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: 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: Young T-Rex

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Muzzle

-Leg cast

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 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 metallic dark brown, as is the leg cast.

The Rex itself sports a light beige or pink colour, which can be found on the tail, flanks, head and limbs of the figure, and is brightest on the upper part of the legs and the front section of the tail (it's almost white there). On the underside of the creature (belly, underside of the tail, throat, lower jaw, lower parts of the arms and legs) the colour changes from a fairly bright hue of pink to a darker tone in a gradual way. The back of the figure is painted in a brown colouring, running all the way from the snout to the tip of the tail. Stripes and spots in the same dark colour can be found on the flanks, tail, legs and head. The Rexling has small white claws on its fingers, white teeth, a red tongue and cat like white eyes with black pupils. On its upper right leg (above the dino damage feature) it has a black JP logo.

Analysis: since there are no really big T-Rex figures in this first JP: Dinosaurs line, this almost screen accurate baby T-Rex got repainted twice for it to fill the obligatory Tyrannosaurus vacancy. Unfortunately, one of these two Rexlings got a lousy paint job, and it happens to be this one. To be harsh but fair, it's just plain boring. It has little appeal, and the use of colour combinations (brown combined with a sort of reddish pink) is pretty ugly. What's worse, the paint scheme is almost identical to the one on the previous junior T-Rex figure, spots and stripes all in the same place (but on that figure, a more appealing paint job was applied), so it doesn't score in the originality department either. As has happened to a lot of JPD1 dinosaur figures, some details were left out, most notably the claws on its feet. Oddly enough, the claws on the fingers did get a different colour, simple white, but this looks just as silly as the big soulless white eyes this repaint got.

It's a damn shame the paint job is so poorly done, since this is otherwise still a pretty decent figure. It looks very close in shape to the little T-Rex seen in the TLW movie, and such a likeness 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.). Basically this is a good figure ruined by an ugly paint job. Fortunately the second Junior T-Rex repaint of this line fared better.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the TLWS1 Junior T-Rex, with repainted accessories from that same figure. The figure would be repainted again for JPD2, and would also be featured a second time in this first JP: Dinosaurs line in a dinosaur/human 2-pack.

Overall rating: 5/10. It's still a good, largely movie accurate sculpt, but the colouring is very dull and uninspired, and the paint scheme is so similar to its predecessor that it also fails as an original paint job, since it just isn't. This is one of the more common JPD1 figures and it can still be found more easily than most of the other figures from the same line, not surprisingly often for lower prices.

The Lost World Series 1: Junior T-Rex

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-One piece of capture gear

-Healing leg cast

Description: this juvenile Tyrannosaurus has rather long slender legs, tiny teeth and a small head compared to adult Rexes. It does have the odd little two fingered arms one finds with larger Rexes though. The animal stands in a neutral pose except for its tail, which is bent to the left somewhat. Its lower right leg hangs 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 is the general idea. The Rex’s mouth can also be opened and closed by hand. This animal comes with one piece of capture gear which can cover its head, like a muzzle. It’s coloured slightly shiny grey. The leg cast sports the same colour.

The Rex itself sports a light brown colour for the most part, which can be found on the tail, flanks, head and limbs of the figure. On the underside of the creature (belly, underside of the tail, throat, lower jaw, parts of the arms and legs) the colour changes from brown to beige in a very gradual way. The back of the figure is painted in a dark brownish purple colouring, running all the way from the snout to the tip of the tail. Stripes and spots in the same dark colour can be found on the flanks, tail, legs and head. The Rex has small black claws and bright yellow eyes with black pupils. On his upper right leg (above the dino damage feature) he has a yellow JP Site B logo with the number .42 next to it.

Analysis: this is a good and realistic Young Tyrannosaurus figure. It’s pretty cute (especially the adorable little head and arms), and quite movie accurate. His paint job also isn’t bad, and reminiscent of the paint jobs of earlier Rex models (though none of this toy line). His long legs do look somewhat unusual, but aren’t too ridiculous considering this animal is only a juvenile.

The dino damage feature – that’s what it basically is, though unlike with other dino damage features this figure sports no removable body parts – isn’t really impressive. It’s nice the leg can be switched around, but the leg cast just looks silly: it only covers half the leg for one thing. Another issue: the leg switches back by itself on many occasions. When you bend the leg back far enough to make sure this doesn’t happen, covering the leg with the leg cast doesn’t do anything. Also, the pin sticking out of the leg cast breaks off easily, rendering the cast rather useless. It’s an original and interesting damage feature, but it just doesn’t really work. The additional single piece of capture gear isn’t very special either, but covers the head well. There’s no dinosaur-breaks-free-of-restraint-gear action for this figure.

Playability: quite high. The limbs are all fully poseable, and the right leg even more so because of the twistable lower leg. The neutral pose also helps. The mouth movement is a good extra feature, which most other dinosaur figures unfortunately lack. The leg cast and capture gear don’t add all that much options, but are a welcome extra feature.

Realism: this dinosaur looks a lot like the little Rex seen in the TLW movie. It has a very similar design with its cute little head and long legs. However, this figure is considerably taller compared to the human figures. The juvenile Rex in the movie was about half the size of this baby. The paint job is also a tad different, but not all that much. The leg cast is a bit different because it only covers one side of the leg, but considering the Rex in the movie also had a broken leg it’s clear the designers of this toy watched the movie closely. Unfortunately they didn’t come up with a more realistic muzzle, but this piece of capture gear does the trick just as easy. All in all, this figure is one of the most movie accurate dinosaurs of this toy line, if not JP toys in general.

Repaint: no. However, this figure would be repainted several times: twice for JP Dinosaurs 1, and a third time for JP Dinosaurs 2. The leg cast and capture gear would be featured with all three repaints too.

Overall rating: 8/10. Though the dino damage action isn’t really great, this figure is well done, very similar to its movie counterpart and just extremely cute. It’s not hard to find and can probably be acquired at not too great a cost, so I recommend you get one yourself.