Jurassic Park 2009/3D: Dino Showdown: Pachyrhinosaurus Clash

Year of release: 2013

Accessories:

-Dino Damage wound patch

-Gunner Gordon figure

-Machine gun with ammo strip

Description: this medium sized quadruped figure stands in a rather static posture, its legs all neutrally posed instead of hinting at movement. All four legs are poseable though, and pulling the right hind leg back makes the bulky neck tilt upward, the big head along with it, as if the creature is giving a head butt. The head is attached by a ball joint, and is thus capable of being posed both side to side and up and down. However, its range is limited due to the shape of the neck, but it still makes for decent poseability. The lower jaw can also move downwards. On the right flank a dino damage wound is located which can be covered up by a skin patch to hide the dark red muscle tissue underneath.

This particular Ceratopsid figure sports a more elaborate paint job than commonly seen on similar figures. The legs, flanks, sides of the neck, most of the tail, back of the head frill and parts of the head are painted simple brown, while its underside (throat, belly and front half of the lower tail section) is coloured yellowish beige. On the flanks this beige is suggested to gradually change into brown, and so appears darker. The Pachyrhinosaurus sports four stripes of the same beige on each upper leg, while most of the head and frill are painted in the same colour. A large, thick blue stripe runs from the neck over the back to the front part of the tail, accompanied by beige lines on each side. On the neck these blue and beige stripes form a swirly leaf like pattern. At the very top of the neck and back a row of bumps is found, which is all coloured dark grey, almost black even. Three similar rows of bumps of the same colour are located on the frill, running down over the nose and ending on the big parrot like beak. The middle row features a number of horns, including two massive ones on the snout. Additional horns of a smaller size and a more curved nature are found on the top and sides of the frill, with one more on each chin. The head and frill are adorned with a number of blue spots surrounded by yellow lines. The eye sockets, containing small golden eyes with black pupils, are also blue. The creature's tongue is brown, while the claws on the feet are painted black and a large white JP logo is located on the right upper leg.

This Dino Showdown set comes with a black human figure named Gunner Gordon. This military looking character too stands in a neutral pose but is fully poseable considering the ball jointed arms and legs and the extra articulation provided by the upper torso, head, knees and elbows, as well as rotatable hands and feet. Gordon's hair style is quite rastafari, with dreadlocks and hair strings extended at the back of his head. This hair is coloured dark brown with lighter brown highlights. Gordon has a rather expressive, agitated look on his face, along with a goatee and eye brows of the same colour as his hair. He has white eyes with black pupils, and carries what appears to be an orange ear ring in his left ear. He wears a predominantly green jump suit, while his torso is protected by a light grey jacket, along with extra pockets up front and a silver zipper in the middle: this jacket hangs a little loose, suggesting it's removable, but it's not unless you care to damage the figure. More detailing can be spotted underneath the jacket, but it's hard to tell without removing it. Around his knees and elbows he has black bands covered with protective pads, light green on the knees and silver on the elbows. He also has a grey belt around his waist, additional silver shoulder pads and black gloves with more silver pads. He wears black boots with light brown covering.

Gunner Gordon lives up to his name thanks to the addition of a machine gun to this set. It's a simple, long black gun, and it comes with a removable support that can be attached to the front so Gordon can use the gun for taking shots at rampaging dinosaurs when lying low. The gun comes with a long silver strip of ammo rounds, that can be attached to its left side, but can't be pulled clean through it. Gordon's accessories do not come with an action feature of their own. A hole in Gordon's back hints at this gun being able to attach to his back, but oddly enough there's no peg located on the gun itself that fits in said hole.

Analysis: Hasbro pleased us all around the time of the 3D re-release of the first Jurassic Park movie when it let loose this awesome set in TRU stores. Not only does this Dino Showdown consists entirely of new figures, the Pachyrhinosaurus also is a new species in terms of Jurassic Park dinosaur toys. And it's quite a tough looking one too, adorned with big horns on its snout and a huge intimidating neck frill. This Ceratopsid definitely looks more aggressive and mean than any of its herbivorous predecessors, making it a solid match for any rampaging carnivores out for a bite of its flesh! Nevertheles, it can be wounded, as indicated by the triumphant return of an age old, well remembered JP toy action feature, the removable dino damage wound. The piece fits in tightly but is easy to remove and to put back. If the creature lets you of course, since it's equipped with a particular powerful head butting action. Of course, this is a rather predictable attack option for any Ceratopsian dinosaur figure, but it works remarkably well, delivering a powerful blow to any antagonist unlucky enough to stand in its path. It's sure to knock over many figures and vehicles, including all human figures, like Gunner Gordon.

