Jurassic Park III Exclusive Dinosaur Tracking Set

Year of release: 2001

Accessories:

-Velociraptor figure

-Triceratops figure

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

-Aerial Net Trap set with net and smart bomb

-Four pieces of capture gear

-Dino Tracker figure

Description: the dinosaur figures of this exclusive set, both repaints, sport a somewhat darker and grittier paint job with more detail than we’re used to, especially in comparison to the paint jobs of their original TLW predecessors. This set comes with two different dinosaurs: a Triceratops and a Velociraptor. Each comes with its own attack action, though in both cases the attack consists of a head movement.

The Triceratops gives a head butt, raising its head upwards when its right hind leg is pulled back. The creature stands in an attack posture, with front legs braced for action and its head lowered in anticipation of an aggressive enemy. This Trike features a mostly green paint job, consisting of various tones of green all over its body, darker in some areas (the legs, its belly). Tiny speckles of black, resembling dust, and dark hues are mixed in with the green, most notably on the head and limbs. Vague orange spots are found on the back and upper front legs, as well as on the frill and side horns on the head. The claws on its feet are white, as are the three horns on the head as well as the beak, except these grey speckles and spots, giving them a very dirty and used look, as if this animal has a history. The Triceratops has a pink tongue and tiny black eyes, and a small black JP III logo is located on its upper left hind leg.

Like the Trike, the Raptor stands in an attack posture: the left leg is posed backwards and the right leg forwards, while the left arm is stretched out and the right arm held back. Its mouth is opened (and can’t be closed), revealing a large pink tongue. Scratches and scars are found all over the creature’s body (it’s a repaint of the TLWS1 Cyclops Velociraptor, which was basically a battle scarred Raptor), as if it has dealt with attacks from larger carnivores or aggressive pack members all its life. This figure too has an attack action: moving the tail side to side makes the head move in a similar fashion, as if the Raptor is biting at its prey. The figure sports a diverse paint job. Its underside (belly, lower part of the tail, throat, lower jaw, most of the limbs) is coloured grey with darker tones mixed in to give it more detail. A large black stripe runs from its snout all the way over its back to the end of the tail. Its flanks and sides of the neck and tail are yellowish brown, with a slightly darker and more pronounced variant of this colour located on the legs and upper part of the arms. The upper parts of the legs are black, located right under the black stripe on the creature’s back as if being a part of it. On either side of the body, a white stripe runs from the end of the face (say, the ears) to about halfway the flanks. The Raptor has black claws and bright red eyes with black irises and a black circle around the red. A small black JP III logo is found on its left upper leg.

The Dino Tracker figure, being a repaint of JPS2 Harpoon Harrison, is out of proportion with the other human figures Hasbro produced for the JP III toy line. Also, the figure’s paint job shows this man has a darker skin, hinting at a different ethnicity compared to the other human figures of this toy line (and in fact, almost all figures of any of the JP lines). The figure stands in a more or less neutral pose, except his right leg is positioned in a forward move as if the Tracker is bracing himself for something. He sports a beard and wears a cap, as well as a brown vest with no shirt underneath, revealing his chest. He also sports grey shorts (with pockets and a knife on them) and black boots with grey socks sticking out, and a black belt. The figure has no special attack option himself

This play set comes with two different sets of weapons, a Bola Launcher and an Aerial Net Trap. The first set of weaponry consists of a bola launcher with double bola, a harness so the figure can handle the bola and a support stick to keep the figure from falling over when the contraption is attached to him. The launcher is coloured black, while the bola itself is shiny metallic grey, as is the support stick. The harness is brown. A small brown button is found on the launcher: pressing it causes the bola to be fired, hooking itself around anything in its path. The Aerial Net Trap is basically a black backpack with a yellow arm and brown straps sticking out. Via the straps the Tracker can carry the set on his back. The pack comes with a net, which is held together by two brown pipes: with these the net can be loaded onto the arm. Pulling the arm back and releasing it makes the net being launched over a short distance.

This set also comes with four small pieces of capture gear, all coloured shiny metallic dark grey. Two of these pieces are the typical “handcuffs” that have come with many dinosaur figures since JPS2. The other two are leg pieces, used to restrain limbs.

