Saturday, November 14, 2015

Jurassic World Indominus rex vs Gyrosphere vs Ankylosaurus exclusive!

JW I.rex vs Girosphere AND Ankylosaurus exclusive set!



If you have a Target nearby (USA,Canada, MX), hold off on your Indominus rex vs Gyrosphere set and get this if it's still available, not because they're awesome toys, but because you get more for yo' moneh!



I don't plan on acquiring the Indominus rex vs Gyrosphere common set because this one is special...truly special, and it's not just the Ankylosaur, but speaking of which, here's a few pictures.





I complained about the former being just a dull brown, well, this is olive green, and it works better on the figure in my opinion. Too bad it's a Target store exclusive. Having them both really makes it worthwhile. But I'm not recommending this gift set over the extra repaint Ankylosaur repaint alone. Let's move to the main piece... The evil sociopathic hybrid... INDOMINUS REX!


This is what you'd get in a normal Indominus Vs. Gyrosphere set...



The figure by itself...well the sculpt is very nice. The color is very monotone, but it's accurate to the CGI version...to a certain extent. However, the figure can't stand unless it is in crouching position. The legs are too loose! The arms are tight though...Why the heck isn't it the other way around? As usual, the tail is for decoration and not for counterbalance.



Something cool that some of the figures in this line have (Pteranodon and Mosasaurus) is this new innovative Dino Damage feature! Gone are the days of lost Dino Damage flesh parts! It's spring loaded now! Just push the cover and it pops up, revealing DINO DAMAGE!!! However, it's very easily activated on this particular figure. I can't shake it or hold it without the wound springing up! It's different on my Mosasaur, where it stays steady. That's another drawback, at least on my own specimen. Still, Hasbro gets points for coming up with this feature. It certainly makes it more interesting. Too bad personally I prefer rubber flesh coverings (as long as they work!)



Pushing the tail down causes the animal to bite down on its victims. It works well on mine, but I've heard reports of specimens breaking easily, so beware.Now, let's get on the special part and why you should buy the Target Exclusive set aside from the mucus green Ankylosaur!



If you have Target stores in your country, you may have noticed that some toys (Mashers, Titan 4-pack exlcusives) have this strange looking JW marked item. It's a mini blacklight!!! But what's it for, you ask?



IT CAMOUFLAGED ITSELF!!!*chomp chomp ACU*. I'm sorry, but I think this is pretty rad. I thought the light-up wounds on the electronic dinosaurs was silly, but this, being an exclusive, is a pretty rad feature. The "normal" version doesn't have this feature!





The set comes with a Gyrosphere and an ACU team member for the Indominus and Ankylosaurus to fight over.



Pushing the button causes the gyrosphere to "break" or open, swinging the seats outward and a panel to appear cracked. It also rolls along with two tiny wheels on the bottom. The ACU soldier is 2.5 inches tall and has two points of articulation...There's no independence between the limbs. It SUCKS. It SUCKS that this line didn't give us any humans except for this piece of crap.



If they had to include tiny humans, WHY NOT INCLUDE ZACK AND GRAY?! WTF?! Hasbro has been trying to re-accustom us to 5POA figures (nothing wrong with that), and sell POS 2.5 inch tiny human figures (Guardians of the Galaxy, Age of Ultron). We all hate them. The hate is unanimous. If they were going to punish us with that crap, why couldn't they at least go back to the third Transformers movie?







The Gyrosphere is a two seater, so I got Human Alliance Soundwave's villainous Dylan Gould who has added articulation to fill in the empty seat, and after a massive argument, I was able to sit them together in the Gyrosphere. I HATE this scale. I HATE scale discrepancies in toylines. It's my number 1 pet peeve. I'm ok with 5POA humans, but scale...it's something I cannot condone. They might as well not have given us human figures at all, or sucky vehicles. Did I mention that the Gyrosphere launches a disk?



There you have it! If you have a Target store nearby, chances are these are still available, or they have reverted to the normal Indominus vs Gyrosphere set. If you HAVE to get an Indominus vs Gyrosphere, make sure it's the Target version, otherwise it's just not worth your time. It only costs $10 more for an added light feature and extra dinosaur. This is what the JW line exemplifies. Low quality, mediocrity and a reliance on silly gimmicks that get me to wag my primitive tail, such as light! But the quality is still abysmal. On the other side of the Indominus, the blacklight doesn't work as well as there is less paint. It's more of a try-me than anything else. But like I said, if you MUST... get this set instead if you can. Just because this is my favorite JW set doesn't mean it's my favorite couple of dinos. Ankylosaurus is on my top 5 and it's nice to have a repaint, but why not expand about repaints in our next bit? Shall we?

