Jurassic Park Series 1: Dennis Nedry

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Tranq Spray Gun

-Dino damage arms

-Gas mask

-Backpack

-Dilophosaurus hatchling

-Collector’s Card # 14 (alternate card for 1994 re-release)

Description: Dennis Nedry stands in a neutral pose and is somewhat fatter than the other human figures. He sports a dark green sweater with a brown gun holster over it and a blue tag with the JP logo on his chest. The rest of his outfit, his gloves, pants, shoes and sunglasses, is all black. He has brown hair and a rather arrogant facial expression. Unlike the other JPS1 human figures Nedry comes with an action feature of his own (instead of solely in his accessories): both his arms are removable, as if they’re torn off by some vicious dinosaur. The arms can easily be put back.

Nedry comes with a Tranq Spray Gun. This weapon consists of a yellow sack, which can be carried in the metallic silvery grey backpack Nedry is also equipped with, attached to a gun (same shiny colour as the backpack) via a small transparent tube. Holding the gun in water and pressing the sack multiple times makes the sack be loaded with water. Pressing the sack when filled makes the gun spray water. The pack can be carried on Nedry’s back by strapping it around his upper body. Additionally, Nedry comes with a small green gas mask, which fits over his head.

A Dilophosaurus hatchling completes this set. It stands in a walking mode, with its left leg moved forward and the right leg back. Its mouth is opened and the creature stands upright which its head posed down, as if the creature is staring at the ground. The animal is painted in two different tones of green, the darker of the two running over the top parts of the body from half way the snout to the end of the tail (including the crests on its head). The belly, throat and lower part of the tail are coloured white. The hatchling has small black eyes, tiny white teeth and a white JP logo on its left upper leg. It also has a very small frill, hardly noticeable because it’s coloured in the same green as the rest of the body, attached to its neck.

Analysis: Nedry looks totally unlike his movie counterpart, even more so than the other JPS1 figures. It might as well not be Nedry at all, since there are more differences than similarities between both characters. Still, this figure is cool enough, though its outfit could have used some more detailing because its paint job is now on the dull side. The best part of this figure are the removable arms, which make for fun times when Dennis faces the dinosaur toys of this toy line in close encounters. Since he’s supposed to be the bad guy nobody feels guilty when making some nasty predator tear off his arms (especially since repairing the damage isn’t hard either).

Of lesser interest is Nedry’s Tranq spray gun. It has a bit of a Ghost buster feel to it, such a weird backpack attached to a large gun, spraying some fluid at non human adversaries. It’s not a success unfortunately. The impact of the water spray is quite small, and won’t do any damage to most dinosaur figures. Unless they’re electronic of course, in which case they’re sure to make those fun roaring creatures stop producing funky sounds. A weapon that didn’t require water would have been much preferable.

Nedry also comes with a gas mask to stop him breathing in those toxic fumes his weapon spreads, or to keep him from getting his face wet. It’s a neat little gadget with no additional options to speak off, similar to Tim Murphy’s night goggles. It’s also applicable to several other Kenner figures.

The Dilophosaurus is cute and a decent hatchling figure. Its paint job is cute, though his posture is less interesting. His tiny legs don’t always support him, especially since his tail doesn’t hit the ground, making him fall over often. This of course only serves the spray gun which has an easy target in this figure. 

 

Playability: the figure itself is quite playable, firstly because of the usual range of poseable body parts (head, legs and arms) and secondly because of the removable dino damage arms which make it a good target for combat with carnivorous dinosaur figures. The Dilophosaurus of course isn’t poseable in any way like all hatchling figures. The gas mask is a nice extra accessory; though it hasn’t got a real function it fits well over Nedry’s head, as well as on several other figures. The spray gun is the weakest part of the set and one of the lesser weapons of the first two toy lines. The filling and spraying system is adequate enough, but the spray blast itself isn’t really powerful and won’t knock over most figures, except for bipedal hatchlings (like the Dilophosaurus). Also, the water is a danger to electronic figures and even paint jobs of some other figures, so it’s better to keep in mind what figures you are using it on.

Realism: this Dennis Nedry figure is undoubtedly the least realistic of the original JPS1 human figures. It doesn’t look like Nedry as portrayed by Wayne Knight at all, it’s skinny by comparison. Also the outfit is different and the figure is adorned with sunglasses and a gun holster. This figure looks more like some secret agent than the greedy computer nerd seen in the JP movie. He makes for a nice JP security guard or dino tracker though. The dino damage arms aren’t too graphic: though the inside parts of the arms are red, they’re not bloody or gory in any way. Still, it’s good to have a human figure with damage options for a change: after all, why must dinosaurs always be the victims with those nasty wounds?

The Tranq spray gun with its water blasting makes the figure feel even more like a toy than the other figures. It’s not a very likely weapon to have been used in Jurassic Park. The gas mask is okay, but also doesn’t seem a first priority on a dinosaur infested island.

The Dilophosaurus hatchling has a paint job similar to the other Dilophosaurus figures and not too different from the movie creature either, though definitely simplified. Its upright walking posture is less realistic though, and it’s a shame the two crests on its head have been positioned together instead of separately. Fortunately the frill, a ridiculous invention on the film makers’ part, is hard to spot.

Repaint: since this figure belongs to the very first JP toy line it’s not a repaint. However, the figure would be repainted for the JP Series 2 line, featuring a new head sculpt but the exact same set of accessories (with repainted gas mask), though this time including a Pachycephalosaurus hatchling instead. The little Dilophosaurus would be repainted for the JPS2 toy line and included in a set with Jaws Jackson.

Overall rating: 7/10. Though this classic figure doesn’t look like Nedry at all, it’s still quite neat and has fun dino damage arms. The hatchling is okay, but the Tranq spray gun isn’t very interesting and potentially damaging to other figures. Like most JPS1 figures Nedry isn’t hard to find and shouldn’t prove very expensive either.