This set consists of 14 pieces in total.

Analysis: like the TLW line, the JP III toy line features an exclusive Dino Tracker Set, featuring two dinosaurs, a Dino Tracker, two sets of weaponry and some capture gear. When comparing both sets, the TLW Dino Tracker Set is definitely the best: it featured creatures previously unreleased, while this set comes with two dinosaurs which have been released and repainted before (and would be again). Also, they’re not the best sculpts (especially the Raptor) and would most likely not been anyone’s first choice when considering what sculpts to repaint for a set like this.

This set may not be a winner as far as originality is concerned, but qua repainting style it’s one of Hasbro’s better jobs (and given Hasbro’s long line of repaints, that’s saying something). The paint jobs of both dinosaurs is more elaborate and detailed than any creature in the JP III toy lines, giving the creatures a dusty and more natural feel, as if they’ve been around for some time fighting other creatures. Even if these figures hadn’t sported the somewhat gritty look they’ve got now, they would still feature original paint jobs. This is especially the case with the Raptor, sporting red eyes, a strange white stripe on each flank and an unusual combination of brown, black and grey. The Dino Tracker also doesn’t look bad, though a bit monotonous as far as colouring goes.

Both sets of weaponry were featured in the TLW Dino Tracker Set as well, and in this case, both of them feature new paint jobs (which wasn’t the case with the Bola Launcher the last time). Unfortunately Hasbro didn’t bother to use the original net launching system of the Aerial Net Trap, so we’re stuck again with the feeble new version which doesn’t have a button but requires one to launch the net by hand with often lame results. Fortunately the Bola Launcher is still one of the best and most functional weapons, repainted or not.

The capture gear this set comes with is very disappointing. The cuffs are redundant as always, leaving only the leg restraints. Neither of them really fits with these dinosaur sculpts, which isn’t surprising since these restraints, both repainted, came with different creatures originally (see the ‘repaint’ section of this review). It would have made more sense to have this set feature the capture gear that came with the original TLWS1 Triceratops and Cyclops Velociraptor figures, which wasn’t great either, but at least felt compatible.

All in all, this play set isn’t horrible, but lacks imagination. Now it feels like some figures and pieces of sets thrown together disguised underneath funky repainting. Though I almost always prefer Kenner figures over Hasbro’s and am glad to see Kenner’s work again making its way into the JP III toy line (like with the Raptor Attack Play Set) this set could have used more work and consideration.

Playability: good enough. Neither figure stands in a neutral pose, but since this set features not only two dinosaurs, but also a human figure, capture gear and weaponry, it’s bound to score higher qua playability than most of Hasbro’s sets. The Aerial Net Trap isn’t great and works only when lucky, but the brilliance of the Bola Launcher makes up for it somewhat. Unfortunately, the capture gear is just plain useless. Both dinosaurs feature an okay attack action and poseable arms and legs, as does the Dino Tracker.

Realism: both dinosaurs looks different from their counterparts in the JP movies (JP III or otherwise), especially when looking at the paint jobs. The Raptor’s paint job is totally made up and looks nothing like any of the movie Raptors’ colour patterns (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case). Its size compared to the Dino Tracker is more or less in line with the size the Raptors in the movie featured, but the shape isn’t entirely correct: for one thing this Raptor has feet which are way too large, and the sickle shaped claws on them, the trademark of any Raptor, are too bulky and small.

The Trike’s paint job also differs from the Ceratopsids seen in the movies (particularly the first JP), which sported mostly brown colour patterns. This Triceratops also is quite undersized, so one supposes it’s either a juvenile or a midget. It’s reasonably accurate in regard to its shape, though the horns are a bit too close to each other.

The Dino Tracker isn’t supposed to represent any character or actor seen in any of the JP movies and is entirely fictional. The same goes for the weaponry and capture gear.

Repaint: yes, this entire set consists of repainted elements from different sets from various earlier toy lines. Ready for a long deconstruction of the history of each part of this set?

