Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Paradeinonychus

Year of release: 1998

Description: this medium sized electronic figure stands in a largely neutral posture, with its right leg slightly posed backwards. It features a rather small muscular body with a pair of huge legs sticking out, ending in stupendously large feet. It also has thin slender arms with long fingers. Its head is about half the size of its body and carries a distinctive short crest and a somewhat duck like mouth with large nostrils above. On either feet a toe stands upright, sporting a large sickle shaped claw. Its tail is quite short, mostly due to the fact that it’s incomplete. Part of it has been bitten off, so the tail ends in a dino damage wound, revealing red blood. The tail is also the basis of the attack option this creature is equipped with. Pulling it makes the arms move up as if clawing at prey, while the mouth opens, showing a large dark pink tongue and white teeth. Additionally, twisting the tail around makes the neck (and thus the head) do likewise. When the tail is pulled back, a gnarly attack scream, reminiscent of both dogs and birds, is heard.

Triangles seem to be the fashion in this creature’s case. Triangular shapes can be found in various body parts, including the claws, hands and head. Most obviously it is seen in the paint job. The beast’s primary colour is bright yellow, which is found on the entire underside of the figure (arms, legs, belly, flanks, tail, lower jaw/lower part of the upper jaw, throat, feet). A large purple spot runs from the neck all the way over the back to the end of the tail (at least, the end as it is now because of the wound), with a total of 12 triangular broad stripes running from this spot over the flanks, tail, neck and legs on either side of the body. The purple spot is entirely surrounded by a thin black line, which ends right above the wound on the tail and starts at the back of the head. The head itself is mostly black but for a few stretches of yellow and one blue spot (again triangular) around each orange eye, and a third on the underside of the crest. Two black spots can be found on either flank and both upper legs. The claws on both hands and feet are also black. A blue JP Chaos Effect logo is located on the left upper leg, with the number .54 alongside it.

This figure does not come with any accessories.

Analysis: this figure is not at all bad, but has several minor problems which make it less of a success. Aside from that, the paint job is just plain ugly. There’s an abundance of yellow and combined with triangular purple colouring this makes for an abominable colour scheme. The head, sporting a somewhat darker and grittier paint job, is more appealing.

The design of this monster is fifty-fifty. The bizarre carnivorous duck billed dinosaur’s head and the long slender arms and skinny body are quite effective in establishing this creature being a hybrid of herbivorous and carnivorous DNA, but the overly large legs and feet (which also make the figure rather heavy), in combination with the colourful paint scheme, make it look somewhat silly. Also, the dino damage on the tail is inventive, but it’s a shame it can’t be covered up (foreshadowing Hasbro’s reign of terror on the dino damage wound front).

The attack option is quite diverse, causing motion in the arms, mouth and even neck while producing eerie and aggressive screams. It’s interesting to see an action feature work on various levels like this, but it also has a downside in this figure’s case. The arms can only be posed in a limited range of positions. When they’re moved too far upwards, they hit the mouth when the tail is pulled, making it look like the Paradeinonychus is making funny faces to people. When the arms are moved downwards, it looks like they make swimming motions (which isn’t too unlikely considering the webbed fingers it features, as if it’s an aquatic animal). The most appealing way to position the arms for me is to keep one arm lifted up and the other one down. Twisting the head then makes the upward claw barely miss the mouth.

All in all, this figure suffers from several small design flaws, next to the horrific paint job of course. It could have been better, but now it’s at least adequate.

Playability: quite good. Paradeinonychus has poseable arms and legs. The arms are part of the attack option so they can only be positioned in a limited range of postures. The mouth, also part of the action feature, can be opened though it snaps right back. The neck can be twisted around by pulling the tail, adding additional poseability. The dino damage on the tail can’t be covered up unfortunately, but it’s not a huge nuisance. Keep in mind this is an electronic figure, so don’t play too rough with it if you want the neat sounds and attack options to stay in working order.

