Year
of release: 1997
Accessories:
-Dino
Tracker figure
-Three
pieces of capture gear
-Dino
Damage wound patch
-Tranq
Bazooka (with two missiles)
-Backpack
Description:
this repainted Young T-Rex figure has not been retooled from its JPS1
counterpart, except it stands reared upwards more than the original
because of the way it is packaged. Asides from this, it stands in a
fully neutral posture, and still features “realistic” dinosaur
skin (though there is no such thing of course, since we’ll never
know for sure what dinosaur skin felt like), made of a more flexible
and softer material than the regular hard plastic. The figure’s
arms, lower legs and inside of the mouth are not composed of this
rubbery material. On its right flank a piece of skin can be removed,
revealing a dino damage wound underneath, showing white ribs and pink
muscle tissue. The wound patch itself is largely symmetrical in
shape. The Rex’s small two fingered arms are the only poseable body
parts. The jaws of this Rex, which can be opened by squeezing the
creature’s neck, provide the main attack option, revealing a very
bright pink tongue and inside of the mouth, and clean white teeth.
Apart
from the noticeable pinkness in this creature's mouth, this Young Rex
sports an otherwise dark paint job. At first glance it might as well
be entirely black. However, on closer examination, this figure's
paint job is made up of dark green with dark brown tones randomly
mixed in all over its body, most notably on the tail and upper legs.
Its underside (belly, throat, lower jaw, lower part of the tail) is
of a lighter green than the rest of its body, but still very dark.
The colouring on the lower legs and arms is much brighter, presumably
because of the different material they're made of. These body parts
are painted in a mixture of brown tones, one dark and one much
lighter, making them stand out more. Especially the hind part of both
legs and the underside of the feet are of a much different, brighter
colour quality than the rest of this figure. Additionally, the
dinosaur has black claws on hands and feet, as well as small white
eyes with black pupils in black eye sockets. As is the case with the
other TLW Exclusive dinosaurs, there's no JP logo found on this
figure.
Three
pieces of capture gear come with this Rex. There's a cuff like tag,
which comes with most dinosaurs featuring capture gear, but is quite
big in this case, and fits well around the creature's neck. It also
comes with a leg restraint, which can hold on to both legs
simultaneously. Lastly, there is a big muzzle which can go around the
figure's jaws, effectively disabling them, while also covering the
eyes, so the Rex can't see what's going on. All three pieces are
coloured in the same metallic grey paint job.
The
muscled Dino Tracker stands in a largely neutral pose, though his
right leg is pointed outwards to some extent, making him look like
he's bracing himself for something. Also, he holds his arms quite
close to his torso, more so than other human figures. He wears short
blue pants adorned with pockets, a belt and a knife at the back, all
in the same colour. He also sports a black vest, revealing a
muscular, bare chest underneath. The vest comes with green and red
detailing and a JP T-Rex logo (black Rex skull and arms in a yellow
circle) on the left part of his chest. Additionally, the Tracker
wears black boots with blue socks sticking out, a black belt around
his waist and a dark green baseball cap (which he wears with the flap
at the back of his head) with a second JP Rex logo on it. His skin
colour is somewhat lighter than on most other human figures. He also
has black hair, a beard with moustache, black eyes and eyebrows, and
a rather stony facial expression.
The
Tracker is equipped with a large bazooka, basically a black tube with
a small box at the end and a big one up front. On top of the gun near
the front end there’s a large red button. When the bazooka is
loaded with either one of the two red missiles it comes with,
pressing the button makes the missile be fired with force, with a
firing range of almost two metres and a good impact force. It’s one
of the more effective and powerful weapons Kenner produced. This set
also features a black backpack with black straps so the Tracker can
carry it on his back. The pack has two holes in it, one for either
missile.
Analysis:
as if two huge Rexes, a hatchling and a Junior Rex weren't enough for
the TLW lines, a repaint of the JPS1 Young T-Rex was issued as an
exclusive set, expanding the Rex family so it incorporates tyrant
king lizards of all ages. None of the TLW Rexes sport the same paint
job however, and this Young Rex is no exception, featuring a rather
dark, Gothic looking colour scheme. It's a rather original paint job,
but looks quite monochromatic on first sight. However, those who take
a closer look will find a very naturalistic and “life like” paint
job, instead of one of the typical 'brown with black stripes' schemes
that have been so overused. However, the arms and legs, and
especially the idiotic pink inside the mouth feel out of place on
this figure because they're so different, like the Rex sports an
unsuccessful mixture of paint styles. But still, the effort to do
something different should be applauded.
Apart
from the paint job, nothing has changed on this figure, which has had
two previous incarnations already. This Rex still comes with two main
action features. The first is the typical dino damage wound patch,
which was found on most larger dinosaur figures of the first JP toy
lines (and is also present on several larger TLWS1 dinosaur figures).
Removing the Rex’s wound patch reveals a nasty wound, which makes
one wonder what creature would dare attack a T-Rex (a larger T-Rex
maybe?). The wound looks gory, but the shape of the wound patch is
too perfect and artificial: it looks like someone just cut an almost
symmetrical hole in this little Rex, instead of him suffering from a
vicious attack by a rival carnivore.
The
second option applied to this figure is a so-called biting action.
However, these biting jaws are a rather cheap action feature, since
it’s only because of the soft material the dinosaur’s skin is
composed of that this biting action is produced. Various other big
carnivore figures come with biting actions, but more work is put in
those by adding inventive biting mechanisms instead, making this
figure's biting jaws pale in comparison. Squeezing the neck does open
its jaws decently though, while it can also be used adequately to
trap unfortunate figures’ body parts between them. It may not look
very appealing, but at least it works to some degree.
