The breakout star of The Lost World: Jurassic Park was “Junior,” the unlucky baby Tyrannosaurus rex who suffered a broken leg and was kidnapped twice by unfeeling humans. Happily, his injury was fixed by Sarah Harding and he got to exact his revenge on that rotten Ludlow.
Here we have Kenner’s original 1997 Lost World Juvenile T. rex, or Junior as described on his packaging. He stands about 8.5 cm tall at the hips and measures just under 23 cm long. His main colour is light brown with dark purple markings, a pale underbelly, orange eyes, white teeth, a pink tongue, and black claws. An orange Site B logo with the number 42 is on his right thigh.
The detailing on this toy is pretty swell. It’s not in the same league as a figure from CollectA or Safari, but it easily beats out anything from Jurassic World. The skin is wrinkled and leathery and the limbs are muscular. The relatively small head, large eyes, and tiny teeth make Junior unmistakeable as a baby, and a rather cute one at that. Naturally, it has its share of inaccuracies. The snout is too short and boxy, the wrists are pronated, the feet are too big, and the body is lacking feathers. Incidentally, the late Michael Crichton even described the baby as possessing plumage in the novel version of TLW, but the filmmakers chose to stick with the so-called “classic” look.
Junior’s lower jaw opens and his shoulders and hips rotate. His right leg can be “broken” by gently pulling on the shin, causing it to dislocate from the thigh via a white cord. Unfortunately, the one on mine snapped soon after I took the photos for this review. Guess it was inevitable. Time to get out the super glue! The toy originally came with a grey muzzle and a bandage piece that could be attached to the right leg, perfect for recreating scenes from the movie. Alas, those accessories were lost a long time ago.
Junior was later repainted three times for the Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs line: in pink and brown, in green and yellow, and in various shades of blue. I still like the original colour scheme best.
In spite of his scientific inaccuracies, Junior has long been one of my favourite Jurassic Park toys. He’s well sculpted, fun to play with, and has a distinct personality. Recommended!
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