Jurassic Park Series 1: Electronic Tyrannosaurus Rex

(a.k.a. Red Rex)

Year of release: 1993

Accessories:

-Collector’s Card #16 (alternate card (#64) for 1994 re-release)

Description: the first and most classic large Kenner sculpt of the Tyrant Lizard King, and the biggest dinosaur of the JPS1 toy line, measures some 60 centimetres in length and stands about 20 centimetres tall. Like the other large dinosaurs of this line it features “realistic” soft skin, but it’s less flexible this time: apart from its lower legs and arms the entire figure’s skin is composed of this material. Rex’s arms are the only poseable body parts. Red Rex lacks any dino damage wounds (who would wound him after all?), which might be due to the electronics. These consist of a biting action paired with a vicious roar, or stomping sounds. Pressing the left flank makes the jaws open and the creature roar, while placing the Rex’s legs down with minor force causes stomping noises.

This Rex features a predominantly brownish red paint job (hence the nickname Red Rex). This colour scheme can be found all over the body, except for the underside of the lower jaw and tail, belly and throat, which are all coloured light green. Also, the front part of the legs are painted dark brown, while the claws on its feet are black (unlike the claws on the fingers though). The skin is adorned with black spots on the creature’s back, upper jaw, neck, upper part of the tail and upper legs. The Rex sports small light green eyes with black pupils and tiny white irises in black eye sockets. The inside details of the mouth, including the tongue, are painted light brown, while its teeth are white. On its left leg the creature is marked with a large green JP logo with the number .09 next to it. Red Rex stands in a fully neutral pose, though the tail might be bent upwards or downwards due to the way this sculpt is packaged in its box: the tail can be bend in a normal posture though.

Analysis: a classic figure many people carry a nostalgic fondness for, the Red Rex is no doubt the most memorable big dinosaur sculpt of all. Up until the release of the TLWS1 line it would be the only huge dinosaur figure produced by Kenner and thus the only one that would really dominate the puny human figures and their feeble weaponry in the everlasting quest for dominance of Jurassic Park. It is a good sculpt with a damn fine paint job, but it is quite lacking in the playability department since it features very weak electronics that break down rather easily.

Though the system of pressing the button underneath the creature’s skin works fine and makes the jaws open with no difficulty, as well as releasing a horrifying (though not movie accurate) terror scream, the fragility of the system makes it hard to put them nasty jaws to good destructive use. It often happens the system breaks down after a while, causing infamous problems like a Rex that won’t stop roaring or jaws that don’t move any more. Unfortunately little can be done about this. The biting jaws are a nice attack action, but unless you’re very careful with the figure you won’t enjoy them for long. The way to activate the stomping sounds might also contribute to this. Making the creature stomp by putting it on a surface with enough force to activate the sounds doesn’t seem healthy for the inner systems either.

Apart from the fragile electronics and its sheer size, this figure hasn’t got anything to offer. This is a real shame, because it makes sense kids would want to go rough on their human figures and vehicles with a large Rex figure, causing mayhem and chaos as Rex did in the movie. The TLW line applied a more clever approach and delivered two large Rexes, one with electronics (in better condition than found in the Red Rex) and another poseable one without them for playing wild with.

Playability: minor, unfortunately. The feeble electronics won’t allow for much playability since they’ll break down easily, either destroying the sounds or the biting jaws (or both if you’re really unlucky). The moving jaws are a good option though, and a big improvement over the unimpressive biting jaws seen on this line’s Young T-Rex figure (though that sculpt didn’t mind being played roughly with). Red Rex’s jaws are big enough to trap humans or small dinosaur figures them between. Also, the two different sounds (roaring and stomping) do add some diversity. Though only the arms are really poseable, it can be said the tail is too because of its flexibility.

Realism: though it’s not movie accurate this sculpt resembles the Tyrannosaurus seen in the movie quite a lot, especially looking at the head sculpt. The paint job isn’t identical, but not far off; it’s also rather reminiscent of the paint jobs of both the Young T-Rex and Muldoon’s Rex hatchling, adding some consistency to the toy line. Unfortunately the roar is made up by Kenner and not as chilling or impressive as the roars heard in the film (something all JPS1 electronic figures suffered from). The stomping sounds quite good though.

As a side note, some advertisements as well as various card backs of other JPS1 figures displayed a large Rex sculpt which was completely movie accurate compared to this final Rex sculpt. This particular Rex figure was one of Stan Winston’s Rex models, used as a stand-in to show Kenner was developing a large roaring and biting Rex figure. This brilliant Rex sculpt was never intended to be the final big Tyrannosaurus action figure of the JPS1 line (at least, no proof of this exists).

Repaint: being part of the very first JP toy line this sculpt is not a repaint in any way. It would not be repainted for following toy lines either.

Overall rating: 7/10. Though sporting a classic and impressive design and paint job, the weak electronics and inaccurate roar take away from it somewhat. However, it’s well worth getting, also because it’s not hard to come by. It can be purchased at relatively low costs, even MIB if you’re lucky.