#1095 DINO RIDERS - TYRANNOSAURUS REX with KRULOS, BITOR and COBRUS (1988)

I still have many Dino-Riders toys to be published. I am still missing the Pachyrrhinosaurus, the Edmontosaurus and, of course, the Brontosaurus, as well as a few loose figures. But I have all the other toys, and I will be publishing them some time in the next few years. Today, I want to show the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the biggest and most impressive toy in the first series from 1987, and maybe the most iconic reference of the whole toyline. As a matter of fact it was the model used to create the dinosaur character in the Toy Story movies.

It took some time to get it complete. I had some parts from a flea market, then I bought more parts on the Internet, and finally, I bought the dinosaur with almost every part of the armour, and with all these, I made a complete set. The plastic parts have become fragile and they break easily, so if you have the toy, do not try to remove or separate any parts from each other. The cannons pointing to the back are usually broken (the two that move up and down and the other two that move left to right). I repaired the two attached to the pink part in a way that it cannot be noticed.

The dinosaur also shows the pass of time, as the rubber bands in the wheels below its feet are worn and broken. I guess there are ways to repair it, but I have to find them out.

According to the comic, the T-Rex is the first dinosaur that the Rulons capture by using the brainbox. They prepare a trap on the top of a rock, and when the dinosaurs comes close, they drop the brainbox on its head. Since then, Krulos and the others can control the beast at their will. 

Krulos, of course, is the leader of the rulons, the most important character on that faction. The other two are secondary characters of the Antmen (Bitor) and Snakemen (Cobrus). Even though all evil characters in the series shared three heads (the Sharkmen are not represented in this set), these two are the most appealing one, due to their combination of red and black paint with some details in yellow. The colour scheme recalls somehow the eruption of a volcano or lava or something like that.

Krulos as a commander of the Rulons took for himself the upper position in the dinosaur. He stands in some kind of tribune of pulpit with two small cannons. A bit too exposed to the shoots of the Valorians, but we know from the cartoons, that these were not very good shooters. 

The body of the dinosaur is quite protected with big shields covering torso (or whatever it is called in a theropod) and legs. A central harness holds two cannon nests on the sides, very well covered (as opposed to the pulpit on top) with two shields in the shape of a cubic box. 

The front part has another position for a figure which seems to control two mechanic claws whose utility is uncertain: What are they good for? 

The tail is also heavily protected and has many cannons to cover the attacks from behind. A huge platform has space for another figure and a big shields hangs from that point down.

The last part to be commented are the two pieces that attach to the legs to pretect them, which have the nice detail of carryying a circular saw.

Amont the non protective parts, we can observe a very big motor (I guess all those lasers have to be powered somehow) over the pink platform, partially covered by the top plate, that also covers the two gunner´s seats at the sides. This last part (the "roof", so to speak) is the most fragile in the whole set, and the one it took me longer to find in an acceptable shape. The hinges of the parts exactly over the side cannons can be broken, and also the part that fits in the motor may have some wear or can be broken.

The dinosaur is battery operated and moves its legs in a way that the dinosaur walks. It is one of the fastest dinos (or, at least, faster than the other I have seen in action). The dinosaurs stands by using its tail, in the way that dinosaurs were depicted before the 1990s. Since Jurassic Park, theropods are represented standing on two legs and using the tail to keep balance when moving or running.

All in all it is one of the greatests toys from the 80s, a nice addition to any collection, although it takes quite a lot of space.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TYRANNOSAURUS REX with KRULOS, BITOR and COBRUS
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur: 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#1076 JURASSIC PARK – DENNIS NEDRY, TIM MURPHY and ROBERT MULDOON (1993)

With the current update rate of this blog, it takes ages until one toyline comes again, so this time, I will present several references from Jurassic Park by Kenner. I will focus this time in the three figures that I haven´t commented yet. In entry #819 you can read about Allan Grant and Ellie Sattler.

All these three characters: Dennis Nedry, Tim Murphy and Robert Muldoon are secondary and therefore less recognizable than the previous two, and maybe that is why they were packed with very cool dinosaurs and accessories. As I mentioned in the entry dealing with Alan and Ellie, the figures were produced before the film was actually shot, and the figures do not resemble the actors. On top of that, they didn´t produce in the first place the figure of Ian Malcolm, the character that most people remember from the first film and almost the entire saga.

