Jurassic Park Series 1: Electronic Dilophosaurus

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Removable frill

-Collector’s Card # 13 (alternate card (#66) for 1994 re-release)

Description: this second medium sized Dilophosaurus of the first JP toy line looks like a bulkier and muscled version of the first. This figure is electronic and sports a biting action. When pulling the left arm back the mouth opens and two short identical screeches are heard, which in no way resemble the rattling and hissing sounds this creature made in the movie. Most noticeably, this figure is equipped with a big frill, largely round in shape, with tiny spikes sticking out at its edges. The frill can be placed around the creature’s neck, making it look more aggressive and dangerous than without. It can also be applied to various other figures, though only for fun. Like the other Dilophosaurus figure of this line, this sculpt sports the same sort of double crest with small spikes at the back on its head. The creature stands in a largely neutral posture, though its tail is raised upwards. It has some trouble standing on its two legs since it’s not very well balanced, but making it lean on its tail in a tripod position solves that particular problem.

This Dilophosaurus sports a less varied and simpler paint job. The lower parts of the sculpt (belly, most of the flanks, arms, feet, most of the legs, lower part of the tail and portions of the head, including the inward parts of the crests) are all white, while the rest of the figure (the back, upper part of the tail, most of the upper legs, neck and the rest of the head) is green. Green spots in leaf like spots run out of the green colouring on the flanks and sides of the tail and neck. Most of the lower jaw and throat are red. The figure has a pink tongue, small yellow eyes with black irises and tiny white teeth. Its claws are not painted in a different colour. On its right upper leg it carries a black JP logo, along with the number .11 and the Spitter logo (a Dilophosaurus skull in a circle). The front part of the large frill is adorned with green colours on the inner and outer edges, while the inside is white and sports several red lines and green spots in more or less symmetrical patterns. The other side of the frill is plain white only.

Analysis: after the Velociraptor, a second creature which got itself an electronic figure was the Dilophosaurus with its infamous frill. Unlike the first Spitter figure, this sculpt did get a frill, which was fortunately removable so people could decide for himself whether the animal should wear this piece of fiction or not. This figure is not equipped with a spitting action, which is only logical considering the electronic functions it comes with. It also features several disappointing issues though.

First, there is the lousy paint job, which is much less appealing and inaccurate than the one seen on the other Dilophosaurus figure. There’s too much white and not enough shades of green. The colour patterns on the frill add some colour, but not enough to really make up for it.

Second, there’s the biting action. It’s just not scary or effective enough. It works well though: pulling the arm back does make the lower jaw move down easily, while releasing it makes it snap close. But it’s not strong enough to keep limbs of figures or other things that fit in its mouth trapped between its jaws. Also, the two screeches it produces sound more like a sheep than an aggressive and ferocious Spitter snarling at its prey.

Lastly, there’s the posture this figure takes on. When standing on its legs it often falls down because the tail is quite heavy. The frill does add some balance. Also, the upward pose of the tail looks somewhat odd (like it’s urinating), but makes sense when the creature uses it to keep standing. In that posture it does look more useful for dioramas than for actual playing though.

Playability: decent enough. The best thing is the fact the frill is removable, otherwise it would have been a severe nuisance for the overall playability of this figure. The arms and legs are poseable, though the left arm, which activates the biting action, is a bit stiff. The position of the legs and the tail hinders playability somewhat, making the dinosaur leaning on its tail the most convincing posture this creature can assume The lower jaw can open and close via the biting action. The screeches are a typical electronic addition, but not movie accurate or impressive unfortunately. Since this figure is electronic it would be best not to play too wild with it and keep it away from figures using water, including its regular spitting counterpart of this same line sadly.

Realism: this more muscular and fierce looking Dilophosaurus is a good partner to the more slender Dilophosaurus of the JPS1 line, but it’s also less movie accurate. Its legs and neck aren’t long enough. However, the head sculpt and the frill unmistakably make it a Dilophosaurus. Unlike the regular Dilophosaurus this electronic figure does come with a frill (purely an invention on the film makers’ part, since Dilophosaurus probably didn’t have one in reality), as seen on its movie counterpart. However, this one lacks any spitting actions. The sounds it produces are not reminiscent of the beast’s sounds in the movie in any way. Apart from the frill this Dilophosaurus is reasonably realistic, and ignores the small size of the Dilophosaurus seen in the movie so its size is more or less correct either.

Repaint: since this figure belongs to the first JP toy line it’s not a repaint. However, the figure would be repainted once, for the first JP Dinosaurs line including capture gear of various other figures than weren’t designed for this Dilophosaurus, but were a good fit nonetheless.

Overall rating: 6/10. Though offering slightly more poseability and a removable frill, this figure lacks the movie accuracy and interesting paint job of the other Dilophosaurus sculpt of this toy line. It also comes with a somewhat disappointing attack action and odd sound effects. It’s not at all hard to find, even MOC, and can likely be acquired at low costs.