JPToys - News

Here's the latest on the Animatronic Spino for those unlucky souls living overseas Last we heard, the Spino was going to be released in various places overseas but now come this latest report from our man in the UK, Agent Smith: "Evil Jordy claims that when he rang up Hasbro for the first time to ask about the spinosaurus, the person on the other end of the phone thought that he was talking about the re-ak a-tak spinosaur. When he phoned again, Hasbro confirmed that the Animatronic Spinosaurus was a US only toy and would not be released anywhere else." We'll make sure to keep you updated on this story as soon as we get more information. Stay tuned...

Thanks to Dan J. for pointing out this interesting little tid-bit on the excitement over at Hasbro for the JP/// toy sales. Here's what he had to say: Here's why Hasbro was so excited about early sales... Toy Industry Association reveals top selling toys as of June 2001. In a bit of news that might be interesting to collectors, the Toy Industry Association (TIA- the folks behind the massive yearly event: Toy Fair) has announced the Top Selling Toys introduced in 2001 (Ranked by Dollar Sales) as of June 2001. These include (drum roll!): 1)JP3 RE-AK A-TAK ELEC. DELUX DINO ASST.- Hasbro, introduced April - $10.28 each.

My good friend over at Jurassic Park Toys is reporting that you can now collect a total of six different JP/// 3D cards. The cards are found on the back of Netle's cereal boxes. As of now, I'm not sure if this is an overseas promotion only or not. Be sure to let us know if you spot any of these cards here in the good 'ol US of A. Have a great weekend everyone and Go Noles! >---->

Here's a couple of interesting tid-bits from the great toy makers, Hasbro. First off, apparently Hasbro is currently working on a JP/// toy site. Here's a blurb from the upcoming site (thanks Tyrannobrush): "COMING SOON! Hasbro is launching exciting new Web content for our Transformers, Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park III, Butt-Ugly Martians and Zoids products!" Another big thanks goes out to one of our forum regulars "Mr Goodbytes" for sharing this article with everyone which talks about Hasbro's enthusiasm with the JP/// toy sales so far. You can read the entire article here.

My good buddy Tyrant took some time to give us his thoughts on the Paul Kirby & Military Diver sets. He was even kind enough to take some pictures of them for us. Here's what he had to say: Diver: No boubt about it, this figure has no flaws! He has this really cool torpedo launcher to stop the aquatic monsters of Isla Sorna! His spinosaurus hatchling is far superior to Amanda Kirby`s spino. The coloring on it is superb! It`s grey, with a maroon colored sail, and metalic blue markings. This is a must for any Jurassic Park collector. I give the whole set a 10! Paul Kirby: Its ok, but whats with that coloring! He has a pink shirt, with olive green pants, and a goofy looking rip on the bottom of his left leg. And they didnt give him a mustach, and his hair is orange! He is still alot of fun to play with! But I think I am gonna re-paint him, he has a pretty cool net launcher. Now his stegosaurus is the best stegosaurus hatchling made! Its color is so cool, it was made so accurate, it looks close to the Stan Winston Studios one. I give the whole thing an 8, because of the stegosaurus.

A big thanks goes out to one of our forum regulars, JDTyrannosaurus for pointing this new toy our way. Apparently another version of the JP/// Spinosaurus this time a remote controlled one has popped up. Here's the description taken from KBkids.com: Taken directly from the blockbuster hit Jurassic Park III, this R/C Spinosaurus is one mean dinosaur that you can control! Featuring wireless easy to use remote control, the Spinosaurus has fantastic realistic walking motion, various re-ak and at-tak dino roars and "dino" feel soft skin. Huge predator swings his head from side to side, opens & closes his mouth and even bends down to search for prey! At 24-inches long, this is one dino you should think twice before messing with. Comes with a dino egg-shaped wirless remote control. Requires 6 "AA" alkaline batteries (not included). Wow, this is very cool and I'm still trying to figure out how it slipped under our radar. It still looks awesome nontheless and you can order it now for $49.99.

