General Information:
Release Date: November 2021
Price Point: $104.99
Retailer: Amazon Exclusive (with a limited supply via BigBadToyStore)
Accessories: Blaster
Booming footsteps approach. Water in a cup shakes with each stomp and before long chaos breaks out as a mighty T-Rex attacks! In the classic film Jurassic Park this scene is iconic and now it has become the inspiration for the latest movie/Transformers mash up set: "Jurassic Park Mash-Up Tyrannocon Rex & Autobot JP93"!
Unlike most "Collaborative" releases thus far, this one features two figures in one pack. One figure is "JP93", a new sculpt with a vehicle mode based on the Ford Explorers seen in the 1993 film. The other figure is "Tyrannocon Rex", a retool and redeco of Kingdom Megatron based on the T-Rex seen in the film.
Packaging:
In recent years Hasbro has stepped up its packaging game exponentially. Whether it was the retro-awesome box for Gigawatt or the gorgeous artwork on the Kingdom boxes, the packaging on recent figures has been gorgeous. This set is no exception. The set is in a large window box featuring graphics inspired by the fauna and dark setting of this scene in the film. The Jurassic Park logo is set to one side of the box while the Transformers logo is on the other. Tyrannocon Rex has a Decepticon symbol next to the name while there is an Autobot symbol next to "Autobot JP93's" name.
The interior of the box also offers some wonderful surprises. Inside, the insert has a graphic of the T-Rex's Paddock. Tyrannocon Rex is stomping on an overturned cardboard Ford Explorer while roaring at Autobot JP93. It is a wonderful callback to the film and it displays beautifully. In another fun nod to the film series, the animated cartoon character Mr. DNA is printed onto one of the box flaps and the bottom of the insert has dinosaur bones that look buried in the ground printed on them. Kudos to the designers who created some amazing packaging for this set.
The new sculpt in this set is Autobot JP93. "JP" of course refers to "Jurassic Park" while "93" refers to the year the film was released. This vehicle is a licensed Ford Explorer based on the "Jurassic Park" vehicles used in the film. Some have speculated that this figure was a pretool of Legacy Skids. Now, that may be possible and I do not have Skids in hand, but based on the official photos released thus far, I would say JP93 is not a pretool or redeco of Skids. Several parts move differently than Skids' official photos would suggest and where some parts wind up in robot mode differ from Skids significantly.
Vehicle Mode:
I always love a good licensed vehicle. Based on the Ford Explorers seen in the film, JP93 is an SUV with parts added on including a cage in the front with extra lights attached to it. Lots of smaller details also match the vehicle(s) from the film including rectangular headlights, thin rectangular lines on the grille, cages over the rear lights and a single light nounted on top of the hood on the right side. The top of the vehicle features a curved window leading to a small series of lights. I love how much detail is worked into this figure purely from a sculpting point of view. The deco however is a whole other level.
JP93 is mostly made up of bright green, black and a smokey translucent plastic. This mode mostly shows of the green and translucent plastic with green making up most of the lower portion of the vehicle while the translucent plastic makes up the upper half. Black plastic is used on parts like the wheels and side view mirrors. Paint colors include yellow on the lower portion of the vehicle and red stripes on the hood and running along the sides of the vehicle. Red and green paint are used on the top of the vehicle. The "Jurassic Park" logo is present on both the hood (including the skeleton of a T-Rex in profile) and the sides of the vehicle. Also fun? "04" can be seen on the sides towards the back, a reference to the number of the vehicle in the film. The deco on this figure is absolutely gorgeous and when looked at side by side with screenshots from the film I have to say they mostly nailed it! The deco could have used dabs of silver on the front lights and side view mirrors but is a minor quibble.
The doors open as part of the transformation, but at some angles it looks nice to have them open as if someone was getting in or out of the car. The blaster included with the figure can attach to the top of the car in between the sculpted lights or it can be stored on the underside of the vehicle. Overall this vehicle mode is a winner!
