Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2: Velociraptor with Dino Trooper

Year of release: 2004

Accessories:

-Missile Launcher with missile

Description: unlike most other original Kenner dinosaur sculpts, this Raptor stands in a very active pose, with its legs in a walking mode, left arm outstretched and right arm held back, its head raised upwards and its mouth opened. The animal takes on an attack posture and looks ready to jump on an adversary with an agitated overall look. It has seemingly every right to be agitated since its body shows numerous signs of near misses with larger carnivores: it has scratches and scars all over his body, some small and hardly noticeable, others large and plain in sight. The largest scars look like claw marks and can be found on its back, its tail and both legs. Other noteworthy signs of abuse are the end of the tail, which isn’t just bent, but looks more like the bone has been broken and caused a deformity, as well as scratches on the left eye. Also a point of interest, this figure has rather large feet to keep it from falling over (though it often does so regardless when not leaning on the left arm). Its sickle like claws are a bit small and the toe they’re on is stuck way too much towards the back of the foot. This Velociraptor has a very simple attack action which has little to do with its attack posture. When the tail is moved from side to side, the head swings along as if the animal is making snapping movements.

This Raptor sports a rather intricate paint job. Though its underside (lower jaw, throat, belly, lower part of the tail and most of the arms and legs) is simply dull white, the top parts of the figure's body are much more detailed. The dominant colour is light green, which is most notable on the back, top parts of the limbs and the tail. Darker green stripes run over this lighter shade of green: a pair of them runs from the snout over the neck and back all the way to the end of the tail on each flank of the figure. Additional dark green stripes are found on the upper arms, while on the legs they from a big 'pear' shaped form. Small black stripes in random patterns are seen on the neck, back, upper legs and front half of the tail. The various gaping wounds on the figure's legs, left eye, back and tail are coloured bright red, giving the figure a definitely bloodied look. The eyes themselves are also coloured red, with black pupils and black eye liners. The sides of the mouth are coloured black, while the inside of the mouth is pink (and seems to be missing a clearly definable tongue!), and the figure sports white teeth. The Raptor also has black claws on its hands and feet, and a white JP logo on its left upper leg.

The Dino Trooper figure wears an orange (or light brown) jacket with dark brown spots and shapes on it and revealing a grey shirt underneath, as well as silver tags around his neck and golden insignia on his chest. He also sports a black utility belt with a silver clip, dark brown trousers (with black specks mixed in) and black boots. His trousers and shirt sport some slight tears, like he’s had a conflict with an unpleasant dinosaur. He has black hair and eye brows, small green eyes and a rather grim look on his face. He stands in a very odd pose, left leg stretched forwards and right leg bracing backwards, left arm reaching up and right arm pointing down, as if he's very startled by some prehistoric monster in front of him. His missile launcher is painted in a light brown colour: it can be loaded with a red missile, which is basically a stick with a large oval shape with two round holes in it at one end. Pushing the end of the stick makes the weapon being fired, sort of.

Analysis: Another often repainted TLWS1 figure used for JP: Dinosaurs 2 is this Cyclops Raptor, which doesn't live up to that original name because both eyes seem to be working fine, despite the heavy damage inflicted on this poor dinosaur. The package calls him simply Velociraptor, but Battle Scarred Raptor would suit him better. The scratches and huge scars have been present on this sculpt since day one, but this is the first time the toy designers actually make good use of them and paint them differently to enhance the poor health status of this Raptor. It works to great effect and makes this figure stand out excellently compared to its previous incarnations. The rest of the paint job works fairly good too, thanks to the different shades of green on top of each other and the various details like the black stripes, eyes and claws. The only real downside is the undetailed underside of the figure, which just seems like it was never painted at all and remained dull factory white. This white itself conflicts with the green and causes an ugly interplay between both colours, but because of the figure's stance most of this bad colouring remains unseen, except for its use on the limbs (and on the JP logo), so it causes only a minor grievance for the paint job as a whole. This Raptor still features a wiggly head attack option. It works okay, but it seems like the tail won't move as far as before, making the action a little less effective.

The Dino Trooper looks largely unappealing compared to the Raptor's cool paint job. His paint job, though still featuring nice little details like the tags, insignia and specks on the pants making them look muddy, is overall rather boring. Unfortunately the idiotic pose he assumes has also been left unchanged, making him topple over easily. His weapon is crappy like ever: not only is the firing mechanism a real let-down, because of the missile's odd shape it's also hard to hit a target. Even a sculpts standing as unstable as the Raptor (when not leaning on its left arm) will be hard pressed to be knocked over by this missile launcher. At least the Raptor's attack action can knock over the Trooper, so it's clear who would win this fight, heavy battle scarring or not...

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Cyclops Raptor, which was repainted twice before for JPD1 and as a JP III Exclusive. The Dino Trooper is a JP III Military General repaint with repainted missile launcher. The Trooper would be repainted again for JP 2009 (sans weapon), but this would be the last time this Raptor sculpt got released.

Overall rating: 7/10. This Raptor sports quite a cool and detailed paint job, finally making full use of all the scarring and wounds on this sculpt, but the figure itself is still not great. The Trooper is a not very impressive repaint of a lousy figure with a boring weapon, which does do some damage to the set's overall appeal. Like all four dino/human two-packs, this is one of the more common JPD2 releases, and it can still be found without little trouble, usually (but not always) for decent prices.

Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2: Triceratops with Dino Wrangler

Year of release: 2004

Accessories:

-Grappling Claw

Description: this four legged rhinoceros like dinosaur sports a predominantly brown paint job. Most of the animal (flanks, head and neck shield, legs, tail and back) is covered in a rather shiny dark shade of brown. The paint job accentuates the various lines and grooves in the creature's skin, making it appear this figure has more 'skin texture' than it did before. On its back, legs and tail, as well as around its eyes and on the shield, there are various different shapes of light brown (almost orange). Its underside (base of the tail, throat and belly) are coloured in a similar shade of light brown which gradually changes into aforementioned darker brown. The horny features on its head (beak, three horns and stumps on the cheeks) are coloured white. Its eyes are also brown and feature orange pupils, while the creature has a pink tongue. The claws on its feet are coloured black. On its left hind leg a white JP logo can be found.

This figure stands in a relatively neutral pose, though one might also say it stands in a defensive posture with its head lowered and front legs braced for attack. The end of its tail is bent slightly to the left. The animal has an attack action: when its right hind leg is moved back, his head raises considerably upwards, as if the animal is giving a head butt with its spiky head.

The Dino Wrangler sports a white shirt with a blue bandana, as well as black pants, a brown utility belt with silver clip, black shoes and dark grey gloves. He also has dark brown hair, and lighter brown eye brows and eyes. He stands in a fairly neutral posture, except his right leg is posed in a forward move as if taking a step, and his left arm is raised upwards a little. He comes with a grappling hook weapon,basically a large hand held contraption which ends in two comparatively small claws than can hook around dinosaur body parts. The claws are operated by a handle on its top side. It has a slightly shiny light brown colour, giving it a metallic look.

Analysis: another old TLWS1 toy that returned to stores with JP: Dinosaurs 2 is this fairly small Triceratops figure. It sports a rather conventional Ceratopsian paint job, brown with some more brown mixed in. Like with its previous incarnations, little has been done with the great paint scheme opportunities its neck shield offers. A shame, but the new and improved skin texture feel it looks more detailed than before, though that may only be an illusion. It makes the simple brown paint job stand out on its own to a higher degree though. At least some of the real details, like the claws on its feet and its tongue, have not been omitted, though the eyes would have benefited from a different colour, since now they're hardly noticeable at all. The white JP logo is a bit of a nuisance, but it's likely a darker coloured logo would not have registered much. The figure comes with the same typical Triceratops head butting action as before. It still works okay, though this time there's no capture gear involved. But its attack option is certainly sufficient enough to knock its human companion over.

Meanwhile, that poor Dino Wrangler is armed with one of the lamest and least effective weapons ever devised for a JP figure. The capture claw weapon never worked well on hatchlings even, and it certainly doesn't stop a rampaging Trike, even a smaller specimen like this one. At best, it can be clutched around one leg but there the “wrangling” stops. The Dino Wrangler, formerly known as Alan Grant for the JP III line, himself also doesn't help this set much with his rather dull paint job, which is basically just black and white. Using one of the smaller scale Hasbro human figures for this already small Kenner Triceratops figure does make the dinosaur appear bigger, more impressive than it is compared to this human. But otherwise, this is not much of a successful pairing.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Triceratops, which was repainted twice before for JPD1 and as a JP III Exclusive. The Dino Wrangler is a JP III Alan Grant repaint with repainted grappling claw. The Trooper would be repainted again for JP 2009 (including his weapon), but this would be the last time this Triceratops figure got released.

