Jurassic Park Dinosaurs: Tanystropheus

Year of release: 1999

Accessories:

-Two pieces of capture gear

Description: this bizarre animal looks like a snake with four small legs, since it has an excessively long neck and a somewhat shorter tail sticking out of a relatively small body. When neck and tail are stretched to their fullest extent the Tanystropheus measures a good 30 centimetres in length. The creature stands in a walking posture, with its left hind leg and front right leg moved forward and the other legs posed in a backward stance. Its mouth is opened, revealing two sets of grizzly fangs and rows of smaller white teeth. The body and legs are made out of hard plastic, while the tail and neck are composed of softer material to accommodate the figure's flexibility for its constricting action.

Tany's top side is mostly green. While its underside (belly, lower part of the neck, lower jaw and tail) is painted black, the rest of this figure sports a murky, swampy green paint job, most notably on the torso and legs. A series of elongated yellow spots or shapes runs from the snout over the neck and back to the end of the tail, twelve spots in total. Around its small yellow eyes (no pupils) its facial area is coloured black, while additional clusters of small black specks are found between each yellow stripe on its neck, back and tail in seemingly random patterns. The claws remain unpainted. A black JP logo is located on its right hind leg.

This Tanystropheus comes with two pieces of capture gear, both coloured shiny bright blue. The smallest of the two is your average “cuff” piece, which can be attached to various body parts, like the neck, tail, or any of the legs. The other piece is substantially bigger and consists of a long piece of “wire” with a cuff at one end and second one in the middle, and a large muzzle on the other end. The muzzle fits over the creature’s head, while the two cuffs can be put around the midsection of the neck and tail respectively, provided the figure is bent in the right position.

Analysis: another old fan favourite figure is seen once more! The unusual Tanystropheus, though not actually a species of dinosaur, makes its third appearance in the first JP: Dinosaurs line, where it fits in easily. Its neck is flexible as ever, its tail a little less so (since the wire inside doesn't go all the way to the tip of the tail) and it features the same capture gear it was released with previously, in the blue Chaos Effect paint style, which does look odd on this figure; the traditional metallic grey paint job would have been preferable, considering it was used for most other JP: Dinosaurs figures too.

Tany's latest paint job is somewhat more intricate than on most other dinosaur of this line. Though it lacks some details, like the inside of the mouth and the claws, it at least has a differently painted underside. The yellow interacts fairly well with the green, while the groups of small black spots are an interesting and original addition, giving the figure a unique touch. The head could have used more work though. The lack of pupils gives this creature an overly sinister look, which it doesn't really need considering it's totally bizarre already. Because the tongue and mouth remain unpainted, the teeth (not counting the fangs) seem rather random, more like a row of white spots floating around the jaws. On close inspection, some of the teeth aren't even painted at all. A bit lazy, but only when you look really close which most people probably won't be doing. Other than that, this paint job differs enough from the ones seen on the previous Tanystropheus figures to make it stand on its own.

Repaint: yes. This is a repaint of the original JPS2 Tanystropheus, including its capture gear repainted in the same colour as the Chaos Effect Tanaconda's gear. The figure would not be repainted again.

Overall rating: 7/10. This is not a bad paint job, but not significantly special either and like most other JP: Dinosaurs figures, it could have used some more work. The figure itself is as good as ever, though the capture gear is still not the easiest to apply. Since this figure is a Wave 2 release, it is definitely harder to find than some other JP: Dinosaurs 1 figures, but it's worth a try, especially if you don't own any of the previous incarnations of this sculpt.

Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Tanaconda

Year of release: 1998

Accessories:

-Two pieces of capture gear

Description: this bizarre animal looks like a snake with four small legs (which is undoubtedly why there’s a snake element attached to this hybrid figure by claiming it’s got Anaconda DNA), since it has a very long neck and tail sticking out of a relatively small body. When neck and tail are stretched to their fullest extent the Tanaconda measures a good 30 centimetres in length. The creature stands in a walking posture, with its hind left leg and front right leg moved forward and the other legs posed back. Its mouth is open, revealing a set of grizzly fangs and rows of smaller teeth as well as a bloody scarlet tongue.

The lower body parts of the Tanaconda (underside of the tail, belly, legs, lower jaw and most of the underside of the neck) are coloured white. Its claws are not painted. The upper parts (upper tail, flanks, back and upper neck and head) sport a sickly green paint job, adorned with a total of 20 red spots with black rings around them. Small black stripes run out these rings but don’t cover the white colouring. Eighteen black spots are found on each side of the creature’s body between the red spots. The head is covered with black stripes, also surrounding the white eyes (no pupils). The creature’s throat and lowest part of the lower jaw are painted bright red. On the right hind leg a large black JP CE logo is located, along with the number .97.