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach the blaster and set it aside for now.
- Swing the doors out.
- Gently pull the rear half of the car back then swing it out.
- Separate the halves of the vehicle's rear section.
- On each robot leg, lift the red piece so the foot can move using the ankle tilt.
- Swing the robot arms up, then swing the fists out of the forearms.
- Swing the robot arms out to the sides and up.
- Swing the vehicle's cabin cover back for now.
- Lift the small panel on the hood with the "Jurassic Park" logo on it.
- Swing the front of the car down.
- Swing the cabin cover back up, forming the back.
- Attach the blaster to either fist.
Robot Mode:
As I mention above, there has been much speculation that this figure is a pretool of Legacy Skids. While I can totally see why folks may think that, but this doesn't really ring true when you put the figures side by side. For one, their heights are very different and many parts are different. One example are the shoulders. Here, the arms swing up with the wheels pressing up against the sides of the chest section. On Skids, the do not swing up in the same way. Instead, they wind up using the G1 design where the wheels are set behind the shoulders. The arms are also different at the elbows, where JP93 has ball joints while Skids has a hinge. There are other parts that are different both in sculpt and construction but I think you get the idea.
JP93 is an Autobot but he takes inspiration from two human characters who appear in the Jurassic Park film. His head sculpt is based on the character Alan Grant. The top is a stylized version of Alan Grant's famous hat. The eyes look like JP93 is wearing sunglasses, something Alan Grant wore in the film. Meanwhile, his weapon is based on the Franchi SPAS 12 weapon carried by Robert Muldoon. Like that weapon it features a barrel with a sight on top and a magazine extension under it. It also has the forend piece on the bottom and the back is angled like the weapon seen in the film.
The robot mode parts revealed in this mode are made up mostly of black and green plastic, which either matches up or constrasts with the colors carried over from the vehicle mode. The head has yellow paint on the helmet and a grey face. The stripes and various logos on the figure look great here, really driving home the crossover branding. The "Jurassic Park" logo winds up right on top of the chest in front of the head, so you can't miss it. The color scheme is pretty wild overall and does look like something right out of the 90's (which, I guess it kind of is!).
There are fifteen points of articulation in this mode. This includes three in each arm and four in each leg. The elbow joints are ball joints, allowing a wide range of movement. Some folks are not happy about the ball joints because they do not hold as strong as say, a ratchet joint and I get that, but for the purposes of this figure it works well in my opinion. I have seen some comments online saying copies of this figure arrived with fairly floppy joints. I am happy to report that my copy of this figure does not have that issue. The arm joints in particular are not tight mind you, but they hold up the weapon just fine and you can pose the figure out without a problem.
Tyrannocon Rex is a redeco and retool of the Kingdom Megatron figure. She (that's right she) is a brand new character created for this two pack. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Beast Mode:
Tyrannocon Rex is based on the iconic T-Rex featured in the original Jurassic Park film known as "Rexy" or "Roberta". When the designers created Megatron's beast mode, the idea was to create a "realistic" (read: Hollywood's idea of) T-Rex. I went on quite a bit in my Kingdom Megatron review about how much I love the sculpting of this mode. The more "realistic" design of this mode lends itself to being used as the Jurassic Park creature. You can see the creature in action in the embedded scene below:
No sculpting changes were made for the beast mode, so it is the same as Megatron's. However, the deco is dramatically different. Instead of Megatron's purple color, the base color for this mode is brown. Then there is a beautiful spray pattern of darker brown colors overlaid on top, with an even darker brown on the back forming stripes like those seen on the film's T-Rex. The eyes are painted yellow with black pupils. The teeth are painted white. I have to tell you folks, this is one of my absolute favorite beast mode decos ever in the Transformers toy line. The level of detail is gorgeous and the way some colors are sprayed over the brown plastic is very unusual nowadays. This practice was more common in action figures in the 90's and early 2000's, but not so much nowadays. It's great to see it used here.
