Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Canyon Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 2002

Description: this larger T-Rex figure measures some 25 centimetres in length and stands just over 15 centimetres tall. It's posed in an attack posture, with its tail bent upwards and pointing to the left 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 small body, it’s mostly head, limbs and tail. A very large dino damage would is found on its right flank, showing ribs and red muscle tissue. The upper piece of exposed tissue 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 this is called a stomping noise on the box, though it could also serve as a crash sound. The quality of all three sounds is not very good, since static is heard as well. The two roars are the same sounds the Arctic T-Rex figure produces.

This figure features an intricate paint job. Most of the top and lower part of the body (back, upper part of the tail, neck, back of the head, lower jaw, arms, most of the legs, belly, throat and lower part of the tail) are coloured grey, with this colour being somewhat darker on the torso. In between the lower and upper parts of grey, black colouring is applied, which for the most part gradually shifts into grey in the figure's lower regions (especially noticeable on the legs and flanks), while a similar effect is achieved by black spots on the throat. Most of the face and upper jaw is also black, with a series of white dots running around the upper jaws, facial ridges, snout and eyes. From the snout to the tip of the tail a row of black spots runs over the figure's top parts, each spot encircled by an orange line. These spots get increasingly bigger towards the centre of the figure, with the biggest spot located right above the legs, and diminishing from that point on. In a similar fashion, orange spots with black lines around them are found on both legs. A fairly small white JP III logo is located on its right upper leg. Rex has got a pair of small yellow eyes and the claws on both hands and feet are all painted black.

Analysis: like the other electronic CamoXtreme figures, this Canyon T-Rex, the biggest of the bunch, features a superb and original paint job, one that would not be surpassed afterwards. It has a very rugged and provocative look to it, establishing this T-Rex is not to be fooled around with, in canyons or otherwise. Of course, whether the creature would blend in in a canyon environment depends on what canyon it is, since not all canyons are alike (that would constitute a stereotype!). The Grand Canyon terrain for example is quite red in appearance, and this Rex would probably stand out there (which it probably would anywhere despite its camouflage, since it's not a small creature). A Canyon environment is kind of an odd choice on Hasbro's part, a volcanic area would probably suit this paint job more, though this Tyrant Lizard King looks cool in any environment. It's also good to see the JP III logo isn't as big as on the smaller electronic dinosaur figures from this line: this way it doesn't attract attention to itself very much. The only downside to the paint scheme is the split between the torso and tail sections of the figure's body: the black paint on the tail ends rather abruptly there, making it look phony. This is undoubtedly because of the way the legs are posed, since the black line seems to be continuing on the legs. Needless to say, in some poses the paint job reveals itself to be less detailed than it should. But it doesn't make this figure's first impression any less appealing and the overall paint job suffers little from it.

Apart from the paint job, this figure retains its former imperfections. The torso is too small and thin, making this animal seem disproportionate. The massive dino damage on its right flank is a major nuisance, as is the poor quality of the sounds. The stomping sounds produced by bashing this figure's feet down cause the figure's electronics to break all too easily. And lastly, the active pose this figure assumes hinders playability despite the usual range of poseable limbs. In a harsh judgement, this paint job basically deserves a better sculpt.

Repaint: yes. This figure was originally featured in the JP III toy line. It would be repainted twice again for JP Dinosaurs 2 and 3.

Overall rating: 7/10. Despite its many shortcomings, this T-Rex got a fantastic makeover making it appear much more awesome than its JP III predecessor (or any of its repaints to follow), even though there's still a lot to be said against this particular sculpt. The CamoXtreme Canyon T-Rex is definitely harder to find than most other CamoXtreme dinosaurs (except for the Night Raptor maybe) but you can still find them irregularly on eBay, though prices haven risen enormously of late. Unfortunately this figure was not imported in the Benelux or the UK like many other CamoXtreme figures, making it also much harder to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Night Velociraptor

Year of release: 2002

Description: this dark Raptor figure stands in a dramatic pose when boxed, showing all its primal predator prowess, with its body straight upwards, its legs wide apart and its ferocious claws ready for battle action, while its head faces upward and looks to the right, jaws wide open (they can't be closed though). The tail is bent in a sort of 'S' shaped fashion. This sculpt has proto-feathers on the back of its head, following the design change of the JP III Raptors. Accordingly, it has two nasal ridges on each side of its head. A dino damage wound is located on the upper base of the tail, revealing some of its tail bones and dark red muscle tissue. Inside the wound a button is found: when pressed this produces an aggravated shriek. On its back this creature has a small lever, activating the slashing claws. This also produces a snarling sound.