Dennis Nedry. The computer specialist, and also the traitor who disables the security fences in order to steal some dinosaur eggs, and triggers the whole danger and chaos situation for the other visitors… and himself. The figure is far from the complexion of the actor Wayne Knight, who played the role. The colors of the clothes are also very different from the ones that appear in the movie and the face is generic. Pity, because we are missing those Hawaiian shirts. Since the bad guys tend to sell worse than the other figures, this one was given very nice accessories: a gun with a backpack that could spit water (one of the classic accessories in most action figure series) plus an strange helmet, that may have some importance in the novel (I haven´t read it) or the original script, but that it does not appear in the movie. The dinosaur hatchling in this case is the dilophosaurus, as it is the dinosaur that best fits the character.

Tim Murphy. Is the grandson of Dr. Hammond, and one of the two kids in the movie. Why there is no figure of the granddaughter (Lex) is unclear to me, pity, again, that Kenner didn´t cast it. I guess there was already one woman in the series and it was always risky, as female figures also tend to sell worse than their male counterparts. The figure of Tim does not look like Joseph Mazzello (who was 9 when the film was shot while the figure actually looks like a teenager), and also the clothes are different. The figure came with a brachiosaurus hatchling, a cage to carry it, a red lasso-bazooka (whatever it is called) and the nightvision googles, a very small accessory that is difficult to find.

Robert Muldoon. The main InGen hunter comes in a generic uniform that is far from the more military one used in the film. The face of the figure has no similarity whatsoever with the actor Bob Peck. This figure is actually the most commonly seen together with Allan Grant, maybe because it included a T-Rex hatchling and many accessories: a red bazooka, two red missiles (different from each other) and a backpack to carry these. The weapon could really shoot. Altogether, the figure is great.

The figures are nice, even considering that they do not resemble the movie characters, but in this collection, what every child wanted to have was the dinosaurs! I guess the best business was made with the dinosaurs, and as a result, the figures today are not so easy to find, if you are looking for complete samples in good condition. The dinosaurs included no accessories (some included a piece of detachable flesh) and are easier and cheaper to find. Next time I will show some dinosaurs.

To finish the article, a “family” portrait of all human figures in the series 1 of this great Kenner toyline.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DENNIS NEDRY, TIM MURPHY and ROBERT MULDOON
• Toy Line: Jurassic Park
• Year: 1993
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 10 cm long

#1042 THE LOST WORLD – PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS and GIANT PTERANODON (1997)

Unlike the toyline for Jurassic Park, the toyline for The Lost World included many dinosaurs WITH accessories. These were in all cases some kind of mechanical invention to prevent the dinosaur from attacking humans. Something like a giant muzzle. This part was, of course, easily detachable, so you could play the “dinosaur has release itself, let´s run” scene. Additionally, all of them could perform some action feature. For this movie, there were many dinosaurs made, I will show today two of the “big ones”, although there were many others in this size or even bigger.
 
Although the dinosaurs are not so hard to find, these accessories (traps, muzzles and so on) are really scarce. They are mostly grey parts with strange shapes that nobody could identify, so most of them were probably disposed sometime by the early 2000s, remaining only the dinosaurs. Many are probably mixed up with parts of other collections, as they could belong to any toy. The two dinosaurs I show today are complete.
 
Let´s start with the Pachycepahlosaurus. The dinosaur is really cool, and has one of the funniest and most interesting features (despite its simplicity) among the references in this toyline. It is a lot of fun to “head out” all other figures and dinosaurs one after the other. The dinosaur has an impressive size (It should be at scale to the humans in the collection), and a soft plastic skin (except the head and neck part), that makes it nice to play with. I guess it is one of those toys that sooner or later will degrade and break down. It belongs to a sub-series of the dinosaurs called Dino Strike, which included all dinosaurs with some mechanical attack action feature.

The accessories include a harness to be attached to the body of the dinosaur, plus a piece that fits the head with two bars that connect the harness and that piece. It is supposed to simulate a trap for the neck of the Pachy, so it cannot attack anybody with its head.

The Giant Pteranodon is also made at scale, and it is impressive in its size. The wings are partially made of cloth, so the toy, altogether, is not very heavy. The head is big and the beak can open and close. The wings also flap by pushing a button, and the small rear legs also move up and down, where the claws can grab something.  I am not sure what is the point on this, but the wings can be clipped to the body of the flying reptile. Maybe it is just a way to securely place it in the box, because the “sitting” position of such a creature is thought to be with the wings bent on the sides of the body, perpendicular to the ground, not parallel. 

The toy came with a muzzle and a small harness that fitted all four limbs to immovilize the beast.

Somo more diorama pictures:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS and GIANT PTERANODON
• Toy Line: The Lost World (Wave 1)
• Year: 1997
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the figures: Around 11 cms