Tanaconda comes with two pieces of capture gear, both coloured shiny bright blue. The smallest of the two is your average “cuff” piece, which can be attached to various body parts, like the neck, tail, or any of the legs. The other piece is substantially bigger and consists of a long piece of “wire” with a cuff at one end and another one in the middle, and a large muzzle on the other end. The muzzle fits over the creature’s head, while the two cuffs can be put around the midsection of the neck and tail respectively, provided the Tanaconda is bent in the right position.

Analysis: this is a decent repaint of the original green Tanystropheus figure. Though the white underside is rather dull it fits the pattern of unusual colour schemes featured in the JP Chaos Effect dinosaur line. The same goes for the artificial look to the rest of this figure’s paint job. The head’s colouring is quite neat, with its eerie small white eyes and the scarlet tongue, giving this beast a ferocious look, almost vampiric, like it’s not to be messed with.

Apart from the paint scheme there’s not much originality to this figure. Fortunately no changes have been made to the original design, nor does it feature new capture gear. Though that means this sculpt is still one of the more daring and bizarre figures Kenner produced, its original flaws are back too. The animal still can’t stand up easily, since it either falls down because the front part of the creature is heavier than the rest of the body, or it flips to one side when the neck is positioned in the same way it is carded. Also, because of the composition of the flexible material used for the tail and neck, paint wear is always around the corner.

The capture gear is still the same too. The small cuff serves no particular purpose and can be put around any of the creature’s body parts. The large piece does restrain the neck and tail but may cause paint wear. There’s no creature-breaks-free-of-restraints action involved. The original metallic colour of the gear was superior to the new blue paint job, which makes the restraints look too much like pieces of plastic (which of course they are, but it looks less realistic).

Despite these downsides this figure is still quite cool. The neck and tail, paint wear not withstanding, are easily bendable, providing the Tanaconda with the ability to wrap itself around figures and other dinosaurs, as if constricting them during a vicious sneak attack. This makes the figure a lot of fun and more flexible than most other dinosaur figures.

Playability: good enough. All four legs are poseable, though the creature looks best when they’re in their usual position. The mouth unfortunately can’t be closed. Both the tail and the neck are bendable, but it’s better to be careful when bending them, since they’re on the fragile side. Especially in the tail part it often occurs that the metal wire inside breaks through and sticks out. Also, the paint on the rubbery parts of this sculpt are vulnerable to paint wear. The capture gear is okay, but it only adds to the possibility of paint wear. If you want this figure to stay in good condition, you better not play rough with it.

Realism: since this sculpt is a repaint of the JPS2 Tanystropheus, the Anaconda part of this hybrid makes little sense. The package of the Tanaconda shows Tanystropheus to be a lizard like animal with a relatively short neck, but this is inaccurate since Tany did indeed have a stupendously long neck like the JPS2 Tany had and this repaint also features. If it wasn’t for the constrictor attack action (which the JPS2 Tany was equipped with) the Anaconda link would have been nonexistent. It would have been more appropriate had this figure been labelled a ‘purebred’ Tanystropheus, like the Raptor Alpha figure of this toy line was a purebred Raptor.

The capture gear isn’t able to fully restrain the animal. Though it might keep the neck, tail and head in check, the Tanaconda can make a run for it since its legs are still in free range. Some sort of limb restraints would be useful here.

Repaint: yes. This figure is a repaint of the JPS2 Tanystropheus sculpt, and comes with the same two pieces of capture gear, also repainted. The figure would again get a paint job makeover for the first JP Dinosaurs line, though including the same two blue pieces of restraints this Tanaconda comes with.

Overall rating: 7/10. This creature is fun as ever, though the new paint job is fifty-fifty and the capture gear still isn’t all that great. Additionally, the figure is still prone to damage. It’s not really rare in the USA, but can be quite hard to find in territories where the Chaos Effect line didn’t get a release. Ebay usually provides a solution, often at relatively low costs.

Jurassic Park Series 2: Tanystropheus

Year of release: 1993-1994

Accessories:

-Two pieces of capture gear

-Collector’s Card # 45

Description: this bizarre animal looks like a snake with four small legs, since it has a very long neck and tail sticking out of a relatively small body. When neck and tail are stretched to their fullest extent the Tanystropheus measures a good 30 centimetres in length. The creature stands in a walking posture, with its hind left leg and front right leg moved forward and the other legs posed back. Its mouth is opened, revealing two sets of grizzly fangs and rows of smaller white teeth as well as a big pink tongue. The body and legs are made out of hard plastic, while the tail and neck are composed of softer material to accommodate the figure's flexibility for its constricting action.

