Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Ankyloranodon

Year of release: 1998

Description: bearing features of both the flying Pteranodon and the armoured Ankylosaurus, Ankyloranodon has a muscular small body with a pair of large wings and two legs featuring sharp claws. Its head is about the size of its body and looks very spiky due to the long curled crest sticking out the back of its head and the hook at the end of its beak. Its also has bumps on the side of the lower jaws. The wings sport a sort of bat pattern, consisting of muscular arms with long fingers sticking out which hold the skin forming the wings. Each wing also carries a sharp hook. This beast has a flexible tail that ends in a large solid club adorned with spikes. The tail section forms the basis of the attack action this animal is equipped with. On the middle of its back, right above the legs, a large green lever disguised as a spike sticks out. Pulling this lever makes the tail curl downward so the creature violently smashes its tail around to inflict damage. This monster’s back is covered in armour, running from the back of the head to the end of the tail. The armour carries spikes (though not very sharp ones), including two rows of black spikes on its back.

Ankyloranodon sports a mixture of purple and green colours. Most of the lower parts of the animal (legs, belly, throat, lower jaw, underside of the wings) is coloured bright green, as are the hook on the figure’s beak and the large crest on the back of the head. Also, the arms and fingers of the wings are painted this same colour. The upper parts of the creature’s body (the armour on its back and neck, as well as most of the upper jaw) are painted purple, with some purple spots adorning the lower jaw. The skin that forms the largest part of the wings is also purple, but strangely enough only on the top side. The figure’s tail is entirely coloured purple, but of a lighter shade (it’s also made of a softer material so as to enhance the flexibility needed for the tail smashing action). The club is mostly red, but for some black lines and stripes running between the spikes and bumps it’s composed of. Black can also be found covering parts of the head, mostly around the eyes, which are bright orange (no pupils), and around a large dark purple (again a different hue) spot on each side of the beak. Additionally, a thin line of black is found on either side of the crest, while the tongue is also black. Its teeth, which aren’t very fearsome (hinting at the herbivorous Ankylosaurus DNA, since Pteranodon had no teeth) are white. A large black JP Chaos Effect logo is located on the right upper leg, along with the number .48. Its claws are not painted in a different colour.

This figure does not come with any pieces of capture gear. However, it needs to be assembled first because the tail club and wings are separate components when the figure is carded; otherwise the figure, which takes up quite some space compared to the other smaller Chaos Effect dinosaurs, wouldn’t fit on its card.

Analysis: this is without a doubt one of the coolest new dinosaur sculpts devised for the Chaos Effect toy line. It features a great and original attack option and a wonderful overall design. The paint job is about average, but not necessarily bad. Bright green and purple are a typical colourful Chaos Effect paint job, but from an aesthetic viewpoint they’re not the most appealing combination. Especially vexing is the fact the underside of the wings isn’t painted like the upper side.

The design of this figure is quite neat. It definitely looks mean and nasty, not something you would want to mess with. The wings, which are quite poseable, and can swing in almost any direction, look somewhat battered and worn out, due to the way the fingers run between the skin, and the fact they feature small pieces of damage at the lower side of the skin, like some ferocious carnivore slashed at them. The creature comes with muscular legs and large claws on its feet: though not poseable themselves, Ankyloranodon can hold other figures (smaller dinosaurs, human figures) between them and carry them through the air. Adding to the creature’s horrific look are the various hooks, bumps and spikes found on its body. Though the beast’s teeth don’t look so imposing, the large hook on its beak as well as the black tongue make up for that. The only thing which makes this deadly hell spawn look somewhat silly, is the long thin, curled crest on its head. It lacks the feeling of sharpness and danger the other protrusions on this monster have.

The very best thing about this figure is the awesome tail pounding action. Pulling the lever on its back makes the tail swing downward, causing the club to viciously hit anything in its way. The tail is rotatable (though not very easily and it might cause damage to the action feature’s mechanism over time), so the creature can also swing its tail in other directions. The thrashing tail option works very well and knocks over most smaller figures. However, Ankyloranodon’s legs can get in the way, so you might have to move them in a different position. Despite this minor nuisance, the tail swinging works perfectly and is a lot of fun to play with. This particular action feature is also quite original, since it had not been featured on any figure before this one and wouldn’t be used in the same fashion again (though the JP III Brachiosaurus featured a similar, but definitely inferior, tail attack action).

