Tyrannosaurus (Jasman)

Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrant lizard king, last of a long and mighty dynasty. It doesn’t matter your level of dinosaur expertise, everyone knows what a T. rex is. Compared to the other great theropods it wasn’t the largest, or even that unique, but it’s been a pop culture icon for over a century. Tyrannosaurus has starred in more movies and books, been plastered on more t-shirts, hats, and posters, and been reproduced in more models, toys, and sculptures than any other dinosaur species known to man. The T. rex is clearly still the king, 65 million years after its demise.

The reason for that corny introduction is simple; I wanted to emphasis that T. rex is important, it deserves respect. Every toy line has at least one T. rex and it’s usually the centerpiece of the collection. Any range of dinosaur toys without Tyrannosaurus isn’t complete; the notion of it is just ridiculous. So with that said it stands to reason that special attention should be paid to making it decent. Remember when I said I saved the “best” Jasman review for last? Well I meant it.

It’s not enough that the Jasman Tyrannosaurus is bad; there are plenty of bad T. rex toys out there. No, no, no, this one is also just positively preposterous looking. You can tell by looking at it what it’s meant to be but if this thing lumbering after you in the Cretaceous period you would die of laughter long before it could eat you.

The body is unremarkable, just a standard theropod body with bunny hands of course, tail dragging on the ground, yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s painted in various obnoxious orange hues and although other toys in the line have some detail work this one is one of the laziest in the bunch. Not a single scale is to be seen, just an abundance of wrinkled skin. But where things get really absurd is with the head.

If there is an ugly stick with which to hit things then this poor fellow was hit with it, hard. There is even a very clear indent on the snout where it was struck. It has this odd caved in area on the head that just doesn’t make any sense, it’s as though the sculptor had zero reference for what a T. rex head should look like. Actually, looking at the large blunt teeth and misshapen head makes me wonder if perhaps this guy was the reference.

The Jasman T. rex is dated from 1997, the same year that their far superior Carnotaurus was released. Why the Jasman line is such a mixed bag in terms of quality is a mystery but it’s clear that this T. rex is among the worst, or maybe tied with the Parasaurolophus. As such I can only recommend this to someone that enjoys self punishment. And with that, we’re done with our look at Jasman, it’s been a bumpy ride and I can safely say I’m going to enjoy the break. Although there are other Jasman toys out there I won’t be seeking them out, at least not deliberately, but who knows what the future will bring…be warned weary collector.