Jurassic Park III: Raptor Motorcycle Pursuit

Year of release: 2001

Accessories:

-Motorcycle

-Detachable gun with rocket

-Alan Grant figure

-Velociraptor figure

Description: this motorcycle is quite detailed and looks pretty realistic. It’s mostly greenish brown with black highlights and a silver engine. Its tires are painted dark grey. A JP III logo can be found on the left side of the bike, along with some scratches on either side of the bike (appearing some vicious dinosaur attacked it). It comes with a yellow sticker with the InGen logo on it, which is supposed to be put on the right side of the bike, showing this vehicle is in InGen’s service.

Since I’m not a bike expert I’ll have to skip getting all technical on this toy. Suffice to say, it produces three funky sounds. The first can be made by moving the front part of the bike: by doing so, it will make bike noises. A second sound, which is basically a longer version of the first sound with some new details, can be produced by moving the same part of the bike several times, though I’m not entirely sure how many times because it doesn’t always work with me. A third sound can be made by activating the dino damage option: pushing the end part of the bike causes the seat to leap up, launching any figure which happens to sit on it, and produces some recognizable Raptor shrieks and crashing sounds, like a Raptor attacked the bike (which is of course what the designers undoubtedly had in mind).

A small gun can be attached to the front part of the bike, but it can also be used as a loose gun. This gun is painted black with a green button, and a green missile. Unlike most of Hasbro’s guns for this toy line, the rocket can be fired by simply pushing the button, instead of the dismal mechanism we encountered with the guns that came with the human figures.

The Alan Grant figure is quite similar to the loose Grant figure of this toy line. The head sculpt is the same, but the clothes are different. This figure sports a blue shirt and dark green pants, along with brown gloves, a light green belt, black shoes and a red bandana. A slight tear adorns his right leg, like Grant has had an unfortunate encounter with a dinosaur yet got away with it. The figure stands in a neutral position, and unlike the other figures it has extra joints in his legs, so these can move in multiple positions.

The Velociraptor figure has a simple paint job compared to most of the JP III Raptor figures. It’s mostly beige, with black spots and stripes all over its body. Especially noticeable are the cross shaped spots on its upper legs. It has bright yellow eyes with a red spot around them. Strangely enough, its lower jaw is slightly longer than his upper jaw. A black JP III logo can be found on its left leg. Its claws are not coloured differently than the rest of its body. It also has a dino damage wound on its tail, exposing bones and muscles. The Raptor stands in a stalking position and its tail is bent. Pressing the back of its head causes the head to move forward and open its mouth, as if making a biting move.

Analysis: this is quite a cool play set and certainly one of Hasbro’s best JP products. It has a lot of options and is pretty detailed. The bike is a real beauty with very cool options. It’s always cool to put the Grant figure in the seat and launch it in the air by pressing the rear end of the bike, even though the Raptor sounds are a bit odd if you’re not using the Raptor. The bike sounds add some believability to this vehicle. Also nice is the addition of a small retractable piece on the underside of the bike, so the bike can stand straight up. Such a neat little feature was certainly missed with Kenner’s Dino Snare Dirt Bike. The paint job of this bike is not too detailed, but that way it doesn’t get too busy. The detachable gun is quite good as well: it would be unfortunate if it couldn’t be used loose. The figure can also hold the gun, so he isn’t dependant on the bike for any much needed weaponry to fight off his prehistoric pursuers. It’s a good thing Hasbro decided to use the classic firing mechanism for this gun and not the one they used for the weapons that came with the human figures. This mechanism actually works right and launches a rocket in a straight line with a good hard impact on any dinosaur figure in its path.

The Alan Grant figure is a fine sculpt too. The neutral pose doesn’t make it look as ridiculous as the other human figures, which all take on the most annoying stances. The extra joints in the legs allow for greater playability. It also makes it look more convincing when this figure is riding the bike. Though it still doesn’t resemble Sam Neill all that much, it’s a nice figure by Hasbro’s standards.

The Velociraptor is less impressive, unfortunately. This figure does stand in a awkward stalking position, making it appear a bit fat. It’s also a real shame the claws aren’t coloured differently from the rest of its body. The head is pretty ugly, especially because of the weird lower jaw which is way too long. The overall paint job of this creature is not very good either: though it’s good its colouring is not as extreme as most of Hasbro’s other Raptor sculpts, in this case its too dull. The dino strike action also doesn’t do much, and looks a bit silly. And almost all of Hasbro’s dinosaur figures it has a dino damage wound that can’t be covered up: as always, it’s a real nuisance, and this case is no exception.

Playability: the bike sure has a few good playability options, no doubt there. The Grant figure is also a lot better than most of the other human figures, mostly because of the joints in his legs and the neutral position. Unfortunately the Raptor is disappointing by comparison, and reminds us of some of the electronic deluxe dinosaurs of this toy line which were also a letdown. It has moveable body parts, not only its limbs, but also the head and even the tail (though putting the tail in a different pose makes the figure look completely silly): but it’s still not a great Raptor. Keep in mind this vehicle is electronic: if you want to keep it in working condition, don’t go playing to wildly with it.

Realism: there were no bikes in JP III. There were however bikes used by the InGen hunters (hence the InGen logo sticker) in TLW, though none of these had guns. But those bikes were pretty similar to this bicycle in design and colour. Anyway, this vehicle looks like any good bike should. Like stated above the Grant figure doesn’t resemble Sam Neill much, nor does the clothing look like the outfit Grant sported in JP III (at least as far as the colours are concerned). Once again Grant’s distinctive cowboy hat is sorely missed. The dinosaur figure is recognizable as a Velociraptor, but isn’t very reminiscent in shape of the JP III Raptors: however, the paint job looks a lot like the colours we saw on the female Raptor in JP III, which had the same black spots (even the cross shaped ones) on a similar beige skin.

Repaint: no. However, both the Raptor and the Grant figure would be repainted and used in this same JP toy line for the Raptor Attack Play Set. Fortunately this is the only case of repainting toys within this toy line.

Overall rating: 8/10. Even though the Raptor is far from the best dinosaur sculpt I’ve ever seen, fact remains the motorcycle is a great toy and the gun and Grant figure are also quite good. It has many playability options compared to most of Hasbro’s toys and is a great play set in itself. It’s worth getting (at least if you’re a bit open to Hasbro’s JP works), but it isn’t always findable. You may have to search for it a bit, and it might not be the cheapest toy around, but I would say it’s worth any JP fan’s while.