The basher and biter Tyrannosaurus Rex isĀ an important part of the legacy and impact of the Jurassic World toys that came out in 2015. This was the first toy (brown version) that I saw from this line, and for me, it really set the tone for the rest of the series. Hasbro in many ways failed in this toy line up, including this toy, which represents a dinosaur that many people know and love. This T-Rex highlights many of the things that people were unhappy about with the Jurassic World toys.
About the toy: The T-Rex Basher and Biter is the smallest in size and cost of the three main T-Rex’s made for the line up. The original came out with the same brown color of the other two, which would make it the female.(if I am correct on Jurassic Parks gender color schemes) The second repainted version is the exact same sculpt of the female but it is in the green male color. Some people are referring to the color of this version as Mountain Dew. It is actually two toned green, with an medium shade of green on most of the body and a slightly brighter yellowish green on the underside. There is also some black striping on the head that looks nice. It is pink inside the mouth and the teeth are white. The toes claws are black, while the hand claws are unpainted.
The anatomy on this sculpt is ridiculous, but then again, it is Jurassic Park “World”, so what do you expect.
The texture on it is ok, with varying patterns, bumps, and skin folds. The skin texture underneath is more of a crocodiles skin, the upper legs have a rounded pattern, while the lower legs have lines. I am not sure why it was sculpted with so many different styles, but you really don’t notice it, unless your really paying attention. The torso, neck and head are made up of hard, light, inflexible plastic, while the legs, tail, and arms are made with a denser and more flexible type of plastic. The seam lines from the action ability are easily seen, and on the right side are the amazing, “I don’t think anyone will notice” screw holes. Yes that was sarcasm! On the left side there is the typical dino damage that shows a patch of skin that has been ripped off, showing the off white ribs and red muscle.
The articulation is ok, with the arms and legs able to move up and down. It is actually quite stable in multiple poses. The action ability works just fine, you move the tail and the mouth opens and closes, while the head moves. This action ability works really well, but it can vary from toy to toy. When at the store, I have had fun trying out the action feature, and on some of them, they worked great while on others, not so much. It looks like this feature can wear or break easily.
This is a toy that kids from ages 2-8 will have fun with, but the older the kid, the more they notice all the flaws with it. With decent articulation and stability, along with a working action feature, it can find play time in a kids imaginary adventures. Due to the questionable quality of the toy, I am not certain how long it can stand the test of time before it breaks.
Overall Appraisal: This T-Rex was the negative trend setter for the entire Jurassic World release, which has seen more misses than hits. In complete honesty, I did not like the original brown version. It looked horrible to me when I first saw it, and it still does. The problem is, when the green version came out, I was drawn to it. Since it is the exact same toy, all the same flaws are present. Such as the anatomy, screw holes, the dino damage, and the questionable quality of the toy. Had I been beaten down by this toy line to the point were my expectations are so low, that something as simple as a different paint job was enough to draw me in?
While I ponder that question, do not feel bad if you like it, as with anything in life, if you like it, go with it. If you are interested in it, there is good news. Many of the basher and biters can be found at low prices. The T-Rex can be enjoyable for small kids, but it’s play ability goes down the older the kid is. I can only imagine what this toy would have been if Hasbro took it more seriously, unfortunately that is not the case and we are left with a rather cheap T-Rex toy with a JW logo on it.
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When they offered up the 2013 Allosaurus I had high hopes for Jurassic World. That got dashed to pieces when i saw the garbage Hasbro offered up. From what i hear the figures with rubber parts have already begun to show tearing, due to the thin and cheaply made rubber.
I keep seeing that word, “cheap”, pop up in discussions of this line. Honestly, I haven’t seen anything that suggests these are made with any different materials than every other action figure toy line in this price bracket.
The “cheaper” plastic used in the torso is the same exact rigid plastic used in any other toy with articulation. You need a hollow torso in order to insert the capped pegs that allow the limbs to rotate. Marvel Legends, Ninja Turtles, Monster High dolls, all use rigid hollow plastic for their torsos.
Yes, there are definitely problems with this line. The screw holes, action features that compromise the sculpt etc. But those are aesthetic issues, not issues of material quality. The poorly utilized and limited paint applications could be argued as such, but honestly that’s just the state of the modern toy industry. This isn’t 1998 or even 2005, and toy production is a delicate balancing act of materials costs, especially when mass producing on this scale. You may be fine with paying 25 dollars for these to get “collector quality” levels of paint, but I and certainly most parents wouldn’t be.
Thank you for your thoughts, but I used the word cheap in multiple ways. Once to refer to the plastic. All I meant by it was that the torso was a different type of plastic than the harder plastic on the legs. So maybe that was a poor choice in words. I also used the word cheap in reference to the price, as it is low cost. I also used cheap in reference to the workmen ship of it. The screw holes and action features that stop functioning is bad workmanship, or cheaply done.
Thank you again for your opinion, and I’ll see if I can clarify my thoughts a little better in the review. š
To add to the list… I’m a toy sculptor, and I can say with 100% certainty that the sculpt was ‘inexpensive’ š to create. … This looks to be a digital sculpt. Probably with ZBrush or Freeform and would have been about 8 hrs worth of work just to get the general shape and then they passed it off to the factory to mesh it with the mechanism. The texture on this Dino really is spotty and was probably ‘painted’ (ZBrush sculpted) on with no real thought towards anatomy.
Yeah, if I was gonna get something inaccurate, chintzy and fragile I’d rather it have some verve, like those Chap Mei toys.
Ugh… This line has been so rough. Would have loved to have picked up a few of the Jurassic World toys, but just couldn’t stomach it. Bad design, and cheap. …I find it hard to believe that a plain-ole beautiful, and articulated dinosaur sculpt couldn’t sell great. …Instead, we get all these overly designed, and heartless offerings. This crap makes the toys for the first JP movie look like high art. – I’m really disappointed in Hasbro with this line. …They can and have done much better. Their action figure teams should have been put on this project, with a focus on authenticity.
The devolution of the Jurassic Park toys is a sad story indeed. The original JP and TLW lines were fabulous. The Chaos Effect line was silly, but it was at least creative. The JP3 line showed that Hasbro was no Kenner. And the JW line shows that they’re getting even worse.