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.

Jurassic Park Series 1: Young Tyrannosaurus Rex

(named Tyrannosaurus Rex Junior in European versions)

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Removable Dino Damage wound patch

-Collector’s Card #1 (alternate card (#61) for 1994 re-release)

Description: the smallest of the two large Rex sculpts of the JPS1 toy line (but still about 25 centimetres in length), the Young T-Rex stands in a fully neutral posture. Unlike most smaller dinosaur figures it 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 his skin can be removed, revealing a dino damage wound underneath, showing white ribs and red blood and muscle tissue. The wound patch itself is largely symmetrical in shape. The Rex’s small two fingered arms are the only moveable body parts. This sculpt’s action feature consists of its jaws, which can be opened by squeezing the creature’s neck.

The Young Tyrannosaurus Rex is largely painted in a light brown earthy colour tone with small darker brown stripes running over its back from the back of the head all the way to near the end of the tail, and additional dark brown spots found on the upper legs, feet and snout. Its belly and underside of the tail are coloured beige. The claws on its feet are also dark brown, but the small claws on the hands are not painted. Tiny yellow eyes with black irises and white pupils are embedded in dark brown eye sockets. The creature’s mouth is adorned with nasty white teeth, a dark pink tongue and additional dark pink mouth detailing. This Young Rex sports a large purplish JP logo with the number .06 on its right lower leg.

Analysis: one of the most fondly remembered carnivore figures of the first toy line comes in the shape of this Young Tyrannosaurus Rex. For many, including myself, this was the first JP figure we owned: such nostalgia combined with a great detailed figure with a neat (though slightly monochromatic) paint job and a fantastic dinosaur skin feel makes for an instant classic figure.

This figure comes with two action features. The first is the typical dino damage wound patch, which was found on most larger non electronic dinosaur figures of the first JP toy lines. Removing the Rex’s wound patch reveals a nasty wound, which makes one wonder what creature would dare attack a T-Rex. 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 little Rex, instead of him suffering from a vicious attack by a rival carnivore.

The second option applied to this figure is a biting action. However, these biting jaws are a bit of a cheap action feature though, since it’s only because of the soft material the dinosaur’s skin is composed of that this biting action is produced. The larger Electronic T-Rex of this toy line also features moveable jaws, but in that figure’s case the designers actually put a system inside the sculpt so the jaws open by squeezing the belly, thus pressing a button underneath. That Rex’s skin is made of the same material though, so it can also open its jaws by just simply squeezing the neck. That would be too cheap for such a large expensive toy, but this Young T-Rex apparently needed no ‘real’ action feature. 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.

Playability: decent enough. Though only the arms 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. A note of caution: because of the soft dinosaur skin this figure is more susceptible to paint wear, so if you want to keep it looking pristine you shouldn’t play too rough with it. Still, it’s the only bigger Rex feature of the first two lines that allows for wilder playing, since the large Red Rex with its fragile electronics is easily broken when getting all rowdy with it.

Realism: this figure is an interesting addition to the first toy line. Though no Young Rex was seen in the movie, a juvenile Rex much like this one played a minor role in Crichton’s original novel. This figure seems to be based off the book instead of the movie, though its paint job is not very different from the Rex seen in the film. The small two fingered arms make it distinguishable as a Tyrannosaurus or at least a close relative, but its head is somewhat oversized compared to the rest of its body.

Repaint: as a part of the very first JP toy line this figure is not a repaint. However, it’s one of the more frequently repainted larger dinosaurs produced by Kenner. It was first repainted for the JPS2 toy line in a very different dark colour scheme, and also featured capture gear. Later on, it was repainted as a TLW exclusive figure and included the same capture gear as its JPS2 predecessor. It was again repainted with the same capture gear for the first JP Dinosaurs line. A second JPD repaint, for the second JPD line, may have been planned but was eventually scrapped: details on this supposed repaint are still somewhat sketchy though.

Overall rating: 8/10. Featuring a decent paint job, detailed flexible skin and a dirty dino damage wound, this classic Rex figure is quite a blast. Though it comes with a bit of a lame action feature it’s well worth getting your hands on. Fortunately it’s not rare at all and can be found for good prices easily, even MIB.