The predominant colour of this critter is very dark grey, almost black in fact. It covers the figure's entire body. It is adorned with grey stripes on both arms and legs. It also has a grey stripe running from the snout all the way to the tip of the tail, which also covers the lever on its back, while it's split in two around the feathers on the back of the head. Along this main back stripe, a thinner red stripe follows its entire trajectory on either side. Additional grey spots are applied around the nasal ridges, while smaller red stripes are located on the facial ridges and the top of the proto-feathers. The animal has black claws on both its fingers and toes. It has rather large feet. The inside of the mouth is pink, with beige teeth. On its right upper leg it has a black white logo. This Raptor has green eyes, and around these three circles in black, red and grey are found.

Analysis: CamoXtreme delivers another superb paint job on this Night Raptor figure! It's fairly minimalistic, mostly simple dark colouring with some colour details to spice things up, but it works very well, making for one sexy nocturnal predator. Its dark and gritty paint job is more believable to work under lightless conditions than in the case of the Chaos Effect Raptor Alpha figure, which used a similar starting point that worked out completely different (though still sublime). The little paint details, like the rings around the eyes and the small stripes and spots on the head, make for effective decoration while not hindering the creature's ability to stalk unsuspecting prey in the dark. It's also good to see the claws are painted, while it's not unlikely they could have gotten away with remaining unpainted in this case. The only thing that hinders hunting at night times is the white JP III logo on the leg, but a black logo would of course be hard to spot.

Apart from the stupendously neat paint job this otherwise still isn’t a great Raptor figure. It’s quite disproportional: both its feet and head are too big. It stands in an awkward pose with its legs wide apart, making it look rather fat. The head is turned to the right and can’t be posed another way, while its mouth can’t be closed. This severely limits playability. The attack option is as good as it was before, though the way the neck is posed too close to the lever is a bit inconvenient. Interestingly enough, the sounds have switched places: the attack shriek is now activated by the wound button and the snarl accompanies the slashing claws. Why this was done is anyone's guess, but it doesn't matter all that much.

Repaint: yes. This figure was originally featured in the JP III toy line. It would be repainted again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009.

Overall rating: 8/10. This figure once again proves that sometimes all you need is a great paint job to make for an attractive figure, even though there's little else of interest in the set. Despite its many shortcomings, this Raptor got a very successful extreme makeover making it much cooler than its predecessor (or any of its repaints to follow). The CamoXtreme Night Raptor is definitely harder to find than the other CamoXtreme electronic dinosaurs but you can still find them irregularly on eBay, though prices vary quite a lot. Unfortunately this figure was apparently not imported in the Benelux like most other CamoXtreme figures, making it also much harder to find there. For some reason they can be found in surprising numbers in the UK though, so it seems they were mostly dumped there instead.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Jungle Spinosaurus

Year of release: 2002

Description: this Spinosaurus features an overall reddish brown paint job with black stripes and shapes all over its body (most notably on the legs), while its underside (belly, base of the tail and throat) is painted beige. On the legs, especially around the feet, a darker shade of brown is mixed in, giving those parts of the animal a muddy feel. Most of the upper jaw and facial area, as well as the neck, tip of the tail and sail are coloured black. On the head, around the eyes and mouth, as well as on the sail, blue lines are found in a symmetrical pattern. The creature has small yellow eyes, white teeth and the inside of the mouth is painted pink. Its claws on both hands and feet are black, while a white JP III logo can be found on its left upper leg. A dino damage wound is located on the left flank, showing white bones and red muscle tissue. A small button is found in this wound: when pressed, the figure emits a high pitched shrieking snarl. Another button is located in the throat: pushing this button makes the mouth of the creature open and produces a vicious attack roar.

