Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Air S.A.B.R.E.

Year of release: 1998

Accessories:

-Rocket Launcher with rocket

-Exclusive Dieter Stark figure

Description: this small aerial vehicle basically consists of a flying cockpit with overly big landing feet and rather short heli-blades. The bulk of the chopper is coloured dark green, while the remaining parts (blades, landing feet, windshield, rocket and lights) are all black. On the vehicle's underside there is a small rocket launcher which comes with a single rocket. The tail section of this helicopter ends in a rather big joystick like appendage which sports a large grey button: pushing this button launches the rocket. The cockpit, which sports an all black interior and has little detail by itself, holds a single figure: the windshield section (no windows, so the cockpit is partially exposed to the elements) can be opened so the figure can get in. Right above the cockpit the chopper blades are found (two, not four like the JPS1 Capture Copter had): giving them a push makes them spin around in a decent fashion. On the front part of the cockpit a set of lights sticks out of either side, while a smaller contraption, presumably also a light, is located on the very nose of the chopper; this piece can be tilted up and down in about a 120 degree radius, but this serves no particular purpose. The Air S.A.B.R.E. is equipped with huge landing gear which is attached to the vehicle at the bottom part of the cockpit. Large protrusions stick out of this gear in a rectangular shape, with teeth like serrations at the edges, so the landing gear can hook on to vicious dinosaurs to take them out. This vehicle comes with various stickers for decoration, most notably some with the familiar black and yellow striped pattern carrying the texts 'caution' and 'step', as well as stickers with the InGen and Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect logos on them. There's also a sticker carrying a serial number for this vehicle (G961TJ-12) and two stickers saying 'warning!missile'.

The Air S.A.B.R.E. comes with an exclusive Dieter Stark figure. He looks rather thin, with overly long legs and a rather small head by comparison. He has black eyes and eye brows, white hair in a rather 'flat' hair style and shows an evil grinning expression on his face, exposing his teeth. He's also quite muscular and has both lower arms raised upwards as if holding something, clearly showing off his biceps. He wears a tight beige suit with red highlights around the torso and sides of the legs. He sports big black boots and gloves of the same colour, while carrying orange elbow patches on both arms and a big orange shoulder patch over his right shoulder. Additionally, he sports a red utility belt around his waist and black knee patches on both legs, as well as beige gun holsters on the sides of both upper legs and a console like communication device (if that's what it is) on his left upper leg. Most of these attributes are strapped around his legs with black straps. He also carries three more black wires on his chest though it's unclear what they're intended for. Dieter has some slight tears on his suit, closed with stitches.

Analysis: out of the few helicopters of the various JP toy lines, this is definitely the least appealing chopper. It looks rather odd, more like something out of G.I. Joe than from Jurassic Park. It has a sombre paint job, with a rather military style to it thanks to the dark green colouring. It's not the most successful paint job, but it suffices. The paint job isn't the problem though, it's mostly the design of this chopper. It just looks silly, with the big appendage on the tail and the annoying little lights sticking out on the sides which keep getting in the way of the action, not to mention the huge landing feet it carries around. This chopper could have used a slicker and tougher design to make it look more appealing.

Also, there's the lack of action features on this vehicle. The package boasts a 'heli-blade' action but what's actually meant by that is left vague. You can swivel the blades around, but if that's all, it's one hell of a lousy, cheap action feature. The blades are pretty short and have little impact force when something gets in their path. A similar problem comes with the rocket launcher, which by itself is a rather overused and predictable feature, especially on aerial vehicles. Though the joystick mechanism is pretty neat and not only makes the chopper easy to hold but also delivers an efficient firing mechanism, the range and impact force of the rocket itself leave much to be desired. The rocket can be fired over little more than half a metre, and isn't strong enough to knock over most figures, except the really small ones (like hatchlings) which are not the easiest targets to hit. The landing feet may look odd, but at least they can grab on to various smaller or medium sized dinosaur figures, and can even transport them (though for a light weight vehicle like this most figures are already on the heavy side). It's not sure whether this is their actual purpose, since no mention is made of it on the vehicle's box, but the picture on the front of the box, showing this helicopter grabbing a Velocirapteryx with its landing gear, hints at this particular function. The landing gear and the adequate paint job are basically the Air S.A.B.R.E.'s only redeeming features.

The same can't be said for the hideous Dieter Stark figure that completes this set, and has got to be one of the ugliest JP figures ever produced. It has a totally ridiculous outfit (though not unusual by Chaos Effects standards), being overly elaborate with all kinds of superficial detailing and an awkward colour scheme, and sports a bizarre head sculpt, with a silly hair style and stupid facial expression (for a JP figure at least). This human figure looks more like some anime cartoon figure than being recognizable as a Jurassic Park character. Also, its head and legs are out of proportion with the rest of its body, which also doesn't help. This is definitely one of the worst JP human figures around and makes the Air S.A.B.R.E. set even more of a failure.

Playability: half decent. The Dieter Stark figure has the usual range of poseable body parts, head, arms and legs only (though the way he holds his arms doesn't help playability). The chopper is equipped with a disappointing rocket launcher but at least comes with extra options in its landing gear (though because of the size of the feet this could also hinder playability because it might get in the way of the action). The joystick style of its tail section may look odd, but it does make this vehicle easy to hold. The Air S.A.B.R.E. only comes with a single missile so if it gets lost there's no back-up, but because of its small firing range the chances of it being lost are reduced to some extent.

