Jurassic World: Dominion - Dimetrodon (Extreme Damage)

 

I don't know what it is about this Extreme Damage subline of the new Jurassic World Dominion line, but I love them! This new Dimetrodon mold is excellent and one of the first of the new toys that I saw at retail.

Most toy manufacturers have become more consciences of the environment and with this more and more plastic is being removed. This is the case with the smaller assortment of Extreme Damage dinos, with the whole toy basically being exposed. This does however give you a great up close look at the figure and if you're like me, you can easily inspect all the figures hanging on the pegs to pick out the one you think has the cleanest paint apps.  

The back of the box showcases the toy and the DNA chip feature. In the lower left corner is a small cross sell of other small dinosaurs included in this first wave. At least one of these will get a future post.

When I first laid eyes on this toy I was impressed and I was equally impressed by the time I got him out of the packaging. I've always like the Dimetrodon for some reason and this is a great representation. The body is cast in a dark lime green with beige used for the lower jaw. Dark brown paint apps highlight the dino's back along the sides of the red fin. Speaking of the fin, it too has some dark paint app deco.

In the articulation department, you have limited movement, but enough for a toy this size. The head is able to move side to side and up and down a bit. The lower jaw is able to move as well. All four limbs have a good range of motion as well.

The right side features three tear marks in the dino's skin that showcases the Extreme Damage gimmick, while the left side features two tear marks.

The DNA chip on this toy is cleverly hidden inside the fin. The rear section has a portion that pulls up to reveal the chip. If you've not downloaded the free Jurassic World app, I have to admit it's pretty cool. I've had fun just locating the DNA chip on various toys in the store and scanning them.

Here's a quick screen capture of the app for the Dimetrodon. Once the DNA chip is scanned, it adds the dinosaur to your collection. Here you can manipulate the camera to get a good look at the animated beast. You can also use augmented reality to put the dino in your own world. The videos tab will give you video clips of the dino from some sort of media, whether it be a clip from one of the Jurassic Park or Jurassic World movies or even from some of the animated shows. There is also a game you can play where you try to capture the dino...it's rather primitive, but I've found myself playing it on more than one occassion.

Right above the section of the fin that pulls out revealing the DNA chip is a small portion that acts as the trigger for the damage effect gimmick. Pulling this section activates the rotating damage from a matching green skin color to a bright red color that mimics bloody damage. It's a rather simply gimmick, but one I find decidingly fun to mess with.

The Dimetrodon toy is exclusive to Walmart stores, as is the rest of the Extreme Damage subline. It retails for about $11 so it won't set you back too much in my opinion. I think it's a great toy with a fun gimmick and I look forward to more Dimetrodon toys making their appearance in the future. 

KO Korner: G1 Transformers Les Robots Dinosaures "Grimlock"

QUICK INFO:
Name: TL-331 Tyrannosaurus

Line: LesRobots Dinosaures (Aptoys)

Year: unknown
Price: unknown


Today's review will be different than any of the past as we'll take a look at a knock-off or bootleg toy. I normally steer clear of these for oh so many reasons, but this is one that I stumbled across that I just couldn't say no to. Why? Read on.

As you may be able to tell from the packaging this is a transforming dinosaur robot. What the trained eye may not be able to tell though (unless you are a geek like me!) is that this is no ordinary transforming dinosaur. More specifically a knock-off of the 1985 Transformers Generation One Dinobot Grimlock. This toy was made in Taiwan by a company called Aptoys. I have no further information on the history of this toy unfortunately. The figure is simply referred to as TL-331 Tyrannosaurus. As you can tell from the packaging it is very colorful sporting a lime green color with yellow trim and multicolored dinosaurs. What kid wouldn't have wanted this back in the day? I should note my specimen here didn't come with a plastic window on the box. Not sure if it ever had one to begin with.

The back of the box is a little better than the front as it features some artwork of this toy as well as the other 2 released in the line. TL-332 Triceratope is obviously a knock-off of G1 Slag while TL-333 Prontosaurus is a knock-off of G1 Sludge albeit with some changes! Our new version of Grimlock here isn't without his own changes either. At first glance you may not notice anything different on the artwork, but if you look closer at the back you'll see there is now a stretch of scales making a rigid fin running from the base of the neck to the tip of the tail. More on that later. You may have also noticed a crude transformation sequence of instructions printed on the upper left hand of the box. I can tell from the 4 tiny pictures that this transforms in the same manner as G1 Grimlock.

Now let's take Grimlock out of the box so we can take a closer look. The toy is sealed onto a cardboard insert featuring more realistic art. After looking at the art on the back of the box and even the front this seems a little out of place. But who cares about the art...we bought this for the toy! Grimlock here is cast in a dark green plastic with the neck joint being a translucent neon yellow plastic. The toes, tail, arms and other bits are a gold chrome (replacing silver chrome on the real toy). Here we can also see some of the changes they made to the mold outside of the color differences. Earlier I noticed the new spine on the back. Here you can see this new molded spine runs from the base of the neck to the tip of the tail. The portion of the spine on the lower back (which forms the legs) doesn't seem to fit very well and doesn't look integrated at all. The other new part isn't quite as noticeable at first. On top of the dino head is a gold chrome bump. I'm not sure how else to describe it! What purpose it serves I have no idea. Perhaps something that was just thrown on to avoid legal ramifications?

Without taking the toy completely out of the packaging it's hard to get a good camera angle of this gold bump added to the top of the head. Sorry guys.

I was surprised to see that the weapons included are all reproductions of the original. The sword is now gold chrome instead of the softer red plastic used in the original. All the weapons seem to be in the same scale as the original which is a plus.

I've seen the knock-off version of Sludge from this line before, but I've never seen this toy let alone packaged and still sealed. I'm not planning on opening it since I have a G1 Grimlock and since I don't how good (or bad) the plastic quality is. I do think it's one of the better looking G1 knock-offs I've seen in my years of collecting and a nice little conversation piece.