Since I reviewed both Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus figures (the electronic one here and the other one here) it seems only right that I take a gander at the standard JP Velociraptor now that I’ve got my sweaty mits on one. I’ve already embarked on a mini-rant over the JP raptor’s odious influence over people’s perceptions of dromaeosaurs when I reviewed the electronic version, so this time I’ll just get on with it like.
As I said last time, the Kenner Velociraptor action figures never captured the look of the movie creatures particularly well. Out of the two, however, I actually prefer this one in many respects; it’s leaner and the ramrod-straight, tapering tail and better-proportioned legs give it a sleeker, more dynamic look. Until you get up to the head it’s a really rather decent take on the movie creatures, but unfortunately it’s there where things fall apart a bit. The action feature – squeezing the legs to make the jaws open and head strike forward – makes the toy great for playing with when you’re a kid but it does result in a rather ugly-looking hinged head, with oversized goofy teeth and shocking pink gums. The eyes are a little poorly done, too, with a simple black bar painted down through the lime-green iris. Not too nice to look at.
Elsewhere things aren’t so bad in terms of detailing. Scales are represented by crosshatching, making it inferior to the Dilophosaurus toys, but all the claws are painted (except the two missing ones on the feet, which are missing) and there’s some quite bulging musculature, particularly on the legs. The colour scheme is nice in a subtle sort of way; brown with darker brown stripes that make it look suitably predatory, and a white underbelly. This toy would go on to be repainted and re-released for other JP toylines, notably the Lost World line, which rendered it more orange and tiger-like – a colour scheme that’s probably better simply for being more interesting, but this one’s closer to the look of the creatures in the first movie.
Adult collectors searching for a JP-looking ‘raptor’ could do worse than this one, although the rather hideous head does detract somewhat from its more positive aesthetic qualities. For kids, though, this is a great toy – as I can testify having played with it for many hours as a child. It stands up on its own two feet with its tail in the air and can adopt a variety of poses to suit attacking puny humans, attacking a Tyrannosaurus, being helplessly chomped by Tyrannosaurus etc. In terms of playability its neutral pose and moving parts make it one of the best figures in the JP toy line. In the end, does that not make it a success? [You’re fired – Ed]
If you would like to get your own clammy claws on one of these, then you’ll have to take a deep breath and prepare your wallet for eBay and vintage toy stores. However, they aren’t rare and therefore you’ll be able to spare an expense (see what I did there? It nearly worked, too). Otherwise I’d recommend the Papo Velociraptor, a facsimile of the JP theme park monster, or this if you fancy something a little more on the more modern, accurate, feathery side.
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[…] I can review that technically may have been reviewed here already, sort of. In 2010 Marc (Horridus) reviewed the Kenner “Jurassic Park” Velociraptor for the blog. And yes, this is indeed the same toy that […]
Anatomical inaccuracies aside, the nostalgia value of this toy is overwhelming. This was my FAVORITE dinosaur when I was little, watching JP twice a day every day. One of the best toys ever, hands down.
Marc,
I was really just expressing how I feel. There was nothing wrong with your review to me. 🙂
Griff – I was rather positive about it I thought (much childhood happiness associated with this toy for me), and I did focus more on aesthetics than the anatomical side (‘cos like you say, that’s pointless).
This is a creature of beauty. How much would one usually go for on eBay plus p&h to Australia?
I love the JP toys. I love them for what they were made to do: be exciting and fun to play with. They completely revolutionized dinosaur toys imo and to this day remain unmatched in the dinosaur action figure department. Scientific accuracy is not really one of their priorities so therefore I really don’t blame them for any anatomical imperfections. In a review on here its fine to point them out of course just keep in mind the makers of the toys most likely didn’t have that on the top of their list.
My tongue was firmly in my cheek of course. 😀 I know most of us usually have a pretty balanced outlook with regard to these figures. And even if we didn’t, I still don’t mind! 😀
I don’t really mind the head that much it’s actualy a pretty nice figure. Or a least its definatly better than the other one.
I do like the JP figures indeed – they have a certain nostalgic charm. Although we often focus on anatomical accuracy in the reviews, it isn’t the ‘be all’ and ‘end all’ with regards to likeability 🙂
I think Dr A likes the old Jurassic Park toys actually…although you’d have to ask him.
Ah, there it is. 🙂 Well, perhaps it’s some testament to that relative success as one of the better toys for its time that I still have mine. (Recovering slightly from Dr. A’s disapproval ;D) I should put it in a better place now. It’s a litle tacky from being stored away, for some reason… Um, where were we?