Overall rating: 6/10. This Triceratops features a solid and detailed paint job, but the figure itself is still so-so. The Wrangler is still a half decent figure with a simplified paint job and a terribly lousy weapon, which doesn't help the set much. 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, usually for fairly low prices.

Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2: Tyrannosaurus with Dino Tracker

Year of release: 2004

Accessories:

-Muzzle

-Leg cast

-Hang glider

Description: this Tyrannosaurus has long slender legs, tiny teeth and a small head compared to adult Rexes, which is caused by the fact is was originally designed to be a juvenile figure. It does have the odd little two fingered arms seen on larger Rexes though. This figure stands in a neutral pose except for its tail, which is bent to the left somewhat. Its lower right leg hangs a little loose (though still attached) and can be twisted around, as if it’s broken or damaged in some way. The leg cast can be applied to the leg by sticking the pin on its inside in the little hole in the figure’s upper right leg. That way the twisted leg will “switch” back and the animal’s leg is healed; at least, that's the general idea. The Rex’s mouth can also be opened and closed. This animal comes with one piece of capture gear which can cover its head, like a muzzle. It’s coloured shiny metallic grey, as is the leg cast.

The Rex itself sports a rather blue look. Except for its underside (throat, belly and lower parts of the tail), which are painted greyish white, and a thick black stripe running from the back of the head over the neck and back all the way to the tip of the tail (and being thickest in the middle where it also runs over the top of both legs), this animal is all light blue, most notably on the head, flanks and limbs. The little Rex is adorned with various grey stripes: these are found on the flanks (two on each flank), the upper legs (three each) and the back (two stripes running from the back of the head to about half way of the tail). The claws on both hands and feet are painted black, while the ridges on these limbs are also black. The eye socket is black as well and harbours red eyes with cat like black pupils. The figure has white teeth. A white JP logo is found on the right upper leg.

The Dino Tracker wears a white sleeveless shirt, green trousers with tears on them, and black shoes. He has blond hair, blond eye brows and very bright blue eyes. He has some asymmetric details, including belts around his torso, wristband (right arm), glove (left arm), shoulder patch (left arm) and a backpack with a hole in it so the glider can be attached to the figure: all this detailing is coloured dark brown. Most notably, his left arm can move differently from the average human figure, not only forward and backward, but also up and down. The figure stands in an odd position with its legs wide apart and appears to be looking down. The glider is coloured dark red with silver highlights. It basically resembles a red triangle. The Tracker can carry it on his back, so it appears he's hanging onto it.

Analysis: the second JP: Dinosaurs line saw the unusual move on Hasbro's part of pairing its human figures from their JP III line with dinosaur figures from the old Kenner lines. This of course spawned some incompatibility issues, since the style of the human figures differs so much from the style used for the dinosaurs. This T-Rex with Dino Tracker set is a prime example of this: the Rex is the old TLWS1 baby T-Rex repainted, but compared to the Tracker it's hardly a baby at all (which is why there's no 'baby', 'junior' or 'young' in the set's title on the package. However, the figure retains its juvenile attributes (long legs, skinny body and overall cute look) which doesn't make it a very successful T-Rex choice for this set. Also, why would the Dino Tracker come with a hang glider when it's primordial companion is a land locked creature? Is he like the Jurassic Park equivalent of the Flying Doctors, scouting things out from the air looking for injured animals? A Pterosaur figure would have seemed a more obvious choice here, or a different human figure.

Aside from these issues, this set features decent repaints. The Young T-Rex (that's what it really is after all!) has been given a very interesting and imaginative new paint job, much different from any Rex paint job seen before. Blue hasn't been used all too often for JP dinosaur figures anyway, making this figure stand out amongst its fellow Kenner figures. It's also fairly detailed: claws have been painted, while eye sockets, fingers and toes have not been forgotten. The stripes on its body also add some diversity to this paint job. The only nuisance is the white JP logo which looks hideously out of place. Apart from the paint job, there's nothing new to this figure. It's still the same good old Junior T-Rex with its previous pros and cons.

The Dino Tracker is less of a success. It's nice to see him as a blonde this time around, but the white shirt looks ugly. The green pants, with the scratches and the various shades of green mixed in so it looks more detailed, make up for it somewhat. It's a good thing the alternatively poseable arm has been retained, since this feature makes the figure unique among JP human figures. Unfortunately, the figure stands in the same odd pose as before, which makes it look silly when it's attached to the glider. The glider itself sports a rather boring paint job, also very similar to its previous incarnation. It wasn't until JP 2009 until a Hasbro designer had some fun with it and made it look much more different, as well as way cooler.

All in all, it's clearly the T-Rex is the main draw of this set. The Tracker has some minor redeeming features but is little more than an accessory. Luckily the Rex has a rather small mouth and isn't in pristine physical condition so his human counterpart won't get chewed on too much... At least he can take to the air for refuge.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Junior T-Rex, with repainted accessories from that same figure. It was repainted twice before for JPD1. The Dino Tracker is a JP III Billy Brennan repaint with repainted glider, a first time repaint. Brennan would be repainted again (with glider) for JP 2009, but this would be the last time this T-Rex figure got released.

Overall rating: 7/10. This Young T-Rex sports a rather original, appealing and detailed paint job and remains one of the most movie accurate sculpts. The Tracker is a half decent repaint of an imperfect figure with an unimaginatively painted glider. Like all four dino/human 2-packs, this is one of the more common JPD2 releases, and it can still be found without too much difficulty, though these days prices tend to vary.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex with Dino Hunter

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Dino Damage skin piece

-Three pieces of capture gear

-Bow with two Arrows

-Backpack

Description: this repainted Young T-Rex figure is a recast of its JPS1 counterpart, comprised of much harder and less flexible material than its predecessor. At first glance it looks like an otherwise unchanged sculpt though. It stands in the same fully neutral posture, and still includes dino damage: on its right flank a piece of skin can be removed, revealing a dino damage wound underneath, showing white ribs and red muscle tissue. The wound patch itself is largely symmetrical in shape. The Rex’s small two fingered arms are its only poseable body parts.

The Tyrannosaur's paint job also looks a lot like the one from the original figure. Except for the underside (throat, belly, lowest part of the tail) which is painted white, the whole figure is coloured light brown. It features various shapes of dark grey surrounded by beige edges on various parts of its body, most notably on the tail and upper legs. Additional grey and beige stripes are found on the creature's neck and torso, while spots of both colours are located on its head. The figure has black eye sockets with white eyes (and black pupils), while the inside of the mouth, including the tongue, is painted red and sports white teeth. The claws on both hands and feet are black; it has a line of dark spots running down over each toe (so three lines on each foot). On its left upper leg, the figure is marked with a black JP logo, along with the number .22 and a small Site B logo. This is very odd, since none of the other JPD1 dinosaur figures carry these extra markings: the Site B logo was only reserved for TLW figures, and the numerical system for the Kenner system already had the JPS2 Utahraptor marked as .22.

Three pieces of capture gear come with the T-Rex. There's the required tag, which comes with many dinosaur figures and is quite big in this case: it fits well around the creature's neck. It also comes with a leg restraint, which can hold on to both legs simultaneously. Lastly, there is a big muzzle which can go around the figure's jaws, effectively disabling them, while also covering the eyes, so the Rex can't see what's going on. All three pieces are coloured in the same shiny metallic grey paint job.

The Dino Hunter stands in a somewhat unusual pose, with his left arm held back and his right arm held close to his chest. The position of the arms facilitates him holding his bow. His left leg is posed in a forward move and his right leg backwards, as if bracing himself while using his weapon. He wears a brown jacket with golden “armour” like highlights on his arms and chest. On his left upper arm he sports a JP T-Rex badge (the black Rex skull and arms in a yellow circle, most famously being part of the classic JP logo). Additionally, he wears green trousers, adorned with a brown gun holster on his right hip and a grey knife holster with a brown knife handle sticking out on his left lower leg. He has black boots, and wears a tan cowboy hat with a green band on top and the right flap turned upwards, revealing a second JP T-Rex logo. He has brown hair, ending in a short pony tail, brown eyebrows and black eyes, and carries a rather smug facial expression.

