Jurassic Park 2009: Dino Battlers: Spinosaurus VS Tyrannosaurus Rex

Year of release: 2009

Description: the small Spinosaurus figure stands in a walking posture, with its left leg posed forward and the left arm raised, its mouth opened as if roaring and the end of the tail bent pointing to the right. It sports a typical three-way paint job. Its underside (throat, belly and most of the lower part of the tail) is painted greenish beige. Most of the head, the sides of the neck and tail, the flanks, the tip of the tail and the limbs are coloured brown. The back of the head, neck, back, sail and most of the upper part of the tail is painted green. It features several greenish beige stripes on the head, neck, back (including the sail) and tail. The claws on the hands and feet are not painted. The inside of the mouth is painted red, while the creature carries white teeth and has small red eyes with black pupils. The Spinosaurus carries a white JP logo on both upper legs.

The T-Rex stands in an active posture, its head curved to the left and its arms outstretched as if attacking something. The tip of the tail is bent pointing upwards and to the left. It has small pads on its feet to give it extra support. Its predominant colour is grey, which is found not only on all of its underside (lower jaw, throat, belly, limbs, lower part and tip of the tail) but also on most of its back and on the upper legs. The rest of the body (the rest of the head, the neck, the flanks and the rest of the tail) is orange. It features several dark grey stripes and spots on its head (around the eyes), the back, the forearms, the lower legs and the front half of the tail. The claws on the hands and feet are not painted, nor are the pads under the feet. The tongue and inside of the mouth is painted red, while the creature carries white teeth and has small green eyes with black pupils. The Tyrannosaurus carries a white JP logo on each upper leg.

Analysis: good idea, Hasbro! Let's pack the same two miniature big predator figures together... again! It's only been done a bunch of times before so who will know or care? Of course us JP fans care, but apparently we don't really count when there's the potential of making money off kids around. So we are cursed with yet another crappy set of repaints, once again with totally unappealing paint jobs. The used combination of colours is ugly on both figures, though it's definitely worst on the Rex. Grey and orange are just not meant to be used together as this figure successfully demonstrates. Also, the lack of painted details is appalling. Neither figures have their claws painted and the pads on the Rex's feet are woefully neglected. There's just nothing in this set a collector could want, except to add the set to his/her collection to make it complete.

So, assuming anybody cared, who would win this conflict? The Rex is the likely choice. Not because it is the dinosaur king as some zealous fanboys keep reminding us, but simply because it is a much heavier figure and easily knocks over its opponent.

Repaint: yes. The T-Rex originally came with the Military General for the JP III line and has already been repainted over and over again for Camo-Xtreme, JPD2 and JPD3 and would be used several times again for this toy line. This Spinosaurus sculpt was paired with Amanda Kirby for the JP III line and has likewise been repainted often enough for Camo-Xtreme, JPD2 and JPD3. In JP 2009, this would be its only appearance though.

Overall rating: 2/10. Same old same old. Not very impressive sculpts repainted and packaged together too often already, and these paint jobs aren't great. There's just nothing of particular interest in this set, unless you don't own either one of these sculpts yet. This set is not rare and can still be found rather easily. Since this set was a Toys'R'Us exclusive that might change some day, but probably not for the next decade.