Year
of release: 1997
Accessories:
-Dino
Tracker figure
-Three
pieces of capture gear
-Capture
Trap with backpack piece
-Flash
light
Description:
this big carnivore is bipedal, equipped with long arms with sharp
claws, as well as a big sickle shaped claw on each foot (both of them
poseable). This Utahraptor is much bigger than any other Raptor
figures (since it's not the same species as the well known
Velociraptor from the JP movies): it's a rather bulky figure with a
big fat belly (and a glued-over battery cover which reveals this
figure once had electronics inside), as well as huge feet. These are
rather pointless since the Raptor is not able to stand on them
because it lacks proper balance; it can only stand on all fours, not
on two legs. It does stand in a fully neutral posture though.
Utahraptor is equipped with a 'kick-slash' action: pulling both legs
back and pressing the button underneath the base of its tail (the
anal region) makes both legs give a powerful kick simultaneously, and
also causes the head to move and the jaws to open to a minor extent.
This
dinosaur figure has a beige underside (on the lower jaw, throat,
belly, underside of the tail, inner parts of the arms and legs and
underside of the feet) while it features yellowish brown colouring on
its flanks and sides of the tail, as well as on parts of the head. It
also has brown colouring on the arms and legs, but darker, mostly
because of the hard plastic those body parts are made of instead of
the more rubbery material the rest of the body is composed of. Utah
has a big black stripe running from the back of the head all the way
to the end of the tail with smaller big stripes running out from the
main one over the neck, flanks and tail. It has additional black
stripes on the arms, and more black colouring on the head and legs.
The claws on both hands and feet are also black, including the small
ones at the back of the feet, which are usually ignored in the
painting process. This figure has bright green eyes with black pupils
and tiny yellow stripes in it (though barely noticeable). Its tongue
and inside of the mouth are pink, and it has white teeth. Like the
other TLW Exclusive dinosaur figures (but unlike all other JP
figures), this Utahraptor has no JP logo anywhere on its body.
This
dinosaur comes with three pieces of capture gear. There's a big cuff
like tag, showing a JP logo on top, which fits well around the
creature's neck. It also comes with a leg restraint, which can hold
on to both legs simultaneously, but is a bit too long to properly fit
between the figure's legs. Lastly, there is a big muzzle which can go
around the figure's jaws, effectively disabling them, while also
covering the eyes, so the Raptor can't see what's going on around
him. All three pieces are coloured in the same metallic grey paint
job.
The
Dino Tracker stands in a fairly neutral pose, though the way he holds
his arms makes him look like a cowboy reaching for his guns in a main
street shoot-out. His facial expression is quite grim: he doesn't
look healthy anyway, since his skin tone is much bleaker than on most
other human figures. He has black hair, eyes and eyebrows. He sports
a dark green baseball cap with the classic T-Rex logo on it. He wears
a green shirt with pockets on his chest and has beige shoulder
patches on with a sort of armour look to them. Additionally, he
sports brown pants with similar patches of the same beige colour on
his lower legs. He also wears dark green boots and a black belt
around his waist.
The
Tracker's main accessory is the so called hair trigger capture trap,
which is like a bear trap except a few sizes bigger. It consists of a
boxy apparatus with two large rectangular “jaws” on each side and
a big black pedal between them. When the trap is opened, pressing the
pedal causes the jaws to close, trapping anything caught between
them. Except for the pedal and a small black antenna at the back
(which can be turned inwards), the trap is coloured entirely in a
shiny metallic grey colour. Though the trap has a small handle on
each side so the Dino Tracker can hold it with his hands, it also
comes with a black backpack (for lack of a better term) that can be
attached to the back of the trap so the Tracker can carry it on his
back. It fits perfectly over this figure's back, but can be carried
by various other human figures too. As an extra gadget, this set
comes with a large black flash light with a handle on top so figures
can hold it, and a flat underside so it can stand stable on the
ground.