Realism: another dinosaur specifically made up for this particular toy line, it obviously never existed for real. Its design clearly betrays the origins of its DNA mixture, showing features of both the large herbivorous Parasaurolophus and the smaller agile predator Deinonychus. The animal’s size, and particularly the crest on its head reveal the Parasaurolophus part of this hybrid, while the slender body, thin arms, aggressive look and large claws (especially the sickle shaped ones on the feet) make it very clear there’s some small pack hunting predator involved. In the latter case the features don’t solely point to Deinonychus, since they apply to a range of smaller carnivores, including various Dromaeosaurids like the infamous Velociraptor. Still, it’s obvious this creature combines features of a large herbivore and a small and agile carnivore.

Repaint: no. Being an original sculpt made for this toy line, it would not be repainted for following toy lines either.

Overall rating: 7/10. It’s a good new sculpt, but it suffers from minor downsides, including attack action problems, overly cumbersome legs and a horrible paint job. Still, the funky sounds, fine playability and diverse attack options make this figure good enough. It’s not always easy to find, especially in areas where it wasn’t released, but can be found fairly easily on eBay.

The Lost World Series 2: Ajay

Year of release: 1997-1998

Accessories:

-Heavy Strike Weapons Pack, including detachable missile launcher and two missiles

-Gun

-Parasaurolophus hatchling

Description: Ajay stands in a largely neutral pose, except for his right leg which is moved slightly forwards. He sports an almost military outfit, namely a light grey shirt with a black vest and dark grey straps over it, brown gloves, grey pants with light grey stripes in an asymmetrical pattern suggesting camouflage on them, and black boots. He also has a pair of black sunglasses on. He has absolutely no facial expression, a bald forehead, and black hair on the back of his head. He’s got some detailing on his pants, though it’s hardly noticeable because it’s coloured in the same grey as the pants themselves: on his left leg he’s got one pocket, while on his right leg he has a knife as well as some damage to his pants, indicating he’s had a near miss with some ferocious vermin.

Ajay comes with some impressive looking weaponry. First, he owns a small gun (I’m no expert on guns so don’t ask me what type of gun it is), coloured grey. It doesn’t do anything, it’s just an additional gadget. Second, he sports a large backpack, labelled a Heavy Strike Weapons Pack (I’ll abbreviate it to HSWP). It’s basically a pack carrying a missile launcher, enabling the user to keep his hands free to carry other stuff. The HSWP, sporting an entirely black paint job, looks pretty sophisticated and detailed, but works fairly simple. It can be pinned to Ajay’s back (he’s got a hole there for this purpose). The rocket launcher can move up and down, in about a 100 degree angle: it can also be detached to be used separately from the pack. The launcher comes with two different grey missiles (same colour as the gun), and can hold one of them at a time. The other can be stored in a hole in the pack when it’s not used: the hole also fits both missiles simultaneously. By pressing the button on top of the pack a missile is launched with a decent enough force, over a distance of about half a metre. Interesting little detail, the gun can be pinned on a pin on the right end of the launcher.

Ajay’s reptilian companion is a Parasaurolophus hatchling, according to the package. However, it misses Parasaurolophus’ most recognizable attribute: the horn on his head. Instead, this creature sports a crest. This hatchling stands in an active pose, looking over its shoulder and its left arm raised, while in a walking posture. It is painted beige for the most part, and sports a large yellow stripe all the way from the snout to the end of the tail, also running over the top of the crest. The sides of the crest are coloured bright red. The dinosaur has small black eyes, as well as a black JP: Site B logo on its left upper leg.

Analysis: though this is quite a fun figure, it’s a bit over the top. Ajay himself looks almost nothing like the Ajay seen in the movie, except for the head sculpt. He’s way more muscular and looks more like a special forces commando than a game scout. However, if you leave realism aside this is a pretty butch figure with a good paint job, though it’s a shame the knife and damage to his pants aren’t painted in a different colour. He would have looked more badass with skin or blood underneath the torn parts of his trousers.

His accessories establish him to be a character not to be messed with. His gun, though pretty monochromatic and lacking some detail, makes him look dangerous. The same goes for the HSWP, though this too looks a bit unrealistic, but it works fine. It can be pinned to Ajay’s back easily and fights tightly so it doesn’t fall off (unlike with Nick van Owen’s Catcher Pack for example). The launcher can be posed in various angles and can even be detached from the pack, increasing flexibility and playability of the pack. The missile firing mechanism works perfectly, though the impact force isn’t too great. It’s sure to knock over hatchlings like the Para, but has a harder time doing damage to bigger targets. The storage hole on the back of the pack is a handy detail, though when there’s only one missile in there, it hangs a bit loose. It’s a nice little detail to see the gun can be attached to the pack as well, though it doesn’t really seem to have a purpose.