This Hunter comes with a bow and two arrows as his main action feature. The bow is a triangular, mechanical looking weapon (not the old-fashioned Robin Hood style wooden bow) with some protrusions sticking out, most notably a large tip up front and a rectangular plate right under this, sporting a handle on the left side so the hunter can hold it, and a little hole to “load” an arrow on the right side. A long transparent wire is used to launch arrows with: this wire runs over the bow in such a fashion that it appears there's actually three wires instead of one. The bow sports a silver paint job. Two different arrows come with it, a long one with a cone shaped tip and a shorter arrow with a flatter tip. Both arrows are metallic grey in colour and have a tiny incision at their ends so they can be loaded in the bow by sticking them through the small hole and pressing the incision around one of the strings. Pulling the string backwards thus launches the arrow. The figure also comes with a small black backpack for storing the arrows when not used. It's basically a hollow basket with straps on it so he can carry it on his back.

Analysis: not only smaller classic dinosaur figures return for the first JP: Dinosaur toy line, it also witnesses the return of the dinosaur prince, the former Young T-Rex from the very first Jurassic Park line (though the 'young' part is left out this time, but it's still not the size of a fully grown T-Rex). The creature appears very similar to its iconic forefather, but things are not what they seem... This is not merely a repaint, it's actually a recast. The old flexible 'real feel' dino skin has been replaced with stronger and harder material. Unfortunately, this was a bad decision on the designers' part, since it mostly kills the 'crunching' action mentioned on its box, as well as the dino damage option. Pressing the neck to make the jaws open just doesn't work any more; in fact, the jaws can't really be opened much at all. It even has trouble clutching the Dino Hunter between its jaws. So there goes this dinosaur's only attack option... Which leaves us with its most vulnerable point, the dino damage wound. The wound piece is still there, in the same spot as before. However, because of the new material the figure is made of, it's very hard to remove the wound cover, and even harder to put it back. Remember the difficulties with removing the TLWS1 Pachycephalosaurus' wound piece? Same thing here, but even worse! This sadly doesn't leave the T-Rex with much, except for being a decently sized good looking figure.

The paint job is also very similar to the one used on the old JPS1 Young T-Rex, which was also coloured light brown with a white underside and grey stripes and shapes on its back, but the additional beige colourations are new. Details like the inside of the mouth and the claws are not forgotten, while extra features like black eye sockets and spotted toes enhance it further. Still, it's not the best of paint jobs. It seems overly festive but dull at the same time, like confetti with all the happy bright colours removed. Overall, changes have been made to this T-Rex that shouldn't have been made, and the set suffers from it.

That leaves the Dino Hunter to clean up the mess a bit. Former Sgt. T-Rex Turner (this time actually paired with a T-Rex!) has been demoted to random 'dino hunter', but at least his paint job doesn't look the worse from it. His new colour scheme actually is a nice change from his rather dull original paint job. The position of his arms is still a bit of a nuisance, but works well in combination with his bow and arrows. This weapon works as it did before: it takes some practice but it can actually launch arrows, though these would do little damage to the Tyrannosaurus (though as we have established above, Rex won't bite back much any more). The backpack still comes in handy for storing unused arrows. This figure may not be the most likely dino tracker to pair up with the T-Rex, but it's nice to see an actually complete JPS2 figure return for a change, instead of just Jaws Jackson's head stuck on a TLW figure.

Repaint: yes. This is a repainted recast of the original JPS1 Young T-Rex (already repainted for JPS2 and as a TLW Exclusive), with repainted (and also recast) dino damage, and capture gear first seen on its JPS2 counterpart. The Dino Hunter is a JPS2 Sgt. T-Rex Turner repaint, with accessories from that same figure. Both figures would not be repainted again.

Overall rating: 6/10. Though this Tyrannosaurus is still a good figure, its paint job is nothing special and the new material it's composed of effectively kills both the biting action and the ease with which the dino damage could previously be applied. The rest of the set is okay, though also not particularly appealing, but at least not with butchered action features. This set is not the easiest find of this toy line, especially in MIB or complete condition. It could take a while to track it down, plus a fair amount of cash to acquire it. You might very well find it to be unworthy of the effort.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Stegosaurus with Dinosaur Hunter

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Dino Damage skin piece

-Four pieces of capture gear

Description: as is usual for Stegosaurs, the most noticeable thing about this creature is the double row of plates running from its neck to halfway over the tail. In total, this sculpt carries 22 plates (one of them on the dino damage piece), all varying in size. Additionally, at the end of its tail there are the four spikes Stegosaurus uses to defend itself with. These spikes are also the main ingredient of the action feature this sculpt is equipped with. Pressing the two back plates behind the dino damage piece together causes the tail to swing around, giving this beast the opportunity to knock figures down. This mechanism works fairly well, though it gets damaged easily. This animal's dino damage piece is located right above the right front leg: removing this piece reveals white ribs, a shoulder bone and red muscle tissue.

The Stegosaurus assumes a sort of walking posture, its left hind leg in a forward move and its right hind leg moved backward. Its front legs are neutrally positioned though. His head is posed to the right, as if the animal is looking down at something. Green is the predominant colour of this figure’s paint job. The entire upper part of its body (upper part of the tail, back, neck, top part of the hind legs, upper part of the head) is painted dark green, including all the plates, though the larger ones on its back (not on its tail, since the figure’s tail section is composed of a different material to facilitate the attack action) are toned even darker green. The creature’s flanks, sides of the tail and head and most of the legs sport a much lighter shade of green, while its underside (belly, throat, lower jaw, lower part of the tail, inner part of the legs) is coloured bright beige. The spikes on the end of the tail are painted dark green at the base, which gradually changes into beige too. The Stegosaurus has very small yellow eyes (with black pupils and white irises), and a black JP logo on its lower right hind leg. The small claws on its elephant like legs are not painted in a different colour.

This figure comes with four pieces of capture gear, which can be assembled together to form a hind leg and tail restraint. It basically shackles the legs, which via a wire are connected to what can best be described as a box that goes around the tail, keeping the animal from using its spikes. This also makes the tail attack option a dinosaur-breaks-free-of-capture-gear action: pressing the plates together makes the Stegosaurus whip its tail, break free of the box and smash it in two. It doesn’t get rid of the shackles though. All pieces of capture gear sport the same shiny silver metallic paint job.

The Dino Hunter stands in a largely neutral pose, except for his right leg which is moved slightly forwards. He sports an almost military outfit, namely a light blue shirt with a black vest and dark blue straps over it, as well as light brown gloves, dark blue pants with light blue stripes in an asymmetrical pattern suggesting camouflage on them, and black boots. He also has a pair of black sunglasses on. He has a stone cold facial expression and brown Elvis like hair. He’s got some detailing on his pants, though it’s hardly noticeable because it’s coloured in the same blue as the pants themselves: on his left leg he’s got one pocket, while on his right leg he has a knife as well as some damage to his pants, indicating he’s had a close call with a hungry carnivore.

Analysis: the only other larger dinosaur figure of the first JP: Dinosaurs line is brought to you from the TLWS1 line instead of the original JP toy line. It's the Stegosaurus, and boy, did they do little with this figure! The sculpt itself remains unchanged, which is for the best compared to the Tyrannosaurus JPD1 brings us, which was recast so badly it had no action features to speak off left. Stegosaurus fares better in this regard: both the whipping tail action and Dino-Damage (Trade Marked, according to the box) wound work as well as they did before (which in the latter's case means it keeps falling off on its own accord). The paint job is very similar to the one seen before, but with different hues of green being used. Unfortunately, the green we had was fine, while these other greens are kinda ugly together. It also lacks painted details, like the big nails on its feet and such, but this is of course common for this line (though at least the T-Rex got more than its fair share of detailing). It would have been nice to see a Stegosaurus coloured something other than green for a change (this is the third time in a row!), but apparently the toy designers can't come up with different colour schemes for this species. A shame, but not a loss we can't overcome. The animal comes with the same capture gear as before, which still does what it's supposed to do: either contain the animal's tail or be destroyed by it, your choice.

