The Lost World Series 1: Bull T-Rex

Year of release: 1997

Accessories:

-Survival Pod

Description: this dinosaur is the largest of all JP dinosaur toys ever produced. It measures a good 70 centimetres in length, and stands about 20 centimetres tall. This Rex stands in an active pose, with its left leg moved forward and its right leg backward, as if walking. Its head is quite large, almost as big as its belly, to accommodate its action feature, which is to swallow figures. About every human figure and most smaller dinosaurs can fit in its mouth and through the throat, like it appears the Bull is eating them. Afterwards such figures can be retrieved via a slit in its belly. This Rex also features electronic sounds. There’s a button, located under the skin on its back, just at the base of the legs. Pressing this produces either one of three different sounds: an attack roar, a growl, and chomping noises.

The Bull T-Rex sports an imaginative paint job. Its flanks, side of the neck and tail, and parts of the head, arms and upper legs are painted dark blue. Most of the face, arms and legs are coloured brownish yellow, with a broad stripe of the same colour running from the base of the neck to about halfway across the tail. This yellow stripe is adorned with a total of 19 black stripes that also run over the dark blue. On the lower legs there is a similar pattern: a row of four black stripes runs over each of the lower legs, with a slight dark brown hue around them. Where the yellow ends on the tail, the black takes over, so the last 12 centimetres of the upper part of the tail sport this colour. Additionally, black stripes are found on the head, particularly on the snout of the creature. The skin around the eyes is black as well. Interestingly enough, these eyes aren’t just painted on the Rex, but are actually little transparent balls, bright green on the inside, with black irises. The underside of the figure (the belly, lower part of the tail and throat) is coloured white. The huge claws on its massive feet are black, though the small claws on the side of the legs aren’t painted, and neither are the claws on its hands. A dark brown JP: Site B logo is located on the right leg, along with the number .28. Most of this Rex sculpt is composed of a thick flexible material, to give it a hint of realistic dinosaur skin.

This Tyrannosaurus comes with what is called a survival pod. It’s basically a sort of cage, though not to lock vile creatures up, but to provide shelter for a single person. Inside, there’s a human figure (non removable), with a look of horror on his face. He wears a red shirt (very Star Trek!), along with short green pants, a brown belt, red socks and brown boots. He also has brown hair. The pod itself sports a silvery metallic paint job. On the back there’s a pair of red “wings”, which can fold out, to prevent the Bull Rex from swallowing it (it’s a survival pod after all!).

Analysis: this stupendously huge Rex sculpt is very impressive. It towers over human figures, and dwarfs most other dinosaurs of this toy line (except for its mate, the Thrasher T-Rex). Its ability to “eat” figures makes it the undisputed King of Dinosaurs. Since one of the most notable acts the Tyrannosaurs in the movies performed was eating stuff, it’s good to finally have a figure capable of doing just that. Almost all human figures of the various toy lines, with the exception of JPS2 Dr. Snare, fit through its mouth. The same goes for a lot of the smaller dinosaur figures. Dilophosaurus? No problem at all! Velociraptor? Easy meal! The figures can be retrieved through the slit in its belly. It’s a bit of a shame this slit can’t be closed, since now this Rex basically walks around with a huge hole in its belly. However, it’s designed pretty tightly, so it’s not noticeable in an overly annoying way. It might as well be a black stripe running across its stomach.

The Rex has three different electronic sounds at its disposal. The button is hidden under the skin on its back, but is easy to press. This Rex roars, growls and makes chomping noises (like it’s chewing on metal, which in the case of the survival pod is true). The roar and growl are somewhat similar, adding consistency. One thing that is a bit of a nuisance: the battery holder of this animal is located right under the back, and is only accessible through the slit in its belly. However, it’s not easy to reach, making it real difficult to replace the batteries.

The paint job this T-Rex features is a bit odd. The blue is okay, but the combination of yellow and black on the back reminds one of the strips of the same colour found on the packaging of the TLW figures. It’s not bad, but it could have been better. Another thing which makes this otherwise great sculpt look a bit funny is the disproportionably big head. Granted, this was done to accommodate the swallowing, but it would have been preferable to make the Rex’s body even bigger by comparison. Though it’s quite large already, so it would probably get too big to play with then.

The survival pod looks a bit like a coffin, which isn’t far off, since it fits perfectly through the Rex’s mouth, most likely killing the poor soul trapped inside. However, the “wings” on the back create a method of rescue, since the Rex can’t swallow the pod when these are folded out. The pod can be opened, but sadly the figure inside can’t be removed, so you can’t put other figures in.

Playability: disappointing, unfortunately. The only poseable parts of this Rex are its arms. It also doesn’t stand in a neutral pose, which combined with its size makes it hard to handle, especially for kids. Though the eating option is a great and imaginative action feature, it’s probably the only additional playability option. It’s a good thing this Rex comes with no less than three different sounds, as well as the survival pod, stimulating overall possibilities. However, it would have been cooler if the figure in the survival pod could be taken out, so that other figures could take its place. Another negative point: once taken out of its box, the legs of this figure have a habit of slowly shifting inwards, making it hard for this figure to stand up straight (though its enormous feet are helpful in that matter). Since this Rex is electronic, you can’t go around playing too rough with it if you want to keep it in working order. Basically, it comes down to this: for playability, get the Thrasher T-Rex; for sheer impressiveness, sounds and eating figures, get this Bull T-Rex.

Realism: this figure is recognizable as a Tyrannosaurus, mostly because of the two fingered claws and the fact it’s a huge bipedal predator. However, the disproportionate head and feet make it a bit unrealistic. Its paint job is also quite different from the colour pattern its movie counterparts sported. Still, this creature can eat figures, just like the Rexes in the JP movies did on a regular basis. Additionally, the sounds (particularly the roar), are more or less movie accurate. A survival pod was not featured in the TLW film, nor is the figure inside reminiscent of any of the characters in that movie.

Repaint: yes, actually. This Rex is a repaint of the Gulper T-Rex, which was planned for the JPS2 toy line, but unfortunately ended up not being released. A great loss, but this Bull-Rex makes up for it. Basically, this figure appears new but really isn’t, though nobody cares nor should care, since we’re lucky this wonderful sculpt got released after all. This sculpt would be repainted again for the Chaos Effect line, as the fearsome Omega T-Rex, sporting colours that cause instant colour blindness. The survival pod would be repainted along with it. A third time proved to be the charm for this tremendous tyrant lizard, when JP 2009 gave us a big surprise by delivering a heavily retooled but still instantly recognizable Bull T-Rex with a plethora of all new sounds, poseable legs and even feet and a hard plastic torso, but without the gulping action or the survival pod.

Overall rating: 8/10. Okay, so it’s not really playable. It’s still a great and awe inspiring sculpt, with good sounds and a fun action feature, making it a definite must have for any JP collector. Unfortunately it didn’t get a release everywhere, making it harder to find in some territories, though it’s not particularly rare in the USA. Ebay usually provides a solution, though because of the size of this creature, as well as the fact it’s quite sought after, costs won’t be low. However, it’s certainly worth the money and makes a great addition to any JP collection.