Jurassic World: Dominion - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Extreme Damage)

In full disclosure I've been sitting on the edited images for this post for awhile. I had hoped to have it ready for the movie's premiere, but between vacation and trying to get caught up with work it just didn't happen. None the less, here were are with our first look at a few Jurassic World Dominion toys to be featured on the blog. It seems fitting with start off with THE beast, T-Rex himself.

In light of a lot of companies being more conscience about the amount of plastic being used in their packaging, Mattel opted to go with a windowless box where most of the toy is displayed. I'm not overly crazy about this...I guess I don't like the idea of people "handling" the figure I'm about to buy. However it is a lot nicer than closed box packaging that is also becoming the norm in certain toy lines.

The Extreme Damage subline isn't new to the Jurassic Park/World toys and since it has a gimmick the open packaging makes a little more sense. In the packaging you have access to the button that flips the damage on the dinosaur. There is also a few small diagrams at the top of the packaging showing how this play gimmick works. 

The packaging itself features a large image of a T-Rex on the left side, while the background has a cool landscape, complete with a helicopter depicted in the sky flying over our toy dinosaur. Underneath the large dino head is the new JW Dominion logo, complete with the dinosaur's name across the bottom. Just above the name on the right side is the Extreme Damage logo. I believe this is the same logo Mattel has used before in previous lines.

Flip the packaging around to the back and you're greeted with a large product image of the dinosaur, along with how the Extreme Damage gimmick works again. On the left side is a section that talks about the embedded DNA chip (QR code essentially) and how it works with the new Jurassic World app. I had planned to share some screen shots of the app and how it works, but decided to focus on the toy itself. The app is free to download and with the open packaging you can scan most of these DNA chips and interact w/ the app without having to spend any money. The bottom left corner does showcase some of the additional dinosaurs offered in the Extreme Damage subline.

Upon removing the dino from it's cardboard prison there is a bit of assembly involved. The tail has to be attached to the rear of the dino which is easy as it simply plugs and snaps into place. From head to tail he measures approximately 19 inches long. With his overall length I did have some difficulty fitting this guy in my light box without having the side seams of the background exposed. There are much larger versions of the T-Rex toy, but this one is a good size and more budget friendly in my opinion.

The majority of the figure is cast in brown plastic. Additional paint apps bring the figure to life however, such as the splotches of black used on the face (around the eyes) and down the neck and back of the figure. The lower jaw I believe was made of a lighter color plastic and not painted, however the molded tongue and teeth have been painted as well. Finally his claws on his large feet have also been painted black. Mattel isn't new to making dinosaur toys so by now they've nearly perfected the molded details such as the way the skin looks. They did a good job at capturing a leather look while also having reptilian features. It's been awhile since I've handled a Jurassic Park/World toy of this size and I have to say I am impressed.

From an articulation standpoint, I counted 10 points. On the head, only the upper jaw moves. There are two neck joints that allow the head great pose ability. Both arms have have a ball & socket joint and move freely. The legs move at the hips and the feet have a cut just above the ankle. The tail has just one joint and that is where it connects to the body.

Located on the top, right above the hips is a small integrated button. This is what triggers the Extreme Damage gimmick...basically revealing torn, red flesh through the exposed sections of the skin. These exposed sections appear on both sides of the T-Rex, though each side has different shapes for the tears. Upon pressing the button, a section "rolls" back and forth between normal skin and the bloody skin. I don't know why I find this little gimmick so amusing, but I do.

Overall I think this is a great representation and fun toy of the Tyrannosaurus Rex we all know and love. Kids will like the Extreme Damage gimmick as well. It's got some great molded detail and some good paint apps. I am a little disappointed that some of the black detail on the back doesn't carry over to the tail more. Also it would have been nice for the claws on his tiny hands to be painted. There is also one claw on the inside of each foot that escaped paint. He also scales pretty well with some of the other figures in the line. Otherwise this is a really fun toy and at basically $20 it won't break most people's budgets. If you're looking for something bigger however, check out the $60 priced Super Colossal version.

 

Transformers Beast Wars (Reissues): Rattrap

Ah, Beast Wars...the segment of the Transformers brand that literally saved the brand from fading out of existence, at least at retail. Being released after the failed attempt of the Generation 2, the Transformers got a face lift and injected new blood into the brand. Gone were vehicles, replaced with dinosaurs and other animals. The line was a hit, especially with younger kids and created a whole new era of fans. However how would the "Geewuners" like myself react to the line? Would they embrace it? Hate it? Or just be indifferent? Stick around as I walk down memory lane with the latest line of reissues from Hasbro, celebrating 20 years of Beast Wars.

The tread of what is old is new again is played out again in the Transformers brand with the latest relaunch of the Beast Wars brand. Exclusive to Walmart stores in the US, the first wave featured 4 toys:  the "Ultra" class Optimus Primal and Megatron, "Deluxe" Cheetor and "Basic" Rattrap.

