The Lost World Series 1: Ground Tracker

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Rotating gun turret with missile launcher (including three missiles)

-Dino damage hood

-Detachable electronic lights section

-Satellite dish

(Note: the reviewer is not an expert on cars, so any incorrect terms, or lack of detail, should be disregarded.)

Description: the most notable colouring of this vehicle is the bright green with dark grey spots in an asymmetrical pattern, giving it a distinct camouflage look. The front hood, including damage piece, sides and back of the car are painted in this fashion. The underside of the car, including the car’s interiors, like the seats, is painted dark grey, though in a lighter hue as the spots, adding some variation to the overall paint job. At the front of the car there’s a grey framework around the dino damage hood. At the back there are two more frames of the same colour on each side of the vehicle. All four wheels are black with bright green hub caps. The steering wheel is also black. There are two seats, and additionally one small platform on each side of the car next to the seats, providing room for two more figures.

In the back of the car various action features are installed. First there is the satellite dish in the right back of the car, which can be folded out creating more space for figures or accessories. The dish looks pretty complex with small technical details, but these don’t feature additional options. The dish and the platform it’s attached to are painted entirely in light grey. This is also the case with the removable lights section, which is placed right behind the seats and can be used separately from the car. This part of the vehicle is electronic: inserting two 1.5 Volt LR6/AA batteries (sold separately unfortunately) behind the black piece of plastic causes the two lights to shine when the small black button is switched. The lights section is adorned with one black antenna on each side, as well with black stickers sporting the TLW movie logo. Right behind the lights section, in the left back of the Ground Tracker there’s the gun turret. It can rotate in a full circle and move both forward and backward. The black platform the missile launcher is attached to can be raised to about double the usual height. The light grey launcher (same colour as the satellite dish and lights section) sports a small yellow lever on top and has room for either one of the three yellow missiles this car comes with. Pulling the lever causes the missile to be launched, with a range of about 60 centimetres. Right behind the turret there are two small holes, which can be used to store the other two missiles in, diminishing the risk of losing them.

Though most action features are located in the back of the car, there’s one at the front as well. There’s a large yellow button at the very nose of the car: pressing this causes the hood (adorned with a large sticker carrying the TLW movie logo) to be launched in the air with some force, exposing silver mechanic parts with a large yellow button in the middle. This system is put back in place by pressing the button and putting the hood back. It’s designed to make it appear the hood explodes when a ferocious dinosaur rams the front of the car, but it looks very artificial, and not much like genuine dino damage.

Analysis: this is a dam fun vehicle with a wide variety of features. Though the bright green part of the paint job is a bit aggressive, the overall paint job is not at all bad. Personally I would have preferred a darker shade of green, but I guess this will provide for decent camouflage in a jungle setting. The grey parts are a bit dull and could have used some more detail. Of course you wouldn’t want this toy just for the paint job, but for the range of action options it comes with.

The action feature that provides for the most fun is the exploding hood. Though it’s a bit noisy it works really well and launches the hood with force, usually making it spinning in the air. This is an original take on the good old dino damage theme, though it looks too “man made” and not random enough for dino damage. The hood is too symmetrical, there’s no bite marks or anything, like the classic JPS1 Jungle Explorer’s dino damage featured. However, the exploding part makes it all worthwhile. When the hood is off, the yellow button can also be used to launch other things, like small figures. I can’t recall how many times I made Dieter Stark’s Compsognathus figure flying through the air, but it sure was a lot.

The gun turret also gives a new look to a classic action feature. Most cars of the various toy lines come with missile launchers, but few of them can rotate in any direction or tilt up and down and back and forth. This gun however isn’t detachable, like is often the case with missile launchers. Though it can be pulled off, I don’t think that was part of the intended design. Another downside: when there’s a figure on the platform to which the gun is attached, it’s out of balance. The gun and the figure just lean forward then, looking a bit silly. This can be fixed by having the gun resting on top of the lights system, but then it can’t rotate anymore. So unfortunately this original gun turret system is not without flaws. The launcher works fine though; a missile can be fired a good 50 or 60 centimetres with relative force, usually enough to knock over smaller dinosaurs and hatchlings. It’s a good thing there’s room to store the other two missiles, because they’re really the sort of parts people tend to misplace. Very considerate on the designers’ part.

The lights are also an interesting addition. The button activating them can easily be pushed, even when the satellite dish behind it is folded in. The lights work fine (of course depending on the batteries as well), but only in the dark. And I don’t think too many people play with their figures in the dark. Even though they’re hardly noticeable in daylight, the lights are still a fresh option. And though a regular flashlight provides better lighting, it always comes in handy when needed, so it’s a good thing the lights can be removed from the vehicle and used separately.

Lastly, there’s the satellite dish. Though it doesn’t really provide for any action, it’s still a fun addition to the car, and especially useful when you need more room to store vehicles or accessories. The same thing can also be said for the small platforms on either side of the vehicle, providing space for more figures.

Playability: quite high, due to the wide range of action features. Even though some features have their downsides, this car still provides for ample playability options, and is a worthy opponent for any dinosaur figure. Of course, keep in mind this car sports electronic lights, so if you want to keep them working don’t play too rough with this vehicle. Or remove the lights section.

Realism: this is undoubtedly supposed to be the toy equivalent of the Tracker vehicle used by Malcolm’s team in the TLW movie. The Tracker cars (there were two of them) weren’t seen much in the film, apart from Eddie’s death scene, in which he uses one in an attempt to save his friends from falling over the cliff. That car did not feature a rotating turret, but the lights and satellite dish aren’t unrealistic touches given Eddie’s affinity for technology. The colours are also off somewhat, since the Trackers featured a darker tone of green. But other than that, this car is at least a good reference to the ones seen in the movie.

Repaint: no. This vehicle would not be repainted for following toy lines either.

Overall rating: 8/10. A good toy vehicle with a lot of fun actions, even though there are downsides to some of them. Though it’s not really rare, it may prove more difficult and/or expensive to find a complete and/or MIB Ground Tracker, but it’s well worth the money.