The Spinosaurus stands in a bent pose, as if stalking prey, or waiting to jump on its victim. The tail, which is rather short, is bent to the left, as is the head. The animal has large arms with very nasty big claws. The snout is quite elongated and resembles a crocodile’s head. The figure is very thin and has little body mass. It’s also out of proportion: the head and especially the arms are too big compared to the body.

Analysis: another medium sized electronic dinosaur figure that benefited from Hasbro's creative juices and wild paint schemes in the CamoXtreme line is the Spinosaurus, which, like the Rex and Raptor figures of the line, makes for a vast improvement over its predecessor, which featured a rather bland paint job by comparison. Though the original disappointing features of the sculpt remain (i.e. the dino damage wound, its awkward tiny body and silly short tail compared to its huge arms, and its impractical button to activate the attack roar), at least the figure looks great this time around.

It has a much more 'natural' paint scheme; the muddy feeling the legs give and the successful interplay between brown and black makes for 'butch' predator. Details like claws have not been omitted. The blue lines, which do add some colour and diversity within this paint scheme, do seem out of place on a jungle figure where blue isn't that common a colour: green would have seem more logical, but it's a nice touch regardless. The one thing that feels awfully out of place is the white JP III logo, but considering the more usual black version would have been hard to spot this is an understandable though unfortunate addition to the overall fantastic paint job. Incidentally, this figure could also have worked as a Lava Spinosaurus: the black and reddish brown paint job does also have a bit of a 'lava flow' feeling to them.

Repaint: yes. This figure was originally featured in the JP III toy line. Surprisingly, it would not be repainted again, despite Spinosaurus' rising popularity.

Overall rating: 7/10. This figure proves that a great paint job can make an otherwise lousy figure much more appealing. Despite its many shortcomings, this Spinosaurus got a nice makeover making it seemingly more impressive than its rather dull coloured predecessor. The CamoXtreme Jungle Spinosaurus is not always an easy find. You can still find them at times on eBay for various prices. This figure was also imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making it easier to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Arctic Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 2002

Description: like many of Hasbro’s bigger dinosaur models, this figure doesn’t stand in a neutral posture. It's posed in a bent position, head, arms and tail posed to its right, as if circling potential prey. Its predominant colour is white, which is found all over its body except for the upper part of the head, neck, back and tail. The latter three are coloured dark blue with stripes and spots running out of this colouring over its flanks, neck, upper legs and tail in a rugged, random pattern. Between the white and dark blue a hue of light blue is used to make it seem the white colouring gradually shifts toward the dark blue. This effect is also used on the lower legs. The upper jaw and face are painted light blue (in a darker shade near the nostrils), making this part of the head really stand out. At the back of the head it features a fiery orange spot while five small orange dots run over its snout. Around the eyes and along the upper jaw a series of darker blue spots is found. This Rex has orange eyes, beige teeth and the inside of the mouth (tongue and all) is coloured dark pink. Grey claws stick out of its toes and fingers. A black JP III logo is found on the upper right leg. It has a large dino damage wound on the right flank, showing bones and red muscle tissue. Inside this wound a button is located: when pushed it activates a rather high pitched growl. A second button is placed on its throat. Pressing this button produces a fierce attack roar, and makes the jaws open.

Analysis: JP III's medium sized T-Rex figure is back with a vengeance! It features a much different and more original paint job than its predecessor, making it look sporty and slick. Apart from the blue and orange colouring on the head this figure looks fairly well adapted to an icy environment (though of course the best camouflage in such a case would be all white, but that might have been overly dull). The decision to only paint the top part of the head light blue gives it a bizarre but certainly distinctive look, while on its back the dark blue paint scheme with its various spots and stripes established a sort of 'blizzard' pattern, hiding it while hunting in raging snow storms. Details like the claws are not forgotten, while other little things like the specks on the edge of its facial ridges and on the snout make for a more elaborate and appealing paint job. This is about as good as CamoXtreme ever got: if you don't like it, this toy line is just not your thing entirely.