The hatchling is the only real disappointment of this set. It sports a boring paint job and stands in an awkward pose. Also, it doesn’t look like a Parasaurolophus at all, but rather a different species of Hadrosaur. It also has trouble standing on its feet.

Playability: good for the most part. Ajay has no action features himself, like his fellow Evil Hunters Peter Ludlow and Dieter Stark, but has the usual range of poseable body parts. The HSWP provides for the action of this set. The storage for the missiles and the capability of detachment of the launcher make for greater playability. The launcher itself works fine as well. Like other hatchlings, the Parasaurolophus has no poseable body parts, while its annoying stance further diminishes playability options.

Realism: not much. Ajay (his last name being Sidhu by the way, though the card doesn’t mention this) looks very different from the Ajay character in the movie (played by Harvey Jason), both in body shape and choice of clothing. The head sculpt resembles the movie character somewhat, though in the film he wore regular glasses, not sunglasses. Additionally, he didn’t sport a gun like this, nor a HSWP or any other missile launchers (which weren’t featured in the TLW movie anyway).

Like stated above, the Parasaurolophus doesn’t resemble a real Para or its movie counterpart much. Though the body isn’t far off, and even the paint job is somewhat reminiscent of the paint job of the Para seen in the movie and the TLWS1 Parasaurolophus figure (though simplified and less detailed), it’s the head that’s totally wrong. This figure sports a crest instead of Para’s iconic “horn” (probably used for communication and mating rituals). This hatchling looks more like a Corythosaurus, a related Hadrosaur that did indeed have a crest, though shaped somewhat differently. Incidentally, Corythosaurs were seen in JP III, in a herd that also included Parasaurolophus. But that particular detail doesn’t make this figure more accurate.

Repaint: no. The hatchling would not be repainted either. However, Ajay’s body would be repainted two times for the first JP Dinosaurs line, once as a Dinosaur Trainer (for the Pachycephalosaurus with Dinosaur Trainer set, including a repaint of the HSWP and the gun) as well as a Dinosaur Hunter (for the Stegosaurus with Dinosaur Hunter set). In both cases, the figure would sport a different head sculpt. Ajay’s own head would not be featured in later toy lines, repainted or otherwise.

Overall rating: 8/10. Ajay himself is a badass figure, never mind realism. The HSWP is a fun new weapon and works fine, and the gun is a neat little extra gadget. The hatchling is a bit of a failure though. Unfortunately, this figure is rare and not easy to find. Be prepared to deal with higher than usual prices when you encounter it. However, it’s worth it, if you can stand lousy hatchlings and are also interested in human figures.

The Lost World Series 1: Electronic Parasaurolophus

Year of release: 1997

Accessories: none

Description: due to the position of the legs caused by the inflexible action feature (more about that later in this review) this animal stands in an active pose, as if it’s running. Apart from that it’s positioned in a totally neutral pose. The head, adorned with a bizarre crest at the back, seems a bit small compared to the rest of the body, but it’s pretty accurate regardless. Pushing the button on this creature’s back makes the head move back and forth and produces sounds.

The figure is covered in a mostly beige paint job, with its underside (belly, inner arms and legs, lower part of the tail, throat) coloured white. The head and neck sport red colours, with four long dark brown lines stretching from the back of the head all the way to the tip of the tail, stopping only around the button on its back. Additionally, spots and stripes of the same dark colour adorn the back of the upper legs as well as part of the lower legs, the arms and two fingers on each hand. The claws on each finger (8 in total) and toe (three on each foot) are painted brown. The beautiful crest on its head, which basically starts at the upper jaw, is coloured in an almost shiny variant of the aforementioned dark brown colour, with three beige stripes on top of it. A black JP: Site B logo is found on the right upper leg, along with the number .19. Its eyes are totally black.

