Jurassic Park Chaos Effect: Mobile Command Center

Year of release: 1998

Accessories:

-Missile launcher (including three missiles)

-Dino damage cab area

-Telescoping crane

-Detachable computer with electronic sounds and lights

-Fold out observation lab

-Eight fence pieces

(Note: the reviewer is not an expert on vehicles like these, so any incorrect terms, or lack of detail, should be disregarded.)

Description: this play set basically consists of two trailers, which can be attached to one another via the black leathery thingy (what exactly do you call it?). The overall colour pattern of the trailers is bright green on the lower parts and underside of both trailers (as well as all on the inside, most notably on the fold out lab of the second trailer), while it's light blue on the top parts, with a big black stripe running between both colours in an edgy and triangular pattern, seemingly random (but largely symmetrical if you compare both sides of the trailers). All eight wheels are black with bright yellow hub caps. Together, the MCC (standard abbreviation for Mobile Command Center in the JP toys community) measures a good 80 centimetres in length. Each trailer comes with its own action features.

The front trailer is the largest of the two and has two pairs of wheels. The front cab area, with the transparent orange window and grey bumpers and windshields, can be removed as if being torn off by a dinosaur (though the damage doesn’t really appear to be caused by some ferocious creature, it looks too clean for that). On top of this cab area there’s some yellow detailing, including radar dish and antenna, adding a bit of a technologically sophisticated look to the trailer. The front trailer comes with a door on each side: a small door on the right (for people to enter and exit), and a larger rectangular door on the left side (for loading cargo and stuff like that). The front trailer is more or less empty on the inside, except for the grey drivers’ seats in the cab area. (with a yellow steering wheel) It’s very handy to store equipment in, such as the fence pieces when they're not in use. On the right top side of the front trailer there’s a large grey telescoping crane on an equally grey base. This crane can rotate in a full circle, and can be extended to cover more ground. On the right end of the crane there’s a pair of yellow claws, used to clamp equipment or dinosaurs on, in order to move them around. On the left end of this crane there’s a grey basket, basically a lookout station, with the capacity of carrying a single human figure. Next to it there’s a large green missile launcher, capable of full rotation like the crane itself. It fires grey missiles and comes with three of these (at least, it should when the set is complete).

On the left top side of the front trailer, right next to the cargo door, there’s a hole which can store the computer unit. It’s basically a beige box, with a lights section on top that can move in a 90 degree angle. It comes with a pair of lights and produces three different sounds: an alarm caused by pulling on the fences when they’re attached to the trailer, a damage noise produced when removing the cab area, and a third noise made when pressing the button on the left side of the computer. The lights are activated when producing any of these sounds.

The second trailer is a bit shorter but also comes with two pairs of wheels. Additionally, it sports a pair of big green antennae on the left back end, both identical though one of them positioned somewhat lower so it seems it’s shorter than the other (but both are about 20 centimetres in length). At the very back end of this trailer there’s another cargo door, similar to the one on the left side of the front trailer. The main feature of this trailer is the observation lab: the right side of the trailer including a part of the roof section can fold out to form the observation lab, complete with a pair of little green legs to support it on the ground. When folded out the interior of the trailer is revealed, which is adorned with a large grey table with details like computers and cups on top. Additionally, a grey operating bench is located right above the right wheel, with room enough for a human figure or a smaller dinosaur. Both the bench and the computers inside the lab sport various computer console stickers and other equipment stickers for detail.

This play set comes with a total of eight fence pieces, all of them painted in a bright orange paint job. They can be attached to one another, and the smaller piece of fence can also be attached to the left side of the front trailer, in which case it makes contact with the computer so an alarm is activated when any reptilian vermin tries to break through the fences. The fences can form a protective barrier around one side of the MCC, most logically the right side to protect the observation lab. However, there’s no point on the back end of the second trailer to attach the fences too. Of course, the fences can also be used by themselves, so you can imprison animals.

