Jurassic Park III: Pteranodon

Year of release: 2001

Description: a medium sized Pterosaur model with a wingspan of almost 40 centimetres. It’s mostly tan coloured, with some brown and green paint on the wings, including a JP III logo on the underside of its left wing. It’s got some black stripes on its back, as well as a dino damage wound: a red spot with some white points in it, making it appear as though this animal has been injured. The head has some orange and dark green spots on it, and its eyes are yellow. Three small fingers stick out of each wing, and it has a very small tail. This Pteranodon has two legs.

Analysis: this is one of the better Pterosaur figures of all the JP toy lines, and certainly one of Hasbro’s best models. It “stands” in a neutral position, unlike most of the Hasbro dinosaur sculpts, so it’s easier to play with. The colouring is good enough; not very detailed, but reminiscent of the colour the Pteranodons in the movie had. It has some moveable body parts, including the legs, but the wings get extra credit: they can move in almost any direction, so that the animal can take on various flying positions. There’s no flapping wing action like the previous Pterosaur models had, but with wings like this, that’s hardly a great loss.

The animal has a biting action: if you press on the crest on his head, the head will move forward and its beak opens, at which point the figure makes a screeching attack noise. A second sound can be heard by pressing the little white button in the middle of the dino damage wound on its back, allowing the figure to make two similar screeching noises.

Unfortunately the creature has a bit of a large belly, but that’s because it needs batteries to produce the sounds. Another little point of irritation is the fact the dino damage wound cannot be covered by a skin patch, like the Kenner dinosaurs featuring similar damage had. Both points are minor nuisances for such a good model.

Playability: the playability is quite high, mostly because of the almost omni-directional wings. The neutral pose it takes on is also a plus in this matter. One of his feet is oddly positioned though, making it appear this animal is pushing off on something. The other foot is positioned more traditionally, and it’s possible to have the Pteranodon clutch human figures with that foot. The two different sounds also enhance the playability possibilities, though playing too rough with this figure is out of the question if you want to keep the electronics working.

Realism: the Pteranodon looks a lot like the Pteranodons featured in JP III, both in shape and colour. It’s a little too large compared to the human figures produced for this toy line though, but that doesn’t really matter. Paleontologically speaking its also relatively accurate, but the legs might be a bit too big, and the arms certainly are too long: the hands (the point where the three fingers stick out of each wing) should be positioned closer to the body.

Repaint: no. This figure would not be repainted either. A repaint was planned for the JP III CamoXtreme line though, but it was unreleased.

Overall rating: 8/10. It’s a very good figure, and certainly one of the more realistic and playable Pterosaurs of the various JP toy lines. It comes recommended and fortunately isn't rare, so be sure to find one yourself, even if you’re not fond of Hasbro’s JP III toy lines, because it’s worth it.