Friday, November 13, 2015

Jurassic World Bashers and Biters Ankylosaurus

JW B&B Ankylosaurus!



She's on my top five dinosaur figures so far from Jurassic World, despite her misgivings. Let us discuss...





Something I haven't mentioned is the wounded dinosaurs. Did they all have to be wounded? At least the wound is smaller here, but it's still visible and the ribs are in the wrong position. Ankylosaurus most certainly did not look like this, and it's obvious that they got their influence from Papo's "Ankylosaurus" which is certainly not Ankylosaurus. Ankylosaurus had plates and scutes covering most of its back instead of spikes, kind of like a complete nodosaurid but taken such armor to an extreme. Also, Ankylosaurus would have probably had 5 toes instead of four, as evidenced by other ankylosaur foot fossils (Ankylosaurus' feet are not known yet). Like all of these figures, there's screw holes and they are pretty obvious.





Like all Bashers and Biters, the gimmick here involves swinging the tail to one side (why not both) and stucking the head out like a...turtle? A TURTLE? They don't know anything about dinosaurs. Pulling the left leg back will cause the tail to swing to one side, and moving it forward causes the head to butt out.





Luckily a better repaint exists...if you can call that coloring better. It's very plain on this one. I will review the repaint, which is included with a limited run of Target Exclusive Indominus rex vs. Gyrosphere, momentarily.



Practically family! The Papo one is infinitely more detailed though, but still not accurate. They all look like generic 80's Ankylosauruses still.



This is as good as it gets folks, and here it is, one of my top 5 JW dinosaur toys by Hasbro, which means there's 4 more good ones out of like what, 20 or so toys? None of the other 4 I reviewed are in the top 4, so yeah. If you MUST have a JW dinosaur toy, let it be the Ankylosaurus!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Jurassic World Bashers and Biters Spinosaurus

JW B&B Spinosaurus!



Spinosauros! This figure was released in an era when we know Spinosaurus looked differently, as a sub-aquatic hippo-like fishmonger. This figure, this particular figure, despite the inaccuracies, is...I'm trying to be unbiased here...one of the worst Jurassic Park toys ever released. Thankfully, I haven't seen many in my area lately so I can sell the extra one I've got.



There's nothing redeemable about this poor soul. The mold is awful. The colors are awful. The shape is awful. It's just awful all around. I'm pretty accepting of all this garbage, but I happen to be a completist. Thankfully I paid $0 for this. I love her since she is a dinosaur toy that entered my life, but from the POV of a kid, a long time collector, an armchair paleontologist, a movie watcher, etc... this is an awful, AWFUL toy and shame on whoever let this become a reality. I hate to be mean to other artists and engineers, but this is...I can't even begin to describe how bad this figure is.



At least mine works better than my other Bashers and Biters by opening the jaws wide and by being able to move the neck properly. But she can't stand up unless she is in the position shown in the pictures above. She will fall over easily because her curved tail is useless as a counterweight, as well as her oddly shaped feet.



These two suck. Might as well pit them one against the other. I hate being negative about this line, but it feels like they just didn't care about who they were selling these to.

Jurassic World Basher Biter Tyrannosaurus rex

B&B T.rex!



I remember first seeing these at Toys R Us. Took them a while to get here. I thought they were slightly bigger! All the Basher/Biter dinos from this line are as long as a sharpie...or shorter. I did play with them for a few minutes and was impressed by the "puppetry" motion when you move the tail and move neck and jaws. It was something new, but it got old when it didn't work properly on other dinosaurs. Luckily it works well on this specimen.



This dinosaur I luckily got for free, and I immediately called it "The pathetic one", but I then felt sad because my mom got it for me, and it grew on me. But then it wasn't able to stand up in a spine position above 90 degrees. Her articulation is therefore pointless, never mind her oddly shaped feet.



Playing with the tail allows it to open its maw. Luckily mine works. I've tested others and it doesn't work so well. But the jaws can still be opened wider. The colors though are incredibly bland and boring. This is a boring dinosaur toy. It's not to me because I love to pit all my characters in inexplicable situations, so might as well pit her against an old enemy...



