Jurassic Park III: Ultra Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex)

Year of release: 2001

Description: this larger T-Rex figure measures some 25 centimetres in length and stands just over 15 centimetres tall. Its paint job is remarkably similar to that of the regular T-Rex figure from this toy line, giving it some internal consistency. The overall colour is green, with a dark green stripe running from its snout all the way to the end of the tail and numerous smaller stripes on its back, tail and neck springing out of this large stripe. Added to these colours are some soft red stripes on every part of his body. A black JP III logo is located on its right leg. It’s got a pair of small yellow eyes, and his claws are all black.

A very large dino damage would is found on its right flank, showing ribs and muscle tissue. The upper piece of exposed rib is actually a button which activates a shrieking roar, as if the creature is in pain. A second roar, more aggressive and imposing, can be made by pulling its right arm down: when doing so the mouth will also open. A third sound can be made by having the T-Rex stomp on the ground: logically it’s a stomping noise. The sound quality of all three sounds is not very good, some static is heard as well. The two roars are the same sounds the regular T-Rex figure produces.

This Rex sculpts stands in an attack posture, with its tail bent upwards and its head slightly tilted up, as if it were looking at something just above him. Its legs stand far apart from each other. This Rex is pretty skinny and has a tiny body. It’s mostly head, limbs and tail.

Analysis: this is not a great figure. It basically has the same flaws as the regular Rex (and in fact, most dinosaur figures from this toy line). The first problem is the pose it takes on: it’s far from neutral and diminishes playability. Especially the positions of the legs and tail are very irritating, as is the fact this figure has such a small skinny body.

The second negative issue are the sounds. The main problem here is the poor sound quality. The sounds of the smaller dinosaur figures were a lot better. The static indiscernible sounds this model produces hardly do the so called Tyrant King justice: it sounds like he’s got a nasty cold. Another issue is the fact the two roars are the same as the ones from the regular Rex, except weaker. It would have been more original if this figure could make different sounds.

A third problem: apart from the sounds, the other features are also the same as the ones from the smaller Rex. First of all, there’s the (in this case stupendously huge) dino damage wound with the button in it. Because of the size of the wound it really sucks you can’t cover it with a skin patch (like with the old Kenner models). It’s just there for all the world to see, and there’s nothing you can do about it (except for heavily customizing it, which seems very appealing at times…). Of course the paint job is also largely the same: so the designers either had consistency in mind, or ran out of paint job ideas (which seems unlikely given the large number of repaints Hasbro had done over the years). It’s a decent paint job, but nothing special. Then there is the mouth opening mechanism, which is still a very unoriginal feature for Tyrannosaurus models. This time it works better than with the smaller Rex though, because the arm is more accessible so it’s easier to open the jaws. It comes with a downside though: every time you move the arm again, the attack roar starts over again. Lame.

This model does include a new feature though, at least new for this toy line (because the old Red Rex from JPS1 had the same feature). When it comes into contact with the ground (or whatever you put it on) it makes stomping noises. But this too has a downside: producing this sound needs some force, so you have to really smack it onto something (quite violently at times) in order for the sound to be heard. This increases the risk of damaging the electronics of this figure. Again: lame.

Playability: not very great. Because of the stalking pose this figure takes on its playability is limited, though his limbs are all moveable. Fortunately the mouth attack action works fairly well despite the flaws. This figure is electronic so you shouldn’t play too rough with it if you want to keep it intact. Unfortunately it seems the designers didn’t care much for keeping it intact, because activating the stomping noises involves some pretty rough behaviour. But since those noises aren’t very good anyway it’s better to ignore that particular option.

Realism: this figure looks a lot like the smaller T-Rex sculpts for this toy line, so they make a striking family pair. However, this sculpt doesn’t much resemble the T-Rex from the movie, let alone a real life Rex. This is mostly because of the small body and oversized limbs attached to it. However, the T-Rex in JP III did look rather greenish, so the paint job isn’t too far off. The roars are the same as the roars from the smaller model, so that means they’re authentic Rex noises from the movie at least.

Repaint: no. This model would be repainted on several occasions though; once for the JP III CamoXtreme line (the Canyon Rex), and twice for JP Dinosaurs 2 and 3.

Overall rating: 5/10. It’s a disappointing model, though it’s not completely screwed up. It has some nice features, but also a lot of downsides. It’s not rare, so when needed it can be found quite easily, probably at minor cost.