scheme is very nice too. It isn’t one found in jurassic park, so that is another characteristic that makes this seem like an individual. It’s mostly greenish with darker green patches all over, with a greyish stomach; and, obviously, the slightly obnoxious orange and brown on the head and back. There is also some lovely blue stripes outlined in black on the head. I like to think of this as a tyrannosaur that is in the mating season trying to attract some females!

Overall, this is a fantastic dinosaur toy, but it’s seriously lacking in the accuracy department. Luckily, it is only half of its original retail price as of now, so if you are thinking about getting this beast now would be the time!

This dinosaur is available from here: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3535365 (it will be less if you just go to your local store, though!) and Amazon.com (here)

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Posted in Jurassic Park, Kenner, theropod

Tagged dinosaur, Jurassic Park, toy

Pachyrhinosaurus (Papo) (New for 2010)

Posted on March 19, 2010 | 14 Comments

The Pachyrhinosaurus by Papo is easily one of the most (if not the most) anticipated figures of 2010. This is one of the first times where papo has released one of their figures so early in the year; I’m glad I got mine so soon!

Pachyrhinosaurus, despite being a very funky ceratopsian, is very obscure, and has been largely looked over by toy companies. The only other plastic renditions of this animal I can think of are the largely inferior tyco and procon Pachyrhinosaurs.

The sculpt on this is great, if not a little small. The skull is very true to the real thing, and the mass of bone on the snout is the right shape and has no odd horn sticking out from it like some renditions have on them. The tail is very small, which is good – ceratopsians like Pachyrhinosaurus had relatively short tails, but many toy makers and paleoartists alike give them tails that are far too long. The limbs are correct in size and proportion and have absolutely fantastic muscle detail. There’s also nice folds of skin connecting each limb to the body which is a very realistic touch. The horns are very nice. Papo finally decided to give a ceratopsian non-fossilized horns (the horns on the triceratops are horribly cracked and look more like the fossils than what you’d expect on a living animal!). The horns at the very back of the frill aren’t correctly shaped though – they look more like deer antlers than the horns of a Pachyrhinosaurus!

This is very small compared to the Papo Triceratops. There are very nice ornamental scales on the ridges of the skull and on the ridge down the back. The enitre body is covered with irregular finely sculpted scales. The front feet seem a little off though, isn’t the toe placement incorrect?

The colors are mostly shades of grey and brown. I’d imagine a reptilian rhinoceros to be colored like this. It isn’t anything exceptional, but it isn’t anything grotesque either. The coloring of the claws has me a little puzzled, though; the claws on the feet are black, while the horns and beak on the head are grey, and the small horns on the sides of the frill are the same color as the rest of the skin! I wish they would have made them all more uniform in color.

(papo Allosaurus head for scale purposes)

All in all this is the best Pachyrhinosaurus replica on the market. The price, however, is a little off-putting – it’s the same size as the Wild Safari Triceratops but it’s triple the price! For that I think they could have made it the same size as the Papo Triceratops, but this is still one of the best ceratopsian toys ever produced and it is still very worth owning.

Available from Amazon here