Tanystropheus features a two-colour paint job, with dark green paint covering most of the upper part of the animal (most notably on the upper part of the tail, back, neck, upper legs and upper part of the head) and a lighter shade of green dominating its underside. The further down you get the lighter this green gradually gets, until its almost beige in colour on its belly. The darker green also runs in seemingly random patterns over the figure's flanks and legs. Due to the different material, both shades of green are brighter on the beastie's body than on the neck and tail. The tiny claws of this figure are not painted. It has small black eyes, and a beige JP logo on its left hind leg, along with the number .13.

Tanystropheus comes with two pieces of capture gear, both coloured metallic grey. The smallest of the two is your average cuff like tag, which can be attached to various body parts, like the tail or any of the legs, but the neck seems most obvious. The other piece is substantially bigger and consists of a long piece of “wire” with a cuff at one end and another one in the middle, and a large muzzle on the other end. The muzzle fits over the creature’s head, while the two cuffs can be put around the midsection of the neck and tail respectively, provided the creature's neck and tail are bent in the right position.

Analysis: has anyone here ever heard of the Tanystropheus? Well, it seems some Kenner toy designers have, because they came up with this awesome figure, a bold and inventive move since it's likely most consumers would never have known about this animal. Still, Kenner released it (the same thing cannot be said for equally unknown creatures like Ornithosuchus and Scutosaurus which were sadly denied a release back in 1994), and thank heaven they did, because this is one of the most interesting and coolest figures of the Series 2 line. It has a good paint job, though with a little too much emphasis on green. Its head sculpt looks nasty, quite dragon like.

Tany's attack feature is his constricting action, found in its tail and neck. Both are fully poseable and can be wrapped around other figures' limbs or even bodies, as if the Tanystropheus is some kind of big anaconda snake suffocating its victims before devouring him. In this case the huge teeth are a bit out of place, since constricting snakes don't have such teeth, those would only get in the way; therefore it's also odd this animal is nicknamed 'Cobra', since Cobras don't constrict their prey, they use venom instead. But since Tanystropheus isn't a snake, the poetic license is justified, more so because Tany can also hold (limbs of) small figures, like hatchlings, with its teeth. Tany's action feature is basically an improvement over the constricting bodies of the JPS1 Coelophysis figures, whose bodies were much too small to be really wrapped around other figures, not to mention their fragility which made playing without damaging them a challenge. Tanystropheus' body is much bigger, and can take on larger prey, but is still vulnerable (though not as much as the Coelophysis figures). It's quite susceptible to paint wear because of the softer material the neck and tail are made of.

The capture gear is very unlikely, since it isn’t able to fully restrain the animal. Though it might keep the neck, tail and head in check, the Tanystropheus can make a run for it since its legs are still free for use. Some sort of limb restraints would have been necessary here. Also, the position of the tail when the capture gear is in use seems very awkward for the creature, and makes it look damn silly.

Playability: good enough. All four legs are poseable, though the creature looks best when they’re in their usual position. The mouth unfortunately can’t be closed. Both the tail and the neck are bendable, but it’s better to be careful when bending them, since they’re quite fragile. Especially on the tail's part it often occurs that the metal wire inside breaks through and sticks out. Also, the paint on the rubbery parts of this sculpt is very vulnerable to paint wear. The capture gear is okay, but it only adds to the possibility of paint wear if you attach it to the figure. If you want your Tany to stay in good condition, you better not play rough with it and you avoid using its capture gear on him. However, since the poseability of the neck and tail is this figure's main attack feature, paint wear is basically inevitable if you want to play with it at all.

Realism: this Tanystropheus figure is surprisingly accurate (though Tany wasn't seen in any of the JP movies). Compared to human figures it's about the right size, and its neck is as long as its body and tail combined, as was the case with the real life creature. The only thing that is way off is the head, mostly because of the huge fangs, a feature Tanystropheus did not have in reality (though it does make him look mean and butch in this case).

Repaint: no, this is a new figure. However, it would be repainted twice. First, it would become the Chaos Effect Tanaconda, and the second time it would be repainted for the first JP: Dinosaurs line. In both cases the figure would come with the same capture gear as this JPS2 Tany comes with, but repainted.

Overall rating: 8/10. A highly original choice, and an excellent figure, though with flawed capture gear and being somewhat prone to damage. It's not the most common JPS2 dinosaur, since it was only released in the USA and in extremely limited numbers in Europe. As such it can be hard to find, often with varying costs, but it's definitely worth your while.