Analysis: next to the disappointing Electronic Spinosaurus and the various repaints in the TLWS1 toy line, this wonderful sculpt once again proves Kenner hasn’t lost its touch at designing great dinosaur sculpts. This is without a doubt one of the best models in this toy line and a great addition to the range of herbivorous dinosaur species made for the JP toy lines. Though a hatchling Parasaurolophus was made for the JPS2 toy line, an adult model wasn’t created (unlike for most hatchlings of the two JP toy lines). This model redeems that error on Kenner’s part, with a vengeance.

The paint job is quite good and very reminiscent of the Parasaurolophus’ look in the TLW movie. It’s also pretty large, even for a medium sized model; considering the sizes Paras grew to in reality this is good, because the figure looks more impressive and realistic compared to human figures. The sounds produced by pushing the button on its back are also similar to the sounds these dinosaurs made in the movie, though a bit more simple. They’re a bit like the mooing of cows; a not too bad analogy, since these creatures where basically the cows of the Cretaceous period.

This sculpt features a dinosaur strike action labelled a ‘leg kick action’. However, when activated, it looks more like the dinosaur is running. This makes sense, since it’s probably what any Parasaurolophus would do in real life when confronted with a ferocious predator. It’s a fun feature, identical to the one the JPS2 Electronic Gallimimus sported. However, it comes with a major downside: unlike with the Gallimimus the legs aren’t poseable to such a degree that the figure can assume different postures with them. When moved and released the legs will swing right back, which also hinders the dinosaur’s ability to stand up, and makes it fall down easily. A shame, since it’s the only real flaw this otherwise great sculpt has.

Playability: though the legs of this figure are poseable, they move right back because of the action feature, which also doesn’t allow this figure to stand up easily. However, the arms don’t have this problem and can move about ninety degrees; the design of the body doesn’t allow them to be posed any further. Unlike most dinosaur figures, the head is also moveable and can be twisted in a full circle (though why anyone would do that I don’t know). This figure is of course electronic, so don’t play too rough with it if you want to keep those neat sounds working. All in all, the playability of this dinosaur isn’t that great, but for such a fine sculpt I’d say it’s acceptable.

Realism: this is one of Kenner’s most movie accurate and realistic sculpts. The people creating this baby definitely based it on the concept art and design models of the TLW movie. In fact, I’ve seen model pictures made for the film that show a Parasaurolophus model with the exact same pose and detail as this one. A good move on Kenner’s part, something I wish they had done for more of their toy sculpts. The paint job is similar to the colour pattern the Parasaurolophus in the movie featured, except less detailed (it’s a toy after all).

It’s also quite realistic compared to the scientists’ view of Parasaurolophus, though it’s a bit small: Paras grew to be almost as big as T-Rex. It’s arms may be a bit on the small side, since Parasaurolophus also used them for walking on (so they’re legs too to a certain extent): they weren’t used for running though, something this sculpt is good at. Additionally, it’s also nice to see this figure’s paint job being quite similar to the one the JPS2 Parasaurolophus baby (Tim Murphy’s hatchling) featured, adding some consistency between toy lines.

Repaint: no. This figure would not be repainted for later toy lines either.

Overall rating: 8/10. Great sculpt, nigh total movie accuracy, fine paint job and fun action feature. The only thing really bugging me is the position of the legs and the fact it makes this figure fall over more easily (it’s even causing slight paint wear!). Still, this dinosaur is definitely worth getting your hands on, though it’s not the easiest one to find and may prove more expensive.

Jurassic Park Series 2: Tim Murphy

Year of release: 1993-1994

Accessories:

-Retracting Snare

-Night Goggles

-Cage

-Parasaurolophus hatchling

-Collector’s Card # 54 

 

Description: Tim stands in a largely neutral pose, though his lower right arm is raised a bit, and his left leg is moved to his side, making him take on a relaxed stance. Tim’s hair, eyes and eyebrows are all painted in the same shade of light brown. He wears a yellow T-shirt with a blue collar. Around his chest he carries a (non removable) dark brown utility belt, while a light blue JP tag is found under this belt on the right side of the chest. He has bright blue pants on and wears white sport shoes and socks. His facial expression is rather goofy.