Realism: realism isn't something to look for in the Chaos Effect line and the Air S.A.B.R.E. forms no exception on this rule. In fact the Dieter Stark figure is one of the least realistic and most cartoonish figures of them all. He also doesn't resemble the Dieter Stark character from the Lost World movie in any way, not to mention Dieter got mauled by Compies in that film so he shouldn't even be alive at all. Compared to the other Chaos Effect figures this chopper isn't actually all that deterring. It at least sports a moderate paint job without flashy bright colours. However, the overall shape and size, even for a single manned type of aircraft, is quite unlikely.

Repaint: no. This vehicle was designed specifically for the Chaos Effect toy line, and would not be repainted for any later lines.

Overall rating: 4/10. The chopper itself is of little interest though there are some good qualities to it, but it's the ridiculous Dieter Stark figure which really makes this set a largely unappealing addition to any JP toy collection. Though it didn't get a worldwide release, the Air S.A.B.R.E. isn't a rare set and can often be found for rather low prices, even MIB, mostly because it isn't particularly sought after, unsurprisingly.

The Lost World Series 1: Dieter Stark

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Two different guns

-Compsognathus 

 

Description: Dieter stands in a sort of walking position, with one leg in a forward move and the other in the opposite direction. His eyes stare mindlessly in the distance. He has brown short hair and is quite muscular, but his head is somewhat disproportionate (i.e. too small) compared to his body. Dieter sports a bit of a military look, with camouflage pants (green with beige spots) and a shirt that has an orange and red spotted paint job. His sleeves are greenish brown and 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 green pocket on his right leg, as well as a black InGen logo “tattooed” on his left arm. His torso can move around to a small extent, in order to accommodate the figure’s dino action.

Dieter comes with two different black 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 provides the action. Since I’m not an expert on weaponry I can’t determine what type of guns we’re dealing with here, but they look much more realistic than the regular weapons the human figures carry. Dieter can wrap the biggest of the two guns around his shoulder, while the other one fits in his hands only.

Another way in which this figure differs from other human figures is that it doesn’t come with a dinosaur hatchling, but an adult. It’s a Compsognathus, one of the smallest species of dinosaurs, so it’s still the size of a hatchling. This Compy sports a mostly yellow paint job, except for the upper part of its body (back, neck, snout, upper tail) which is coloured green. Over the rest of its body there are some vague tones of green as well. A black JP Site B logo can be found on its right upper leg. Its eyes are black with large yellow pupils. The Compy stands in a crouching position with its tail raised upwards and its snout touching the ground, as if eating something. It looks a bit odd in this way, but there is an explanation for this pose: there’s a small magnet in its mouth, and another one in Dieter’s chest. This way, the Compy can be attached to Dieter’s chest and clings to it, as if the Compy has jumped on Dieter and is taking a bite out of him.

Analysis: this figure looks pretty cool, but does not resemble Dieter Stark at all. It’s better to consider it another dino tracker or equipment specialist, since it seems well outfitted for that job with those camouflage trousers, numerous pockets and realistic weaponry. These weapons are also a welcome change from the usual weird weapons the toy designers come up with. They don’t feature any action or anything, but add some realism and diversity to the toy line.

The Compsognathus sports a nice paint job, though a little less yellow would be nice. It would also have been better had the claws and teeth be painted in a different colour, but this will do. It’s a shame the Compy stands in such a weird pose though: it would have been much preferable for this sculpt to feature poseable body parts, especially since it’s the only Compy figure in the line. Better yet would have been to make a play set featuring a pack of Compies, as shown in the movie, but it seems we have to settle for this one Compy.

Together with the Compy Dieter provides for an interesting dino attack action: the Compy can be attached to Dieter making it appear he’s being attacked. By pulling the arms back and letting them go, Dieter can swing his torso around somewhat and push the little predator off of him. It’s a fun idea, but it doesn’t always work properly. The Compy slips off Dieter’s chest easily, so it often falls off before you have the chance of pulling Dieter’s arm. A stronger magnet might have been advisable. Still, it’s a nice and original action feature.

Playability: Dieter and the Compy together provide a neat little action feature. Apart from that Dieter is fully poseable and as an extra addition has a moveable torso. The Compy however does less well on its own, since it stands in a very active and thus un-neutral pose and has no poseable body parts. The weapons don’t add much playability options either since they don’t feature action options.

Realism: as stated earlier, this figure does in no way resemble the Dieter Stark seen in TLW. For one thing his clothes are totally different. More importantly, he is in no way reminiscent of Peter Stormare. He might as well be a random InGen mercenary. The weapons are more realistic and don’t look much unlike guns that could have been used in the JP movies.

The Compy is pretty similar to its movie counterparts, both in shape, size and paint job. He lacks in detail somewhat – for one thing his teeth aren’t supposed to be yellow – but the overall strong green tone and body structure (small, bipedal carnivore) make him identifiable as a Compsognathus.

Repaint: no. The Compy wouldn’t be repainted either, though the Dieter figure and the weapons would be repainted for JP Dinosaurs 1 (Young T-Rex & Dinosaur Adventurer). However, his head was replaced by a different figure’s head for that line.

Overall rating: 7/10. This is a cool figure with an interesting new dinosaur action. It has some downsides, most importantly the disappointing Compy figure, but it’s well worth your attention. It’s not hard to come by and certainly not very expensive either.