The Dinosaur Hunter has undergone a small change compared to its original sculpt: he has had a head transplant. This does give us some variety, considering we already saw both the head and the body before in this toy line. Fortunately they go well together. The figure's paint scheme remains the same, but this time blue is used instead of grey. An interesting choice of colours, but not different enough to make it stand out next to the original figure, unlike the other Ajay body repaint from this line. Sadly, this figure does not come with a set of weaponry, so he can only hope the Stegosaurus' capture gear will keep the beast in line. Wishful thinking...

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Stegosaurus figure, with repainted dino damage and the same capture gear as its TLW predecessor. The Dinosaur Hunter is a TLWS2 Ajay repaint, with a repainted head sculpt from TLWS1 Peter Ludlow. Both figures would not be repainted again.

Overall rating: 6/10. This Stegosaur's paint job is not as appealing as before, but not a complete atrocity either, and it's still a very nice sculpt regardless. The same thing basically goes for the Dino Hunter, though it's a shame he doesn't come with any weaponry like the other human figures of this line. This set is not the easiest find of this toy line, especially in MIB or complete condition. It could take quite some time to track it down, plus a decent amount of money to get your hands on it.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Young T-Rex and Dinosaur Adventurer

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Muzzle

-Leg cast

-Two different guns

Description: this juvenile Tyrannosaurus has long slender legs, tiny teeth and a small head compared to adult Rexes. It does have the odd little two fingered arms seen on larger Rexes though. This figure stands in a neutral pose except for its tail, which is bent to the left somewhat. Its lower right leg hangs a little loose (though still attached) and can be twisted around, as if it’s broken or damaged in some way. The leg cast can be applied on the leg by sticking the pin on its inside in the little hole in the figure’s upper right leg. That way the twisted leg will “switch” back and the animal’s leg is healed; at least, that's the general idea. The Rex’s mouth can also be opened and closed. This animal comes with one piece of capture gear which can cover its head, like a muzzle. It’s coloured shiny metallic grey, as is the leg cast.

Young Rex sports a two way paint job. The lower parts of its body (most of the flanks, belly, arms, most of the legs, throat, lower half of the head, underside of the tail and its snout) are coloured very light brown, almost yellow; on either side of its body it has an additional shape of the same colour near its back. The rest of the body (top part of the head, neck, back and upper parts of the flanks and legs and topside of the tail) is coloured green, with a single green spot on both upper legs. A thin red line literally separates both colours from each other, running from the eye socket all the way to the tip of the tail. The separate brown spots near the back also feature a similar red line on top of them. Baby Rex sports black claws on both hands and feet, white teeth, a red tongue and red eyes with black irises and white pupils. A black JP logo is located on its right upper leg.

The Dinosaur Adventurer stands in a mostly neutral pose with one leg in a slight forward move and the other in the opposite direction. His black eyes (with black eyebrows) stare mindlessly in the distance. He has black hair and is quite muscular, but his head is somewhat disproportionate (i.e. too small) compared to his body. He wears a green cap with the JP T-Rex logo on it. He sports a bit of a military look with camouflage pants (brown with blue spots) and a yellow shirt that has a lightly brown spotted paint job, as well as a dark brown collar and sleeves. His shoes are black. He’s got black utility belts with pockets around his chest. Other details include pockets on his sleeves, a black machete on his left leg and a large pocket on his right leg, as well as a black InGen logo “tattooed” on his left lower arm. His torso can move around to a small extent, courtesy of the original sculpt's dinosaur action, which is lost in this repaint since it does not come with the necessary Compsognathus figure.

Dieter comes with two different light brown (almost orange) guns: these guns do not have any action options like most of the weapons that come with human figures do, but are mere extra gadgets, since in this figure’s case the figure itself was supposed to provide the action. Since I’m not an expert on weaponry I can’t determine what type of guns we’re dealing with here, but aside from their colour they look much more realistic than the regular weapons the human figures carry. The Adventurer can wrap the biggest of the two guns around his shoulder, while the other one fits in his hands only.

Analysis: the junior T-Rex is back with a vengeance for Wave 2 of the first JP: Dinosaurs line! Good thing too, since its predecessor featured a hideous paint job, forcing this successor to do better, which fortunately, it does. This paint job is a whole different thing altogether, and comes with various details too add to it. Granted, light brown and green are not the best of friends from an artistic point of view, but they work well enough on this figure. The Yin/Yang effect achieved by having one spot of the one colour pasted in the other colour's territory is a nice and original touch, as are the red lines separating both colours. The attention to details is certainly there, which is not only proven by the fact that all claws are painted, but also the effect in the eyes which this time have both irises and pupils painted, making them look much more real and almost alive. Also, the way in which these eyes are painted makes it look like the Rex is staring right in front of him, eyes focused on potential prey no doubt. Apart from the successful paint job, this remains a solid dinosaur figure. It looks very close in shape to the little T-Rex seen in the TLW movie, a likeness that hasn't been seen all too often in JP dinosaur action figures. The leg action is a fun option, and also nigh on movie accurate, though it has its downsides (leg cast covers only half the leg and looks silly, leg often swivels back on its own accord, leg is somewhat fragile, etc.). The muzzle and leg cast have been repainted to be a bit more shiny but are otherwise unchanged.

The Dinosaur Adventurer's new paint job is less radical than that of its extinct companion. The paint scheme is the same as before, but the colours used this time look less appealing together, not to mention less sufficient for camouflage use. Also, this is the second time we see this particular head sculpt in this line, meaning this might as well be a twin brother of the Dino Trainer that came with the Pachycephalosaurus of this toy line. A different head sculpt would have been preferred to add some diversity in human figures to this line. This figure still has a moveable torso, which adds a little bit to playability even though it has no real function in this set. The new paint job of the weapons is awful; the original black looked much better and more realistic on them.

All in all, this is a pretty good set with an imaginatively repainted dinosaur figure and a passable human figure. Sadly, both sculpts have no action features to complement each other. The T-Rex logo on the Adventurer's cap is a nice little reference to its pet though, albeit unintended since it was already there to begin with.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Junior T-Rex, with repainted accessories from that same figure. It was repainted only a short while before for JPD1's first wave of figures. The figure would be repainted a fourth time for JPD2. The Dino Adventurer is a TLWS1 Dieter Stark repaint (with repainted accessories from that same figure), featuring a repainted JPS2 Jaws Jackson's head sculpt.

Overall rating: 7/10. This Young T-Rex sports a much more original, appealing and detailed paint job than its Wave 1 counterpart, and it's still one of the most movie accurate sculpts. The Adventurer is a decent repaint, but nothing too special, and his weaponry looks pretty dull. As part of Wave 2 of this toy line, this is one of the rarer JPD1 releases, and it can prove tough to find, especially in MOC or complete condition.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Pachycephalosaurus and Dinosaur Trainer

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Heavy Strike Weapons Pack with detachable missile launcher

-Two missiles

-Gun

Description: this Pachycephalosaurus stands in a completely neutral pose. Its body is almost symmetrical, except for some small details, like the position of the hands (notice Pachy has no less than five fingers on each hand, more than most bipedal dinosaurs had) and the paint scheme. And of course there is the round button sticking out of the left upper leg. When pressed, this activates the dinosaur’s attack action: the head will move downward, as if it’s giving a head butt. The animal resembles a kangaroo with its large feet and arms: but it has a bizarre head covered with bumps and little spikes, and of course a big bald spot on its forehead. A row of bumps can be found on the neck, while several more of them run over its back and tail.

This figure sports a diverse paint job. Its underside (belly, lower part of the tail, most of the legs and all of the arms) is painted grey. This colour gradually shifts into light green on its tail, upper legs and flanks, while additional green is found on its throat and face. The neck, upper parts of the legs (including action button on the left leg) and most of its back are coloured blue with asymmetrical leaf like shapes running out of this colouration, while blue stripes run over its tail and blue spots cover its eye sections and snout. The top of the head, including the skull dome, is white, and the creature has small red eyes with black pupils. It also has black claws on its feet and a black JP logo on its right upper leg.

The Dinosaur Trainer stands in a largely neutral pose, except for his right leg which is moved slightly forwards. He sports an almost military outfit, namely a green shirt with a black vest and brown straps over it, black gloves, light brown pants with yellowish green stripes and swirls on them in a random pattern suggesting camouflage, and black boots. He also wears a red cap with the typical JP T-Rex logo on it. He has a stone cold facial expression, black hair, eyebrows and eyes . He’s got some detailing on his pants, though it’s hardly noticeable because it’s painted in the same colour as the pants themselves: on his left leg he’s got one pocket, while on his right leg he has a knife as well as some damage to his pants, indicating he’s had a near miss with some ferocious prehistoric vermin.