Though the paint job is a huge boon to this formerly rather poor figure, the original shortcomings remain: an annoying posture making it mostly fit for dioramas while hindering overall playability despite its range of poseable limbs, and a big open wound on the right flank which cannot be covered up, making this figure perpetually wounded. The half decent action features remain untouched (some chomping activated by a button placed in an inconvenient spot basically), though the sound system may have been beefed up somewhat: it appears louder than before.

Repaint: yes. This figure was originally featured in the JP III toy line. It would be repainted again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009.

Overall rating: 8/10. This figure proves that sometimes all you need is a great paint job to make for an attractive figure, even though there's little else of interest in the set. Despite its shortcomings, this T-Rex got a very successful extreme makeover making it much cooler than its predecessor (or any of its repaints to follow). The CamoXtreme Arctic T-Rex is not always an easy find but not (yet) excessively so. You can still find them irregularly on eBay for various prices. This figure was also imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making it also fairly easy to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Swamp Spinosaurus & Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 2002

Accessories:

-'Swamp' Collector's Card (no number)

Description: the T-Rex stands in an aggressive posture, its head curved to the left and its arms outstretched as if attacking something. The tip of the tail is bent pointing upwards and to the left. The majority of this Tyrannosaurus figure is painted basic green, while the belly, throat and base of the tail are coloured beige. A series of thick dark green spots and dots are found all over its body in a seemingly random and asymmetrical pattern. On its snout and above the eyes the Rex sports red colouring. It has small yellow eyes and white teeth (inside of the mouth not painted), as well as black claws on both arms and feet and a white JP III logo on its left upper leg. Its feet are supported by extra small plastic bases in the same dominant green colour, so it can stand on its legs more easily.

The Spinosaurus is positioned in a crouching move, its right arm resting on the ground, possibly stalking potential prey. Its left arm is raised upwards and its mouth is opened wide. It too sports a paint job dominated by a single shade of green, while its sail features a darker green colour, which ends in a stripe running over its tail as well as smaller stripes running over the flanks and dots on the side of the upper part of its tail. Additionally this Spinosaurus has similar dark stripes on its lower arms and legs and the same colour is also found all over the head. Yellow colouring adorns the back of the head, while a single yellow stripe is found on each flank. The figure has white teeth (inside of the mouth not painted), small red eyes with yellow eye lids and a white JP III logo on its left upper leg. Its claws are not painted.

Analysis: the most obvious type of camouflage is the one featuring different hues of green to avoid detection in a forest environment featuring heavy plant growth. A swamp usually qualifies as such, so it's no surprise to see this duo of carnivores adapted to a green environment. This swamp 2-pack is probably the least original of the CamoXtreme sets and also doesn't feature the most appealing paint schemes.

Both paint jobs are far from wildly imaginative. The Rex's especially is rather dull, except for the red colouring on its snout which hints to its bloodthirsty nature. Though Hasbro didn't forget to paint its claws, like they did on the Spinosaurus, the inside of the mouth is sadly forgotten (also on the Spino). The pads on its feet are still more of a nuisance than a useful tool and plenty of Rexes keep falling over despite them. On both figures, the white JP III logo looks totally out of place: a black logo would have made more sense, even though it would be harder to spot.

Spinosaurus has a more intricate paint job, but only on the top half of its body. Its underside has been totally neglected, apart from the cute little dark green stripes on the lower arms and legs. The two shades of green work well together but that doesn't apply to the yellow colouring which would more easily reveal this creature in a swampy setting. The coloured eye lids are a nice surprise though, since those are usually ignored on dinosaur paint jobs. This is the lesser of the two small JP III Spinosaurus figures Hasbro produced (the whole crouching pose just feels un-Spinosaur like), but its addition to the CamoXtreme line instead of repainting the other Spino figure again does add a little more diversity.

Incidentally, every once in a while a Swamp Raptor figure is mentioned. This refers to the unreleased CamoXtreme Tropical Velociraptor, a JP III Wave 2 Pack Raptor repaint which featured a similar paint job to this set (as far as we could tell from the only known picture), but was never actually named a Swamp Raptor, so technically - and literally - this figure does not exist.

