Jurassic Park Series 2: Utahraptor

Year of release: 1993-1994

Accessories:

-Three pieces of capture gear

-Collector’s Card # 67

Description: this carnivore has all the hallmarks of a typical Raptor, even though it's not the same species as the well known Velociraptor we saw in the Jurassic Park movies. It is bipedal, equipped with long arms with sharp claws, as well as a big sickle shaped claw on each foot (both of them poseable too!). However, this Utahraptor is much bigger than any other Raptor figures: it is in fact the biggest dinosaur of the JPS2 toy line. Like most Kenner dinosaur figures of this size, it has “real feel dinosaur skin”, a softer material than the usual hard plastic (though its limbs are still made of the latter). It's a rather bulky figure with a big fat belly to accommodate the electronic systems inside, as well as huge feet, rather pointless since the figure is not able to stand on them because it lacks proper balance; it can only stand on all fours, not on two legs). However, it stands in a fully neutral posture. Utahraptor is equipped with a 'kick-slash' action: pulling both legs back and pressing the button underneath the base of its tail (yes, its anal region) makes both legs give a powerful kick simultaneously. It also makes the head move forward a little while opening its jaws, and it unleashes a terrific screech.

This monster sports a typical paint job, not much unlike that of the various smaller Raptor figures Kenner produced over the years. Its underside (throat, belly, lowest part of the tail, insides of the limbs and bottom of the feet) is white, while the rest of its body is painted brownish orange. The orange colouring is covered in many black spots and stripes in random patterns, particularly on its back, neck and upper legs. The claws on both hands and feet are painted dark grey. The tongue and remaining insides of the mouth are pink, with white teeth. It has bright pink eyes with black cat like pupils and white irises, in black eye sockets. On its right leg, a big black JP logo is found, next to the number .22. This logo is decently camouflaged in the black spots on the rest of the leg.

This dinosaur comes with three pieces of capture gear. There's the required tag, which comes with all JPS2 dinosaurs, but is quite big in this case, and fits well around the creature's neck. It also comes with a leg restraint, which can hold on to both legs simultaneously, but is a bit too long to properly fit between the figure's legs (for some reason the leg piece of the JPS2 Young T-Rex is shown on this figure on the back of its box, but the leg restraint that actually comes with it is much bigger and is seen on pictures on the sides of its box). Lastly, there is a big muzzle which can go around the figure's jaws, effectively disabling them, while also covering the eyes, so the Raptor can't see what's going on around him. All three pieces are coloured in the same metallic grey paint job.

Analysis: because of the absence of a huge T-Rex figure in the JPS2 line (since the Gulper T-Rex remained unreleased), this big Raptor figure is the tyrant king of Series 2 instead. Given the boldness on Kenner's part to release a wide range of relatively little known creatures, it's not surprising this creature is not the Velociraptor we know from the movies, but a whole knew species called Utahraptor. However, it's similar enough to the regular Velociraptor figures to just be called a Raptor and not bother with more exact designations. It's basically the same shape, just a fair size bigger. It also produces the same screaming sound as the JPS1 Electronic Raptor, but beefed up so it sounds much fiercer and more aggressive. The paint job is not very original, it's just a variation on the 'brown/orange with black stripes/spots' paint scheme, but it works well on this figure nonetheless. But the real attraction of this figure, other than to finally have a Raptor figure that can easily kill an adult Tyrannosaurus on its own for sure, are the attack options it features.

The most obvious one is the leg kick action. It's pretty new, though the Gallimimus of this toy line features something similar. In that case however, it looked more like the dinosaur was running instead of giving kicks, but there's no mistake about the intentions of this predator's kicking: these legs are made for killing. The mechanism works well: you can pull both legs back until they set themselves in the right position, then push the button (invisible under its skin). Both legs will plunge forwards violently, knocking over anything directly in front of them, including bigger dinosaur figures or small vehicles. However, it's better to raise the arms somewhat, otherwise they get in the way of the action. A great extra detail is that pushing the button also causes the head and jaws to move, so the beastie isn't just giving a kick, it's also taking a bite at the same time. And then there's the terrifying screech accompanying the action, making for one scary effect to add to the attack. It's not a new sound, but definitely of a better quality than on the much smaller Raptor it originally came with. Another cool little detail is the poseability of the big claws on the feet. They can move in at least a 100 degree circle, and can trap unfortunate prey between them. A real shame no other dinosaur figures with large claws have a similar feature.

