The Lost World Series 1: Net Trapper Off-Road Vehicle

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Detachable missile launcher (including missile)

-Dino damage piece

-Net

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

Description: this vehicle is a basic four wheel jeep used for catching dinosaurs in ‘high speed chases’. It has a slight military look to it, given the largely beige paint job with dark green frameworks and a large gun on top. It has two detachable orange sets of lights, one on the top of the front windshield and another on the upper green frames, as well as two lights on the front left and right of the car and two red ones on the back end. The green framework provides a sort of roof for the car and figures can hold on to it. An additional detachable piece of framework runs on the front, also making up part of the windshield. The inside of the jeep, seats and console, are coloured in the same dark green as the frames. The wheels are black as is the missile launcher, while the rest of the car sports a beige paint job with orange highlighting (lamps, net frame and arm, button on the missile launcher and missile, inner parts of the driving section).

The car provides room for three action figures, two in the seats, and one in the back holding on to the gun. The right seat is retractable and can move outward, making potential room for a fourth figure. On the right front part of the vehicle, a small piece of dino damage is located, though other parts of the car can come loose as well, creating additional dino damage. The gun is detachable too, and can also be attached to other parts of the framework. Pressing the orange button on the gun causes the missile to be fired, with a relatively short firing distance of about 40-50 centimetres. On the right side of the jeep an orange crane arm is positioned, with a large black net held together by an orange framework attached to it. The net can be rotated in both directions, and is big enough to trap most small and even medium sized dinosaur figures. On both sides of the jeep a sticker is found with the TLW movie logo on it.

Analysis: this is a fine addition to the range of vehicles of the JP toy lines. It’s somewhat smaller than most cars, roughly the same size as the JPS1 Bush Devil Tracker. The paint job is quite good, though not very detailed. The orange highlights conflict somewhat with the more natural colours used for this car; it would have been better looking had they used a different colour. Still, it looks butch and even realistic by toy standards (apart from the slightly goofy net sticking out of its right side).

The Net Trapper provides for a decent range of playability options, most of them unfortunately used before on other vehicles (and used again for later toy lines too). First of all, there’s the missile launcher, which seems to be an obligatory part of any JP vehicle. Though it looks good, and can be detached and rotated 360 degrees, its firing range is quite limited: usually about 30 centimetres, 50 at best. Also, it’s not fired with much force, so it does little damage on impact. Still, it’ll knock over most hatchlings and even smaller dinosaur figures if you’re lucky

Second of all, there’s the dino damage piece, also found on almost every vehicle. Compared to the other pieces of dino damage in the TLW toy line, this one is more random and gritty: it appears a dinosaur really took a chunk out of the car, instead of looking far too artificial like it’s just a part designed to be removed (like with the Ground Tracker and the Mobile Command Center dino damage). It’s a pretty small piece, but other parts can be removed as well (lights, parts of the framework), which provides for additional damage.

Third of all, there’s the retractable seat, a feature also included on the JPS1 Bush Devil Tracker. It works fine and can easily be pushed back in. It has no action feature to it, like the snare its JPS1 counterpart came with. However, since the large net is located right behind it, it’s logical to assume this option was designed to lure a (probably carnivorous) dinosaur to the chair, hoping to get a snack, after which it gets caught in the net when the seat is quickly tracked back in. However, in a ‘high speed chase’ it only seems to be an obstacle.

Of course the most noteworthy part of the jeep is the net; it’s called Net Trapper after all. The net is about 12 centimetres long and nine centimetres high, making it capable of trapping about any smaller dinosaur figure (like the TLWS1 Velociraptor illustrated on the box) and even some medium sized dinosaurs, like the Chasmosaurus or Spinosaurus of this toy line. The net is attached to a crane arm on the side of the jeep and can swivel back and forth, increasing its range of action. It works fine, but it really looks a bit silly. It would have been more realistic to have this car include a net launcher instead, but I guess that would be more difficult to design and put on the jeep. And since this is a toy, and a nice one too, the designers got away with it.

Playability: this car provides for plenty of playability options. Its various action features (net, missile launcher, retractable seat and dino damage) are all in decent working order. There’s enough room for figures, though it’s not always easy to position a figure in the back next to the gun, since they mostly fall off. Figures can clamp to the framework or the gun with some difficulty though.

Realism: this car is relatively realistic for a toy, apart from the funky net. It resembles the off-road jeeps the InGen hunters used in the TLW movie, though it’s less detailed since it’s first and foremost a toy vehicle and not meant to be a perfectly accurate representation of the movie vehicles. The retractable seat was a feature seen on one of the jeeps in the movie, and is thus a nice reference (while at the same time harking back to the JPS1 Bush Devil Tracker as well). The hunters didn’t use missile launchers like the one this car comes with, but it’s still a good addition to any vehicle used on an island filled with hungry dinosaurs.

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

Overall rating: 8/10. It’s a good car with some fun action features (most of them seen on other vehicles too though, so no points for originality here). It sports a good look and is an adequate match for any smaller ferocious predator. Though this vehicle isn’t really rare, complete or MIB ones are not that easy to find. Still, it should be worth any collector’s while, even at somewhat higher prices.