Repaint: yes. Both figures were originally featured in the JP III toy line. The Tyrannosaurus came with the Military General figure in Wave I of that line, while the Spinosaurus was released later on along with the Military Diver figure for Wave II. Both dinosaur figures would be repainted again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009, the Spinosaurus not nearly as frequently as the T-Rex though (in fact, it was altogether absent from JPD3).

Overall rating: 5/10. If you don't own the original JP III sculpts yet this set might be interesting for you: if not, it's really nothing special, except for the new collector's card completing this set. The CamoXtreme 2-packs are a bit harder to find than most other Hasbro JP dinosaur 2-packs, but not (yet) excessively so. You can still find them irregularly on eBay for a fair price. These 2-packs were imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making them also fairly easy to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Lava Tyrannosaurus Rex & Velociraptor

Year of release: 2002

Accessories:

-'Lava' Collector's Card (no number)

Description: the T-Rex stands in an aggressive posture, its head curved to the left and its arms outstretched as if attacking something. The tip of the tail is bent pointing upwards and to the left. The majority of this Tyrannosaurus figure is painted basic brown, while the belly, throat and base of the tail are coloured almost a yellow type of brown. A series of thick black stripes runs from the neck over the back and the first half of the tail, with additional black highlights on the head, also around the eyes and on the lower jaw, as well as near its knees and the back of the lower legs. On either side of the figure, a pair of long red stripes runs from the base of the neck almost to the end of the tail, while seven smaller red stripes are located on the upper legs. The facial area around its small yellow eyes is also painted red. The inside of the mouth is not painted, but the figure has white teeth, as well as black claws on both arms and feet and a white JP III logo on its left upper leg. Its feet are supported by extra small plastic bases in the same dominant brown colour, so it can stand on its legs more easily.

The Velociraptor stands in a stalking pose, its right arm and leg stretched outward and its head raised upwards with its mouth open, as if it means to jump onto something. The tail is raised upwards and bent leftwards at the tip. Most of this figure is coloured black, except for its throat and belly, which are painted reddish brown, and the very top part of the neck, back and base of the tail which is bright red and ends in a fork motif right above the cat like yellow eyes. The Raptor is equipped with a series of grey stripes, spots and dots of various sizes all over the black parts of its body. Both the claws and inside of the mouth are unpainted. The creature has white teeth and a white JP III logo on its left upper leg.

Analysis: this Lava 2-pack is one of the less successful entries in the otherwise fairly impressive CamoXtreme repaint line, both in regard to the paint jobs of the figures as in the overall idea. The original JP III T-Rex mini figure sported a paint job not all that dissimilar from this Rex, also with black stripes and a lot of brown (though of a more passive hue). The red stripes add a little bit, but are distributed in a rather dull fashion. Sadly, the Rex remains equipped with feet supports, which still quite often don't keep it from falling over.

The Velociraptor also isn't blessed on the front of originality with its new paint job. In fact, the red stripe on its back is virtually identical to the stripe on its predecessor. The black and grey motive adds more diversity though, but it's a real shame details like the claws and inside of the mouth were wholesomely neglected.

The whole idea of dinosaurs living in a 'lava' environment is generally both cliché ridden and ridiculous. Apart from the silly backward notion that the Mesozoic age was filled to the brim with active volcanoes on every corner, as often seen in comic strips and old Saturday morning cartoons, the thought of dinosaurs (or any animals for that matter) residing in a hot spot of fiery chasms and lava flows, as pictured on this set's collector's card, is stupendously idiotic. Tough and nasty as Rexes and Raptors were, lava would just kill them anyway, nor would many potential prey venture in such territories. And evolving alongside dormant volcanoes would not yield such fiery paint jobs. Hasbro undoubtedly intended the idea of a 'Lava' environment to spawn awesome paint jobs, but unfortunately the result certainly failed in that regard.

Incidentally, a large Lava Pteranodon figure was once planned for release for this CamoXtreme line, but it never got off the ground (yes, pun intended). No specimens are known to exist. That's what hot lava does to you if you're not careful, flight capability or otherwise...