Gordon is a less impressive addition to the set but makes for a good victim for this creature's onslaught. Sadly for him, he does not come with any weaponry equipped with decent dinosaur repelling action features, but at least he's fully poseable and might apply that fact to getting out of the animal's path. Gunner's look is quite interesting, as he's one of the few African-American human figures in all of the JP toy lines, as well as the first with such a wild hairdo.

However, it's most likely anyone buying this set will consider the Pachyrhinosaurus the main part, as they ought to. It features a funky paint job, quite colourful but not over the top, and it's more poseable than most dinosaur figures (though not as much as its Allosaurus counterpart). The movements of the head (including the lower jaw) are quite nifty, though it's a shame the shape of the neck is causing the head to almost hit the ground. It makes the animal appear to be grazing peacecully when not in use, but it can also cause paint wear on the beak if the head butting action makes the head swing back with force. Nevertheless, it's a minor complaint in regard to one of the most imaginative and original dinosaur sculpts yet. Hopefully this set won't prove to be the last time Hasbro gave the JP toy community a pleasant surprise in the shape of a fine new sculpt.

Playability: pretty good for a quadruped dinosaur figure. Though the limbs are not nearly as poseable as those of the Allosaurus of the same toy line, all four of them can be posed. The neck can move up and down, while the head can be posed both sidewards and upwards thanks to the ball joint, making for a good range of movement. The lower jaw's additonal poseability is also a blast. Though the attack option is far from unique (basically an obligatory option for Ceratopsian figures), it works as good or better than on any and all previous JP figures that came with the same feature, making for a powerful head butt that can knock down any small and medium figure in its way. As always, having a dino damage wound that can be covered up is the best way to go, as this figure demonstrates. Gunner Gordon also is quite poseable, more so than any previous human figures, but the lack of action options his weaponry provide is a bit of a downer. Against this angry elephantine animal, Gordon would need more than just a lousy machine gun to keep him alive.

Realism: Pachyrhinosaurus was not present in any of the Jurassic Park movies and has not been done as a JP figure before. Scientifically speaking, it's fairly accurate, though its bull like neck is much too thick and muscled. This species of Ceratopsid is notorious for its wide range of wildly diverse takes on the shape of its head, particularly the neck crest and horns. This figure too takes some creative license in that regard, especially looking at the shape and size of the crest and the big horns on the snout. However, they're not as outrageous as some previous Pachyrhinosaurus figures around: Tyco's Dino Riders Pachyrhino still beats them all in terms of rampant creative freedom over established accuracy. The body's size compared to the human figure it comes with is about right.

Repaint: no. For the first time in many years in the history of JP toys, this is an all-new set of figures.

Overall rating: 8/10. A solid new sculpt of an intriguing species never done before in previous JP toy lines. Poseability is a little less compared to its Allosaurus counterpart, but its attack feature works a lot better and the removable dino damage is always a welcome sight. This figure at the time of its release wasn't hard to find in the US, but was only available there. It has since become more scarce because it was so sought after. But it's still certainly worth the effort of tracking down.

Jurassic Park 2009/3D: Dino Showdown: Allosaurus Assault

Year of release: 2013

Accessories:

-Dino Damage wound patch

-Ash Skullstriker figure

-Bow and arrow

-Sword holder with two swords

-Gun

Description: this bipedal carnivore takes on a neutral posture, but this can be remedied since it sports a score of points of articulation not seen before on a JP dinosaur figure. For starters, there is the attack option: moving its right arm up and down causes the neck to swivel left and right (which can also be done without pushing the arm). Furthermore, the lower jaw and head itself can be posed downward, while the head can also swivel left and right. The arms can move up and down and rotate in a full circle thanks to ball joints. The legs can move back and forth, as can the feet: the latter too can rotate thanks to ball joints. On the right flank, a dino damage skin patch can be applied (or removed, depending on where you started): beneath it is found dark red muscle tissue and white ribs. To differentiate this Allosaurus from similar looking big carnivores like T-Rex, it is adorned with typical Allosaur traits: ridges are found above the eyes and nose, a line of feather like appendages runs over the back of the head and neck, and the back and the front half of the tail and various small horny nobs are found on its back. Such features give a rather rugged, savage look to this particular predator.