Playability: quite high. The wings are particularly poseable due to the mechanism with which they’re attached to the body. They can move up and down, slightly back and forth and in a full circle. Also moveable are the legs and the head (from the neck up), though the beak unfortunately can’t be closed. The tail section is rotatable, though less easy than the other body parts. The tail swinging action adds a very playable and easy to perform attack option to this great figure.

Realism: Ankyloranodon is obviously as fictional as the rest of the Chaos Effect series, and is yet another fantastical addition to this imaginative toy line. The figure obviously carries features from both the Ankylosaurus (armour, tail club) and Pteranodon (wings, beak, crest). It may not be believable a large and heavily armoured creature like this, weighing nine tons according to the card, could ever take to the skies, but as a predator it has significant advantages over its fellow Chaos Effect monsters. This creature can swoop down unnoticed, quickly kill prey with a deadly hit of his lethal tail club and fly off again carrying its victim with its large claws. The armour and array of spikes over its body provide solid protection against any adversaries that might be dangerous to this beast, if any. Realism be damned, this is the perfect carnivore!

Repaint: no. This is an original sculpt designed specifically for this toy line and as such, it would not be repainted for later toy lines either.

Overall rating: 8/10. Though the paint job isn’t all that good, Ankyloranodon comes with a fun new attack option and great playability, making it one of the more successful new Chaos Effect sculpts. It’s not the easiest figure to find and you might have to search for it somewhat, especially in regions where it didn’t get a proper release. However, it should totally prove to be worth your while, if you're at all into Chaos Effect weirdness.

Jurassic Park Series 2: Ellie Sattler

Year of release: 1993-1994

Accessories:

-Firing Grappling Hook

-Beacon Locater Backpack

-Ankylosaurus hatchling

-Collector’s Card # 55

Description: Ellie stands in a neutral pose with her arms slightly raised. She has long blond hair, tied in a knot at the back. Her eyes and eyebrows are brown however, while her face has a rather emotionless look to it. Ellie wears a dark pink shirt (no sleeves, short or otherwise) with a blue shirt underneath (seen only under her neck). Her shirt is tied tight around her waist by a black belt which sports a pocket on the left side. She has brown short pants and a blue tag with a black JP logo on her right upper leg. A second black belt, holding what appears to be a small camera, dangles on her left hip, while a flash light is found attached to her right hip. She wears white shoes with blue socks sticking out. Above her left hand she appears to be wearing some sort of wrist band, but it’s not painted in a different colour than the rest of her arm.

Ellie comes with a large weapon, called a Grappling Hook. It’s basically a metallic grey tube with some protrusions sticking out, like a handle and a spyglass. Attached to the weapon is a long black string, which in itself is attached to a large orange dart with three curved hooks on it. When loaded into the launch tube of the Grappling Hook, pressing the orange button on the weapon makes the hooked dart being launched, capable of being hooked around any target in range. Ellie also comes with a Beacon Locater Backpack, which appears to be a dark blue radio box with beige straps attached to it so Ellie can carry it on her back. On top it has a small orange antenna. It looks sophisticated, but doesn’t do anything.

An Ankylosaurus hatchling completes this set. It’s a small round turtle like creature, instantly recognizable by the big armour plating on its back, as well as a club on the end of its tail. It walks on four legs. Its head has a triangular shape to it, with a sharp parrot like beak and small red eyes with black irises. The underside of the critter (belly, throat, most of the legs, lower part of the tail and club) are painted white, while the armour, upper parts of the club and head are dark purple. In-between the armour and the white colouring there is a very light shade of blue (only on the flanks and head). A small black JP logo can be found on its right hind leg. The animal stands in a slight walking pose, its mouth opened and the tail pointing downwards.