The Velociraptor was first seen in the TLWS1 toy line, then labelled a Cyclops Raptor because of its battle scarred appearance (it was blind on one eye, which this Raptor isn’t though scratches on the eye can still be seen). It would first be repainted for the original JP Dinosaurs line, and this is the second repaint. A third repaint would be released in the second JP Dinosaurs line. Interestingly enough, the same goes for the Triceratops sculpt. It too was first released as part of the TLWS1 line, a first repaint following in the first JP Dinosaurs line and a third one in the second JP Dinosaurs line, making this the second repaint of this particular sculpt.

The Dino Tracker figure is a repaint of the JPS2 Harpoon Harrison figure, which would first be repainted for the TLW exclusive Young T-Rex set, making this the second repaint. The Bola Launcher was first seen on JPS2 Bola Launcher Alan Grant and would be reused for the TLW Exclusive Dino Tracker Set. This is the second time the Bola Launcher was used again, but actually the first time it got repainted. The Aerial Net Trap followed a different path. Released with JPS1 Alan Grant, it would first be reused for JPS2 Alan Grant and was later repainted as well as redesigned for the TLW Exclusive Dino Tracker Set (the net launching system was changed, sadly not for the best). This play set uses the same (inferior) launching system and sports a third paint job.

The capture gear comes from various figures, and all four pieces are repainted. The cuffs came with several figures since the JPS2 line. The longer piece of leg restraint originally came with the TLWS2 Ornithosuchus (which in itself was repainted capture gear from the JPS2 Ornithosuchus which never got released), and would get repainted along with this creature for the first JP Dinosaurs line. The other leg restraint originally came with the JPS2 Scutosaurus, which was unfortunately denied a release. That error was more or less corrected when the TLW Exclusive Dino Tracker Set made it to stores, featuring both the Scutosaurus and its capture gear repainted. It’s quite odd this set comes with these pieces of capture gear, since both dinosaurs originally had capture gear of their own.

Overall rating: 6/10. Qua repainting this is quite a good set, and it also brings back fond memories of Kenner’s old toy lines. However, the set comes with useless capture gear and lacks originality, especially since these dinosaurs have been repainted before. There were other dinosaur figures which might have been repainted instead, or better yet, totally new figures. Being an Exclusive, this set isn’t very easy to find, especially in parts of the world were it wasn’t released. It is less rare than the TLW exclusives though (maybe because it’s more recent). It occasionally fetches high prices, but being all repaints, you should consider whether you really want this set before trying to get your hands on it.

The Lost World: Exclusive Young Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Dino Tracker figure

-Three pieces of capture gear

-Dino Damage wound patch

-Tranq Bazooka (with two missiles)

-Backpack

Description: this repainted Young T-Rex figure has not been retooled from its JPS1 counterpart, except it stands reared upwards more than the original because of the way it is packaged. Asides from this, it stands in a fully neutral posture, and still features “realistic” dinosaur skin (though there is no such thing of course, since we’ll never know for sure what dinosaur skin felt like), made of a more flexible and softer material than the regular hard plastic. The figure’s arms, lower legs and inside of the mouth are not composed of this rubbery material. On its right flank a piece of skin can be removed, revealing a dino damage wound underneath, showing white ribs and pink muscle tissue. The wound patch itself is largely symmetrical in shape. The Rex’s small two fingered arms are the only poseable body parts. The jaws of this Rex, which can be opened by squeezing the creature’s neck, provide the main attack option, revealing a very bright pink tongue and inside of the mouth, and clean white teeth.

Apart from the noticeable pinkness in this creature's mouth, this Young Rex sports an otherwise dark paint job. At first glance it might as well be entirely black. However, on closer examination, this figure's paint job is made up of dark green with dark brown tones randomly mixed in all over its body, most notably on the tail and upper legs. Its underside (belly, throat, lower jaw, lower part of the tail) is of a lighter green than the rest of its body, but still very dark. The colouring on the lower legs and arms is much brighter, presumably because of the different material they're made of. These body parts are painted in a mixture of brown tones, one dark and one much lighter, making them stand out more. Especially the hind part of both legs and the underside of the feet are of a much different, brighter colour quality than the rest of this figure. Additionally, the dinosaur has black claws on hands and feet, as well as small white eyes with black pupils in black eye sockets. As is the case with the other TLW Exclusive dinosaurs, there's no JP logo found on this figure.