This theropod sports a fairly colourful paint job. The dominant colour is blue, which can be found anywhere except on the top of the back and head and on its underside (lower part of the belly and tail, throat, hind parts of the arms, legs and feet) which are coloured beige instead. The top of the head and the facial ridges and various protrusions on the neck and back are covered brownish orange, while the spikes on the back are also blue. On the neck, back and front section of the tail, darker orange shapes are found in a symmetrical pattern with smaller white spots and stripes in their center. The front part of the feet sports the same dark orange colouring. Claws on both fingers and toes are painted black. The small eyes are red with yellow irises and black pupils. The creature has white teeth and a dark pink tongue, while a large white JP logo can be spotted on its right upper leg.

Pitted against this Allosaurus is a human character named Ash Skullstriker. This muscular character too stands in a neutral pose but is fully poseable considering the ball jointed arms and legs and the extra articulation provided by the upper torso, head, knees and elbows, as well as rotatable hands and feet. Ash wears dark green pants, a black shirt and black boots and gloves. The pants sport an empty gun holster on the right leg and a big pocket on the left. This guy wears a brown vest around his torso covered with various pockets and even a grenade on the front: the vest appears to be removable, but is attached tighter than it seems, so removing it might damage it or the figure. Ash has dark grey hair and a goatee and eye brows in the same colour, while his white eyes carry black pupils. To top it all, he sports a black tattoo of an Allosaurus skull and two arrows underneath on his lower left arm.

Ash comes with numerous weapons to defend himself against the Allosaurus. He has a black bow and arrow (attached to one another, so no separate arrow that can be fired) a small black gun that can fit in the aforementioned holster, and a brown pouch that carries a black double sword holder, with a pin on it that can be attached to Ash via the hole in his back. Two swords complete his arsenal, both silvery grey with black handles, a long one and a shorter one.

Analysis: we had to wait for good new sculpts for over a decade, but our patience was finally rewarded when the Dino Showdown packs hit TRU stores in 2013. The Allosaurus Assault was one of this pair, and by far the coolest set released by Hasbro since 2001! Prime attractor in this set is the medium sized Allosaurus, a ferocious looking predator with a number of poseable body parts not seen on any JP figure before, making it a definite break in style with the past and a good sign for future releases to come. However, the new is mixed with the old as indicated by the triumphant return of the age old removable dino damage wound! Fans had been clamouring for this particular action feature for many years – mainly because of Hasbro's fervorous fondness of having their dinosaur figures display large wounds that could not be covered up – and it appeared somebody was listening. The piece fits perfectly on the figure's flanks and sticks on pretty solidly, despite not being embedded into soft 'real feel' skin as on the classic Kenner figures, since this theropod is made mostly out of hard plastic instead. Apart from taking wounds the Allosaurus also can give them to antagonists with his head thrashing action, which also is not a new feature. It works less impressively, making the head and neck swivel a little left and right when the right arm is pulled. It looks better if the animal has prey between his jaws, in which case it appears to violently swing its victim around.

Ash could sure fill the part of that victim. Like his prehistoric adversary, he is fully poseable and looks quite butch, definitely not someone to mess around with. However, his weapons carry no action features to back this up, they're mere accessories. They will not help him if the Allosaurus decides to make a snack out of him, grabbing hold of his body with its vicious jaws which can open surprisingly wide. Despite his tough appearance - and funky tattoo!- Ash really doesn't stand a chance against the creature, ready to have his own skull struck, but at least he looks cool when fully armed, reminiscent more of a G.I. Joe soldier than a JP figure, but that's no problem since dinosaurs don't really care much about aesthetic qualities in their food.

Overall, this is a terrific new dinosaur figure, almost redeeming Hasbro for its lack of care over the last decade where the JP franchise is concerned. It looks cool, moves cool and bleeds cool. Like many recent Hasbro figures it has a colourful paintjob but not as ridiculous or excessive as on the JP 2009 repaints. Still, the white/beige could have been toned down a bit, but it's a minor complaint considering we got such a great new figure at all. Hopefully, Hasbro will continue travelling down the road they started with this Allosaurus (and its herbivorous counterpart, the Pachyrhinosaurus) and deliver similarly awesome dinosaurs instead of once again resorting to needless repainting.

Playability: excellent. As stated before, the number of points of articulation on this dinosaur is greater than on any of its predecessors, making it one of the most poseable JP dinosaur figures to date. Especially nifty is the poseability of the head and lower jaw. Its head thrashing option by comparison is rather dull and uninspired, but works fine enough despite being connected to the right arm. The removable dino damage piece is a grand action feature as always. The only real downside to the Allosaurus is an issue of balance: it has an unfortunate tendency to tip over unless standing quite upright. It's also prone to paint wear: rough play will definitely not make this animal look more handsome. Its human companion Ash is also more poseable than any human figure before. However, his accessories sport no action features of their own other than being able to attach themselves to their owner. Too bad, Ash could have used a bow that can actually fire arrows to defend himself from the Allosaurus' eager teeth.

