Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Land S.A.B.R.E.

Year of release: 1998

Accessories:

-Dino Grappling Arms

-Exclusive Eddie Carr figure

Description: this small four wheeled vehicle basically consists of a single cockpit on wheels equipped with two big arms on top for catching dinosaurs. The vehicle sports an overall white paint job, adorned with various blue and silver highlights (also on the arms). Its wheels are coloured dark grey while the driver's seat is black with a black handle on each side for the driver to hold on to. It features no glass or other protective layer over the driver's seat, so the driver is exposed to the elements. On top of the driver's seat there is a big metallic grey device, ending in two handles at the back so you can activate the big white grappling arms it has on the front side. These arms end in big 'hands', which can clasp a dinosaur between them real tight. The arms can move both up and down and side to side, though in neither case in more than an 80 degree radius. The Land S.A.B.R.E. Comes with various stickers as detailing, mostly smaller ones showing mechanical stuff or symbols, as well as two with the JP Chaos Effect logo on it, and two carrying the text 'no step' for on the arms.

This vehicle comes with an exclusive Eddie Carr figure, standing in a fully neutral posture. He wears a yellow jumpsuit, including helmet. The suit is covered in a black vest on his torso and he also sports a black belt around his waist, grey gloves with black armbands, grey knee patches and black boots. He carries some light green highlights and has a big blue console patch on his left upper leg. On his back he carries some sort of breathing apparatus over the black vest. His helmet, which is black on the inside, has no protective surface over the facial area, so his face is exposed. Eddie perfectly fits in the Land S.A.B.R.E.'s driver's seat, with his hands on the steering handles and his head just between the grappling arms.

Analysis: it's not only the dinosaurs of the Chaos Effect line that are overly wacky, the vehicles of this line follow the same oddball design schemes which makes them fit in perfectly in this line, but not so much in Kenner's other JP lines. This Land S.A.B.R.E. is undoubtedly the weirdest vehicle of the three that were released for the Chaos Effect line, and also the least appealing of the bunch. For starters, it has a rather bland paint job, making it look like something from a cheap science fiction movie. Another nuisance is the fact that there's only a few Kenner figures that really fit in the driver's seat. It's obvious this vehicle was designed specifically for the Eddie Carr figure that comes with it, so most other figures are incompatible. This Eddie isn't a very interesting human figure, and though it's supposed to be Eddie Carr, there's nothing on him that even remotely hints at the character of the same name in the Lost World movie (but he makes a decent Chaos Effect style nameless Park Ranger). Eddie wears the typical colourful outfit for a Chaos Effect figure, though it's not as far-fetched as the gear the Roland Tembo or Dieter Stark figures of this toy line carry. At least it looks like a decent protective suit, which is exactly what he needs given the lack of protection he gets from his poorly designed vehicle (though why his face is so blatantly exposed for dinosaurs to slash open is beyond me).

The Land S.A.B.R.E.'s only means of defence are the grappling arms, which fortunately do a good job of grabbing and holding dinosaurs. They can open wide enough to catch most dinosaur figures between the arms and they close tightly enough, but the 'hands' are too smoothly surfaced so especially smaller creatures easily slip out between them. The arms surely aren't shut strong enough to be able to lift dinosaurs in the air. All they can do is hold a dinosaur when it keeps standing still. And even if they were powerful enough to restrain prey that fights back, what then? This vehicle isn't equipped with something like a tranq missile launcher to fully subdue them and make sure they don't claw at the driver in his unprotected seat. A cockpit window or something like that would sure have come in handy for poor Eddie, since now he's just an easy prey for hungry critters. In cooperation with another vehicle or a set of weaponry carrying equipment that can really knock a dinosaur out this vehicle might do the trick, but it definitely doesn't on its own.

Playability: not all too good. Eddie has the typical poseable body parts, namely head, arms and legs. Even though the grappling arms still aren't up to battling dinosaurs, these are one of the better functioning sets of grappling arms we've seen on JP toys. At least they can also grab bigger dinosaurs, and they have a rather tight grip, while neither can be said for the bigger Trike Dozer vehicle of this toy line. Though the vehicle's wheels are a decent sort and the Land S.A.B.R.E. rides a fair distance when given a push, more flexible all-terrain wheels (like those of the JPS2 Jungle Runner) would be more suited for a small land based vehicle like this.

Realism: this is not the most applicable term on any Chaos Effect set, and the same goes for this vehicle. The Land S.A.B.R.E. is definitely one of the more bizarre and less likely JP vehicles, as well as poorly designed, leaving the driver open for attack by vicious mutated monsters. Though big grappling arms for grabbing dinosaurs aren't such a bad idea, they don't beat a good old rocket or net launcher, especially since you can' t fully subdue beasties with just these arms. The Eddie Carr figure looks nothing like the Eddie seen in the TLW movie, though the jump suit which covers all of him also has a hand in this. Only his face is revealed, and that at least isn't reminiscent to Eddie Carr. More importantly, Eddie Carr died in the Lost World movie, so what's he doing being alive here anyway?

Repaint: no. This vehicle was designed specifically for the Chaos Effect toy line, and would not be repainted for any later lines.

Overall rating: 4/10. A rather lousy vehicle, with a human figure that's of little appeal. Though the grappling arms aren't a total failure, they're not enough to make this a successful vehicle. This is one of the more common Chaos Effect sets, so if you feel the need to get one you can probably find it for a pretty low price, especially because it's – unsurprisingly – not highly sought after. However, it also doesn't come recommended, so you might want to skip this one entirely in favour of better designed vehicles.