There are occasions in collecting where you see a call-back to something you had as a kid and thinking yeah, I had one like that!” And you were dead wrong, the new one was vastly superior to anything you had back then.
This is one of those occasions.
The Jurassic World 2 line is the first time the property has left Hasbro, and man, sometimes change is good. Even Mattel can clearly provide that change with the right inspiration, and that is very clear with this Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Somewhat of a spiritual successor to the JP The Lost World “Bull” T-Rex, this toy is built around the central gimmick of the big king eating figures and little dinos, and then retrieving them later from an opening in the belly. And that’s what this one is essentially all about.
Just much, much bigger.
At nearly 42″ from snout to tail, this Rex can easily fit in a 1/12 scale, since the beasts ran over 50` in length. depending on the pitch of his stance, he can stand almost 20″ on the ground, though his proper stance is plenty comfortable at around a foot. And there is some heft to go with it. I expected this guy to be rotocast, or at least more rubbery, but he’s actually pretty solid lunk, with some softer parts in the neck and tail.
Articulation is kinda bare essentials, but it should be pointed out that is still superior to the older big dinos, who usually eschewed actual articulation for rubbery parts. There are big heavy detented hip joints that do a good job of keeping him stable, some shoulder cuts for his little forearms, cuts at the ankles and a pivot on the tail. The articulation is really just to help him steady in some lunging or walking poses, and it does that well enough.
But the big star is the jaw, hinged upper and lower. He can definitely chomp some good sized toys.
The sculpt and paint is really not bad for a 55-dollar figure- especially the sculpted skin details. There’s lots of scales, wrinkles, and even some scars. The base paint is pretty solid, with good colors, and some flecking applied the top of the toy, but that part doesn’t quite work for me. But the eyes, teeth, and mouth details are really nice.
No doubt if you frequent the boards you have seen some awesome paintings applied to this guy, and I would like to do that as well. Once I clear some space. But out of the box? This is an excellent toy with some solid collector friendly features. There are a couple variations to him, such as one for Wal-Mart with some painted-on battle damage and some sound effects. But for my money, this standard version is the way to go. Get it!