Analysis:
of the three TLW Exclusive sets, this one is the biggest and comes
with the nastiest creature, a huge Raptor armed with big lethal claws
on hands and feet, ready to slaughter anything that crosses its path,
and no doubt inclined to attack bigger predators too. This is not a
new figure though, but a repainted JPS2 Utahraptor. It is also
retooled, having a harder skin (still softer than the regular hard
plastic, but not as soft as the original 'real feel dino skin'), and
lacking the electronics its predecessor was equipped with, so no
terrifying screech for this Utahraptor. Why exactly they got rid of
these electronics is anyone's guess, but it is a damn shame. It still
has the other original action features though.
The
most obvious one is the leg kick action. The kicking mechanism works
well: you can pull both legs back until they set themselves in the
right position, then push the button (invisible under its skin). Both
legs will plunge forward violently, knocking over anything directly
in front of them, including bigger dinosaur figures or small
vehicles. However, it's better to raise the arms somewhat, otherwise
they get in the way of the action. A great extra detail is that
pushing the button also causes the head and jaws to move (though less
enthusiastically than on the original figure, probably also a result
of the harder skin), so the beastie isn't just giving a kick, it's
also taking a bite at the same time. A really cool little detail is
the poseability of the big claws on the feet. They can move in at
least a 100 degree circle, and can trap unfortunate prey between
them. A real shame no other dinosaur figures with large claws have a
similar feature.
Despite
these nice positive sides, this figure does have some negative ones
as well. The most aggravating is the interdependency of the legs, so
they can't be posed separately, as well as the fragility of the leg
kick system, which gets broken all too easily (in fact, it seems even
more fragile than it was before, so that's not much of an
improvement). Other points of irritation are the overly big feet and
bulky squarish torso, which make this otherwise butch figure seem
silly, especially because it is not able to stand on its two legs
because the front part of the sculpt is much heavier than the back
part (which consists of its tail only). Also, because of the softer
material the skin is composed of, this figure's paint job is more
susceptible to paint wear.
Like
the original JPS2 Utahraptor, this creature comes with a set of
capture gear, including the tag that a lot of dinosaur figures come
with. It's quite big so less easily lost, and actually has a purpose
since it's the only part of this dinosaur showing it's a JP figure,
given the lack of a JP logo on the figure itself. The leg piece is
certainly of use in this monster's case, but a bit hard to apply
because of the small amount of space between the legs. The leg piece
actually is too big for this figure's legs. Also, it doesn't stop the
Utahraptor from kicking. The head piece does a better job, and
subdues the jaws as well as the eyes. There's no restraints for the
arms however, so the Raptor can still use those: it may even be able
to use its arms to pull off the head piece. This figure could have
used a better thought out set of capture gear in this regard.
Like
the other TLW exclusives, this set comes with a Dino Tracker and his
accessories. This guy sports a simple but effective set of clothes,
with some “armour” like highlights on his suit, but limited
enough to give him the necessary mobility to scout for dinosaurs
while still offering some protection in case things get rough. He
seems like a very serious man, given his emotionless face. But then,
trapping dinosaurs isn't an occupation you should take for fun, since
such a view might cost you your life on a dinosaur infested island.
His flash light is just an extra gadget and has no action features of
its own.
His
dinosaur trap however is an interesting piece of equipment, though
it's a bit bulky in size. It works quite well: pushing the pedal
closes the jaws with enough force to sufficiently trap anything that
comes between them. It looks best when it's used like regular traps
sporting this mechanism, lying on the ground (preferably camouflaged,
though that's unlikely with a trap this size), waiting for prey to
pass along. However, the Tracker can also carry it on his back (in
both opened and closed states), making for an excellent defence
mechanism in case some sneaky carnivore decides to attack him from
behind. But considering the size and weight of this weapon, he is
hardly able to stand up straight when carrying it on his back; it
certainly hinders his mobility as a Tracker. Also, it just looks
plain silly when he's carrying it around (the thing is almost as big
as himself), but at least this trap has some options. The trap is
capable of trapping almost any dinosaur, though it seems most suited
for big figures: after all, smaller figures would be severely injured
when they got stuck between this weapon's teeth (even though it's not
very sharp material), while hatchlings would just be cut in half
altogether. However, the Utahraptor may be a bit oversized for this
trap, especially its huge feet which can be caught by the trap, but
are so big the impact force is quite diminished. Also, it takes more
than just this trap to stop something as lethal as this predator.