Analysis: being yet another retooled JPS1 figure, Ellie is still rather good looking and remains fairly movie accurate (though her outfit is less so than on her previous incarnation). Her outfit looks a lot like what Ellie Sattler wore in the movie, though the original light pink paint job of the JPS1 figure was a better match. Though she has no action features of her own, her weapon provides some.

The Grappling Hook is fun to play with, but has several minor downsides. Fortunately it works quite well. Loading the weapon and firing it makes the hook being launched with some force over a respectable distance, though of course limited by the range of the string. It’s a good weapon, but its new paint job is less appealing than the green JPS1 version (which wasn't great either): metallic grey and orange just don't match in a visibly pleasing way. Other than that, the hook is also lightly build and has often trouble doing damage to figures. Also, because the hooks are bend back pretty close to the dart itself they often miss grabbing any parts of targets, so they usually don’t hook onto something, unless by a lucky shot. They might hook around the little Anky's tail, but otherwise this hatchling doesn't have to fear being a successful target for this particular weapon. Also, the string easily get entangled with itself, forming knots which are hard to unravel. Apart from these issues, the grappling hook is a good enough weapon.

Ellie also comes with a radio transmitter pack, which is plain redundant. It has no functions at all. It can be strapped around the figure’s back, but is heavy enough to make her fall over and only seems a burden. Its boring paint job also doesn’t help (this time, the antenna is orange instead of green: not much of an interesting change). If it had been left out altogether, it wouldn’t have been missed. Apparently the designers couldn’t come up with a more interesting extra accessory.

The Ankylosaurus hatchling also doesn’t sport a very good colour scheme. It would surely stand out in a crowd, or a primordial landscape for that matter, which seems an evolutionary error, since even an armoured creature like this would be an easily located prey for all kinds of predators. Maybe an adult Ankylosaurus might be strong enough not to have to care about being in plain sight, but this seems less the case for a hatchling which is surely prone to attacks by carnivores. Nonetheless, it’s still a very cuddly little baby with an innocent but sheepish facial expression. It’s a decent enough dinosaur figure, but not the best hatchling of this second toy line.

Playability: good enough. Ellie herself has the typical range of poseable body parts, namely arms, legs and head. The Grappling Hook is a fine weapon, though it’s hard to really grab anything and its range is limited because of the string (which also has a tendency to get intertwined with itself). Unfortunately the hooks are easily damaged, often breaking off when handled to roughly. The radio transmitter pack does nothing and is basically a useless burden to the figure. The baby Ankylosaurus features no poseable body parts, which is of course usual for hatchling figures.

Realism: Ellie’s outfit is still reminiscent to what her movie counterpart, as performed by Laura Dern, wore in the JP movie, but qua colour scheme it's less similar. The retooled head does resemble her more closely, but it's still a far cry from an exact match: nevertheless, this is a very acceptable toy version of Laura Dern. Her weapon is a bit over the top (especially the colours), but can be handy in dangerous encounters with prehistoric vermin (though a weapon like this wasn’t featured in the movie, nor was the radio pack). Ankylosaurus wasn't featured in the movie (but would be seen all too briefly in Jurassic Park III). Unfortunately, of all the hatchlings of the first two toy lines, this species would be the only one not to get an adult figure ever (Parasaurolophus got one for TLWS1, Brachiosaurus for JP III Wave 2), making this the only released Ankylosaurus in JP toys history (an adult Ankylosaurus was scheduled for JP: Chaos Effect, but sadly remained unreleased). Lonely little beastie...

Repaint: as mentioned above, this is a retooled version of JPS1 Ellie Sattler, featuring a new paint job (and this time not only on the human figure but also repainted accessories), a different head sculpt and a new hatchling. None of the parts of this set would be repainted again for later toy lines.

Overall rating: 7/10. Ellie is still a pretty decent figure (as well as the only woman in the first toy lines), though the changes didn't improve her that much. Her weapon is still fifty-fifty, as is the hatchling (cute as it may be). JPS2 Ellie is definitely harder to find than her Series 1 counterpart (though not exactly rare), apparently being released in the USA only. If you feel you need a female action figure and prefer this one over JPS1 Ellie, you'll probably have to look online for it.