Analysis: though this is “only a repaint”, it's one you wouldn't want to miss out on if you haven't got the original TLWS1 Mobile Command Center. It’s very cool and quite detailed, though its paint job is hardly appealing, considering the weird colour combinations that would certainly draw attention to hungry dinosaurs roaming the vicinity. However, it fits right in with the rest of the colourful Chaos Effect line, and at least doesn't sport the most appalling paint job in that line (though the bright orange fences certainly are more irritatingly coloured than they should be). If you look past its weird paint job, you'll find this play set is as good as ever, loaded with a variety of cool action features, definitely making this set worth any JP fan's while. Though most of these features aren’t particularly new, they make for some fine overall playability altogether. I’ll describe them separately for a general overview of this wonderful play set.

-Missile launcher (including three missiles): the typical missile launcher seems an obligatory action feature of any vehicle or play set, and the MCC is basically both so naturally it can’t miss one of these. The launcher works properly and has a decent firing range (about a metre); missiles have enough impact force to knock most smaller dinosaurs over. It’s also neat to see this particular gun being fully rotatable. And since it comes with no less than three missiles, there's spares in case you lose one.

-Dino damage cab area: also an often used action feature. The dino damage of this set isn’t very convincing though: it looks far too artificial, like it’s caused by mechanic disassembly instead of an attack by a nasty predator. However, the fact it’s hooked up to the computer so it produces noises when being removed makes it more original and a decent action option after all. It's also quite extensive: carnivores can basically chunk most of the front part of the trailer off, leaving the driver's seat fully exposed for attack.

-Telescoping crane: though the poseability of the crane is fine (it can swivel in a full circle, tilt up and down in a 180 degree radius and be extended by some 15 centimetres), it doesn't work very well, mostly because of the poor design of the grappling claws which are meant to carry stuff: they just can’t support things at all, dinosaurs or otherwise. Nothing can really be clasped between the claws without coming loose and falling down. Though the rotating and telescoping aspects of the crane are good, and the armed extra station for a human figure comes in handy, these few nuisances make it a disappointment.

-Detachable computer with electronic sounds and lights: very fun feature, though it’s a shame only three different sounds can be produced, and one of them is quite annoying. However, they enhance the realism of the action features they’re attached too, and add another level of playability. The lights are quite strong, especially in the dark: you could use them as a decent flash light if you needed to. It's an excellent idea to make the computer removable, so you can take it out if you're going to play wild with your MCC, instead of risking damage.

-Fold out observation lab: a great option, giving us a good look of the inside of the second trailer. The inside could have used some more detail though, but the various computer equipment and the few details that are there, like the mouse and key board are very neat, and overall the folding out of the lab is a useful feature which hugely advances playability and leaves more space for figures and action options.

-Eight fence pieces: easy to assemble and attach to the trailer. It’s a bit odd they can only be attached to one end of the set though, because now dinosaurs won’t have such a hard time sneaking inside the perimeter on the other end. However, the alarm that goes off when the fence is compromised provides for a good warning, as well as a fun action option.

Playability: this play set scores quite high on any playability scale. It has loads of good action features, providing for hours of fun in combination with human figures and dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, and it comes with an abundance of neat accessories. It also has funky sounds and fine lights (when in proper working order of course). Another thing that adds to the playability is the fact the electronics are easily removable, so when you feel like playing rough with it you can do so without risking damage to the sounds and lights.

Realism: this trailer play set looks very similar to the trailers seen in the TLW movie in overall shape and size (some of the details are off though – the trailers seen in the movie did not feature a crane, missile launcher or even fences – but this was obviously done for playability options: it’s a toy after all). The colouring is of course very different since this is the Chaos Effect version of the TLW trailers and has been painted to fit in with the rest of that line: bright, unrealistic colours, hinting at the absurdity and fantasy of this particular toy line.

Repaint: yes. This Mobile Command Center is a repaint of the play set of the same name from the TLWS1 toy line. It comes with all the parts of that original set, except for the Kelly Malcolm figure (nor does it come with any other human figures as replacement). This set would not be repainted for later toy lines.

Overall rating: 9/10. Though the new paint scheme of this play set is certainly less successful than the colours of the original MCC, it's still a grand toy loaded with lots of sweet action features, and it comes highly recommended (particularly if you can't get the TLWS1 MCC). It's a shame there's no bonus figure attached to this set, but given the quality of the other Chaos Effect human figures, that's hardly a loss. The Chaos Effect Mobile Command Center is very hard to find, even more difficult to obtain than its TLWS1 predecessor. It almost always goes for high prices, both loose and MIB, so be warned if you're out to get one yourself.