Jurassic Park Series 2: Electronic Baryonyx

Year of release: 1993-1994

Accessories:

-One piece of capture gear

-Collector’s Card # 37

Description: this bipedal dinosaur stands in a slight walking mode, with the right leg posed forward and the left leg backward, its right arm extended while the left arm is held back. Its tail leans downward, forming a tripod position with the legs, which helps the figure's balance because it has a tough time standing up straight, even though it also has claws on the back section of its feet). Its head is raised upwards, clearly showing the long snout of this fish eater. It has a small bump on its snout, between the eyes, and an even smaller one above the nostrils. It also has rows of very small bumps, barely visible, running from the back of its head over its neck. Baryonyx is equipped with a snap jaw action: pulling the right leg back makes the head move forward, opens the jaws and makes them snap close with a typical snapping sound, while also releasing a high pitched snarl.

This Bary features a three way paint job. It has a yellowish green underside (throat, belly, lowest part of the tail, upper inner parts of the legs), and is black on top (neck, back, upper part of the tail) with black stripes and spots running over the sides of its neck, the flanks, upper legs and sides of the tail. Between the light green and black the creature sports dark green, swampy paint, also found on parts of the head, most of the legs and all of the arms. Bary's claws are not painted differently. Most of the head, particularly the snout, is coloured light red, while the figure has black eyes, white teeth and a pink inside of the mouth (including tongue). On its right upper leg a yellow JP logo is located, with the number .23 next to it.

This figure comes with only one piece of capture gear, the typical cuff like tag which appears a required accessory to any JPS2 dinosaur. It's painted entirely dark metallic grey (darker than most other capture gear) and is also a bigger side than on the other smaller JPS2 dinosaurs (except for the Lycaenops, which has a tag about the same size). The only place the Bary's tag really fits is around its neck.

Analysis: another relatively unknown dinosaur figure that made its way into the second JP toy line (and seems less unknown these days, though this figure probably didn't have much to do with that), is the Baryonyx. This figure is blessed with an excellent paint job (minus the paintless claws, which is all the more of a bummer because they're pretty big), in colours that give it a jungle or swamp feel. The latter is not unlikely since Baryonyx supposedly lived on a largely fish based diet, so it would have scoured swamps in search of prey. The red on the face seems in contrast with this, but gives the figure a more diversified paint job.

Bary's main attraction is the wonderful snap jaw biting action. Of course, we have seen biting actions before in JPS1, and we would see them many times again (including the basically identical snap jaw action on the TLWS1 Electronic Velociraptor, which was of a much lesser quality because of its fragility), but Baryonyx got to put a new spin on this old routine. In this case it's not just biting, but an elegant motion in which Bary plunges its head forward, opens its jaws, takes a bite and snaps its jaws close, then retreating its head, while at the same time producing a sound. It looks quite cool and it works well, though the jaws open less than they are capable of, so this attack only works on smaller victims, but this includes limbs of human figures (which is what we want to attack the most with our dinosaur toys, isn't it?). The jaws can open separately from the snapping action, allowing for bigger prey to be caught. Unfortunately, the sound is of lesser appeal than the biting action: it appears to be a high pitched version of the classic Godzilla roar, and doesn't really fit on this creature, being reduced to an ungratifying snarl by being distorted like this. A more original roar would have been preferable, but this one will have to do.

Like with the JPS2 Gallimimus (and basically all dinosaur figures, but more so this pair because they don't come with other capture gear), Bary comes with a single tag as its sole accessory. Fortunately it's a lot bigger this time, but it still adds little to the figure, considering it already has a JP mark on its right leg. It's not so small that it gets lost easily, but it doesn't make much of an impression so most people tend to forget Baryonyx actually comes with any capture gear at all and complete Barys are much harder to find as such. Which is quite a nuisance for completists, because this already is quite a rare figure.

Playability: not as good as most of the other JPS2 dinosaurs. Both the arms and the legs are poseable, though they can only move so far because of the way they are attached to the figure's torso. The arms and legs are in each other's way to some extent, they're positioned much too close to each other, also hindering overall poseability. The right leg also works only in connection with the snapping action, it can be posed but it will flip right back and it can't be used separate from the biting jaws. However, the snap jaw action works fine and looks quite cool. The snarling sound doesn't contribute much, nor does the single piece of capture gear (which only works when put around the neck, since it'll slip off the tail and can't be placed on other body parts), though fortunately it's not as small as most JPS2 tags, so it'll get lost less easily.

Realism: Baryonyx was not featured in the JP movie or any of its sequels, so the toy designers only had the real animal to work from. They got the head right for the most part, featuring elongated jaws for catching fish (though not as crocodilian as the real deal) and a bump on its head. It's also good to see they didn't forget the longer claw on the hands. However, the posture this figure assumes is off, its head is raised too much. The torso is too small so the arms and legs are positioned too close to one another. In comparison to human figures, the animal is about half the size of a full grown Baryonyx.

Repaint: no, this is a new sculpt. It would not be repainted for later toy lines.

Overall rating: 6/10. This figure sports a neat paint job and comes with an excellent new take on the old biting action, but has some irritating design flaws and a disappointing roar. It's one of the rarest JPS2 figures and often fetches near outrageous prices, especially MOC samples. It doesn't come highly recommended, but if you find one for a decent price, don't hesitate, because it does have some redeeming features.