This man comes with some impressive looking weaponry. First, he owns a small gun (don’t ask me what type of gun it is, I'm a pacifist), coloured grey. It doesn’t do anything, it’s just an additional gadget. Second, he sports a large backpack, labelled a Heavy Strike Weapons Pack (let's abbreviate that to HSWP). It’s basically a large back pack carrying a missile launcher, enabling the user to keep his hands free to carry other stuff. The HSWP, sporting a yellowish brown (almost golden) paint job, looks pretty sophisticated and detailed, but works fairly simple. It can be pinned to the figure's back (he’s got a hole there for this sole purpose). The rocket launcher can move up and down, in about a 100 degree angle: it can also be detached to be used separately from the pack. The launcher comes with two different grey missiles (same colour as the gun), and can hold one of them at a time. The other can be stored in a hole in the pack when it’s not used: the hole also fits both missiles simultaneously. By pressing the button on top of the pack the missile is launched with a decent enough force, over a distance of about half a metre. Interesting little detail, the gun can be pinned on a pin on the right end of the launcher when not in use.

Analysis: poor old Pachycephalosaurus is the only basic dinosaur figure in the first JP Dinosaurs line that didn't get released by itself, but only paired up with a human figure instead. This does bring unnecessary repetition in this line down a little bit, but doesn't stop unimaginative repainting, since the paint scheme of this Pachy is largely identical to that of its TLWS1 predecessor. It's a bit of an old colour choice here, mixing grey with light green and blue, and the result isn't great. A stronger tone of green would have been preferable, since now the gradual change of grey into green looks more like the effect of discolouration. The blue is fine, though maybe a bit too strong a hue compared to the rest of the paint job. The real downer is the ugly white colouring on the head. It looks very artificial and fake and doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the paint job. Some details have been taken care of, like the ocular area (the red eyes look cool) and the claws on its feet, while others have been neglected (like the rest of the claws). The typical head ramming action works as fine as ever. Overall, this is still a great sculpt, but the paint job is a real mixed bag.

Pachy's human companion got lucky though, since his paint job is very good in comparison. Aside from the Jurassic Park cap, he has a rather commando feel to him. His big boots, camouflage pants, big muscles and expressionless face make him look like a real 'hard man'. Contrary to his prehistoric pet he sports a more appealing look than Ajay, his original body. This is one dinosaur drill sergeant few reptilian recruits would feel like messing with. He doesn't take crap from anyone, and if some extinct critter talked back to him he always has his HSWP to back him up and take it down. This too is still an excellent bit of weaponry, though a bit over the top maybe. It hasn't been changed since its last appearance, except for its new lighter paint job. The original black colouring looked more realistic though, light brown just doesn't do this killer equipment justice, it looks too soft. Unfortunately the missiles' impact force is not sufficient to knock the Pachycephalosaurus over, it's more suited for mowing down hatchlings. Pachy's head butt should suffice to slam the Trainer to the ground, so despite his tough guy look and heavy equipment – and the fact it got a better makeover – he would get his ass kicked and the dinosaur would win this fight.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the original JPS2 Pachycephalosaurus, which was previously repainted for TLWS1. For this set he teams up with a TLWS2 Ajay repaint, which has a head sculpt that originally belonged to JPS2 Jaws Jackson. The Dino Trainer comes with all of Ajay's accessories, except for the Parasaurolophus hatchling. Neither the dinosaur nor its keeper would be repainted for later toy lines (though a repaint of Ajay's body would also be seen in the Stegosaurus with Dinosaur Hunter set of Wave 2 of this toy line).

Overall rating: 8/10. A solid set, comprised of an excellently repainted human figure and his butch accessories and an awesome dinosaur figure which unfortunately suffers from a bit of an uninspired and messy paint job. Of all the JPD1 dino/human sets, this one is probably the easiest to find, though still not overly common, especially in MOC or complete condition. It can be found at varying costs.

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Baryonyx and Dinosaur Tracker

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Two pieces of capture gear

-Machete

-Shot gun

-Stun prod

Description: Baryonyx assumes a walking posture, with its left leg moved forward and its right leg posed backward. Its tail is not bent as much as the other Bary figures, since this figure's card is large enough to accommodate its overall length. Its back and neck are covered in rows of small bumps, while a single small horn is found on the snout. It is equipped with a whipping action: pulling the right leg back and forth makes the head spin around, as if the creature is thrashing its head. This also features a dinosaur-breaks-free-of-restraint-gear action: when the capture gear is on, the Baryonyx can break free by thrashing its head left and right. Additionally, the beast’s lower jaw snaps back when pulled down and released, making it possible for this sculpt to clasp other figures between its jaws, though the mouth can’t open really wide so most figures won’t fit.

This dinosaur figure sports brown colouring on its back, neck, head, upper part of the tail and the very upper part of the limbs. This brown gradually shifts to green, which is located on the flanks and the underside of the creature (belly, throat, lower jaw, lower part of the tail) for the most part, as well as on the rest of the limbs. The figure carries randomly patterned black spots all over its back, neck and upper tail, and features a small black horn between its nostrils, as well as blue circles around its white eyes (with cat like black pupils). The claws on both arms and legs are black, while a black JP logo is found on the right upper leg. The figure also has white teeth and the inside of its mouth, including its tongue, is red.

This Bary comes with two pieces of capture gear, which form a sort of harness around the creature’s upper body and restrain its arms and head. However, it wouldn’t stop the creature from just walking away. Both pieces are painted in dark yellow, an unusual colour for capture gear.

The Dinosaur Tracker is a broad shouldered, butch looking figure of a man, sporting a brownish yellow field suit with numerous pockets, wearing a brown shirt underneath the suit, brown arm patches, black utility belts, an almost golden ammo belt around his torso, black boots and a pair of black sunglasses. He also has black hair and a Elvis like hairdo. He stands with his legs wide apart in a bracing pose with his left leg stretched forwards and his right leg backwards. His head is a bit too small compared to his body. Pressing his legs together makes his left arm move, so it looks like he’s making slashing moves when holding one of his weapons.

He has three different weapons, none of which are capable of action features; these weapons are mere props but they’re much more realistic than most of the weapons that come with human figures. The Tracker carries a stun prod with a cross shaped end, as well as a shot gun and a machete. All weapons are coloured dull grey.

Analysis: the first JP: Dinosaurs line introduced a new concept, namely pairing human figures and their accessories with basic dinosaurs instead of hatchlings, making for the bigger dino/human 2-packs of this line (and similar sets for JPD2). For the time this was unique, a little bit of originality in a line consisting solely of repaints. One of the first such sets was this Baryonyx with Dinosaur Tracker set. It's an interesting pairing of figures, though as far as compatibility of action features goes, not the most successful match. The Tracker is too big for the Bary to clutch between its jaws and viciously spin it around, nor is his arm chop movement sufficient to take down the carnivore with whichever of the three weapons he holds. You could say this makes it a draw.

As far as the paint jobs go, this is not a bad set. Though the Bary's paint scheme is identical to that of its TLWS2 predecessor, the colouration has improved. Green and brown fits the Baryonyx well, even being reminiscent of the paint job of the old JPS2 Baryonyx. Also, the figure's details have not been forgotten this time: the claws on both hands and feet, the horn on the snout, the inside of the mouth, it's all painted. It even got some extra detailing round the eyes, though these themselves are less pretty, being simply white. Another improvement for this figure is the fact that it's tail is more stretched out due to the bigger packaging, which means that it is better balanced this time around and can stand up on its two legs more easily, while the tail doesn't hit the ground. Unfortunately this is only the case when its capture gear is not applied. The gear itself got a yellow paint job, which makes it stand out among all JP capture gear. It also adds some extra colour to this set.

The Dino Tracker paint job is not all that different from the original colouring on TLWS1 Peter Ludlow. It's somewhat darker, but overall pretty close to that we got before. Nothing has been added to this human figure, though the JP logo on his right arm has been removed for some reason. His arm chop action is still a solid feature, though it only works on smaller prey. The tall and handsome Tracker makes for a good addition to the small team of human figures of this toy line, but otherwise there's little worth of interest to him, since the Baryonyx is definitely the biggest draw of the set. After all, this line is all about the dinosaurs, eh?