Realism: pretty good actually. Of course no Allosaurus has yet been seen in a JP movie, and so it's not based on anything directly, but this release is a definite step-up from the only other Allosaurus from JP toy history, the one from the TLWS1 Medical Center set. It's roughly the same size, but sleeker, more bird like in design. It's definitely one of the more scientifically accurate JP toys yet released, representing a rather up-to-date look of this late Jurassic hunter. The typical Allosaur facial ridges are present, while the appendages on the neck and back are added to make it look more dastardly. Its size compared to the human figure it comes with is fairly close to the real deal. Overall, dinosaur toy fans may be reminded of the Papo Allosaurus, which could very well have been a genuine inspiration for this particular action figure.

Repaint: no. For the first time in many years in the history of JP toys, this is an all-new set of figures.

Overall rating: 9/10. An excellent new entry into JP toys lore and at the time a grand promise for the future, this Allosaurus is one of the best dinosaur figures released by Hasbro ever. It looks fabulous and quite accurate and is very poseable. Its action feature (and the lack of action features from Skullstriker's accessories) isn't particularly appealing, but the removable dino damage wound patch and overall design of the beastie make up for it in spades. This set was only released at Toys'R'Us in North America and as such can prove hard to find for enthusiasts in other territories, especially a couple of years down the road. However, it's well worth tracking down.

Jurassic Park 2009: Dino Trackers: Forest Hunter General VS Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 2009

Accessories:

-Dino Claw weapon

Description: this General wears a dark grey jacket adorned with lighter grey spots and shapes and revealing a grey shirt underneath, as well as silver tags around his neck. He also sports a black utility belt, dark grey trousers and black boots. His pants and shirt sport some slight tears, like he’s had a run-in with an unpleasant dinosaur. He has brown hair and eye brows, black eyes and a rather grim look on his face. He stands in a very odd pose, left leg stretched forwards and right leg braced backwards, left arm reaching up and right arm pointing down, as if he's startled by some prehistoric vermin in front of him. He comes with a Dino Claw 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. The Claw is coloured totally black.

The T-Rex stands in an active posture, its head curved to the left and its arms stretched out as if attacking something. The tip of the tail is bent, pointing upwards and to the left. It has small pads on its feet to give it extra support, though it still tends to fall over at times. While its underside (most of the lower jaw, throat, belly, arms, most of the legs, feet pads and lower part of the tail) is painted simply grey, the rest of the body sports a more intricate paint job. The upper jaw and face, neck, back, and top part of the tail are coloured in a very dark shade of brown (which at first glance seems black) with rounded stripes running out of this colour over the flanks, upper legs and sides of the tail. Vague regular brown colouring is applied around the edges of the darker brown colour, while lighter brown spots are found on the head, neck, flanks,upper legs and both sides of the tail. The Rex has white teeth and a red tongue and inside of its mouth, as well as small yellow eyes with black pupils. Its claws are not painted, but it has a black JP logo on each upper leg.

Analysis: JP Dinosaurs 2 might have been able to do without them, but human figures are back for JP 2009 (Hasbro's, unfortunately). A more realistic approach is taken for their paint jobs, as illustrated by this Forest Hunter General and its camouflage army gear (maybe not enough green and brown for forest stealth, but still pretty concealing colours). His outfit looks gritty but fitting on him, much darker than his JPD2 predecessor and his more brightly coloured attire. He retains his idiotic and awkward posture though, which continues to hinder both his playability and his ability to stand up straight. His rocket launcher has been exchanged for what was formerly Alan Grant's grappling claw, still a silly and highly ineffective piece of equipment that looks overly complicated but works very simply (though, generally, not at all). Its new black paint job goes well with the General's sombre new look. The officer has a hard time holding on to it without falling over though, so it would have been preferable if either the weapon was made smaller (which shouldn't have been too hard considering less than half of the thing actually is of use to the clawing action) or the General's overall pose was adjusted, but Hasbro opted for the more simple solution of just not giving a damn.

The military man comes with the same T-Rex whose presence dominates the four dinosaur two-packs of this line, making this its fourth appearance in JP 2009. Though its underside could definitely have used more work and detailing (painted claws and pads would have been appreciated), the upper half of its body features a pretty good new paint job, fairly detailed and original, complimenting the General's darker and grimier new look. Still, this is one sculpt we definitely don't need to see again, ever, and it would have been nice to see this human figure paired with another miniature dinosaur than its original counterpart, for diversity's sake. If they can give him another weapon, they can give him another dinosaur, but it seems we have to make due with the same line-up as before. Which means the General is dead meat, considering his lame Dino Claw is no match for this ravenous little Tyrant King.

