Jurassic Park Series 1: Dilophosaurus

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Collector’s Card # 6

Description: this figure sports an interesting paint job, consisting of a large dark line on its upper body parts (around the eyes, over its neck and back, upper part of the tail and upper legs) with beige lines and spots surrounding it for the most part, especially on the neck, tail and flanks. The underside of the animal (lower parts of the throat, belly and tail) are coloured beige as well, at some parts brighter too. The underside of the lower jaw and most of the throat are painted reddish purple, probably as a reminder of those areas being the location of the frill the creature had in the film, but this figure is lacking. Dilophosaurus has additional beige stripes running over the neck, as well as spots on the side of the frill and face. The rest of the figure, i.e. the head (including inner parts of the frill), flanks, sides of the neck and tail, all of the arms and most of the legs, is painted green. The claws are not painted in a different colour. The beast has small yellow eyes with black pupils, small white teeth and a snake like pink tongue. On its left upper leg a beige JP logo with the number .02 is located.

Dilophosaurus is a bit kangaroo like in stature. It’s a slender animal with a relatively long neck, small arms and sturdy legs with large feet. The creature stands in a totally neutral position, but with its jaws open. On its head a pair of half circle shaped crests can be found (with a small bony protrusion behind each of them), the hallmark of the Dilophosaurus and the origin of its name. This figure comes with a “venom” (water) spitting action. Dipping the creature’s head into water and squeezing its flanks makes the figure load itself with fluid. When fully loaded, pressing the flanks causes a blast of water to come from its mouth, with enough power to knock lightly build human and dinosaur figures over.

Analysis: another classic dinosaur many people remember well from 1993 and most kids used to own, Dilophosaurus is a well designed figure, but has minor downsides and a disappointing action feature.

The paint job is quite good though, and very reminiscent of the conceptual artwork used in the design of the Dilophosaurus seen in the movie. Fortunately, this particular Dilophosaurus is not as small as the one seen in the film, making it appear more menacing and sinister (thought its movie counterpart also made it quite clear Dilophosaurus should not be messed with). Also, this figure lacks the large frill around the neck as seen on the film’s Dilophosaurus. Though creepy and cool to see, it was a slightly ridiculous invention of the film makers, so the lack of the frill on this figure is not a great loss (especially because the Electronic Dilophosaurus figure of this toy line does come with a frill, fortunately removable). The posture of this figure is neutral and would help playability, but unfortunately only its legs are poseable. The arms appear poseable at first sight, but sadly aren’t. They can hook themselves around figures and other stuff though, which makes up for their lack of poseability to a small extent. This figure occasionally has trouble standing, since it’s not perfectly balanced.

Given the Dilophosaurus’ behaviour in the movie the spitting action feature is a bit predictable, especially because it would have been an unlikely feature on the Electronic Dilophosaurus (after all, water and electronics aren’t best buddies). The pumping system works good enough, and when squeezing the creature’s belly it does easily spray a water blast, but it doesn’t look really impressive, nor does it cause much damage on most figures. Only lightly build figures, or ones that have trouble standing up straight, would fall over. Others simply get wet. 

 

Playability: not great. The only poseable parts are the legs. The arms can’t be moved, nor can the jaws (meaning this figure constantly has its mouth open). However, the position of the arms gives the figure the ability to hang onto things and it can wrap its jaws around figures’ limbs as well, so it’s not a total loss. The softer material this figure is made off does make it more flexible, but not enough to be a great boost to poseability. Apart from the spitting this figure has no action features. Considering the use of water may be damaging to various other figures, especially the electronic ones, you should use caution and spit at water proof figures only, which decreases playability even further.

Realism: this is one of the most movie accurate dinosaur figures from the first two toy lines. Its design is very similar to the conceptual artwork of Crash McCreery and Stan Winston’s models. It also bears a good likeness to the Dilophosaurus seen in the first JP movie (at least, the parts of the scene where it didn’t display its frill) though its paint job is somewhat different and compared to human figures this animal is much bigger than its movie counterpart. In regard to the latter this figure is more realistic, since Dilophosaurus wasn’t a small dinosaur at all, but grew to be six metres in length. The absence of a frill also adds some realism, since that aspect of the JP Dilophosaurus was invented by the film makers: Dilophosaurus most likely didn’t have a frill at all. Another dramatic invention is the spitting, something this figure does do. Of course, it’s up to you whether it spits or not. Dilophosaurus’ most distinct feature, the double crest on the head, is firmly established on the figure’s head and makes its identity a dead giveaway.

Repaint: since this figure belongs to the very first JP toy line, it’s not a repaint in any way. However, the figure would be reused for the JP Series 2 line (meaning it’s the exact same figure and didn’t even get a new paint job), featuring a different collector’s card and capture gear. It would also be repainted for the TLWS1 line, featuring repainted capture gear from the JPS2 figure. A Chaos Effect Night Hunter Series repaint was planned but scrapped.

Overall rating: 8/10. It’s not the most playable figure, but it’s next to movie accurate and features both a cool paint job and good design. In any regard, it’s a classic dinosaur figure and one no dinosaur fan can do without. It’s still very common, both loose and MOC, and can be found with little difficulty for cheap prices.