The line seems to have been met with mix reactions and ho-hum sales. The first wave seemed to warm the shelves pretty good in my neck of the woods with all of them eventually hitting clearance, some deeper discounted than others. I actually paid full price ($24.99) for Rattrap, but eventually would find him at local retail on deep clearance ($7). I liked the spring loaded transformation gimmick of the early Basic size Beast Wars toy and Rattrap is a character you must own if you are building out your Maximal ranks.

Hasbro chose to mimic some of the early Beast Wars packaging w/ the rocky type shaped blister bubble. Kenner would later phase this blister out and go with a smooth bubble. The card back reuses the red reptilian scales with the large classic green eye behind the toy itself. Even the classic Beast Wars logo remains at the top of the blister card. 

Flip the blister card over and this is where we have some obvious changes to the original. Like with most modern Hasbro toys, multiple languages have been shoehorned onto the packaging. So much so that we've lost his original Bio...which is a real shame because as a kid this is how I determined how their character would be when pulling out my toys and playing on the floor of my bedroom or in the living room. The category stats have also been reduced from 8 categories to just 4, however the individual rankings of these categories remain the same.

As mentioned above, I was a fan of the early wave of Basic sized Beast Wars figures for many reasons. 1) The original price point of $5 was friendly on my high school senior wallet. 2) The designs, while a little more simplified than the Deluxes were still fun. 3) No complex transformations - just left a lever (or tail in this case) and instantly you have your robot mode.

Hasbro did a good job capturing the deco of the original toy. While I don't have an original any longer to compare it to, this figure is mostly how I remember in terms of paint applications. the feet look a little more like a pastel pink than I recall. The figure seems solid with good strong plastic. Outside of a copyright mark on the mold, I'd be hard pressed that many would be able to tell the difference between this reissue and the original.

The only real drawback I've found with this toy, and it seems to be the case with others that I've seen reviewed, is that the front legs don't hold together well. You can see in the image above the rather large gap just behind the neck. It's not a deal breaker, but still a little disappointing.

Transformation from rat to robot is as easy as simply lifting Rattrap's tail. This will trigger the spring loaded transformation, pulling the sides of the beast mode out and folding the animal head down. All that is left is folding down the legs the rest of the way and posing his arms.

Rattap comes with a small gun and like with the rest of the early waves of Basic figures the weapon can be stored on the toy itself. If you look carefully at the image above you'll see that the gun is actually made of two pieces that are stored on each side just above the back feet. I love the idea of accessories being self contained within the figure. I can't tell you how many small action figure accessories I lost as a kid.

This version of the iconic character is far from perfect, but it's a great rendition despite being the first toy. The Kingdom version scales the figure down even more and is a fantastic toy, but if you're like me and were with Beast Wars from day one, this is a must own toy. While this reissue was overpriced in my opinion (which probably hurt the sales), it's a mighty fine version of the toy if you aren't one of those who has to own the original. I found no issues with the robot mode and he now stands proudly amongst his fellow Maximals in my Beast Wars display. Most Walmart stores have already moved away from this first wave of toys as their Spring reset has been completed at the handful of stores I've visited, but if you luck out and find him on clearance for $10 or less, jump on it. Even after all of these years, it's still a fun toy.

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Transformers Beast Wars (Reissues): Cheetor

Ah, Beast Wars...the segment of the Transformers brand that literally saved the brand from fading out of existence, at least at retail. Being released after the failed attempt of the Generation 2, the Transformers got a face lift and injected new blood into the brand. Gone were vehicles, replaced with dinosaurs and other animals. The line was a hit, especially with younger kids and created a whole new era of fans. However how would the "Geewuners" like myself react to the line? Would they embrace it? Hate it? Or just be indifferent? Stick around as I walk down memory lane with the latest line of reissues from Hasbro, celebrating 20 years of Beast Wars.

The tread of what is old is new again is played out again in the Transformers brand with the latest relaunch of the Beast Wars brand. Exclusive to Walmart stores in the US, the first wave featured 4 toys:  the "Ultra" class Optimus Primal and Megatron, "Deluxe" Cheetor and "Basic" Rattrap.

The line seems to have been met with mix reactions and ho-hum sales. The first wave seemed to warm the shelves pretty good in my neck of the woods with all of them eventually hitting clearance, some deeper discounted than others. I myself scored this Cheetor for $6 back during some of the Christmas 2021 sales. I wasn't going to bother picking up any of these (outside of Rattrap) because I owned the originals and while I love Beast Wars, some of these early toys just didn't do it for me. For $6 though I couldn't resist and thought at least Cheetor here would make a good addition to the Maximal shelf I was working on putting together in my display after moving last summer.

Hasbro chose to mimic some of the early Beast Wars packaging w/ the rocky type shaped blister bubble. Kenner would later phase this blister out and go with a smooth bubble. The card back reuses the red reptilian scales with the large classic green eye behind the toy itself. Even the classic Beast Wars logo remains at the top of the blister card. 

 
(Left: reissue - Right: original)

Flip the blister card over and this is where we have some obvious changes to the original. Like with most modern Hasbro toys, multiple languages have been shoehorned onto the packaging. So much so that we've lost his original Bio...which is a real shame because as a kid this is how I determined how their character would be when pulling out my toys and playing on the floor of my bedroom or in the living room. The category stats have also been reduced from 8 categories to just 4, however the individual rankings of these categories remain the same.

