Jurassic Park III: Brachiosaurus

Year of release: 2002

Description: this Sauropod (large four legged animal with typical long neck) stands in a fairly neutral position except for the tail, which is bent, and for his right front leg, which is lifted off the ground and points forward, so the dino strike action can easily be activated. This action consists of a swinging tail attack, accompanied by a low roaring sound. A second sound can be produced by pushing the white button in the dino damage wound: when pushed, a shrieking roar can be heard, as if the creature was howling in pain. The wound is located at the right flank, and is basically a red spot (muscle tissue) with small white spots (bones) in it. As usual, the wound cannot be covered up, but is constantly exposed. The figure’s long neck is bendable, but only slightly.

This sculpt sports a mostly blue paint job, with the undersides of its body parts (belly, neck, tail, legs and feet) coloured white with greyish blue stripes. The rest of the legs, as well as the flank, most of the neck and head, are painted light blue. The top of the tail and most of its back and neck are coloured in dark blue. The Brachiosaurus has tiny yellow eyes, nostrils on top of the head and black claws on its elephant like feet. A black JP III logo can be found on its right hind leg.

Analysis: this is the only non hatchling Sauropod figure of all the JP toy lines (except for the Chaos Effect Amargospinus maybe), and as such deserves some points on originality. It’s still not as big as most fans would have wanted it to be, but it’s better than nothing. Consider it a juvenile Brachiosaurus.

It looks quite good, though the paint job is more festive than we’re used to with Sauropods. They’re mostly depicted as being dull grey or brown, but since we don’t know what colours they actually had, it’s not a wrong paint job. It could have been better though: especially the white is a bit boring. Unfortunately Hasbro once again felt the need to apply the typical dino damage wound which of course can’t be covered up. It’s pretty annoying to finally have a larger Sauropod sculpt, only to see it has its insides exposed like this, but it’s something we’ll have to learn to live with.

The sounds are new, and in fact the only new sounds in the Wave 2 line. Again some credit has to be given to Hasbro: instead of reusing the Triceratops sounds (the only other four legged herbivore of the JP III toy lines) they made some new ones. A shame they didn’t do that for the Tapejara figure of this toy line. The attack feature of this figure is nothing too special; push the leg downwards and the tail starts whipping. Unfortunately the tail is bent in a weird position, so it looks less impressive than it might have been had the tail not been bent in this fashion. Still, the action is enough to knock figures over. It’s also a good thing the neck is bendable, though it’s a somewhat predictable feature.

Playability: well enough. The legs are poseable, as is the neck. However, the bent tail and the leg pointing upwards are a bit of a letdown. It would have been better if the tail was bendable as well, so the figure could fit in its box without the tail sticking out and the dino action would still work properly. It’s an electronic figure, so you can’t play too rough with it if you want to keep the electronics intact.

Realism: this animal is instantly recognizable as a Sauropod dinosaur. Also, the shape of the head and the position of the neck makes it clear this is a Brachiosaurus, or at least a close relative. It doesn’t look the same as the Brachiosaurs featured in both JP and JP III (which also didn’t look very similar as they underwent a design change for JP III), mostly because of the different paint job. The Brachiosaurs in JP were mostly grey, while the JP III specimens sported a somewhat reddish brown colour. This model is not entirely paleontologically correct: the front legs should have been a tad longer compared to the hind legs, and the tail, though bent, appears to be too long. I’m also unsure about the correct number of toes.

Repaint: no. However, this sculpt would be repainted once for JP Dinosaurs 3.

Overall rating: 7/10. It’s nice to finally have a larger Brachiosaurus figure, even though it still leaves some things to be desired. It could have been better and bigger overall, but at least we’re no longer Sauropodless. This figure is somewhat rarer than the Wave 1 figures, but still findable, even in overseas territories were it had a more limited release. It’s worth a place in any JP fan’s collection, and probably acquirable at not too great a cost.