Friday, November 20, 2015

Jurassic World Growlers Ceratosaurus

JW Growlers Ceratosaurus!



My second favorite JW figure (5. Stegoceratops 4. Pachycephalosaurus 3. Ankylosaurus 2. Ceratosaurus 1. ???), this is the first Ceratosaurus figure we've ever received since the Die-Cast version from Jurassic Park (1993)!!! The design follows the Jurassic Park III version, and to some extent, the original Die-Cast figure. I've never seen any images from 1993 of Ceratosaurus, but they all seem to follow a theme. Red colored head, some level of stripes and a clear colored body, which in the Die-Cast's version is a blue body with black stripes and a red neck/face.



In Jurassic World terms, this is one fantastic figure, with a fantastic mold. We haven't looked at the Growlers yet, but these came in later waves. I absolutely love this figure, and love the fact that is measures between 5-6 meters long in comparison to Jurassic Park, The Lost World and JPIII figures, so it works perfectly in your Kenner Jurassic Park playground! The figure is not without problems though.





Some people commented on how the teeth are herbivorous-like, blunt and un-detailed. Yeah, so? That is a pattern with all of these JW figures. It's meant for safety for little kids. Not like they would be able to injure themselves since the biting mechanism is so weak and...fragile...And I have a horrible story about that!



Before I get into my story, allow me to highlight the most ridiculous feature these Growlers have. They feature GLOWING DINO-DAMAGE!!! Whoever thought about this is an absolute idiot, this is disgusting. Putting lights on their wounds? Genius idea. NOT. This is... I can't say how stupid the feature is. Pushing the button on Ceratosaurus causes a JP T.rex roar to happen. And it glows, of course. They should have done those spring-loaded wound covers instead!!!



Pushing the tail down causes it to close the jaw and roar just like a classic Jurassic Park T.rex. It's kind of lame, but whatever, we had no actual Ceratosaur roar sound ever, so might as well. . Now, due to the plastic and quality, this feature is very VERY fragile. Here's my story. I had been hunting these for a while, and went to my hometown's Wal-Mart to search for it. I luckily found it, I was actually secretly hunting for Dilophosaurus... Anyways, I wanted to buy both at the same time but I have this 1 dino a day rule to counter my insane dinosaur collecting. Anyways, I checked it and it looked...odd. The sides were split, and there was a large crevasse through its midline point. Naturally I attempted to correct this by snapping the figure together, and upon doing this, the jaw mechanism no longer worked once you pulled the tail down. I broke a dinosaur in store on its box... This isn't supposed to happen!!! Hasbro get your stuff together!! I felt sad because I destroyed store merchandise and because I broke a dinosaur in a foolish attempt to fix it. This was my first run-in with the true power of the dark si...I mean, the true power of low quality dinosaurs. As I told my friends online, I said "ten years from now I will not be able to sell these since they will all be broken.". Whatever, I drove to the next town over in desperation to find a working Ceratosaurus, and alas, there it is. Great figure, and fragile as heck. Rare, too so if you see one, buy it.



Well, they found the phone among the Spinosaurus' rubbish. Ceratosaurus cometh and sayeth "hell to the no, y'all stink". the end. Highly recommended, but caution on it's fragility. Check yours before you buy it.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Jurassic World Bashers and Biters Allosaurus

JW B&B Allosaurus!



The cool thing about this line is that Hasbro gave us a variety of dinosaurs, mostly theropods, and Allosaurus here is a pleasant surprise. But how does it stack up with the others? Let's find out!



The second wave consisted of two dinosaurs: Pachycephalosaurus and Allosaurus. Notice anything similar about the two? Hint, they're both yellow.



Well, time to nit-pick it. The tarsals and metatarsals are all wrong as they are depicted in different lengths. If this dinosaur was standing normally, one leg would be longer than the other. Hands in the incorrect old fashioned position, really curvy tail...It's just a mess of a figure. Not as bad as Spinosaurus, but pretty bad. The colors don't make the mold stand out, but that's a recurring theme across this line.



For this picture I manually opened the jaw to get it to the biggest angle, because upon pulling the tail down...



...this is as wide as the mouth opens. Pretty pathetic, or maybe mine is flawed.



There it is compared to other Jurassic Park Allosaurs and with Papo Allosaurus, which clearly inspired this mold. Now, the 2012 Allosaurus (the blue one) is one of the best Jurassic Park figures ever released. Same goes with the Lost World Allosaurus. Why did they not give us that quality back?



Again, you vote with your wallet. But this figure is not as easy to find like the others... Anyways there you have it. Take it or leave it.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Jurassic World Bashers and Biters Pachycephalosaurus

JW B&B Pachycephalosaurus



My 4th favorite dinosaur from the Hasbro line, this Pachycephalosaurus has a wonderful mold! I absolutely love the head. Spot on. The curved tail, and lack of a wide body definitely bothers me, but this is meant to represent an older vision of the animal.



The screw holes are a continuing distraction with these, but there's nothing to be done about that.



It's certainly one of the better toys, and that is saying a lot since the paint is so...bland! They didn't even color the claws and nails. But it's still a nice mold, I just wish they had given it the respect it deserves. The Lost World Paint would have been a starter, or if you're that lazy, why not do a homage to the Red, Black and yellow dome from Jurassic Park, Series 2?





I rarely ever see this figure, if you see it, you should buy it, as second wave toys tend to be harder to find.



Like the other Bashers and Biters, pulling the tail down makes the neck stick out, and pulling the tail to the side makes the head bob right...I think. Kind of a weak performance, in my opinion...



Still, it cannot be denied that it is kind of cute...



Probably the best thing about it is that it is in scale with the Jurassic Park Series 2/ The Lost World small Pacho mold, so it fits right in with your Pachycephalosaurus herd. It's just a new coloration. Like I said above, this is my 4th favorite JW figure (the 5th being Stegoceratops), and therefore it is recommended. It's cute, kinda fun, kind of a filler toy, but the head sculpt is spot on, and I appreciate it for that.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Jurassic World Bashers and Biters Stegoceratops!

JW B&B Stegoceratops AND repaint!





Anyone remember Jurassic Park Chaos Effect? This is a blast of the past! However, while not easily spotted, this animal was actually in Jurassic World and can be found in some promo material. The story was that InGen was going to start making hybrid dinosaurs and likely weaponizing them for militaristic purposes, and one proposed animal was this. As for the figure itself, it's not too bad.





I've grown fond of calling it "Nasutostegoceratops" because that's definitely a Nasutoceratops head, which is pretty cool, I guess. The details and colors are nice. I enjoy the pose and the details around it.



Like all B&B toys, moving the tail around causes the head to move around. But the feature doesn't work too well on mine...Anyways, Hasbro liked this figure so much that they gave it a repaint!





Desert storm version anyone? Either way, I definitely love the sand colors on this one. Some say it's bland, but the two animals together look pretty cool!





The head movement works a lot better on my sand repaint! That alone makes me like it more than the original, but every specimen is different, unfortunately.



Well, this is my top 5th JW figure, even though it's not a real dinosaur. The original is easier to find than the repaint, but I'd buy them both if I were you. Hasbro really took their time designing these, and for that reason they get extra points.