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a-dog-reviews · 7 years

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IMPORTANT EDIT: Hasbro Jurassic World Dino Hybrid “Hybrid Rampage” Indominus Rex

IMPORTANT EDIT: Today, in the same day I opened this, as I stated seemed a bit weak, the neck HAS broken. I have made a few attempts to fix it, and it seems like an easy ish fix but it involves disassembling the entire toy. This has not changed my opinion on the figure but it’s very important to remember!

Today we're looking at the Jurassic World: Dino Hybrid series Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex. If you're familiar with my previous Jurassic World reviews, you'll know I haven't been historically pleased with Hasbro. Despite their financially based intentions to drop the Jurassic World Line, they have minutely redeemed themselves with this particular model, and I've been looking forward to writing this review.

Note: My standard release Indominus Rex by Hasbro is at my mother's place in Canada as it waits for me to be able to afford shipment here, so I cannot make direct comparisons, only from memory!

The box design greatly resembles that of it's predecessor, the standard Indominus Rex as released by Hasbro in 2015, the only major structural difference being the corner at which the T-rex portrait is located is cropped instead of the far corner near the dinosaur's head.

A major difference for this model, as reported to me by my friend before it was even passed onto me, is it includes batteries. It also loves reminding you that those batteries are included, as any minor movement makes the robust roaring, crunching, and grumbling ring out. So shipment of this becomes quite chattery. However, as I'd stated in my standard Indominus Rex review, I feel including batteries much improves the presentation of the figure and is a good move on the part of the manufacturers.

As with all the Jurassic World toys, the figure is held in the box using a seemingly biodegradable twine. There is a plastic bubble to keep the figure in position.

Upon opening, I found the Bermuda triangle of twine, twisted and wrapped together quite elaborately. Not keen on cutting any of it, I spent some time briefly studying how it was exactly tied together so I could potentially replicate it should I put the figure back in the box. Considering how previous figures were packaged, I find this work of art to be quite unnecessary.

The simple, bold presentation the Jurassic World line's packaging provides is still quite strong in my opinion and is great for a try it before you buy it type sales pitch. Not so great for putting away in storage should you be a mass collector, but we're trying to sell to children here! Packaging gets 9/10. The only improvement I can think of would be to put a secondary inner box like some older toys have, so you don't have to dismantle the entire box to get the figure out.

Now of course, the part I was really looking forward to; the design. From one Indominus to the next, the improvement on proportions has been drastically improved. The largest improvement that stands out the most strongly being the head's size in comparison to the body. The standard Indominus Rex could almost fit it's entire torso inside it's own mouth. As you can see in these images, the Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex is proportioned much more closely to it's design influence Tyrannosaurus Rex. While Indominus Rex is portrayed as being able to rest on it's arms in a kneeling position, the arms on the original figure were actually thicker than it's own legs, and the choice of shrinking the arms down to nearly half their original size was quite a good choice.

The original conceptual presentation of the Dino Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex showed a potentially rubberized head like it's standard predecessor. The figure presented at Toy Fair 2016 as can be seen on 16bit, showed yellow external back spikes, red markings outlined in white, black claws, a more rosy shade of pink inside the maw, and slightly more detailed eye painting.

The most noticeable variations from the Toy Fair presentation and the production run I have here, is that the sculpt is a lot softer, the details less saturated. The external back spikes have been changed to red, the hip spike are now white, the red markings are no longer outlined in white, the eyes are lacking the red highlight, and the claws are not individually painted. The red markings also don't continue onto the tail and hips as one might have expected from the initial images and presentations, leading me to believe they chose the most simple, quick, and honestly lazy path to finishing this figure. Which is unfortunate considering the sculpt and general design is such a drastic improvement from everything else they've released for Jurassic World so far.

Upon opening the box, this Rex's tail is separated much like it's precedessor, to which it is also extremely close in resemblance. At this point was the decision if I really wanted to rebox this figure or not, knowing how hard the tail is to get out. Seeing the sheer size and appearance of this piece unboxed, I've decided to keep it unboxed.