I never was a huge fan of the character of Cheetor or his original Deluxe class toy. I think his youthfulness and exuberance just got on my nerves while watching the show...I much more prefer Rattrap and his quips and cynical nature/comments. It's amazing though on how twenty years can change one's perspective as coming back to this toy after all those years I'm finding that it's not nearly as bad I as remember. The Kingdom toy is a beautiful rendition of the character, however the original still has something to offer.

Hasbro did a good job capturing the deco of the original toy. While I don't have an original any longer to compare it to, this figure is just as I remember in terms of paint applications. The figure seems solid with good strong plastic. Outside of a copyright mark on the mold, I'd be hard pressed that many would be able to tell the difference between this reissue and the original.

The original Beast Wars Cheetor was known for having a few variants - namely the color of his eyes. The original came with green eyes, as does the reissue, but blue and even red eye variants exist as well.

Transformation from beast mode to robot mode remains unchanged. Remove both the tail gun and the "gut" gun from underneath, rotate the waist 180 degrees and fold out the legs, fold down the front legs underneath the body, pull up and separate the arms from the behind the head and flip them forward 90 degrees, pull down the beast head to reveal the robot head. Finally pose your figure as such and insert your weapon(s) of choice into his fists.

I never cared for the proportions of the robot mode. The beast head is too big and just hangs off the front of the robot. Looking at him straight on it's not as bad, but looking at the figure from an angle and it looks a little awkward.

I have always loved Cheetor's head sculpt however. I wish however they were able to incorporate some light piping into those eyes as I think that would have been fantastic, but the included "mutant head" makes that impossible as it sits just behind the robot head. I always thought the whole idea behind this "mutant head" gimmick was silly, but in the spirit of capturing the original toy in all it's glory, this feature was carried over to the reissue.

Cheetor is an important character in the Maximal's ranks and his original toy is still pretty solid. Is it a dead ringer for how he appeared in the original Mainframe animated show? Of course not, but that doesn't make it a bad toy. The biggest knock I can give this figure is the original MSRP of $25. Compare that against trying to pick up a loose, vintage piece on the secondary market and it's not that bad. At the of this post, most Walmart stores have probably already ran their clearance as his shelf space was replaced with the retool of this mold, Tigatron. I'm still debating if I need Tigatron in my collection as currently my Maximal shelf is pretty tight, but I'm glad I eventually picked up Cheetor (and that I was able to resist paying full price!) as a BW display just isn't complete without this young cat.

WWE Elite Collection WrestleMania Series (2022): "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

 

Just in time for WrestleMania this weekend comes the annual Elite Collection WrestleMania series. The series features three hall of famers and a future HOFer. Each figure comes with a build-a-figure piece to build a tuxedo clad Vince McMahon.

I saved the best for last with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This particular version of the Texas Rattlesnack is from WrestleMania XIX where he went up against the Rock.

The packaging for these WrestleMania figures mimics the regular Elite Collection, but mixes in the WrestleMania 38 logo...that unfortunately incorporates the Dallas Cowboys star. The back of the packaging lists some of Austin's career highlights, including the aforementioned WrestleMania XIX.

I watched more WCW in the 90's than I did of WWE's "Attitude" era, however I'd hear of Stone Cold's wild antics and eventually would tune in. He's not my favorite wrestler, but you can't argue that he's a legend in the business so if you're going to have a wrestling figure collection you kind of have to own a figure of Austin. 

Austin's ring gear was pretty consistent during his Stone Cold years and this figure replicates the vest and black trunks well. I love the included knee braces, something that began a staple look later in his career.

The head/face sculpts in this WrestleMania wave have been hit and miss, but they absolutely nailed the look of Stone Cold. Perhaps the bald head that made it easier to replicate his look, whatever the reason this is a great looking sculpt.

Unlock many of the other figures in this wave, Austin's vest isn't cloth and made of a soft plastic...which I am thankful for. The vest has his initials on one side and his trademark skull on the other side (and the back). It is removable if you wish.

His knee braces are also cast in a soft plastic and still allow movement with the knees. I believe that this brace to be the same that was used on the Dakoda Kai figure we looked at earlier, but obviously cast in black. Notice Steve's Texas tattoo above his ankle? I don't know I recall see that before.

If I have one gripe about this figure is the left ankle/foot...on my specimen at least the foot isn't attached to the leg that well. It doesn't effect the ankle joint, the foot can still lift up and down along w/ the ankle rocker still working.

The included Vince McMahon build-a-figure parts is Vince's head. After refreshing myself by watching some older content on Peacock today, I can confirm that the face sculpt is a good 80's representation of young(er) Mr. McMahon.

This by far is the best figure in the 2022 WrestleMania series and is a must own. I've yet to see this series at local retail, but I would imagine they'll sell fairly well, I mean doesn't everyone want a throw back announcer Vince McMahon figure in their collection?