Hot off the presses are these two reviews from our buddy Dan J. featuring the Tapejara and the Pack Raptor. Here's his reviews:

TAPEJARA

It's a bird!!! It's a plane!!! It's a JP3 Ptera with a new color scheme!!! NO!!! It's...TAPEJARA!!!! (Sorry, couldn't resist ) I had seen pictures of this toy and was fully ready to hate it. And when I bought it from Toysrus.com, I was already dreaming up an excessively negative review on it, saying how it was a cheap repaint, how the colors gave me flashbacks to those POS known as JP:CE toys, and how in all my diaromas it would be the dead and broken carcass providing food for all my other dinosaurs. Then I got it in the mail, and got a suprise. This is a really nice toy. First off: I would consider this more of a resculpt than a repaint, since the top of the head, wings and feet are different. The head and body are still pretty much the same, but that's ok. I really like the new sculpts, particularly how Hasbro actually sculpted a crest on the Ptera head, instead of being cheap and gluing one on. It looks nicer. I also like the little chunks missing from the wings of the Tapejara. It gave it sort of a realistic (sort of) touch. The colors blended a lot better than I expected, with the yellows and greens coming together real nicely. Look at the wings in particular, on the bottom, there is a nice green-to-white fade, and on the tops, there appears to be some sort of metallic paint that gives it a real nice shiny look. Are there any flaws? Of course. They used the same sounds from the JP3 Ptera on this. They did the same thing with the Pack Raptor, too, but that didn't bother me as much there, because they were the same species. Since the Ptera and Tapejara weren't the same, a different sound would have been nice. Also, forget about having it stand on it's feet: They aren't sculpted that way. Finally, the Hasbro toy people managed to bless the Tapejara with loose ball joints, just like it's predecessor. Overall: I did not believe Tapejara existed. And I did not believe that I would like it. But it does. And I do. 3.8/5

PACK RAPTOR

Some of you who have read my Alpha Velociraptor review on action-figure.com may remember me calling it "the DEFINITIVE raptor toy." Well, I lied. The wonderful Pack Raptor is in almost every way superior to the Alpha Velociraptor. For starters, it can actually move its jaw. That alone kicks it up for me. Also, the neck sculpt is designed a bit better, so that it can actually look at it's human prey. Call me crazy, but I like the color scheme here. It looks funky, but I think it works. It gives it a nice predator vibe. What would have made me give this toy an automatic 5, though, would have been to have it colored like one of the blue raptors in the movie. As I said before, the sounds are the same as that of the Alpha V, which brings me to an interesting point. Both the Tapejara and Pack Raptor have noises that can be triggered by a bone button. But since that is the only bone seen in the wound, it looks a bit out of place. It would have been better to have just colored it red like the rest of it. Now, I said that the Pack Raptor was superior in almost every way to the Alpha V. But that one can stand. The Pack Raptor has too much head and too little tail, which causes it to capsize forward unless supported, or unless you pose it so that one foot is flat and the other is resting on the corner of its heel. Also, the bottom jaw mysteriously juts out past the nose of the thing. Why? Overall: A big improvement over the Alpha V. It still has some bugs, but from now on, this will be the one attracting the attentions of my lovely

Thanks to our great members (we now have over 100 members) here at JPTC, we've added two new forums to our message boards. You can now enjoy a JP Gaming and a JP movies area in addition to our other already great forums! So, you're not a registered JPTC member? Then what are you waiting for? Sign up and come join us for some great JP discussion!

It looks like our good buddies over at Toys R Us.com have finally updated their site with the Tapejara. You can order it (while supplies last) for $10.99. Also, over at KBkids.com you can now order the Paul Kirby w/Staegosaurus and the Military Diver w/Spino sets for $7.99 a piece. Have a great weekend everyone!