Despite the desaturated details in reference to the Toy Fair presentation, this figure is still extremely detailed, especially in comparison to the rest of the figures produced for Jurassic World in general. The only spot really lacking in detail is the bottom of the feet, which unfortunately, does not assist in it's ability to stand. However, that is a very forgivable move, considering you really aren't paying attention to the bottom of the feet while the figure is shelved, or if you are a child playing.

Now here's where things become very interesting. My Omega T-rex is in the storage unit upstairs in the apartment complex, so I used my Chaos Effect Thrasher T-rex for size comparison. While the Jurassic World line is more 'cartoony' in general, the Dino Hybrid Indominus Rex is the closest to matching the Thrasher T-rex in detail and design I've seen since the '98 Chaos Effect line itself. Considering how toony the Chaos Effect specific dinosaurs were, for example Paradeinonychus and Velociraptoryx, makes me think that had Thrasher been sculpted for Chaos Effect specifically, the design would have been in VERY close proximity to the Indominus we see now. And this is where I felt Hasbro had given themself a slight bit of redemption. It's true, most of the Jurassic World figures suck, but I must say the Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex is quite a special piece by itself.

I think I'll go with an 8.5/10 for this one visually. It's a great design, but they did cut a few corners and make a few strange choices for the production run and that is rather disappointing. I think had they gone with the initial paint job I could have pushed for a 9 or even 9.5, as this design is so much more well thought out than the rest of the Jurassic World toys.

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As far as play-ability I'm a little on the fence about this one. I'm impressed with the jaw chomping feature they have added on this, where you basically "crank" up the arm, release it, and the head makes a series of animations instead of following the exact motion of the arm like on older designs. This explains the choice of a fully plastic head instead of the rubberized head we'd seen in the conceptual images. While this is a very fascinating and unique animation design, the mechanics feel very fragile, and if you don't crank it down all the way, it starts to catch and the head gets stuck and starts to click and not close all the way. You can fix this by cranking the arm fully down, letting the animations run without the movement of the head, and then letting everything pop back into place and resetting it like that. You will then get clean, fresh movement next time around. Why this I find this disconcerting is that if a child is playing with this, it doesn't only seem potentially frustrating, it seems extremely sensitive and easy to break. I didn't try this of course, but it seems pushing the arm upwards or too far down could potentially break the whole thing. The neck segments also seemed to be held together by very thin pieces of plastic, so the figure has a high risk of unintentional decapitation.

Animation aspect aside, the rest of the figure actually seems quite sturdy. The body and head are made of a hard plastic of a more brittle consistency, while the limbs are softer and have a slight pliability to them, reducing the risk of lost fingers, toes, or even limbs.

The general structural durability of this toy seems pretty good and seems it would hold up decently to moderate child's play. I think for play-ability, with the risk factors in the head region, I'd give this a 7/10. Yes, less so than it's predecessor, but they took a gamble with the head mechanism, and while it's a great design I think it's a lot higher risk factor for children who may not understand the limitations of more delicate parts.

Despite the few flaws I do see in this model, I'm very pleased to say that this is by far the best design in the Jurassic World lines so far, and that I even personally believe it's comparable to some of the older designs, which is excessively pleasing and satisfying for me personally.

With a retail price ranging from $30 - $40, I have to say this is actually a really great buy, and if you feel like you want just ONE thing from the Jurassic World lines, I'd highly recommend choosing this one.

My average rating comes to 8, but I think based on just the drastic improvement I've seen from the previous toys to this one, and the robust and dramatic size and color and unique animation, I have to actually give this toy a 9/10. So, hat tip to Hasbro for upping their game, at least for this one model.

Thanks for viewing, I hope this information is helpful or at least interesting!

#Jurassic World #Indominus Rex #Review #Toy #Figure #Action figure #Jurassic Park #Dino Hybrid #Hybrid #Dino #electronic #animated #collectible

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