Tim comes with a retracting snare, which is basically a long red tube with a handle on the lower back side so the figure can hold it. A black string runs through the snare, attached to a removable red piece at the very end of the tube. The string can be roped around a creature’s limbs or neck after which pulling the red end backwards makes the noose tighten, thus trapping the creature. If the creature in question is small enough it might fit into the cage (coloured shiny metallic silver), though it was designed for the Brachiosaurus hatchling from the first toy line (but needless to say the new Parasaurolophus hatchling also fits in nicely). It has a hole in it for little captive dinosaurs to stick their neck out, but in some cases this might provide a means of escape. The cage can be opened and closed, but doesn’t spring open on its own accord. Tim also comes with night goggles, coloured all dark grey. They can be placed around his head, though it doesn’t always stay in place.

The Parasaurolophus hatchling stands up tall in a rather awkward and scientifically outdated way, as if it's one of those old pictures where you see a bipedal dinosaur standing up straight and dragging its tail on the ground. This tail is rather short and stumpy, as if it's partially broken off. On closer inspection, this hatchling sports more skin detail than most other JPS1/2 hatchlings. It has a small, gentile face and its head ends in a typical Hadrosaur crest. The paint job is largely light grey, with a brown stripe running from the tip of the nose over the neck and back to the end of the tail and smaller brown stripes running out of the larger one. Additionally, a thick purple stripe runs over its snout and crest. The creature has small yellow eyes with tiny blue irises, and a black JP logo on its left upper leg.

Analysis: like the other retooled JPS1 figures, there's not much new about this figure and the rest of the set. The new colours of Tim's outfit aren't very imaginative, and not very pleasant to look at either, though that's a matter of perspective. The new head sculpt which is supposed to look more like Joseph Mazello, isn't much of an improvement over the previous Tim figure in that regard, and the goofy look on this figure's face doesn't help either. Tim's accessories are identical to those from his JPS1 counterpart; no new paints jobs have been added. The muzzle remains a rather dull instrument, but the goggles and cage are still fun extra gadgets.

That leaves the new hatchling, the Parasaurolophus. It has definite pros and cons. The paint job and skin texture isn't bad for a hatchling, and the head looks pretty good with the extra colour scheme on the crest. The plump body is understandable for a baby dinosaur, but the tail is downright ridiculous: it looks deformed. It appears the main reason for this is the fact that it supports the figure, like a third leg, so it can stand in a tripod pose. Little Para fits in Tim's cage, but he sticks out somewhat, like he should have little difficulty from jumping out. It's clear the cage wasn't designed for this figure specifically.

Playability: same as JPS1 Tim. Tim has both poseable arms and legs and can move his head around. The snare does its job, though it doesn’t provide for as much action as most of the other weapons in this toy line. The night goggles and cage are mere extra gadgets, but quite neat. Like all hatchling figures, the little Para offers no poseability.

Realism: Tim still doesn’t resemble his movie counterpart (played by Joseph Mazello) much, whatever the toy designers had in mind. Nor does his new colour scheme make him look more like the boy in the film.

The retracting snare wasn’t featured in the movie, but is not an unrealistic piece of equipment. It looks somewhat similar to snares used by the InGen hunters in the TLW movie. The cage also seems a plausible instrument to contain small dinosaurs, but it too wasn’t seen in the film. The night goggles were of course featured in the first JP movie, but weren’t this monochromatic. Still, a nice extra gadget to tie in to the movie.

Parasaurolophus was very briefly seen in the first movie, in the scene were Grant and co. first encounter the Brachiosaurus. Sadly, neither Brachiosaurus nor Parasaurolophus have adult figures in the JPS1/2 toy lines, which seems to be a trademark for species that come with Tim Murphy figures. But in Para's case, this oversight would be corrected in the TLWS1 line which did feature an adult Parasaurolophus figure, which (coincidentally?) sported a paint job quite similar to this hatchling.

Repaint: like stated above, this figure is a retooled JPS1 Tim Murphy: new paint job, head sculpt, and hatchling, but other than that identical. Neither Tim nor any of his accessories would be featured in later toy lines.

Overall rating: 6/10. New, but not improved. There's nothing more appealing in this set than in the previous Tim Murphy set. It still has some arguments in its favour (cage, goggles, cute hatchling), but is overall rather bland. Unless you're a completist, you needn't bother with this set if you already own a JPS1 Tim. Especially since JPS2 Tim is one of the rarer JPS2 human figures and can be difficult (and/or costly) to get your hands on, more so in territories were it lacked a release.