Long time no update, huh? Well, to tell you the truth there hasn't been any news at all to update the page with! That's to be expected though with all of the JP/// toys out and on the shelves mostly everywhere. I did want to let everyone know that even though the Latest News updates may be few and far between, we here at JPTC are still working hard behind the scenes (now that we have some time) to make sure everything keeps running smoothly. And you can be sure that as soon as there is any breaking news to report, we here at JPTC will be the first to bring it to you. If you're still craving to talk toys, then make sure you head on over to our message boards where we now have over 90 registered members and great conversations going on every day! I will let you know that I recently talked with my buddy Dan J. who will have a couple of wave two reviews for us very soon, so stay tuned for that.

Thanks to everyone who let me know that you can now order the Pack Raptor and the Brachiosaurus from toysrus.com. If you're having are hard time finding these guys (like me) then here's your chance!

My old friend raptor1982 over at Jurassic Park Toys dropped me a line to let me know about his most recent find this weekend. Here's what he had to say: "I went to the Quick restaurant and (how amazed I was) I saw 4 different handpuppets (Trike, Pachy, Rex, Spino) you could get with a Magic Box. I bought a Magic Box (included a Pachy) and I bought sepparate a Trike." Check out his site for the rest of the pictures.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I spent most of today updating the various toy section pages in an effort to make them faster loading. If you'll look, I've added a menu for each section that breaks the toys down into Dinos, Humans, Vehicles/Playsets, and Misc. This should make the pages a lot faster when you're surfing the toy archives.

My apologies go out to "mrdinosaur2000" for not being able to post this review earlier in the week but today was the first time I've been able to get caught up on some reviews. Here's what he had to say: I bought the Tapejara at Target today, so here's my review: I personally think that this is one of the few gems of JP3 figures. I so far have been disappointed with what I saw, but the Tapejara is a completely different story. The Tapejara is basically a Pteranodon with a snazzy color scheme. The differences are close to none. The only difference I see is that the Tapejara has a crest thingy and a different name. So, this review covers not only the Tapejara, but (sort of) the Pteranodon as well. I’ll start with the “Re-ak At-ak” part. It isn’t really much. When you push the crest forward, the neck moves forward with it and the mouth opens, making a scream. The wound isn’t as bad as the other dinos, there isn’t really a bunch of bones sticking out. The wound’s just a little red splotch with a little white button in the middle for the Re-ak roar. The button looks pretty weird. It looks like some bone from who knows where just sticks out. It looks awkward. Oh well. Minor flaw. Now, the sculpting. The Tapejara is done really well. The figure itself is a tad big, but that’s ok. I like the color scheme more than the Pteranodon, though the Pteranodon looks a little more original. Poseability(sp?) is great; the wings have ball sockets in addition to moving up and down (there is a downside to this, read further), and the legs are also poseable. The neck can’t look around, but that doesn’t really detract. The mouth opens and the neck lunges forward which is pretty cool. As an added bonus, these guys look good next to the original JP figures. I like that. I like how they made the wings softer plastic and the body hard plastic. The head is soft plastic too. What we all hate: the downsides. The ball socket can get pretty loose. Mine was loose when I bought it. This can be solved, however, by sticking little pieces of paper to kind of tighten it or by putting a tad bit of glue. Another problem is that the Tapejara is simply a Pteranodon with a different head, which kind of sucks. The size is also an issue. The creature’s wingspan is as big as the Young Rex (JP) is long! That’s big. Despite these problems, though, the Tapejara (or the Pteranodon) is a fine addition to your collection of Jurassic Park toys. Showing off a snazzy color scheme, great sculpting, compatibility, and awesome sounds, this (these) flying reptile(s) should fly off the shelves. Mr. Dinosaur’s rating: 9.3/10 I hope this review was helpful! Thanks for reading! If you would like to send in any news or reviews make sure to drop me a line by using the submit news link at the top of this page. Well, I'm off to Florida this weekend in search of more wave two toys, wish me luck and have a great weekend everyone!