There are twenty two points of articulation in this mode. This includes the ability for the head to look up and down and the neck to move side to side. Now, the real insanely awesome bit of articulation involves the beast mode thighs. Each of the beast mode "skin" pieces that fit over the robot thighs actually feature a circular piece running on a U shaped track. As you move the legs back and forth, the circular piece slides across that track which gives this figure a very unique feature! Combine the ability of the tail to move in two places along with the ankle tilts you wind up with a beast mode that can achieve some really cool poses. This mode also allows you to attach a Blast Effect to the inside of the mouth just like you did in robot mode.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Swing the panels with the beast mode arms on them out.
- Swing the panels covering the thighs back.
- Rotate the upper body section (which features the arms, head and chest) around.
- Lift the robot head up.
- Push the chest section down and snap it into place.
- Swing the panels the robot legs are attached to together.
- On each thigh, pull out the circular parts, rotate them around so the cannons face forward, then push them back in.
- Swing the panels that formed the "belly" skin pieces in.
- Swing the panel with the thigh covers on it up and snap it into place.
- Swing the beast mode head down to form the right arm.
- Swing the sides of the tail pieces out to reveal the mechanical bits underneath.
- Rotate the tail tip piece around.
- Swing the part of the tail with the ridges on it against the end of the tail to form the "claw" weapon.
- Straighten out the left arm.
Robot Mode:
While Tyrannocon Rex is a Decepticon, her newly revealed robot mode parts are very "Dinobot-esque", utilizing the red and black colors most often associated with the Autobot sub-group from G1. The torso is a combination of red and black. The thighs and head are black and the eyes are red. The exposed robot bits on the arms are also red and black. On top of all that, the head design looks very Dinobot-like featuring a stylized helmet section with red visor eyes and a mouthplate. If you told me this was some riff on Grimlock's head sculpt, I'd believe you!
The only thing that I am a bit sad about is that there is not a lot of deco on the robot mode parts. Like, the chest has a lot of sculpted details including ovals that looks like they have vents inside and there is a row of spikes that look like teeth on the top of the chest area. None of these details are painted so they get a bit lost in the solid colors, and that is a shame because they deserved to be accentuated.
All the joints on my copy of this figure are nice and tight and she poses and stands just fine.
Final Thoughts:
JP93 is a fairly simple Deluxe Class figure in terms of complexity and some design elements. However, it also reflects a lot of modern design elements including representing a real life vehicle very well and having ankle tilts, something that only became standard in the Transformers toy line a few years ago. I really dig this crossover figure. It's fun, kind of silly and has good play value at the same time.
Tyrannocon Rex is gorgeous in beast mode with a deco that I really spent a lot of time admiring before I transformed it. The robot mode could do with more deco, but the new head sculpt looks great. I also have to say I dig the idea of a female Transformers character made out of the base sculpt of a bulky male character.
Overall, this set is fantastic. Neither figure is perfect mind you, but taken as a pair the set is fun and works thematically. The packaging is absolutely stellar and I really enjoy this use of the Collaborative theme. All that said, at a price tag of $104.99 on Amazon you really need to be a fan of both Jurassic Park and Transformers to pay that much for what is essentially a Leader Class and Deluxe Class figure. I was okay with it given the realities of licensing fees and the extra work that went into the set (including a new head for Tyrannocon Rex and the amazing packaging). Recommended!
Pros:
- Amazing packaging.
- Fantastic theme with two figures that make perfect sense to pair up.
- The Tyrannocon beast mode deco is absolutely stellar.
- JP93 is a fun figure and I love the inspiration taken from human characters in the film.
Cons:
- Some different design choices could have been made with JP93 such as giving him ratcheted elbows or a tight hinge instead of a ball joint. I personally have no issue with it, but I have seen many fans comment on it.
- The clear plastic used for the top of the vehicle mode (which form the feet) is a bit worrisome as clear plastic is prone to stress marks over time.
- I would have liked JP93 to have had waist articulation.