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the original TLWS2 Baryonyx, including that figure's capture gear repainted, along with a TLWS1 Peter Ludlow repaint, including all of Ludlow's accessories save for the Raptor hatchling. Neither the Bary nor Ludlow would be repainted for later toy lines (though Ludlow's head would also be seen on an Ajay repaint in the Stegosaurus with Dinosaur Hunter set of Wave 2 of this toy line, which also featured a single brown Baryonyx figure).

Overall rating: 7/10. A decent set, with an effective and appealing, though not very original, paint job. This set is definitely harder to find than most other JPD1 Wave 1 releases, especially in MOC or complete condition. It probably will require a fair amount of patience and cash to acquire it.

The Lost World: Exclusive Utahraptor

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Dino Tracker figure

-Three pieces of capture gear

-Capture Trap with backpack piece

-Flash light

Description: this big carnivore is bipedal, equipped with long arms with sharp claws, as well as a big sickle shaped claw on each foot (both of them poseable). This Utahraptor is much bigger than any other Raptor figures (since it's not the same species as the well known Velociraptor from the JP movies): it's a rather bulky figure with a big fat belly (and a glued-over battery cover which reveals this figure once had electronics inside), as well as huge feet. These are rather pointless since the Raptor is not able to stand on them because it lacks proper balance; it can only stand on all fours, not on two legs. It does stand in a fully neutral posture though. Utahraptor is equipped with a 'kick-slash' action: pulling both legs back and pressing the button underneath the base of its tail (the anal region) makes both legs give a powerful kick simultaneously, and also causes the head to move and the jaws to open to a minor extent.

This dinosaur figure has a beige underside (on the lower jaw, throat, belly, underside of the tail, inner parts of the arms and legs and underside of the feet) while it features yellowish brown colouring on its flanks and sides of the tail, as well as on parts of the head. It also has brown colouring on the arms and legs, but darker, mostly because of the hard plastic those body parts are made of instead of the more rubbery material the rest of the body is composed of. Utah has a big black stripe running from the back of the head all the way to the end of the tail with smaller big stripes running out from the main one over the neck, flanks and tail. It has additional black stripes on the arms, and more black colouring on the head and legs. The claws on both hands and feet are also black, including the small ones at the back of the feet, which are usually ignored in the painting process. This figure has bright green eyes with black pupils and tiny yellow stripes in it (though barely noticeable). Its tongue and inside of the mouth are pink, and it has white teeth. Like the other TLW Exclusive dinosaur figures (but unlike all other JP figures), this Utahraptor has no JP logo anywhere on its body.

This dinosaur comes with three pieces of capture gear. There's a big cuff like tag, showing a JP logo on top, which fits well around the creature's neck. It also comes with a leg restraint, which can hold on to both legs simultaneously, but is a bit too long to properly fit between the figure's legs. Lastly, there is a big muzzle which can go around the figure's jaws, effectively disabling them, while also covering the eyes, so the Raptor can't see what's going on around him. All three pieces are coloured in the same metallic grey paint job.

The Dino Tracker stands in a fairly neutral pose, though the way he holds his arms makes him look like a cowboy reaching for his guns in a main street shoot-out. His facial expression is quite grim: he doesn't look healthy anyway, since his skin tone is much bleaker than on most other human figures. He has black hair, eyes and eyebrows. He sports a dark green baseball cap with the classic T-Rex logo on it. He wears a green shirt with pockets on his chest and has beige shoulder patches on with a sort of armour look to them. Additionally, he sports brown pants with similar patches of the same beige colour on his lower legs. He also wears dark green boots and a black belt around his waist.

The Tracker's main accessory is the so called hair trigger capture trap, which is like a bear trap except a few sizes bigger. It consists of a boxy apparatus with two large rectangular “jaws” on each side and a big black pedal between them. When the trap is opened, pressing the pedal causes the jaws to close, trapping anything caught between them. Except for the pedal and a small black antenna at the back (which can be turned inwards), the trap is coloured entirely in a shiny metallic grey colour. Though the trap has a small handle on each side so the Dino Tracker can hold it with his hands, it also comes with a black backpack (for lack of a better term) that can be attached to the back of the trap so the Tracker can carry it on his back. It fits perfectly over this figure's back, but can be carried by various other human figures too. As an extra gadget, this set comes with a large black flash light with a handle on top so figures can hold it, and a flat underside so it can stand stable on the ground.

Analysis: of the three TLW Exclusive sets, this one is the biggest and comes with the nastiest creature, a huge Raptor armed with big lethal claws on hands and feet, ready to slaughter anything that crosses its path, and no doubt inclined to attack bigger predators too. This is not a new figure though, but a repainted JPS2 Utahraptor. It is also retooled, having a harder skin (still softer than the regular hard plastic, but not as soft as the original 'real feel dino skin'), and lacking the electronics its predecessor was equipped with, so no terrifying screech for this Utahraptor. Why exactly they got rid of these electronics is anyone's guess, but it is a damn shame. It still has the other original action features though.

The most obvious one is the leg kick action. The kicking mechanism works well: you can pull both legs back until they set themselves in the right position, then push the button (invisible under its skin). Both legs will plunge forward violently, knocking over anything directly in front of them, including bigger dinosaur figures or small vehicles. However, it's better to raise the arms somewhat, otherwise they get in the way of the action. A great extra detail is that pushing the button also causes the head and jaws to move (though less enthusiastically than on the original figure, probably also a result of the harder skin), so the beastie isn't just giving a kick, it's also taking a bite at the same time. A really cool little detail is the poseability of the big claws on the feet. They can move in at least a 100 degree circle, and can trap unfortunate prey between them. A real shame no other dinosaur figures with large claws have a similar feature.

Despite these nice positive sides, this figure does have some negative ones as well. The most aggravating is the interdependency of the legs, so they can't be posed separately, as well as the fragility of the leg kick system, which gets broken all too easily (in fact, it seems even more fragile than it was before, so that's not much of an improvement). Other points of irritation are the overly big feet and bulky squarish torso, which make this otherwise butch figure seem silly, especially because it is not able to stand on its two legs because the front part of the sculpt is much heavier than the back part (which consists of its tail only). Also, because of the softer material the skin is composed of, this figure's paint job is more susceptible to paint wear.

Like the original JPS2 Utahraptor, this creature comes with a set of capture gear, including the tag that a lot of dinosaur figures come with. It's quite big so less easily lost, and actually has a purpose since it's the only part of this dinosaur showing it's a JP figure, given the lack of a JP logo on the figure itself. The leg piece is certainly of use in this monster's case, but a bit hard to apply because of the small amount of space between the legs. The leg piece actually is too big for this figure's legs. Also, it doesn't stop the Utahraptor from kicking. The head piece does a better job, and subdues the jaws as well as the eyes. There's no restraints for the arms however, so the Raptor can still use those: it may even be able to use its arms to pull off the head piece. This figure could have used a better thought out set of capture gear in this regard.

Like the other TLW exclusives, this set comes with a Dino Tracker and his accessories. This guy sports a simple but effective set of clothes, with some “armour” like highlights on his suit, but limited enough to give him the necessary mobility to scout for dinosaurs while still offering some protection in case things get rough. He seems like a very serious man, given his emotionless face. But then, trapping dinosaurs isn't an occupation you should take for fun, since such a view might cost you your life on a dinosaur infested island. His flash light is just an extra gadget and has no action features of its own.

His dinosaur trap however is an interesting piece of equipment, though it's a bit bulky in size. It works quite well: pushing the pedal closes the jaws with enough force to sufficiently trap anything that comes between them. It looks best when it's used like regular traps sporting this mechanism, lying on the ground (preferably camouflaged, though that's unlikely with a trap this size), waiting for prey to pass along. However, the Tracker can also carry it on his back (in both opened and closed states), making for an excellent defence mechanism in case some sneaky carnivore decides to attack him from behind. But considering the size and weight of this weapon, he is hardly able to stand up straight when carrying it on his back; it certainly hinders his mobility as a Tracker. Also, it just looks plain silly when he's carrying it around (the thing is almost as big as himself), but at least this trap has some options. The trap is capable of trapping almost any dinosaur, though it seems most suited for big figures: after all, smaller figures would be severely injured when they got stuck between this weapon's teeth (even though it's not very sharp material), while hatchlings would just be cut in half altogether. However, the Utahraptor may be a bit oversized for this trap, especially its huge feet which can be caught by the trap, but are so big the impact force is quite diminished. Also, it takes more than just this trap to stop something as lethal as this predator. Some extra weaponry would have been useful here, but this is all the Tracker's got as his disposal.