Three pieces of capture gear come with this Rex. There's a cuff like tag, which comes with most dinosaurs featuring capture gear, but is quite big in this case, and 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 metallic grey paint job.

The muscled Dino Tracker stands in a largely neutral pose, though his right leg is pointed outwards to some extent, making him look like he's bracing himself for something. Also, he holds his arms quite close to his torso, more so than other human figures. He wears short blue pants adorned with pockets, a belt and a knife at the back, all in the same colour. He also sports a black vest, revealing a muscular, bare chest underneath. The vest comes with green and red detailing and a JP T-Rex logo (black Rex skull and arms in a yellow circle) on the left part of his chest. Additionally, the Tracker wears black boots with blue socks sticking out, a black belt around his waist and a dark green baseball cap (which he wears with the flap at the back of his head) with a second JP Rex logo on it. His skin colour is somewhat lighter than on most other human figures. He also has black hair, a beard with moustache, black eyes and eyebrows, and a rather stony facial expression.

The Tracker is equipped with a large bazooka, basically a black tube with a small box at the end and a big one up front. On top of the gun near the front end there’s a large red button. When the bazooka is loaded with either one of the two red missiles it comes with, pressing the button makes the missile be fired with force, with a firing range of almost two metres and a good impact force. It’s one of the more effective and powerful weapons Kenner produced. This set also features a black backpack with black straps so the Tracker can carry it on his back. The pack has two holes in it, one for either missile.

Analysis: as if two huge Rexes, a hatchling and a Junior Rex weren't enough for the TLW lines, a repaint of the JPS1 Young T-Rex was issued as an exclusive set, expanding the Rex family so it incorporates tyrant king lizards of all ages. None of the TLW Rexes sport the same paint job however, and this Young Rex is no exception, featuring a rather dark, Gothic looking colour scheme. It's a rather original paint job, but looks quite monochromatic on first sight. However, those who take a closer look will find a very naturalistic and “life like” paint job, instead of one of the typical 'brown with black stripes' schemes that have been so overused. However, the arms and legs, and especially the idiotic pink inside the mouth feel out of place on this figure because they're so different, like the Rex sports an unsuccessful mixture of paint styles. But still, the effort to do something different should be applauded.

Apart from the paint job, nothing has changed on this figure, which has had two previous incarnations already. This Rex still comes with two main action features. The first is the typical dino damage wound patch, which was found on most larger dinosaur figures of the first JP toy lines (and is also present on several larger TLWS1 dinosaur figures). Removing the Rex’s wound patch reveals a nasty wound, which makes one wonder what creature would dare attack a T-Rex (a larger T-Rex maybe?). The wound looks gory, but the shape of the wound patch is too perfect and artificial: it looks like someone just cut an almost symmetrical hole in this little Rex, instead of him suffering from a vicious attack by a rival carnivore.

The second option applied to this figure is a so-called biting action. However, these biting jaws are a rather cheap action feature, since it’s only because of the soft material the dinosaur’s skin is composed of that this biting action is produced. Various other big carnivore figures come with biting actions, but more work is put in those by adding inventive biting mechanisms instead, making this figure's biting jaws pale in comparison. Squeezing the neck does open its jaws decently though, while it can also be used adequately to trap unfortunate figures’ body parts between them. It may not look very appealing, but at least it works to some degree.

This Young T-Rex comes with the same capture gear as its JPS2 predecessor It does a very good job subduing Junior Rex, making it unable to walk, bite or even see. The tag that comes with it actually has a function here, since it features a JP logo the Rex itself is lacking, so this dinosaur can be more easily identified as a JP figure. This tag is also rather large, making its less easy to lose.

Though it's still a good figure ans hasn't been really altered aside from the new paint job, there's one slight modification made to this Young Rex which has nasty consequences. It is packaged in such a way that it stands up more straight, which can cause damage to the material that holds together the two halves of this figure (the front part, which consists of the torso with arms and head, and the hind part, which covers the tail and legs). It's not unusual to see Young Rexes that have a big split in the middle, as if someone took a knife and tried to cut the figure in half but stopped halfway through the process. Therefore, if you don't want this to happen to your TLW Young T-Rex, be careful and don't play too rough with it. (This warning also applies to the JPD1 Young T-Rex repaint which often shows the same issue, but not to the JPS1/2 Young T-Rexes, both of which rarely feature this disability because they were packaged differently.)

