Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Ankyloranodon

Year of release: 1998

Description: bearing features of both the flying Pteranodon and the armoured Ankylosaurus, Ankyloranodon has a muscular small body with a pair of large wings and two legs featuring sharp claws. Its head is about the size of its body and looks very spiky due to the long curled crest sticking out the back of its head and the hook at the end of its beak. Its also has bumps on the side of the lower jaws. The wings sport a sort of bat pattern, consisting of muscular arms with long fingers sticking out which hold the skin forming the wings. Each wing also carries a sharp hook. This beast has a flexible tail that ends in a large solid club adorned with spikes. The tail section forms the basis of the attack action this animal is equipped with. On the middle of its back, right above the legs, a large green lever disguised as a spike sticks out. Pulling this lever makes the tail curl downward so the creature violently smashes its tail around to inflict damage. This monster’s back is covered in armour, running from the back of the head to the end of the tail. The armour carries spikes (though not very sharp ones), including two rows of black spikes on its back.

Ankyloranodon sports a mixture of purple and green colours. Most of the lower parts of the animal (legs, belly, throat, lower jaw, underside of the wings) is coloured bright green, as are the hook on the figure’s beak and the large crest on the back of the head. Also, the arms and fingers of the wings are painted this same colour. The upper parts of the creature’s body (the armour on its back and neck, as well as most of the upper jaw) are painted purple, with some purple spots adorning the lower jaw. The skin that forms the largest part of the wings is also purple, but strangely enough only on the top side. The figure’s tail is entirely coloured purple, but of a lighter shade (it’s also made of a softer material so as to enhance the flexibility needed for the tail smashing action). The club is mostly red, but for some black lines and stripes running between the spikes and bumps it’s composed of. Black can also be found covering parts of the head, mostly around the eyes, which are bright orange (no pupils), and around a large dark purple (again a different hue) spot on each side of the beak. Additionally, a thin line of black is found on either side of the crest, while the tongue is also black. Its teeth, which aren’t very fearsome (hinting at the herbivorous Ankylosaurus DNA, since Pteranodon had no teeth) are white. A large black JP Chaos Effect logo is located on the right upper leg, along with the number .48. Its claws are not painted in a different colour.

This figure does not come with any pieces of capture gear. However, it needs to be assembled first because the tail club and wings are separate components when the figure is carded; otherwise the figure, which takes up quite some space compared to the other smaller Chaos Effect dinosaurs, wouldn’t fit on its card.

Analysis: this is without a doubt one of the coolest new dinosaur sculpts devised for the Chaos Effect toy line. It features a great and original attack option and a wonderful overall design. The paint job is about average, but not necessarily bad. Bright green and purple are a typical colourful Chaos Effect paint job, but from an aesthetic viewpoint they’re not the most appealing combination. Especially vexing is the fact the underside of the wings isn’t painted like the upper side.

The design of this figure is quite neat. It definitely looks mean and nasty, not something you would want to mess with. The wings, which are quite poseable, and can swing in almost any direction, look somewhat battered and worn out, due to the way the fingers run between the skin, and the fact they feature small pieces of damage at the lower side of the skin, like some ferocious carnivore slashed at them. The creature comes with muscular legs and large claws on its feet: though not poseable themselves, Ankyloranodon can hold other figures (smaller dinosaurs, human figures) between them and carry them through the air. Adding to the creature’s horrific look are the various hooks, bumps and spikes found on its body. Though the beast’s teeth don’t look so imposing, the large hook on its beak as well as the black tongue make up for that. The only thing which makes this deadly hell spawn look somewhat silly, is the long thin, curled crest on its head. It lacks the feeling of sharpness and danger the other protrusions on this monster have.

The very best thing about this figure is the awesome tail pounding action. Pulling the lever on its back makes the tail swing downward, causing the club to viciously hit anything in its way. The tail is rotatable (though not very easily and it might cause damage to the action feature’s mechanism over time), so the creature can also swing its tail in other directions. The thrashing tail option works very well and knocks over most smaller figures. However, Ankyloranodon’s legs can get in the way, so you might have to move them in a different position. Despite this minor nuisance, the tail swinging works perfectly and is a lot of fun to play with. This particular action feature is also quite original, since it had not been featured on any figure before this one and wouldn’t be used in the same fashion again (though the JP III Brachiosaurus featured a similar, but definitely inferior, tail attack action).

Playability: quite high. The wings are particularly poseable due to the mechanism with which they’re attached to the body. They can move up and down, slightly back and forth and in a full circle. Also moveable are the legs and the head (from the neck up), though the beak unfortunately can’t be closed. The tail section is rotatable, though less easy than the other body parts. The tail swinging action adds a very playable and easy to perform attack option to this great figure.

Realism: Ankyloranodon is obviously as fictional as the rest of the Chaos Effect series, and is yet another fantastical addition to this imaginative toy line. The figure obviously carries features from both the Ankylosaurus (armour, tail club) and Pteranodon (wings, beak, crest). It may not be believable a large and heavily armoured creature like this, weighing nine tons according to the card, could ever take to the skies, but as a predator it has significant advantages over its fellow Chaos Effect monsters. This creature can swoop down unnoticed, quickly kill prey with a deadly hit of his lethal tail club and fly off again carrying its victim with its large claws. The armour and array of spikes over its body provide solid protection against any adversaries that might be dangerous to this beast, if any. Realism be damned, this is the perfect carnivore!

Repaint: no. This is an original sculpt designed specifically for this toy line and as such, it would not be repainted for later toy lines either.

Overall rating: 8/10. Though the paint job isn’t all that good, Ankyloranodon comes with a fun new attack option and great playability, making it one of the more successful new Chaos Effect sculpts. It’s not the easiest figure to find and you might have to search for it somewhat, especially in regions where it didn’t get a proper release. However, it should totally prove to be worth your while, if you're at all into Chaos Effect weirdness.