Playability: pretty good, especially because this set comes with both a dinosaur and a human figure (and their respective accessories), so there's more interaction options in this set alone. The Utahraptor has moveable arms and legs, and even the big claws on its feet can be posed, which is a feature not seen on any other dinosaur figures. The poseability of the legs is hindered by their connection to the leg kick action though, which also makes them incapable of being used separately from one another. The leg kick action works well and will knock over any human figures and most dinosaur figures too, but it's a very close range attack option, and the arms have a tendency to get in the way. The head and mouth motion is a neat little touch which adds some playability to this toy, and the mouth is also big enough to grab and hold human figures (though barely). The capture gear does what it's supposed to do, but adds little to this dinosaur otherwise. The leg kick action is quite fragile and gets broken rather easily, so you shouldn't play too rough with it if you want to keep it intact.

The Dino Tracker has the usual range of poseable body parts (arms, legs and head). The capture trap is a nice addition to this set, it works well and is made mobile because it can be carried on the figure's back, adding playability options. However, it's not the most efficient piece of weaponry to combat the Utahraptor with: something like a big rocket launcher would have been a more likely choice. The flash light has no particular function but is a nice extra tool regardless.

Realism: Utahraptor was newly discovered (in 1991) by the time this figure was originally designed (for the 1993-1994 JPS2 toy line), and as such not that much was known about it (like the almost proven fact that Utahraptor had feathers), so the Kenner designers basically made this into a very big version of the Velociraptor as seen in the JP movie (though Utahraptor did not play a part in the film, the Raptors from the movie are often compared to Utahraptors because they are too big to be Velociraptors, but a bit undersized to be Utahraptors). However, they still got some things wrong, mostly the bulkiness of this figure and the overly short legs and tail, making this figure seem fat and certainly not like the agile superkiller it's supposed to be. The proportions of this figure are just off, also because of the original need for space for the electronics in this figure, making it bulkier than it should be. Even though they took the electronics out for this repaint, they didn't bother redesigning it to make it look better. Of course, the designers did get some basic things right, like the long slender arms and the sickle shaped claws. The head is also not bad, though the jaws could have been a bit longer. The size of this beast in comparison with human figures is pretty close to the real deal.

The Dino Tracker is not meant to resemble any actor from either the JP or TLW movie, but he makes for an excellent Park Ranger or other employee of Jurassic Park. His Capture Trap basically functions like real bear traps (though it's fortunately just a toy version and isn't in any way harmful), but its size makes it an unlikely instrument to carry on one's back.

Repaint: yes, this set consists entirely of repaints or reuses. The Utahraptor is a repaint of the JPS2 Utahraptor, slightly retooled so it isn't electronic any more and has harder skin. It features the same set of capture gear as the JPS2 Utahraptor. The Dino Tracker is a repaint of JPS2 Jaws Jackson, with the same set of accessories that figure sported (capture trap, trap back piece and flash light), minus the Dilophosaurus hatchling. The Utahraptor would not get repainted again, and neither would Jackson (not as a whole at least, though his head sculpt would be repainted for the human figures from the JP: Dinosaurs 'Pachycephalosaurus and Dinosaur Trainer' set and the 'Young T-Rex and Dinosaur Adventurer' set).

Overall rating: 7/10. The Utahraptor is still pretty good, though overly bulky, and it's a shame they got rid of the electronics, but it got a better paint job in return. The Dino Tracker is a fine repaint and makes for an excellent Park Ranger figure, with decent accessories. This set is quite rare, being a Target Exclusive, only available in the USA. Both MIB and complete sets fetch high prices, so be sure you really want this repaint instead of settling for the JPS2 Utahraptor (which also isn't the easiest figure to find) and JPS2 Jaws Jackson (pretty common), before spending lots of cash on this set.

The Lost World Exclusives: Dino Tracker Adventure Set

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Dino Tracker figure

-Estemmenosuchus figure with dino damage skin patch

-Scutosaurus figure with dino damage skin patch

-Six pieces of capture gear

-Bola Launcher set with double bola, harness and support stick

-Aerial Net Trap set with net and bomb

Description: this set comes with no less than two different prehistoric creatures (not dinosaurs!), each with its own distinctive paint job, dino damage, attack action and capture gear. Additionally, it comes with two sets of weapons, a Bola Launcher and a net launcher (the Aerial Net Trap). Lastly, a dino tracker figure completes the set.

Scutosaurus assumes a walking posture, with its left hind leg and right front leg moved back ward and its other legs posed in a forward move. It is reminiscent of a toad, with warts all over its body, a very short tail, a large plump body and a rather grumpy looking face. Its predominant colour is green, which is found on the entire sculpt save its underside (belly, lower part of the tail, throat, part of the lower jaw and tusks), which is all beige. The green is not all the same tone, since there are several hues of darker and lighter green mixed in. On its back the green is almost brown even, while on its flanks it’s much brighter green. The animal has yellow eyes, and two large white tusks or teeth sticking out of its lower jaw. Its claws are not painted. Quite noticeably, it does not have a JP or TLW logo anywhere on its body, which may cause some confusion among people who aren’t experts on JP toys; however, it most definitely is one.

Scuto comes with a head butt attack action. Pulling its right hind leg back makes the head raise upwards and violently flip back, as if the creature is attacking a foe with its tusks. Additionally, on its right flank, part of its skin can be removed, revealing a dino damage wound showing white ribs (though no muscle tissue, like the Scuto’s blood is green too). This figure comes with three pieces of capture gear, all painted shiny metallic silver: a typical hand cuff to put on any of its limbs, a piece of leg restraints that is supposed to stick to its right legs so the animal can’t use its head butt action, and a head mask, keeping people save from its tusks. There is no creature-breaks-free-of-restraints action involved.

The second beast this set contains is called an Estemmenosuchus. It is without a doubt one of the most bizarre JP toys ever produced (if not one of the weirdest animals ever to have walked the earth). It has a rather broad and thick body, with four small legs and a tiny tail sticking out. Its head is adorned with several odd protrusions: two large crests sticking out its cheeks, a small white horn on its snout, a row of bumps running down its forehead and two pairs of horns in a symmetrical pattern on its upper head. It has tiny yellow eyes. Its mouth is opened (and can’t be closed), revealing big white teeth, two on its lower jaw, five on its upper jaw. It also has a small pink tongue sticking out. The animal sports a sort of copper metal look over its entire body, being coloured in a dark grey paint job with bluish grey lines running all over it in a sort of ‘net’ pattern. It does not have a different paint job on its underside, like most JP figures do.

Estemmeno stands in a largely neutral posture, except for the tail, which is bent to the right. Its head is turned to the right as well, but this is due to the attack action this figure features. Pulling the right hind leg back makes the creature swivel its head to the left, as if it’s giving head butts to some unseen enemy. Like the Scutosaurus, it carries a removable dino damage skin patch, in this case located on the back of the creature. Removing it reveals white bones and tissue, again with no red mixed in. Another thing Estemmeno and Scuto have in common is the three pieces of capture gear with the same functions. Estemmenosuchus also comes with a hand cuff that can go on any of its legs, a piece of leg restraints that hinders the attack action, and a mask to keep its head from harming people. And like Scuto, Estemmeno does not feature a JP logo anywhere on its body, making it difficult to classify for a layman.

The dino tracker figure stands in a totally neutral position. He wears a blue sweater with green pieces mixed in and a beige shirt underneath. On the left part of his chest he sports a badge with the JP logo (not the JP: Site B logo, revealing this figure’s status as a repaint). He also wears dark green pants with pockets and an odd TV-screen ornamentation, green boots, bright green gloves (including a big one with a “harness” on it over his left lower arm) and a walkie-talkie on his back. He has a very bright pink/beige colour on his head, which makes him look ill compared to other human figures. His eyebrows and hair are brown, and he wears a dark green cap on his head with a yellow T-Rex JP logo on the back. The figure does not have any action features of his own.