This set comes with a nameless Dino Tracker figure, sporting less clothing than most other human figures have, which is obviously useful in warm jungle environments where ferocious dinosaurs have to be fought. It's a good new paint job on this figure (which is also a repaint), but the abundance of black doesn't balance well with the rather bleak skin colour on this figure, making him look somewhat sickly. This is especially true of his head, which sports a big black beard and moustache that look like they're fake. However, apart from this minor complaint (and feel free to disagree) this is not at all a bad figure, all the more so because he comes with an excellent weapon. The bazooka, which remains unchanged in paint job and design from the original that came with JPS1 Muldoon, is still a formidable weapon. It works very well and has a great firing range for such a small weapon, no doubt making it the weapon of choice for most JP toy fans. The set also comes with the same backpack to store the missiles in when unused. Both backpack and bazooka are still painted black, which does make this set a little monochromatic, since the Tracker himself sports a largely black outfit as well.

Playability: for the set as a whole, quite good. Though only the arms of the T-Rex are really moveable, the flexible material allows for additional poseability to some extent (including the jaw motion). The dino damage wound patch is easily removable and can also be put back with little difficulty, but when applied to the figure it’s stuck strong enough so it doesn’t fall off on its own accord. Though usually the figure stands well balanced, more worn out Rexes occasionally have trouble standing up straight and tend to stand in a tripod pose with the tail on the ground. Since this figure is easily damaged, it's better not to play too rough with it, also given its rarity. In fact, if you want to play with this sculpt, it's better to play with its JPS1 version instead of risking damage to this figure. The Tracker has the usual range of poseable body parts (head, legs and arms). The bazooka is one of the most effective and playable weapons of all human figures. It has a great range and strong impact force, comes with two different missiles for variety and the backpack provides storage space for both of them, be it loose or on the Tracker's back. The bazooka may not be strong enough to knock the Rex over, but it's always a challenge to try and shoot the dino damage patch off the dinosaur (in which case you need to loosen it a bit, otherwise it won't let go). A bit violent for kids maybe, but fun nonetheless.

Realism: though no Young T-Rex was seen in the movie, a juvenile Rex much like this one played a minor role in Michael Crichton’s original novel. This figure seems to be originally based off the book instead of the movie. Of course, that doesn't matter in this repaint's case, for which its medium size in comparison to the other TLW Rex figures might have been the main reason to re-release it. Its paint job is very different from the other Rexes of the various JP toy lines, and doesn't resemble the paint scheme of the T-Rexes in the movies at all. The Dino Tracker isn't supposed to look like anybody, being an invention on Kenner's part. The bazooka wasn’t featured in the movie, though it’s a more likely weapon compared to some of the other pieces of weaponry Kenner came up with for the TLW lines.

Repaint: yes, this set consists only of repaints. The Rex itself is a repainted JPS1/2 Young T-Rex, with the same set of capture gear as the JPS2 Young T-Rex featured. The Dino Tracker is a repaint of JPS2 Harpoon Harrison. His accessories originally came with JPS1/2 Robert Muldoon, and these have not been altered in any way. The Young Rex would be repainted (and retooled) again for the first JP: Dinosaurs line, along with its capture gear. The Dino Tracker would be repainted a second time for the JP III Exclusive Dino Tracking Set, but with different accessories. The bazooka, including backpack and missiles, would be repainted again (and retooled as well) for the TLWS2 Eddie Carr figure.

Overall rating: 7/10. On close inspection, this Rex has a very original and realistic new paint job, but it hardly holds up from more than a yard away. Other than that it's still a good figure, though the dino damage provides the only real action. The Tracker himself is a fine repaint, though the beard looks a bit silly. The bazooka is still one of the best weapons ever produced for a JP toy. This set is worth getting if you happen to find it for a good price, but since it's very rare (it was only released at Toys'R'Us in the USA) and usually fetches high prices, you might as well settle for a regular JPS2 Harpoon Harrison, Muldoon's bazooka and JPS1 Young T-Rex otherwise.

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…