Repaint: yes. This set is identical to the Military General set of the JP III line, except for the weapon which originally came with JP III Alan Grant. The General has been repainted once for JPD2, while the T-Rex has already been repainted over a dozen times for Camo-Xtreme, JPD2 and JPD3 and would be used several times again for this toy line. The General would also make an appearance in the Deluxe Electronic T-Rex set of this toy line, with the exact same paint job. The Dino Claw weapon was also repainted for JPD2, and would be featured a second time in this toy line.

Overall rating: 5/10. Not the best sculpts and accessory, but the paint jobs are fairly okay, certainly compared to some of the more zany repaints in this toy line. This set is not rare and can still be found with little effort. Since this set was a Toys'R'Us exclusive that could change over time, but probably not for the next decade.

Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2: Dimetrodon with Military Diver

Year of release: 2004

Accessories:

-Rocket Launcher with rocket

Description: this four legged creature doesn’t look much unlike modern day monitor lizards or iguanas, except for the large “sail” on its back. Dimetrodon also features two pairs of tiny legs (almost dragging its belly over the ground), a “segmented” tail and a big boxy head. It comes with a biting action feature: pushing its left hind leg back makes the jaws open wide, while releasing them makes them close with a powerful snap. The figure measures some 15 centimetres in length and 8 centimetres in height. It stands in a walking posture, with its left hind leg and right front leg posed backward and the other legs posed in a forward move.

The prehistoric critter has a mostly light blue paint job. Aside from its underside (throat, belly, lower part of the tail and inward parts of the legs), which is painted beige, blue can be found all over its body, most noticeably on the sail, legs and flanks. The neck, back and upper part of the tail are darker in tone, and appear more greenish than the rest of the body. A thin green stripe runs from the eye socket to half way the flanks on either side of the body, while similar red stripes run from the neck to the base of the hind legs. On its back, on either side of the sail, a thin black line is found. The sail itself is all blue, with vague green and red stripes mixed in. The figure has very small red eyes, white teeth, a pink tongue and a black JP logo on its right hind leg.

The Diver wears an all black suit, including black flippers, with an orange vest over it, as well as several green belts and silver highlights. On his right leg he wears an orange knife holder with a knife in it (non removable). On his left upper arm an American flag (no stars, just stripes) is found, so this guy is undoubtedly part of the US military. His face is partially covered with breathing equipment (silver with orange filters), though he’s got nothing covering his eyes (brown eyes with brown eye brows). He’s got a black air tank with more silver detailing on his back. He shows signs of a dinosaur attack on his left leg and right arm, revealing skin. His weapon appears to be some sort of missile launcher. It’s coloured in a slightly metallic light brown paint job, with a yellow missile sticking out of it on both sides. Pushing the end of the missile sort of launches it, though it doesn’t work very well.

Analysis: Of all the old JPS1 figures, who would have thought it would be the non canonical (as in, not in the films or novels) Dimetrodon figure that would make it all the way to JP: Dinosaurs 2? And it's not even a dinosaur! This classic Synapsid sculpt remains unchanged and still has a rather nasty bite in its jaws. It's gotten yet another fairly appealing paint job, this time using mostly blue instead of green. It suits him well and gives him a sort of tropical, jungle look. The various differently coloured small lines give him a distinct look, but the sail could have been used more imaginatively, maybe coloured in another style and colour to set it apart from its body more. Also, details have been omitted: the claws have not been painted, and neither has the inside of the mouth. The eyes appear almost totally non existent, they're so small. Overall, it's a unique colour scheme all its own though, which can't be said for the Diver.

The Diver was probably paired with this creature because it had a sail and Hasbro designers therefore thought it to be aquatic. At least human/beast size relations are more or less accurate in this set, which is not the case for the other dino/human two-packs of this line. The diver features the same paint scheme as before, though some of the colours have been replaced with other, but similar, colouration. The figure is still fairly detailed for human figure standards, but not surprisingly so. Unfortunately the Diver carries the same weapon as before, a rather ugly and bulky rocket launcher with a rocket that is launched by pushing it out of the weapon instead of pressing a button. It was a lame system then and is still lame now, while it retains zero impact. If it even hits the target at all, it has no effect: the Dimetrodon is much too steady on its feet and too heavy to be knocked over by the projectile. However, the Diver's limbs look rather tasty for the creature's big mouth to chomp on... Clearly, the Dimetrodon wins the day in a fight in any way, as it is also the best part of this set.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the JPS1 Dimetrodon, a figure which had been repainted before for JPD1. The Military Diver is a repaint of the JP III figure of the same name, with repainted accessories. The Diver and his gun would be repainted again for JP 2009, but this would be the last time the Dimetrodon figure (or any JPS1 repaint for that matter) got a release.