Repaint: yes. Both figures were originally featured in the JP III toy line. The Tyrannosaurus came with the Military General figure in Wave I of that line, while the Velociraptor teamed up with Alan Grant, also for Wave I. Both dinosaur figures would be repainted over and over again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009, up to the point we couldn't care less about either sculpt.

Overall rating: 5/10. If you don't own the original JP III sculpts yet, this set might be interesting for you: if not, it is a rather bland addition to your collection. It's just not nearly as good as some of the other CamoXtreme paint schemes and has little to offer beyond that, except for the nice new collector's card completing this set. The CamoXtreme 2-packs are a bit harder to find than most other Hasbro JP dinosaur 2-packs, but not (yet) excessively so. You can still find them irregularly on eBay for a fair price. These 2-packs were imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making them also fairly easy to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme: Desert Spinosaurus & Velociraptor

Year of release: 2002

Accessories:

-'Desert' Collector's Card (no number)

Description: the Spinosaurus stands in a walking posture, with its left leg posed forward and the left arm raised, its mouth opened as if roaring and the end of the tail bent pointing to the right. It sports a mostly tan or beige paint job, which covers practically the entire underside of the figure, except for the second half of the tail, which is black, while the tan covers the upper part of the tail. The other top parts of the figure (back, neck, upper jaw, part of the sail) reverse this paint scheme and are black instead. This black colouring ends in bent triangular stripes over the figure's flanks. The sail is festively adorned with white and orange stripes: additional orange highlights are found on the creature's head around the eyes and nostrils, while the lower part of the eye sockets is white, with small yellow eyes. A black stripe runs around the lower jaw from one side of the jaw to the other, while the Spinosaurus has white teeth and the inside of its mouth is dark pink. A black JP III logo is found on its right upper leg. Its claws on both hands and feet are not painted.

The Velociraptor stands in a stalking pose, its right arm and leg stretched outward and its head raised upwards with its mouth open, as if it means to jump onto something. The tail is raised upwards and bent at the tip. Most of this figure is coloured bright yellow, while its back, most of its head, the larger part of the upper tail section and the claws on its feet are painted black. The claws on its hands remain unpainted though. A yellow stripe runs on each side of its face, while blue stripes run around the jaws. Its throat is also coloured blue. A series of six white spots runs over its back. The eye sockets are white, with fairly large orange eyes and cat like black pupils. The inside of its mouth is simply painted black but has white teeth, while a black JP III logo is located on its left upper leg.

Analysis: Hasbro's fascinating take on camouflage paint jobs continues in this 'desert' themed 2-pack. It must be said, the previously fairly dull coloured Spinosaurus steals the show in this pack and looks remarkably good. Its intricate zebra or tiger like paint job makes an excellent addition to the CamoXtreme line. This little Spinosaurus might very well disappear in savannah grass (which is not the same thing as a desert environment though): it would have to be pretty tall grass to hide an adult Spinosaurus though, which is probably why the unreleased adult Desert Spinosaurus of this line featured a totally different paint job. At least it would work on a juvenile, though this Spino figure, despite its size, has too many adult features to ever have worked as a baby figure. Despite its inventive new paint job, Hasbro got lazy and ignored the claws, but that's a small oversight considering the paint scheme is still highly attractive.

The Raptor has a less successful paint job, though still much more original than its predecessor. Compared to the Spinosaurus it looks rather boring. At least it has painted claws on its feet, though the claws on its hands also were left unattended. Like the Spinosaurus, its paint job would work well in a dry grassy setting - which isn't a hallmark of most deserts: this 2-pack could have used a different name - but the blue colouring around its mouth might give it away. The way this blue is used looks silly anyway, like the Raptor had something with blue blood for dessert (get it?) and forgot to wipe its jaws clean. Also, the inside of its mouth definitely needed more work.

Aside from the paint jobs, there is little else to warrant attention to this pack. Both figures are nothing new and have zero playability options. The Spinosaurus is still a decently realistic miniature figure while the Raptor is about adequate but not particularly attractive. It must be noted, as it was above, that Hasbro planned to release a larger Desert Spinosaurus (which was a repaint of the JP III Wave II Aqua Attack Spinosaurus) for the CamoXtreme line, but it got scrapped. A single specimen appeared and got people speculating quite a bit, so when you read or hear something about a rare and valuable Desert Spinosaurus, it usually concerns that figure instead of this not so rare smaller Desert Spinosaurus, even though this one has a better paint job - by far.