Here's a short but to the point review posted by Steve over at JP Aftermath that I thought you might enjoy. He has also updated his toy section with some boxed shots of the Brachiosaur from different angles. Here's the review: "I stopped in Toys `R Us yesterday and was lucky enough to nab a Series II Brachiosaurus. I guess someone new at the store put a few out on the shelves early by accident, so I doubt you guys would be able to find one. The Brachiosaurus head and neck are made out of a soft plastic (comparable to the previous JP toys) and the body is hard plastic like most of the other JP3 figures. The Brachiosaur makes two sounds, one is the "Re-Ak" sound when you touch a button on his 'dino-damage.' The other sound is the "Attack" sound made when the Brachiosaur swipes his tail sideways after you push his front leg down. The Series II toys will be available later this summer for $10.99 at Toys `R Us and just under $10 at Wal-Mart."

In another JPTC exclusive (thanks to Alex Gayhart) we are now showing you these never before seen photos of what could be a JP/// poseable Carnotaurus! Here's what he had to say about it: "I went to my local comic shop and they had a JP3 Poseable Carnotaurus I don't know if it's some kind of bootleg but it was pretty cool. It bends esier than the Spino and Raptor although it's arms are curved upward and cannot go down.It is red withblack Stripes and tan spots on certain places it's a bit bigger than the others it's the size of TLW Thrasher Rex." The details are a little hard to make out but you can definitely spot the JP/// mark on the leg of the Carno. Hopefully this addition to the poseable family will be better than the previous two attempts with the Spinosaurus and Velociraptor. If you happen to spot this guy and can take a high quality picture of it, please send it our way so we can share it with tht toy world! Click on the thumbnails for a larger view. (Update- Apparently this particular Carno is available in Dinoland U.S.A. at Animal Kingdom. Some people are reporting that this may be the same Carnotaur from Disney's "Dinosaur" with a JP/// logo slapped on to make it look official. I guess you can take it for what it's worth and decide for yourself.)

Here's a few interesting little prototype items that my buddy Dan J. stumbled upon at eBay. Here's the description according to the seller: "You are bidding at Hasbro Kenner Jurassic Park III Production action figure Test Shot Prototype , It around 4" tall complete all accessory and Weapon , No Trademark in his body." You can find the autcion by searching for "JP III" and right now the current price is set at $49.90 a piece. Bid with caution! For the other pics, make sure you check out the new Protoype area in the JP/// section.

Hot of the presses are two great reviews of the new Pack Raptor and the Aqua Spinosaurus by our man Jeff. These are very thorough reviews and I highly reccomend them to you. Here's a snippet from the Pack Raptor review: "The Pack Raptor does not take a back seat to the Alpha Raptor. This is the raptor that should be the leader. This IS the raptor I so longed for and many are still searching for." I an effort to conserve space, both of the reviews are in the Review Section and you can check them out there.

If you're looking for all the latest wave two pictures, then you've come to the right place! I just finished updating the JP/// section here at JPTC and included in the update was a box shot of the new Tapejara! Make sure you check that out and also be on the look-out for several great new reviews from Jeff which are coming your way next week.

I usually don't have much time for weekend updates here at JPTC but I just couldn't resist this time! Thanks to Tyrant once again for this great new photo of the Tapejara. It's a much more detailed look than we've seen so far and it really proves once and for all that the Tapejara does exsist! Another big thanks goes out to our man Arco for sending in this great picture of the Paul Kirby with Stegosaurus set. Be sure to click on the thumbnails for a larger view and another great shot of the Tapejara!

Here's a much better look at the Alan Grant w/compies set and this time we get a look at the box! Notice the back of the box has the picture of the miltary diver. Thanks to Dan J. for pointing these great pictures my way. FYI - this item is up for bid on eBay if your interested.

While not really being toy related, I do know that there's a huge audience out there for these games and those people will enjoy this review. Since I'm not a big expert on them, I'll just shut my piehole and let Austin tell you about it. "The DNA Factor is a new game as many of you know, the GBA is new too! I love the new game! It is fairly difficult to play! There are hidden items and hidden paths that you must find! The object of the game is there was this airplane that crashed on Sorna and all of the DNA capsules were scattered on the Island! Your objective is to collect these different parts of DNA then at the end of each dificult level, there is an EXTREMLY HARD mini game! You must blast these rings to complete the DNA code! You can play as two characters! A guy photographer or a lady pilot! Overall I give it ***** 5 of 5 stars!" I hope you enjoyed that review and be on the look-out for another review of the Ultra-Rex by our man Nick on Monday. I've also noticed that several wave two reviews have been popping up on the inGenNet boards if you're interested. Have a great weekend everyone!