Overall rating: 6/10. This is an okay set of repaints. The Dimetrodon has a vastly different paint job than before and still looks good and bites hard; the Diver is less interesting and his paint job is not all that different from before, while his rocket launcher still sucks. 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.

Jurassic Park III: Military Diver & Spinosaurus

Year of release: 2002

Accessories:

-Spinosaurus figure

-Missile launcher (with missile)

Description: this figure wears an all black suit, including black flippers, with a yellow vest over it, as well as several blue belts and dark grey highlights. On his right leg he wears a yellow knife holder with a knife in it (non removable). On his left upper arm an American flag (or something like it) is found, so this guy is part of the US military alright. His face is partially covered with breathing equipment, though he’s got nothing covering his eyes. He’s got a black air tank with more dark grey detailing on his back. He shows signs of a dinosaur attack on his left leg and right arm, showing skin. His weapon appears to be some sort of missile launcher. It’s coloured in a slightly metallic dark grey paint job, with a yellow missile sticking out of it on both sides. Pushing the end of the missile sort of launches it, though it doesn’t work very well.

The Spinosaurus is positioned in a crouching move, possibly stalking potential prey. Its left arm is raised upwards and its mouth is opened wide. The figure sports a grey paint job, with some shiny blue stripes on every part of its body, including the sail. A large red stripe, also in a shiny paint job, runs from its snout all the way to the end of its tail, including all over the sail. Its claws are painted black, its eyes are yellow and a black JP III logo is located on its left leg.

Analysis: this is a fairly decent figure. The diver sure looks like a diver, though not necessarily military, were it not for the flag on his arm. The figure stands in a rather neutral pose, except for his left leg, which is positioned in a forward move. The paint job is pretty good, with a fair amount of details. I’m not an expert on diving equipment, so I don’t know whether his gear is realistic, but it looks good enough to me.

The same can’t be said for the weapon. Once again Hasbro uses its own launching mechanism, with the push-the-end-of-the-missile system. It’s a rather lousy system anyway, but in this case it just doesn’t work right. The missile hardly flies in a straight line to its target but gets off course easily. It also does little damage if it hits anything at all, it just lacks the necessary impact force. That, and the fact it has a lame paint job, makes it a very disappointing gun.

The Spinosaurus is better by comparison, but nothing great in itself. It sits in a bit of an odd position and tends to fall over because it’s slightly out of balance with its left arm raised like that. The paint job is quite original, but doesn’t remind us of the colours the Spino in JP III had (though it is similar to the paint job of the Aqua Attack Spinosaurus of this toy line). It’s not the best JP III Spino figure by far, but decently enough.

Playability: not great. The diver’s limbs are all poseable, and the more or less neutral pose also helps. The weapon however is a lost cause, and one of the lamest weapons of all the Hasbro JP figures. The Spino is not poseable in any way and also doesn’t take on a neutral pose, so it doesn’t help the playability much.

Realism: there was no Military Diver in JP III. There were marines and military craft, but no divers. Hasbro just made the figure up. I think it would have been better if they had made soldiers like seen in the movie: instead they just made something up, but the result in this case is adequate enough. The weapon also wasn’t featured in the movie, and thank heaven for that!

The Spino certainly is recognizable as such, with its crocodilian jaws, sail and long arms, but other than that it doesn’t resemble the Spino from JP III much: the most noticeable difference is the odd paint job this figure sports which is in no way reminiscent of the colours Spino sported in the movie.

Repaint: no. However, the Diver and his weapon would be repainted for JP Dinosaurs 2 (Dimetrodon & Military Diver) and JP 2009 (while the repainted weapon was also found on the big Deluxe Electronic T-Rex set, paired with a repaint of the Military General instead).The Spinosaurus would be repainted four times, once for JP Camo-Xtreme, once more for JP Dinosaurs 2, and twice for JP 2009.

Overall rating: 6/10. The figure is okay, though the weapon sucks. The dinosaur is decent enough, but nothing too special. This set is not very hard to find in the USA, so if you want one you could probably get it relatively cheap and not have much trouble finding it. It’s a bit harder to get your hands on in some other territories, but still far from impossible to find.

