Year of release: 2005
Description: this
Raptor figure stands in a dramatic pose when boxed, showing all its
primal predator prowess, its body straight upwards, its legs wide
apart and its ferocious claws ready for action, while its head faces
upwards and is turned to the right, jaws wide open (and not capable
of being closed). The tail is bent in a sort of 'S' shaped fashion.
This sculpt has proto-feathers on the back of its head, following the
design change of the Jurassic Park III Velociraptors as compared to
the Raptors seen in the first two movies. Accordingly, it has a nasal
ridge on each side of its head. A dino damage wound is located on the
upper base of the tail, revealing some of its tail bones and dark red
muscle tissue. Inside the wound a button is found: when pressed this
produces a snarling sound. On its back this creature has a small
lever, activating the slashing claw action feature. This also
produces an eerie shrieking noise.
Apart from the
figure's underside (the belly, most of the lower part of the tail,
the inside of the upper legs and part of the throat), which are
coloured beige, this Raptor looks quite green. Most of the animal is
coloured dark green, most notably all of the head apart from the
lower jaw, the back and the upper side of the arms and tail. The
remaining body parts are painted in a much lighter shade of green,
which is found mostly on the legs, underside of the arms and part of
the neck. Dark green stripes also run over the legs. The
proto-feathers on the back of the head are yellow, as are the eyes
(with black pupils). The tongue and parts of the side of the mouth
are pink and the teeth are white. The claws on both hands and feet
are painted black while the figure carries white JP logos on both
upper legs.
The Pteranodon is
rather large for a creature that originally came with a human figure.
The second half of each wing can fold in and out, and when folded to
their full (realistic) length, the figure has about a 15 centimetre
wing span. It has a small hand on each wing, which however is
situated far too much towards the end of the wing and should have
been placed closer to the body. The Pterosaur has two long legs
which end in claws that can grip human or dinosaur figures' limbs as
if it is lifting them off the ground. It has a rather thick plump
head on a rotatable neck. Most of this figure sports a brown paint
job, mostly a darker shade of brown, though there's also a lighter
shade mixed in on various parts of its body (most notably on the
chest, arms and head). The underside of the figure (lower side of the
wings, tail and most of the legs) is white, which gradually shifts
into light brown the closer you get to the arms. The claws on the
hands are painted black, while the Pteranodon has red eyes, a purple
tongue and a small black JP logo on both the upper and lower side of
its left wing.
Analysis: once again
it seems Hasbro thought a JP toy line would be incomplete without a
decently sized Velociraptor figure, so they bashed out yet another
repaint (instead of creating a new figure). This sculpt was used only
the year before, but either Hasbro forgot, didn't care or thought
kids wouldn't remember (but most likely all three options combined).
This Raptor is very green, which actually suits it rather well,
considering green was never really a “Raptor colour” as the
previous Raptor figures in this colour indicated. The dark, murky
quality of the used combinations of green is rather reminiscent of
the scrapped Camo-Xtreme Tropical Velociraptor and so this latest try
might make up a little to some people for the loss of that particular
figure. The creature is also pretty detailed, as all the claws and
the proto-feathers have been taken care of. The yellow on the
Raptors' back of the head is a nice little touch, and it would have
been nice if a similar colour scheme would have been added to the
head (particular the nasal ridges) since this still looks a bit dull.
Compared to the Camo-Xtreme Night Raptor, the two sounds have been
reversed again, so they're in the same order as they were on the
original JP III figure. And the good old slashing claws remain the
same: cute, but not particularly effective.
The Pteranodon is
much more disappointing, considering it is a total reuse instead of
just a repaint. If you already own the Pteranodon and Compsognathus
two-pack of this toy line you'll find it a boring and unneeded
addition to your JP dinosaur collection. And the paint job is, again,
very bland. It makes good prey for the hungry Raptor, if the
Pterosaur was ever stupid enough to get too close to it's vicious
claws.
Repaint: yes. Both
figures are repaints of JP III dinosaur sculpts. The Pteranodon
originally came with Eric Kirby, while the Raptor was originally the
Alpha Velociraptor of the JP III line. The Raptor has been repainted
before for Camo-Xtreme and JPD2, and the exact same Pteranodon
(identical sculpt and paint job) was featured in the Pteranodon and
Compsognathus two-pack of this line. The Raptor would be repainted
again for JP 2009, but for the Pteranodon, this would be its last
appearance (so far).
Overall rating: 5/10.
The Raptor looks decent and is fairly detailed, but otherwise no different than before. The Pteranodon, already suffering from a lousy
paint job, unfortunately is identical to the other Pteranodon figure
of this toy line, making it redundant and uninspired. Like the other
JPD2/3 electronic dinosaur figures, this two-pack was very common a
few years ago, but has since become increasingly hard to find,
despite not being a very popular set. If you really want one,
patience is certainly required, but fortunately it doesn't
necessarily require a lot of cash once you've found it.