Some extra weaponry would have been useful here, but this is all the
Tracker's got as his disposal.
Playability:
pretty good, especially because this set comes with both a dinosaur
and a human figure (and their respective accessories), so there's
more interaction options in this set alone. The Utahraptor has
moveable arms and legs, and even the big claws on its feet can be
posed, which is a feature not seen on any other dinosaur figures. The
poseability of the legs is hindered by their connection to the leg
kick action though, which also makes them incapable of being used
separately from one another. The leg kick action works well and will
knock over any human figures and most dinosaur figures too, but it's
a very close range attack option, and the arms have a tendency to get
in the way. The head and mouth motion is a neat little touch which
adds some playability to this toy, and the mouth is also big enough
to grab and hold human figures (though barely). The capture gear does
what it's supposed to do, but adds little to this dinosaur otherwise.
The leg kick action is quite fragile and gets broken rather easily,
so you shouldn't play too rough with it if you want to keep it
intact.
The
Dino Tracker has the usual range of poseable body parts (arms, legs
and head). The capture trap is a nice addition to this set, it works
well and is made mobile because it can be carried on the figure's
back, adding playability options. However, it's not the most
efficient piece of weaponry to combat the Utahraptor with: something
like a big rocket launcher would have been a more likely choice. The
flash light has no particular function but is a nice extra tool
regardless.
Realism:
Utahraptor was newly discovered (in 1991) by the time this figure was
originally designed (for the 1993-1994 JPS2 toy line), and as such
not that much was known about it (like the almost proven fact that
Utahraptor had feathers), so the Kenner designers basically made this
into a very big version of the Velociraptor as seen in the JP movie
(though Utahraptor did not play a part in the film, the Raptors from
the movie are often compared to Utahraptors because they are too big
to be Velociraptors, but a bit undersized to be Utahraptors).
However, they still got some things wrong, mostly the bulkiness of
this figure and the overly short legs and tail, making this figure
seem fat and certainly not like the agile superkiller it's supposed
to be. The proportions of this figure are just off, also because of
the original need for space for the electronics in this figure,
making it bulkier than it should be. Even though they took the
electronics out for this repaint, they didn't bother redesigning it
to make it look better. Of course, the designers did get some basic
things right, like the long slender arms and the sickle shaped claws.
The head is also not bad, though the jaws could have been a bit
longer. The size of this beast in comparison with human figures is
pretty close to the real deal.
The
Dino Tracker is not meant to resemble any actor from either the JP or
TLW movie, but he makes for an excellent Park Ranger or other
employee of Jurassic Park. His Capture Trap basically functions like
real bear traps (though it's fortunately just a toy version and isn't
in any way harmful), but its size makes it an unlikely instrument to
carry on one's back.
Repaint:
yes, this set consists entirely of repaints or reuses. The Utahraptor
is a repaint of the JPS2 Utahraptor, slightly retooled so it isn't
electronic any more and has harder skin. It features the same set of
capture gear as the JPS2 Utahraptor. The Dino Tracker is a repaint of
JPS2 Jaws Jackson, with the same set of accessories that figure
sported (capture trap, trap back piece and flash light), minus the
Dilophosaurus hatchling. The Utahraptor would not get repainted
again, and neither would Jackson (not as a whole at least, though his
head sculpt would be repainted for the human figures from the JP:
Dinosaurs 'Pachycephalosaurus and Dinosaur Trainer' set and the
'Young T-Rex and Dinosaur Adventurer' set).
Overall
rating: 7/10. The Utahraptor is still pretty good, though overly
bulky, and it's a shame they got rid of the electronics, but it got a
better paint job in return. The Dino Tracker is a fine repaint and
makes for an excellent Park Ranger figure, with decent accessories.
This set is quite rare, being a Target Exclusive, only available in
the USA. Both MIB and complete sets fetch high prices, so be sure you
really want this repaint instead of settling for the JPS2 Utahraptor
(which also isn't the easiest figure to find) and JPS2 Jaws Jackson
(pretty common), before spending lots of cash on this set.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten