Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2: Dimetrodon with Military Diver

Year of release: 2004

Accessories:

-Rocket Launcher with rocket

Description: this four legged creature doesn’t look much unlike modern day monitor lizards or iguanas, except for the large “sail” on its back. Dimetrodon also features two pairs of tiny legs (almost dragging its belly over the ground), a “segmented” tail and a big boxy head. It comes with a biting action feature: pushing its left hind leg back makes the jaws open wide, while releasing them makes them close with a powerful snap. The figure measures some 15 centimetres in length and 8 centimetres in height. It stands in a walking posture, with its left hind leg and right front leg posed backward and the other legs posed in a forward move.

The prehistoric critter has a mostly light blue paint job. Aside from its underside (throat, belly, lower part of the tail and inward parts of the legs), which is painted beige, blue can be found all over its body, most noticeably on the sail, legs and flanks. The neck, back and upper part of the tail are darker in tone, and appear more greenish than the rest of the body. A thin green stripe runs from the eye socket to half way the flanks on either side of the body, while similar red stripes run from the neck to the base of the hind legs. On its back, on either side of the sail, a thin black line is found. The sail itself is all blue, with vague green and red stripes mixed in. The figure has very small red eyes, white teeth, a pink tongue and a black JP logo on its right hind leg.

The Diver wears an all black suit, including black flippers, with an orange vest over it, as well as several green belts and silver highlights. On his right leg he wears an orange knife holder with a knife in it (non removable). On his left upper arm an American flag (no stars, just stripes) is found, so this guy is undoubtedly part of the US military. His face is partially covered with breathing equipment (silver with orange filters), though he’s got nothing covering his eyes (brown eyes with brown eye brows). He’s got a black air tank with more silver detailing on his back. He shows signs of a dinosaur attack on his left leg and right arm, revealing skin. His weapon appears to be some sort of missile launcher. It’s coloured in a slightly metallic light brown paint job, with a yellow missile sticking out of it on both sides. Pushing the end of the missile sort of launches it, though it doesn’t work very well.

Analysis: Of all the old JPS1 figures, who would have thought it would be the non canonical (as in, not in the films or novels) Dimetrodon figure that would make it all the way to JP: Dinosaurs 2? And it's not even a dinosaur! This classic Synapsid sculpt remains unchanged and still has a rather nasty bite in its jaws. It's gotten yet another fairly appealing paint job, this time using mostly blue instead of green. It suits him well and gives him a sort of tropical, jungle look. The various differently coloured small lines give him a distinct look, but the sail could have been used more imaginatively, maybe coloured in another style and colour to set it apart from its body more. Also, details have been omitted: the claws have not been painted, and neither has the inside of the mouth. The eyes appear almost totally non existent, they're so small. Overall, it's a unique colour scheme all its own though, which can't be said for the Diver.

The Diver was probably paired with this creature because it had a sail and Hasbro designers therefore thought it to be aquatic. At least human/beast size relations are more or less accurate in this set, which is not the case for the other dino/human two-packs of this line. The diver features the same paint scheme as before, though some of the colours have been replaced with other, but similar, colouration. The figure is still fairly detailed for human figure standards, but not surprisingly so. Unfortunately the Diver carries the same weapon as before, a rather ugly and bulky rocket launcher with a rocket that is launched by pushing it out of the weapon instead of pressing a button. It was a lame system then and is still lame now, while it retains zero impact. If it even hits the target at all, it has no effect: the Dimetrodon is much too steady on its feet and too heavy to be knocked over by the projectile. However, the Diver's limbs look rather tasty for the creature's big mouth to chomp on... Clearly, the Dimetrodon wins the day in a fight in any way, as it is also the best part of this set.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the JPS1 Dimetrodon, a figure which had been repainted before for JPD1. The Military Diver is a repaint of the JP III figure of the same name, with repainted accessories. The Diver and his gun would be repainted again for JP 2009, but this would be the last time the Dimetrodon figure (or any JPS1 repaint for that matter) got a release.

Overall rating: 6/10. This is an okay set of repaints. The Dimetrodon has a vastly different paint job than before and still looks good and bites hard; the Diver is less interesting and his paint job is not all that different from before, while his rocket launcher still sucks. Like all four dino/human two-packs, this is one of the more common JPD2 releases, and it can still be found without too much effort.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Dimetrodon/Dimetradon

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Two pieces of capture gear

Description: this four legged creature doesn’t look much unlike modern day monitor lizards or iguanas, except for the large “sail” on its back. Dimetrodon, the name incorrectly spelled as 'Dimetradon' on its package, also features two pairs of tiny legs (almost dragging its belly over the floor), a “segmented” tail and a big boxy head. It comes with a biting action feature: pushing its left hind leg back makes the jaws open wide, while releasing them makes them close with a powerful snap. The figure measures some 15 centimetres in length and 8 centimetres in height. It stands in a walking posture, with its left hind leg and right front leg posed backward and the other legs posed in a forward move.

It's a rather green figure. Almost all of the body is posed in a swampy green colour, including the legs (and claws) and the head, while the neck, back and upper part of the tail sport a darker tone of green instead. On the head, around the eyes and snout, a line of this same dark green is found in a largely symmetrical fashion. The sail is painted beige, with various light green stripes and shapes on both sides. The creature has small black eyes, a pink tongue and white teeth, as well as a black JP logo on the right side of the base of the tail.

The figure also comes with two pieces of capture gear, a small chain to restrain the limbs (though only two of them at the same time, not all four), as well as a large muzzle to keep the creature from biting. Both pieces sport a shiny metallic, light brown (almost gold) paint job.

Analysis: it took a while, but the classic Dimetrodon figure from JP Series 1 finally got a repaint for the first JP: Dinosaurs line. The paint job is actually not all that different, mostly green but in different hues, but the colouration of the sail is certainly something else, opting for a lighter, more relaxed paint scheme with stripes instead of spots. The figure could have used some more work, since its underside is rather dull (no painted claws for instance), but considering the sail and head are the most striking body parts such minor oversights can be forgiven.

This time, Dimetrodon too is the victim of capture gear. It comes with two pieces, both of which originally came with the TLWS2 Ornithosuchus instead. Since they just happened to fit on this creature too it saved Hasbro the need to design new capture gear. The leg piece isn't as easy a fit for this animal as it was for its original owner, considering its legs are somewhat fatter, but it does the job well enough (though in this case too only restraining one pair of legs). The muzzle is of more use though and easily puts a stop to Dimetrodon's nasty chomping habits. As for these, the sculpt's biting action has not been changed and is still a blast to perform, gnawing on poor human figures or other unfortunate creatures. As such, Dimetrodon remains a tough critter to reckon with and a welcome addition to this repaint line.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the original JPS1 Dimetrodon, with repainted capture gear from the TLWS2 Ornithosuchus. The figure would be repainted a third time for JP Dinosaurs 2.

Overall rating: 7/10. The paint job is adequate, though nothing really special. Otherwise it's still a fine sculpt and a welcome change from actual dinosaur figures, being a Synapsid instead. As a part of the not very common second wave of the first JP: Dinosaurs line, it's not always an easy find, especially complete or MOC, so you might have to track it down to some extent if you feel you need one.

Jurassic Park Series 1: Dimetrodon

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Collector’s Card # 5

Description: this four legged creature doesn’t look much unlike modern day monitor lizards or iguanas, except for the large “sail” on its back. Dimetrodon also features two pairs of tiny legs (it almost drags its belly over the ground), a “segmented” tail and a big boxy head. It comes with a biting action feature: pushing its left rear leg back makes the jaws open wide, while releasing them makes them close with a powerful snap. The figure measures some 15 centimetres in length and 8 centimetres in height. It stands in a walking posture, with its left hind leg and right front leg posed backward and the other legs posed forward.

This figure has a somewhat funky paint job. Most noticeable are the rows of yellow spots adorning both sides of the sail, which is otherwise dark grey in colour. The sail itself is made of a more flexible material than the rest of the figure’s body. An even darker shade of grey is found on the creature’s back, from the back of the head to the tip of the tail. The grey runs from the back in big spots over the flanks. The rest of the flanks, as well as all of the legs and head, are coloured bright green. The claws are not painted in a different colour. The belly, throat and lower part of the tail are painted greenish beige. Dimetrodon has tiny black eyes in large eye sockets. Its mouth is equipped with respectable white teeth while the tongue and inside of the mouth are coloured dark pink. On the right side of the tail a beige JP logo can be found along with the number .01.

Analysis: another classic JPS1 figure a lot of people have a special place in their hearts reserved for is this lovely Dimetrodon sculpt. Like the other smaller JPS1 dinosaurs it appeared to be around everywhere back in 1993 and almost all the kids owned at least one, since they were both cool and very common.

The reasons for its coolness are there for all to see. Its paint job is quite neat, though a bit bizarre considering those odd yellow spots on the sail (which in itself is an oddity already). The combination of green and grey works fine here. However, it’s a shame the head hasn’t got a more detailed paint job (it’s basically all green), and as is often the case the claws remain unpainted.

The figure also comes with a nasty biting action. Pulling the left rear leg back causes the upper jaw to move upwards, thus opening the creature’s mouth wide. Releasing the leg makes the jaws close with a forceful snap, tightly gripping anything that’s unfortunate enough to have gotten trapped between them, usually human figures’ arms or legs. The biting action is easy to activate and quite effective, though a lot of older second hand Dimetrodons’ biting mechanisms aren’t in perfect working order. 

 

Playability: a bit low. Dimetrodon’s legs, though all poseable, are too short and not neutrally posed enough to really help overall playability. Also, the left hind leg is less poseable because it is part of the biting action. The biting jaws are quite good and strong and definitely the main draw as far as playability is concerned. However, over time the biting mechanism inside has a habit of getting worn out, causing the jaws to open less easily and often not closing at all unless aided by hand. So you better take care when playing with this creature if you want those powerful jaws to keep in good working condition.

Realism: the huge sail on this lizard looking creature makes this sculpt easily recognizable as a Dimetrodon. The shape of the sail is less round than usually seen with Dimetrodon figures or pictures, it looks more worn out and damaged. Still, it’s a wild guess what the sail really looked like so it doesn’t matter at all. The creature’s boxy head looks quite good, but the legs may be a bit too short. Dimetrodon wasn’t featured in the JP movie or any of the sequels but this figure makes a wonderful addition to the toy line regardless.

Repaint: since this figure belongs to the very first JP toy line, it’s not a repaint in any way. However, the figure would be repainted twice: once for the first JP Dinosaurs line, and again for the second (in the Dimetrodon with Military Diver set). Curiously enough, the JPD1 Dimetrodon featured repainted capture gear from the Ornithosuchus figure. The Dimetrodon figure never had capture gear specifically designed for itself, but the Ornithosuchus capture gear was a close fit.

Overall rating: 7/10. This fun figure from the classic JPS1 toy line has a solid action feature and a good paint job, though it lacks somewhat in playability. It’s not difficult to find, even MOC. You shouldn’t have a hard time finding one for a decent price.