The set comes with a Bola Launcher and Aerial Net Trap, repainted/reused from JPS1/2 figures. The net launcher is basically a large blue backpack with an arm extending from its back. The net can be put on this arm, and pulling the arm back and releasing it makes the net being launched. A change has been made to the way this net launching system works compared to the original Aerial Net Trap that came with the JPS1/2 Alan Grant figures: those net launchers featured a button on the back of the pack which caused the net to be launched. That system also worked better. Another change to this weapon is the straps which make it capable of being attached to the Dino Tracker: they are somewhat longer and have less holes in them, to accommodate the Tracker figure, since the original design would have made the backpack and figure incompatible. The Aerial Net Trap also comes with a small bomb, painted light blue, which still serves no particular function, but makes a nice little additional gadget.

The Bola Launcher is identical to the one that came with the JPS2 Bola Launcher Alan Grant figure. It has not been repainted or changed in any way. This set consists of a launcher, a double bola, a harness to attach it to the figure, and a stick to support it while attached to the figure. After loading the launcher, pressing the round button causes the bola to be shot away, hooking itself around any creature in its trajectory (though its range is somewhat limited).

All in all, this Exclusive Dino Tracker Adventure Set consists of a total of 18 pieces, making it hard to find in a complete condition (unless it’s MIB of course).

Analysis: though featuring several repainted or even reused elements, this is by far one of the coolest and most playable sets around, good for many hours of great fun. Both creatures sport an interesting look and adequate paint job (even original in Estemmeno’s case), as does the Dino Tracker figure. There’s also a lot of neat action features in this set. Both creatures are a huge boost to originality in the JP toy lines, so a lot of credit has to be given to the people that designed these animals. Both creatures are very bizarre and most people undoubtedly have never heard of them, partially because they were not seen in any of the JP movies. So if you want original, this is the set to turn to.

However, in some ways it’s totally the opposite of original. After all, it’s all repaints (though the creatures weren’t released before, making them fresh in some way). Also, both creatures, though totally different, share the exact same set of action options: head butts, dino damage, and three pieces of capture gear each which goes around the exact same body parts. But let’s face it: these creatures absolutely rock! Their overall look, action features that work well, and neat dino damage make for one of the best JP play sets around, so why complain about repainting? As far as repaints go, this set is not so bad.

Both creatures have a fun attack action. Their range is limited, but they work really well. Estemmenosuchus violently thrashes its head round, hitting people with its bizarre horns and crests. Scutosaurus defends itself from opponents by crashing its sharp tusks deep into their flesh. Both beasts make themselves perfectly clear: don’t mess with me… However, both of them have been messed with, judging from their nasty dino damage wounds. Interestingly enough, the wounds are composed of different material than the hard plastic these sculpts are made off: they’re sort of rubbery and flexible, reminiscent of the ‘real feel dino skin’ of the larger JPS1/2 dinosaurs. In both cases the wounds can easily be removed and put back, since they fit in perfectly. However, the wounds themselves could have featured a better paint job: there’s no blood or anything, making them seen a bit unrealistic.

The capture gear is nice too (especially the masks, which are as odd as the heads they’re supposed to restrain), though nothing really special. They don’t add much action wise, since there’s no dinosaur-breaks-free-of-restraints option involved. However, they do an adequate job at restraining the animals at least partially (though not all of their legs are restrained, but it would at least make them walk in circles).

The Dino Tracker himself is a perfect match for this set with his weird and colourful outfit, adding to the overall bizarreness of this set. He does not have any action features of his own, but his weapons make up for it. The changes made to the Aerial Net Trap are totally useless and only make it less appealing, though it’s good the Tracker can at least carry it on his back. Still, the slingshot system of the old version of this net launcher was superior to this clumsy variant. However, it is actually capable of catching either monster, though the net is too small to really restrain them. It does a better job on these animals than the Bola Launcher does. Even though the Bola Launcher fortunately has not been changed in any way and is still one of the most awesome and playable weapons of any JP toy line, it’s just not really effective on either of these reptiles. There’s just not many points it can hook onto. The legs maybe, but they’re quite small and close to the ground, so it would bump to the floor instead of gripping itself around one of them. Estemmenosuchus does have a head with many spiky protrusions on it, so it’s at least partially usable on him. Scuto unfortunately can’t say the same, unless its head is reared up maybe.

Overall, this set is really great but does have some minor problems, some of which (like the Aerial Net Trap’s new makeover and the lazy paint job of the wounds) wouldn’t have been necessary if the toy designers just put that last bit of effort in it. But because of the sheer brilliance of both creatures, they can be forgiven for such small mistakes.

Playability: quite high. There’s a lot of features in this set, and the fact it contains a human figure, two creatures, weaponry and capture gear makes it really diverse. Both beasts have a cool attack action, though the range of both is limited and consists of head actions only. Fortunately, both monsters feature full poseability (all limbs and head for each), as does the Dino Tracker. The weapons are nothing new, but all work fine, especially the Bola Launcher which is undoubtedly still one of the coolest weapons Kenner ever designed. The capture gear does not come with any dinosaur-breaks-free-of-restraints action, but does a proper job of keeping people safe from the head butts of these ferocious critters from before time.

Realism: needless to say, neither Estemmenosuchus nor Scutosaurus appeared in any of the JP movies (sadly). Credit has to be given to the Kenner team’s nerve in producing such bizarre and unknown prehistoric animals (which is probably a reason these two didn’t get a release when JPS2 hit stores back in ’94). Though they did a pretty good job with this pair of ravenous reptiles, they still got a few details wrong. For one thing, Estemmenosuchus seems to be lacking a neck and has rather a short tail (and yes, Estemmenosuchus did really exist, back in the Permian period some 250 million years ago). Its facial features aren’t totally correct, but with a weird head like this you’re bound to get a few things wrong. Scutosaurus is almost correct, apart from those idiotic spikes on its lower jaw. Though the creature supposedly had tusks, they didn’t stick out of its chin and were much smaller. Still, in both cases the designers did quite a good job of adapting these animals to the toy realm.

The Dino Tracker isn’t supposed to be any particular character from the TLW movie, or other JP films. He’s purely an invention on Kenner’s part, which makes a welcome change to the list of human figures that are supposed to represent a certain actor/actress from the movies but look nothing like him/her, which has occurred on more than one occasion to say the least. Both sets of weapons and the capture gear are completely fictional as well.

Repaint: yes, all of it. Every part of this set is repainted from older sets from the JPS1/2 toy lines. The Dino Tracker’s body is a repaint of JPS2 Bola Launcher Alan Grant, while the head sculpt is a repaint of JPS2 Harpoon Harrison’s head. The figure would be repainted again for TLWS2, as the Urban Assault Gear Eddie Carr, but sporting a different head. The Bola Launcher set is also (obviously) reused from the JPS2 Bola Launcher Alan Grant, and it’s not even a repaint, sporting the same paint job. The Aerial Net Trap, as well as the bomb, are repaints however, from the regular JPS1/2 Alan Grant figures.

As for the creatures, both of them are repaints too, but they never made it to stores before. They were originally planned for release in the JPS2 toy line, but were eventually scrapped, along with several other figures, some of which did eventually get a release for the TLW lines like this pair did too (i.e. Ornithosuchus and Gulper/Bull T-Rex). Both monsters come with their original sets of capture gear and dino damage. The paint job of both animals is a lot different from the original figures, of which only very few survive. The Estemmenosuchus sported dark green and brown colouring, while the Scutosaurus came with a brown and beige paint job with blue spots and stripes and bright orange tusks. Still, the new paint jobs are not bad. On a side note: apparently something went awry when the Estemmeno got a makeover: his left front and hind leg were switched, so his legs now appear in a very odd position.

Overall rating: 9/10. Okay, so there’s a lot of repainting here. For once it turns out very well and at last gives us the fantastic Estemmenosuchus and Scutosaurus figures, which we were denied in 1994. Despite some minor issues, this set sports major playability, and two of the most wonderful figures of all the toy lines with neat attack actions and dino damage.

Now, here’s the catch: this exclusive set is one of the rarest sets of JP toys around, and can be a total bitch to get your hands on. It’s nigh impossible to find a loose and complete set (though you could of course mix the figures with some pieces of other sets that came with the same weapons), and MIB they don’t turn up everyday and have been known to fetch high prices. However, it may prove totally worth it, for few sets are as cool and original as this one. Good luck getting one…