Hellew, friend who I've never met? Either way this T.rex costs 7.99 w/o tax on most WalMarts. Otherwise you're looking at a 9.99 figure. I will soon have at least two in my store at discount prices, but if I were you, I'd go get them in the T.rex escape playset. I don't have that as of the writing of this article, but these exact T.rexes are included in those undersized fence and gate playsets that have upset so many in the JP toy collecting community, but that review will be forthcoming. Let us concentrate on JW Hasbro Spinosaurus next. Buy at your own risk. If you're a completist like me, then this is up your alley. If not, then...you vote with your wallet!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Jurassic World Stop and Strike Tyrannosaurus rex T.rex

S&S T.rex



The infamous S&S T.rex! This toy has divided a lot of fans. Some say it's a terrible toy, some say it's a fun toy. I say it's just a toy, with more flaws than not. But this is the T.rex from Isla Nublar! A legend in her own right. But will she make the cut in your collection?



If you're going to buy it, make sure she's being displayed the way it is in the first picture, because on her left side she is riddled with screw-holes. It looks absolutely terrible! They should have covered them somehow. Also, don't be fooled by the leg joints. They are not for walking, they are for stomping. Legs will not moved independently from one another. When it stomps, it makes a stomping sound. Moving the body up by putting the base of the tail down, she will roar, and pulling her tail up, body down causes her to close her mouth and snarl.



Many fans have been complaining about how the soft covering of the neck and the tail are peeling. This toy was obviously not meant for harsh play...except it was. The design and execution is definitely sub-par, and it's going to break. It also cannot stand despite her huge clown feet, as the weight is not evenly distributed throughout the body.



This photo was really hard to take, and she kept falling over. She also feels hollow, and her paint is really pathetic.



Fans have also reported broken T.rexes with falling arms out of the box. OUT OF THE BOX. The only reason why ANYONE would get this dinosaur at some point is because well...she's the Jurassic Park/World T.rex. It's very hard to give an unbiased opinion when this toy is so flimsily made, fragile and not fun. It's not fun because I'm always making sure her tail and neck aren't peeling and that she hasn't tipped over.



Purchase at your own risk, and tell Hasbro to seriously get their s#1t together because this IS the most eagerly anticipated toy from the line, and this... well, we deserve better. And the worst part is that it doesn't end here. But this is why I've started by reviewing the worst toys of this line first, because believe me when I say that it does get better...just not by a lot. :/



"IAN! FREEZE!!!" "GRAARGH!!" "GET THE KIDS!!" "THROW THE FLARE" "GET THE KIDS!" "GRAAAAARGH!!!"

Jurassic World Chomping T.rex

Jurassic World Chomping T.rex Tyrannosaurus rex by Hasbro



Those who know me know what a JOKE the Jurassic World toys are, but I'll try to be as unbiased as possible whilst doing this review.



Bought at Walmart for $15, it's a good price for a big dinosaur, but most stores ask $20 or more. Make sure you get these at Walmart. There's two variations, and I personally think they're both the same. It has to do with the jaw opening mechanism and some paint issues.



I'm not a brat when it comes to dinosaur toys. I have a large collection of "Chinasaurs". This, however, is pathetic. That giant gap on the mandible is just... absolutely horrifying. The colors are super plain and it's a miracle this thing could stand up for 2 minutes as I took the picture. It will eventually start falling down. It's hollow inside. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but she's just a terrible TERRIBLE toy that deserves better given the character she's trying to portray.



The button (try me on the box) sticks out like a huge tumor. Older Jurassic Park dinosaurs often hid their buttons. This is pathetic. And apparently their jaws break easily.



I love the design, I just hate the way it was carried out. It's not fun because of how fragile it is. I don't wanna break it! The colors are bland and the jaw gap is just pathetic.



Why stop there? There's the Stomp 'n Strike Electronic T.rex and the smaller Basher and Biter T.rex. They're all interesting and unique, but this is...maybe with a repaint and some mold it could turn out to be a beautiful T.rex, as some of my customizing friends have demonstrated, but by itself... well...you're the consumer! I'm a long time collector who just finds this pathetic, as my expectation for anything from the Jurassic franchise is quite high. Buy at your own risk, and if you do, make sure it's at Walmart. $15 is what this is worth. Anything more and you're being robbed. I'll review the other two momentarily.