This
Young T-Rex comes with the same capture gear as its JPS2 predecessor
It does a very good job subduing Junior Rex, making it unable to
walk, bite or even see. The tag that comes with it actually has a
function here, since it features a JP logo the Rex itself is lacking,
so this dinosaur can be more easily identified as a JP figure. This
tag is also rather large, making its less easy to lose.
Though
it's still a good figure ans hasn't been really altered aside from
the new paint job, there's one slight modification made to this Young
Rex which has nasty consequences. It is packaged in such a way that
it stands up more straight, which can cause damage to the material
that holds together the two halves of this figure (the front part,
which consists of the torso with arms and head, and the hind part,
which covers the tail and legs). It's not unusual to see Young Rexes
that have a big split in the middle, as if someone took a knife and
tried to cut the figure in half but stopped halfway through the
process. Therefore, if you don't want this to happen to your TLW
Young T-Rex, be careful and don't play too rough with it. (This
warning also applies to the JPD1 Young T-Rex repaint which often
shows the same issue, but not to the JPS1/2 Young T-Rexes, both of
which rarely feature this disability because they were packaged
differently.)
This
set comes with a nameless Dino Tracker figure, sporting less clothing
than most other human figures have, which is obviously useful in warm
jungle environments where ferocious dinosaurs have to be fought. It's
a good new paint job on this figure (which is also a repaint), but
the abundance of black doesn't balance well with the rather bleak
skin colour on this figure, making him look somewhat sickly. This is
especially true of his head, which sports a big black beard and
moustache that look like they're fake. However, apart from this minor
complaint (and feel free to disagree) this is not at all a bad
figure, all the more so because he comes with an excellent weapon.
The bazooka, which remains unchanged in paint job and design from the
original that came with JPS1 Muldoon, is still a formidable weapon.
It works very well and has a great firing range for such a small
weapon, no doubt making it the weapon of choice for most JP toy fans.
The set also comes with the same backpack to store the missiles in
when unused. Both backpack and bazooka are still painted black, which
does make this set a little monochromatic, since the Tracker himself
sports a largely black outfit as well.
Playability:
for the set as a whole, quite good. Though only the arms of the T-Rex
are really moveable, the flexible material allows for additional
poseability to some extent (including the jaw motion). The dino
damage wound patch is easily removable and can also be put back with
little difficulty, but when applied to the figure it’s stuck strong
enough so it doesn’t fall off on its own accord. Though usually the
figure stands well balanced, more worn out Rexes occasionally have
trouble standing up straight and tend to stand in a tripod pose with
the tail on the ground. Since this figure is easily damaged, it's
better not to play too rough with it, also given its rarity. In fact,
if you want to play with this sculpt, it's better to play with its
JPS1 version instead of risking damage to this figure. The Tracker
has the usual range of poseable body parts (head, legs and arms). The
bazooka is one of the most effective and playable weapons of all
human figures. It has a great range and strong impact force, comes
with two different missiles for variety and the backpack provides
storage space for both of them, be it loose or on the Tracker's back.
The bazooka may not be strong enough to knock the Rex over, but it's
always a challenge to try and shoot the dino damage patch off the
dinosaur (in which case you need to loosen it a bit, otherwise it
won't let go). A bit violent for kids maybe, but fun nonetheless.
Realism:
though no Young T-Rex was seen in the movie, a juvenile Rex much like
this one played a minor role in Michael Crichton’s original novel.
This figure seems to be originally based off the book instead of the
movie. Of course, that doesn't matter in this repaint's case, for
which its medium size in comparison to the other TLW Rex figures
might have been the main reason to re-release it. Its paint job is
very different from the other Rexes of the various JP toy lines, and
doesn't resemble the paint scheme of the T-Rexes in the movies at
all. The Dino Tracker isn't supposed to look like anybody, being an
invention on Kenner's part. The bazooka wasn’t featured in the
movie, though it’s a more likely weapon compared to some of the
other pieces of weaponry Kenner came up with for the TLW lines.
Repaint:
yes, this set consists only of repaints. The Rex itself is a
repainted JPS1/2 Young T-Rex, with the same set of capture gear as
the JPS2 Young T-Rex featured. The Dino Tracker is a repaint of JPS2
Harpoon Harrison. His accessories originally came with JPS1/2 Robert
Muldoon, and these have not been altered in any way. The Young Rex
would be repainted (and retooled) again for the first JP: Dinosaurs
line, along with its capture gear. The Dino Tracker would be
repainted a second time for the JP III Exclusive Dino Tracking Set,
but with different accessories. The bazooka, including backpack and
missiles, would be repainted again (and retooled as well) for the
TLWS2 Eddie Carr figure.
Overall
rating: 7/10. On close inspection, this Rex has a very original and
realistic new paint job, but it hardly holds up from more than a yard
away. Other than that it's still a good figure, though the dino
damage provides the only real action. The Tracker himself is a fine
repaint, though the beard looks a bit silly. The bazooka is still one
of the best weapons ever produced for a JP toy. This set is worth
getting if you happen to find it for a good price, but since it's
very rare (it was only released at Toys'R'Us in the USA) and usually
fetches high prices, you might as well settle for a regular JPS2
Harpoon Harrison, Muldoon's bazooka and JPS1 Young T-Rex otherwise.
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