Jurassic Park III: Air Heli-Sabre Marine Copter

Year of release: 2001

Accessories:

-Helicopter

-Missile

-Dino Damage piece

-Pilot figure

Description: this small chopper is about 20 centimetres in length and is coloured mostly green. The front part of the vehicle is painted in a dark metallic green, while the rest is painted in a lighter shade of green. It sports black propeller blades, as well as a dark grey tail piece and landing gear. The cockpit window is transparent green and the cockpit can hold one figure. Right under the blades a detachable piece of transparent green plastic is located, giving the impression an aggressive dinosaur attacked the chopper and did some dino damage. Removing this piece exposes a silver engine with a red button; it also causes a damage sound (which can also be made without the damage piece by just pushing the red button). Two more sounds can be made with this aircraft: first, by rotating the round button on the underside, the propeller blades also rotate and a typical chopper sound is produced. Second, by moving the landing gear on the underside, a firing sound is made, and when loaded, a missile can be launched as well. The chopper is nicely detailed for a vehicle this size, but not overly so. A JP III logo can be found on the left side of the front part.

The Pilot figure is dressed in a light green pilot outfit, adorned with darker green stripes. He also wears black shoes and gloves and a grey belt. He sports an interesting (irremovable) red helmet with black breathing equipment on it which runs to his chest. This breathing tube is detachable from his chest but it doesn’t seem to serve a purpose.

Analysis: this is a good and fairly realistic (as far as I know, but I’m no expert on aviation) military aircraft with some cool options. The sounds are all fine, and so are the actions it can perform. The rotating blades option is an interesting new feature I missed on Kenner’s helicopter sculpts, and the accompanying sound makes it more lifelike. The dino damage piece is a nice addition, though not very original. The firing mechanism used for this toy is similar to the one used for the weapons of the human figures from this toy line, except it works better in this case. The landing gear pushes the missile out (you don’t have to use your fingers this time), but it goes in a straight line and has a decent enough impact force to knock smaller figures over. The firing sound is a bit weird though, but not irritatingly so.

The paint job of this chopper is nothing special, but good enough. Green and black are of course usual colours for military aircraft, so it’s reasonable to assume the designers didn’t want to go all wild and use much different colouring. Nevertheless it would be cooler if they had painted some of the details in different colours, because now it’s quite monochromatic. The colour of the cockpit window piece, transparent green, is rather unrealistic: normal transparency would have looked better. The pilot figure perfectly fits in this cockpit though, but unfortunately most other JP III figures don’t. It would have been great had Hasbro made a bigger helicopter, similar to the ones we actually got to see in the JP III movie, capable of carrying more people. Still, this model is good enough.

The pilot figure is okay, but not brilliant. Like the chopper the paint job could have been better, and a removable helmet would certainly be an improvement. Fortunately the figure stands in a relatively neutral position, unlike most of the other human figures from this toy line. He does hold his arms in an odd pose though: it reminds me of the way C-3PO (from the Star Wars movies, obviously) holds his. However, this way the figure fits easier in the cockpit, so at least it serves some purpose.

Playability: good enough. The chopper has a nice number of options and actions, as well as some good sound effects. Though it’s not very big it’s a cool figure to attack dinosaur figures with, or of course to be mercilessly crushed by one of them big predatory dinosaur figures. The pilot figure is decent, but nothing more. It doesn’t work too well on it’s own, but together with the vehicle it makes a formidable pair. This helicopter is electronic, and more fragile than I expected (at least my particular model is). I suggest you be careful with it and don’t get too rough, because that might damage the electronics and nullifies the funky sounds, which would be a tremendous shame.

Realism: there was no helicopter of this type in the movie as far as I know. It certainly doesn’t remind me of any of the choppers I saw in the JP movies. Nevertheless it looks like a small military aircraft might look, mostly because of the paint job and the look of the pilot. The pilot also looks different from the pilots seen in the three JP movies, but he’s without a doubt a pilot with that helmet of his.

Repaint: no. Neither this model nor the pilot would be repainted for other toy lines.

Overall rating: 7/10. It’s a good model and has some neat features and cool sound effects. Though the pilot isn’t really impressive and the electronics of the chopper have a tendency to break easily (at least in my case), it doesn’t make much difference for the overall coolness of this realistically designed military craft. If you want one I suggest you get it, because it’s a fine model and should provide for some fun interaction with other JP figures. It’s not really rare, but can’t be found all that easily either. You might have to look for it somewhat and it may not be cheap, but it’s worth it.