Repaint: yes. Both figures were originally featured in the JP III toy line. The Spinosaurus came with Amanda Kirby in Wave I of that line, while the Velociraptor teamed up with Alan Grant, also for Wave I. Both dinosaur figures would be repainted several times again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009.

Overall rating: 7/10. One excellent paint job, one decent enough, plus a nice collector's card are the only interesting things in this set, unless you don't own the original JP III sculpts yet. The CamoXtreme 2-packs are a bit harder to find than most other Hasbro JP dinosaur 2-packs, but not (yet) excessively so. You can still find them irregularly on eBay for a fair price. These 2-packs were imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making them also fairly easy to find there.

Jurassic Park III CamoXtreme Arctic Spinosaurus & Stegosaurus

Year of release: 2002

Accessories:

-'Arctic' Collector's Card (no number)

Description: the miniature Stegosaurus is basically coloured in four layers. The lowest layer (the belly, throat, most of the lower jaw and underside of the tail) is painted light grey. Above that, the second layer is white, covering the legs, flanks and both sides of the tail. A number of grey spots and stripes adorns the white parts of the figure. The top layer is coloured black, covering the creature's back, upper jaw, top of the tail, and most notably, the plates and tail spikes. In-between the white and black parts of the Stegosaurus there's the final layer, an orange line on either flank of the figure, running from the neck to the end of the tail, ending just under the last set of plates. The eyes are yellow with black pupils and a black JP III logo can be found on its left back leg. The animal stands in an active posture, with its body bent and its tail dangerously sticking out, like it’s defending itself from an aggressor.

That aggressor could be the Spinosaurus that completes this 2-pack. It stands in a walking posture, with its left leg posed forward and the left arm raised, its mouth opened as if roaring and the end of the tail bent pointing to the right. It sports a mostly light blue paint job, which gradually turns into black on the animal's back, neck and upper parts of the tail and head, and dark grey on its belly, throat, inner side of the legs and lower part of the tail. It has a row of orange stripes on either side of its sail. Its claws are painted black (something they did not bother to do with the Stegosaurus), and it has yellow eyes with black pupils, white teeth and the inside of the mouth is coloured bloody red. A black JP III logo is found on its right upper leg.

Analysis: Hasbro's long time affinity with dinosaur 2-packs started with the CamoXtreme line, which delivered some of the very few actually appealing 2-packs ever produced. This Arctic 2-pack is among those. Though the Stegosaurus lacks some detail (unpainted claws, spikes and even plates), both figures sport an interesting paint job which very well might help them blend in in an icy environment (except for the orange highlights maybe). Aside from the paint jobs, there is little else to warrant attention to this pack. Both figures are nothing new and have zero playability options. The Spinosaurus is still a decently realistic miniature figure, which in a lesser regard applies to the Stegosaurus as well, though its front legs are still overly long compared to its hind legs and it has a rather goofy expression on its face.

Repaint: yes. Both figures were originally featured in the JP III toy line. The Spinosaurus came with Amanda Kirby in Wave I of that line, while the Stegosaurus had to wait for release until Wave II when it was paired with Amanda's (ex-)husband Paul Kirby. The Spinosaurus would be repainted several times again for JP Dinosaurs 2/3 and JP 2009. The Stegosaurus would only be repainted for JP Dinosaurs 2/3: interestingly enough, this Arctic Stegosaurus would be reused in its entirety (so no additional paint work at all) for the JP Dinosaurs 2 'Electronic Brachiosaurus with Micro Stegosaurus' set.

Overall rating: 7/10. Nice paint jobs and a funky collector's card are the only attraction in this set, unless you don't own the original JP III sculpts yet. The CamoXtreme 2-packs are a bit harder to find than most other Hasbro JP dinosaur 2-packs, but not (yet) excessively so. You can still find them irregularly on eBay for a fair price. These 2-packs were imported in the Benelux in decent quantities, making them also fairly easy to find there.