Year
of release: 1998
Accessories:
-Survival
Pod
Description:
this dinosaur is a repaint of the largest of all JP dinosaur toys
ever produced, namely the TLWS1 Bull T-Rex. The sculpt has not been
changed in any way. It still measures a good 70 centimetres in length
and stands about 20 centimetres tall. This Rex stands in an active
pose, with its left leg moved forward and its right leg backward, as
if walking. Its head is quite large, almost as big as its belly, to
accommodate its action feature, which is to swallow figures. About
every human figure and most smaller dinosaurs can fit in its mouth
and through the throat, like it appears the monster is eating them.
Afterwards such figures can be retrieved via a slit in its belly.
Most of this Rex sculpt is composed of a thick flexible material, to
give it a hint of realistic dinosaur skin. Omega Rex also features
the same three electronic sounds as its TLWS1 predecessor: a roar, a
snarl and chomping sounds. There’s a button, located under the skin
on its back just at the base of the legs: pressing it produces either
one of these sounds, always in the same order, though when the button
is pressed only briefly just the roar is heard.
The
Omega T-Rex sports an unmistakably Chaos Effect paint job, making it
easy to distinguish from the Bull Rex. Its predominant and most
notable colour is bright orange: most of the creature’s body and
tail is painted in this colour, as well as all of the legs and on two
places on its back. The huge claws on the legs are also orange. Most
of the head and neck/throat is black with large black spots,
including triangular stripes running out of these, on the back and
tail. The last seven centimetres of the tail is entirely black. The
neck is adorned with additional blue colouring which continues on
lines starting above the arms (also blue, including claws) and
running along the edges of the black spots on its back and tail in a
largely symmetrical pattern. The upper jaw features pink spots and
stripes, especially around the eyes. Also, on its back a pink spot is
found, with the button hidden underneath the skin right under it, so
you know where to push to make the figure roar. Omega has huge white
teeth and the same eyes as the Bull Rex, not painted like other
figures, but small transparent spheres, green on the inside with
black pupils. A blue JP Chaos Effect logo is located on the upper
right leg, along with the number .28 (the same number as the Bull
T-Rex interestingly enough).
This
Tyrannosaurus comes with a survival pod, a repaint of the same
accessory the Bull Rex came with. It’s basically a sort of cage,
though not to lock vicious creatures up, but to provide shelter for a
single person. Inside, there’s a human figure (not removable), with
a look of horror on his face. He wears a purple shirt, along with
short black pants, purple socks and black boots. He also has blond
hair. The pod itself sports a silvery metallic paint job. On the back
there’s a pair of purple “wings”, which can fold out, to
prevent the Bull Rex from swallowing it. As with the Omega Rex
itself, no changes have been made to the survival pod.
Analysis:
this stupendously huge Rex sculpt is still very impressive. It towers
over human figures, and dwarfs most other dinosaurs of this toy line
(except for its mate, the Thrasher T-Rex). Its ability to “eat”
figures makes it the undisputed Chaos King of Dinosaurs. The standard
Rex act of eating stuff is carried on in this repaint with its
gulp-down-prey feature. Almost all human figures of the various
Kenner toy lines fit through its mouth. The same goes for a lot of
the smaller dinosaur figures, though not the new Chaos Effect sculpts
with their abundance of protrusions. The figures can be retrieved
through the slit in its belly. It’s a bit of a shame this slit
can’t be closed, since now this Rex basically walks around with a
huge hole in its belly. However, it’s designed pretty tightly, so
it’s not noticeable in an overly annoying way. It might as well be
a black stripe running across its stomach.
The
Rex has three different electronic sounds at its disposal. The button
is hidden under the skin on its back, but is easy to press. This Rex
roars, growls and makes chomping noises (like it’s chewing on
metal, which in the case of the survival pod is true). The roar and
growl are somewhat similar, adding consistency. One thing that is a
bit of a nuisance: the battery holder of this animal is located right
under the back, and is only accessible through the slit in its belly.
However, it’s not easy to reach, making it real difficult to
replace the batteries. It may be the quality of my Bull T-Rex, but
the sounds on my Omega are very loud and imposing, as if their
quality has been enhanced somehow.
The
paint job this T-Rex features is very odd, and on first sight, quite
ugly (though one gets used to it over time). Black and blue don’t
really mix with bright orange (and I do mean bright, as in colour
blindness causing bright). It’s a real shame the claws on the arms
and especially the legs aren’t painted in different colours. The
paint job of the head is quite good though, the pink mixes well with
the black. The pink spot on the back indicating where the button can
be pushed may serve a useful function, but it does look very out of
place. The paint job may not be very appealing, but that’s largely
the Chaos Effect way. Another thing which makes this otherwise great
sculpt look a bit funny is the disproportionably big head. Granted,
this was done to accommodate the swallowing, but it would have been
preferable to make the Rex’s body even bigger by comparison. Though
it’s quite large already, so it would probably get too big to play
with then.
The
survival pod looks a bit like a coffin, which isn’t far off, since
it fits perfectly through the Rex’s mouth, most likely killing the
poor soul trapped inside. However, the “wings” on the back create
a method of rescue, since the Rex can’t swallow the pod when these
are folded out. The pod can be opened, but sadly the figure inside
can’t be removed, so you can’t put other figures in.
Playability:
disappointing, unfortunately. The only poseable parts of this Rex are
its arms. It also doesn’t stand in a neutral pose, which combined
with its size makes it hard to handle, especially for kids. Though
the eating option is a great and imaginative action feature, it’s
probably the only additional playability option. It’s a good thing
this Rex comes with no less than three different sounds and a
survival pod as extra accessory, stimulating overall possibilities.
However, it would have been cooler if the figure in the survival pod
could be taken out, so that other figures could take its place.
Another negative point: once taken out of its box, the legs of this
figure have a habit of slowly shifting inwards, making it hard for
this figure to stand up straight (though its enormous feet are
helpful in that matter). Since this Rex is electronic, you can’t go
around playing too rough with it if you want to keep it in working
order. Basically, it comes down to this: for playability, get the
Thrasher T-Rex; for sheer impressiveness, sounds and eating figures,
get this Omega T-Rex.
Realism:
this figure is recognizable as a Tyrannosaurus, mostly because of the
two fingered claws and the fact it’s a huge bipedal predator.
However, the disproportionate head and feet make it a bit
unrealistic. Of course, for a Chaos Effect creature realism isn’t a
priority, which also explains the… unusual colour scheme. Still,
this creature can eat figures, just like the Rexes in the JP movies
did on a regular basis. Additionally, the sounds (particularly the
roar), are more or less movie accurate.
Repaint:
yes. This Rex is a repaint of the TLWS1 Bull T-Rex (including the
survival pod), which in itself was a repaint of the unreleased JPS2
Gulper T-Rex. It has not been repainted again.
Overall
rating: 7/10. Okay, so it’s not really original, lacks playability
and has a very dubious paint job to say the least. It’s still a
great and awe inspiring sculpt, with good sounds and a fun action
feature, making it a must have for any serious JP collector and a
good alternative for people lacking a Bull Rex. It’s one of the
rarest Chaos Effect figures though and not very easy to find. Ebay is
usually your best bet, though not at low cost. Also, because of the
size of this monster, shipping costs tend to be high.