Jurassic Park III: Military General & T-Rex

Year of release: 2001

Accessories:

-Bazooka-like gun (with missile)

-Tyrannosaurus figure

Description: the Military General figure wears a bright green shirt with darker green stripes, a silver utility belt, dark grey trousers and black boots. His trousers and shirt sport some slight tears, like he’s had a conflict with a small unpleasant dinosaur. He’s very blond and has a rather grim look on his face. The weapon is painted in a slight shiny metallic colour: it can be loaded with a bright red missile, which is basically a stick with a large oval shape with two round holes in it at one end. The Tyrannosaurus figure is brown with some grey tones mixed in, an almost white belly, black stripes on his back and a black JP III logo on his left leg. Its feet are supported by some extra plastic, so it can stand on his legs without falling over.

Analysis: the paint job of this figure is okay. The green colours aren’t very special, but fit a military character. Some neat extra details were added, like name tags and rank insignia, giving it more realism. Other than that you wouldn’t be able to tell this guy is part of a military organisation. The figure stands in an odd and clumsy position, making it a bit hard to let the figure stand up right. His right arm is hanging down a bit, which knocks this figure further out of balance. The tears aren’t really noticeable at first, but cover most of his chest. No skin is revealed, so the General probably wasn’t hurt that bad.

The weapon is not very impressive. It looks rather unrealistic: it has a small monitor screen on the top, maybe for logging onto dinosaurs or something. It also has a large cylinder shaped part sticking out on its lower part, giving it additional, unnecessary weight. It has got one grip at the back end, so the figure can hold it. Though the figure can hold stuff with both hands, this weapon doesn’t seem to be made for either hand. One hand is opened too wide, so the weapon doesn’t stay in place. The other, at the arm that’s hanging down, can hold it: when it does however, it looks like the General is dragging the weapon down on the ground. Holding the weapon with either hand further knocks the figure out of balance. The weapon also features a rather lame firing mechanism: the end of the missile sticks out of the back when the weapon is loaded, and you have to press on it to fire. Unlike the weapons from earlier JP toy lines, where you just had to press a button, this feels awkward and cheap. The missile also does little damage: it gets off course easily and just flies around, so when you try to hit a specific target this gun doesn’t really work. It doesn’t hit a target hard anyway: so far I’ve never managed to knock the Rex figure over with it…

The Tyrannosaurus is interesting. It certainly doesn’t look like a hatchling, but more like a miniature version of an adult dinosaur: the same goes for most of the JP III hatchlings. The colours of this dinosaur are pretty standard, nothing special there. The figure stands in an attack posture, like it’s about to jump on its prey. Its head is tilted up and looks pretty ferocious, one of his arms is outstretched and its tail is slightly curled upwards. The mouth is opened so it can hold a figure between his jaws. It’s a pretty neat figure, but it does have a negative point: some additional pieces of plastic are attached to its feet, so it can stand on two legs. If these pieces weren’t there, it would probably fall over, which would make it look silly. So though it doesn’t look very accurate, at least it serves a purpose.

Playability: not very high. Like stated above, the figure’s irritating pose compromises playability, and the fact that it can’t really hold the weapon very well further diminishes the level of playability. The weapon doesn’t work very well either unfortunately. The dinosaur has no moveable body parts and can only stand in this one attack posture: it might be suited for dioramas though.

Realism: though Jurassic Park III did feature military characters (soldiers, pilots) at the end of the movie, no Military General was there. This figure was made up, and therefore it can’t be judged on likeness. The bazooka like gun wasn’t featured in the movie either. The Tyrannosaurus is a decent and fairly accurate miniature model of the Tyrannosaurs seen in the Jurassic Park movies in both shape and colours, though its arms are somewhat too large for a Rex; in real life its arms were smaller, almost tiny.

Repaint: no. The General would be repainted for the JPD2 toy line though, along with his weapon (see Velociraptor with Dinosaur Trooper), and again for JP 2009, featured in both its own set and as canon fodder for the Deluxe Electronic T-Rex (in neither case it came with its original weapon, but was featured with weaponry from other JP III figures instead). The Tyrannosaurus figure would be repainted a record number of times, twice for the JP III Camo-Xtreme line (with a third one planned but unreleased), four times for JP Dinosaurs 2 and 3, and another four times for JP 2009. Apparently Hasbro thought it the coolest dinosaur figure around, worthy of endless repainting...

Overall rating: 3/10. This figure really isn’t very appealing. The weapon basically sucks, and the General isn’t something one would care for either. The only thing you might want is the Rex. Fortunately this figure is very common, so you can get it cheap easily, should you really want one.