Despite these nice positive sides, this figure does have some negative ones as well. The most aggravating is the interdependency of the legs, so they can't be posed separately, as well as the fragility of the leg kick system, which gets broken all too easily. Other points of irritation are the overly big feet and bulky squarish torso, which make this otherwise butch figure seem silly, especially because it is not able to stand on its two legs because the front part of the sculpt is much heavier than the back part (which consists of its tail only). Also, because of the softer material the skin is composed of, this figure's paint job is more susceptible to paint wear.

Like the other JPS2 dinosaur figures, this creature comes with a set of capture gear, including the compulsory cuff like tag that all of them have. It's quite big so less easily lost, but still serves little purpose since the figure already has a JP logo branded on its leg. The leg piece is certainly of use in this monster's case, but a bit hard to apply because of the small amount of space between the legs. The leg piece actually is too big for this figure's legs. Also, it doesn't stop the Utahraptor from kicking. The head piece does a better job, and subdues the jaws as well as the eyes. There's no restraints for the arms however, so the Raptor can still use those: it may even be able to use its arms to pull off the head piece. This figure could have used a better thought out set of capture gear.

Playability: pretty good. This figure has moveable arms and legs, end even the big claws on its feet can be posed, which is a feature not seen on any other JP dinosaur figures. The poseability of the legs is hindered by their connection to the leg kick action though, which also makes them incapable of being used separate from one another. The leg kick action works well and will knock over any human figures and most dinosaur figures too, but it's a very close range attack option, and the arms have a tendency to get in the way. The head and mouth motion is a neat little touch which adds some playability to this toy, and the mouth is also big enough to grab and hold human figures (though barely). The capture gear does what it's supposed to do, but adds little to this dinosaur otherwise. Keep in mind this figure is electronic and you shouldn't play too rough with it if you want to keep it intact. Also, the leg kick action is somewhat fragile and gets broken rather easily.

Realism: Utahraptor was newly discovered (in 1991) by the time this figure was released, and as such not that much was known about it (like the almost proven fact that Utahraptor had feathers), so the Kenner designers basically made this into a very big version of the Velociraptor as seen in the JP movie (though Utahraptor did not play a part in the film, the Raptors from the movie are often compared to Utahraptors because they are too big to be Velociraptors, but a bit undersized to be Utahraptors). However, they still got some things wrong, mostly the bulkiness of this figure and the overly short legs and tail, making this figure seem fat and certainly not like the agile superkiller it's supposed to be. The proportions of this figure are just off, also because of the need for space for the electronics in this figure, making it bulkier than it should be. Of course, the designers did get some basic things right, like the long slender arms and the sickle shaped claws. The head is also not bad, though the jaws could have been a bit longer. The size of this beast in comparison with human figures is pretty close to the real deal (insofar we know for certain about the real deal that is).

Repaint: no, this figure is all new. It would be repainted once, as a TLW Exclusive figure. That repaint would be slightly retooled, since the electronics were taken out. It did come with the same set of capture gear though. This JPS2 Utahraptor reuses the screech from the JPS1 Electronic Velociraptor figure, though enhanced so it sounds more intimidating.

Overall rating: 7/10. This figure is basically an extra big Velociraptor with an overly fat body, short legs and some other minor downsides, but it does come with several sweet attack features, a nice set of jaws and claws and a decent paint job. It's worth tracking down, though it's not always easy to find, especially since it didn't get a proper world wide release. You can probably find a loose sample for a decent price, but MIB or complete figures often fetch high prices.