Just a quick little note from our overseas insider, Agent Smith. It's pretty much a correction to the story posted on the first. Here's what he had to say: "It has been confirmed by Hasbro that the Animatronic Spinosaurus WILL be coming out in the UK, just probably not parts of Europe. I will try to give you more on this story as it develops."

What a big news day this has been and this story takes the cake! First off, a big thanks goes out to my old friend Tyrant for this great picture! For the first time anywhere on the net comes this JP Toys Central exclusive, where we get a look at the wave two Alan Grant with Compies. For a review, make sure to check the story on July 31st where Tyrant sent in his thoughts. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

In our ever increasing efforts to bring you news from all over the globe, comes this report from our man in the UK, AgentSmith2k. Here's what he had to say: "I have some news for all those who live in Europe that don't yet know it: Sad news for anybody who lives in Europe; the Animatronic Spinosaurus is, apparently, not going to be released over here! I heard it from somebody who lives in Germany. I think that this will also include the UK. But don't let this get you down! I suggest that you try trading on forums, such as the JPTC ones and those at inGenNET, and also at eBay. I think that Wave 2 will be coming out over here though, and probably the Ultra T-rex. I will keep a lookout for everybody in the UK."

My good buddy and a regular contributor to this site, Dan, took time out of his schedule to give us his thoughts on the new Ultra T-Rex. Here's his review: Spino Dino may have won the grudge match in JPIII, but we all know who the real king is!!! I just got my Ultra T-Rex today from Wal-Mart.com (excellent shipping by the way) and all I have to say is: Wow. I've seen this toy before in stores (after getting it offline of course) and played with it, but this thing is even better out of the package. MOB collectors, you don't know what you'll be missing. First off: All you JP fans out there freakin out about how small it's going to be, don't worry. It's definitely bigger than the Junior Rex from JP. I didn't have a ruler handy, but I know that the Junior Rex is about 7 inches tall, so I'd put the Ultra Rex at about 9 inches when posed like it was in package. Those who love the Real-Feel skin of the previous Rexes will just have to console themselves with the JPIII Tri-tops and Anima Spino, cause this doesn't have it. It doesn't matter much to me, though, because instead of the skin, you get poseability and really nice sculpting. I know I'll probably get mail for this, but all the wonderful big Rexes that Hasbro has put out before have been unposeable, non-freestanding pieces of plastic. Well, no more. Rexy stands quite easily, and can be posed in quite a few moods just by moving the legs. The detail is also quite amazing. The paint is really nice, even though instead of those yellow feet, we get greenish-ochre feet. Mine also has great, clear eyes. However, I've seen some Rexes with really bad eye detailing, so buy carefully. The actions are pretty nice. Of course, there's the screech when the rib cage is pressed. When you press down on the right arm (in package, that arm faces out at you), you get the attack roar. The mouth opens nice and wide, easily enabling Rexy to pick up any hapless Military Generals you might have, or even bite down on a raptor neck or two. The Anima Spino's jaw doesn't open nearly this wide. It also makes a stomping action, though many people have complained they haven't heard it. Here's the trick: After triggering the A-Tak roar, slam it (but GENTLY!!!) feet down onto a hard, flat surface to trigger the stomp. Gently banging the palm of your hand against the feet also works nice. Overall: This Rex is a true winner. True T-Rex nirvana. I know there are those that will never buy it, and hug their Bull Rexes closer when they read this, but to me, this is what Hasbro should have made in 1993. Detailed, poseable, free-standing, noisy, and able to eat your figures. To me, this is the true Ultra Tyrannosaurus Rex. 5/5.