Review – Revoltech T. Rex

Revoltech is a company that I’ve had little experience with but has always seemed to have good products. My only figure from this company previous to this was the Combat Armor Dougram. I really enjoyed that figure, but I got it on the cheap, and it was very fragile in some places, so I was apprehensive about paying full price for a figure. But I had recently gotten back into Jurassic Park, and when I look for things, I look for the best of something that is usually impossible to find. In this case I had gotten tired of the lack of articulation in the Jurassic Park toys, and I remembered that Revoltech had made one a few years ago, and in a stroke of luck they had recently reissued it in a color I liked better without the Jurassic Park branding, and a bit cheaper. So I decided it was worth it and made the purchase. So what do I think of it?

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First things first, one isn’t simply paying for a dinosaur figure in this package. Also included is a display stand with 2 articulated palm trees, 2 extra feet for walking poses, and a nameplate that simply says “tyrannosaurus”. These accessories are super detailed and poseable, adding quite a bit to the look of the figure on display. The articulated trees add a bit of poseability and customization to the display that just isn’t found very often, and I’m glad the company thought enough about it to add the feature. The nameplate is the only part I have a gripe with, it is very generic and doesn’t quite fit the motif, the font is boring and it’s overall small and plastic-y. I would either create my own plate or just not display it with one (who doesn’t know what a tyrannosaurus looks like anyway?)

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The figure itself is superb. It is super well detailed and has 15-16 points of articulation (depends on how you count). It is surprisingly small, but that just makes the detail even more amazing. As many creases and scales as one could ever expect in this scale are lovingly crafted in a very accurate representation of the dinosaur seen on screen in the Jurassic Park films. The original version was based on the Rex in The Lost World, which was green. This brown version is closer to the Rex from the first movie, but has several color differences, probably so Revoltech could avoid any legal trouble after their license to make Jurassic Park products lapsed. The paint is still wonderful and very realistic looking for a dinosaur without feathers. It looks very much like a predator that is ready to eat you (or anything really).

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Some of the articulation is done with standard joints, but there are 7 regular sized, and 2 small sized Revoltech joints. Revoltech joints have two attachment points that rotate in their sockets and they connect via a ratcheting joint, the effect is like a hybrid of a standard and a ball joint (I wouldn’t go so far as to say “the best of both worlds” but it’s a very good joint design). These joints give the figure a superb amount of pose-ability. Almost any realistic way (and many non-realistic ways) one could pose a dinosaur is available in this figure. But that leads into my main gripe with the whole product, and it’s a problem I never had with my previous figure. This dinosaur needs to be very carefully positioned in order to stand, which isn’t in itself a problem, but it becomes one when one finds out that many of the joints (on my particular figure) are quite loose. The ankle joints especially, which are standard joints, make it very difficult for the figure’s legs to stay in the posed position. This can cause problems both when standing on its own or when attaching it to the base, which I find doesn’t work out very well in most cases. I never really intended to display the figure on its base, but if one is, it is worth noting. The entire tail is also a rubber-coated wire, making it very pose-able, but also fragile. When moving the tail around one has to be careful about not damaging the outside of it by poking the wire through. And the end of the tail comes after the end of the wire, leaving a piece at the end that would be relatively easy to tear off if one isn’t careful. I do like the fact that it preserves the tail’s range of motion without sacrificing any aesthetics, but it might make it a bit easier to ruin in the long run (both by people and from rubber aging).

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I’m not sure this really needs to be said but this figure is not a toy. It is quite expensive for the amount of plastic that is used, and one is really paying for the detail and articulation. The paint, wire tail, and many joints of various types would make this figure easy for a child to destroy or lose parts of. It’s a fun thing to play with but it definitely is a model for collectors. Though I’m sure teenage collectors could be included on that list.

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I’m very happy with my purchase on this figure. I did pay a little less than MSRP, but almost everything is like that these days. The articulation, detailing, painting, and presentation are top notch, and there are quite a few little touches that make the product feel well thought out. It’s a high quality product for those who are Jurassic Park toy collectors, dinosaur lovers who want a well-articulated figure, and even stop-motion animators. It takes up minimal room and provides maximum enjoyment from either just fiddling around with it on your desk or displaying it. And it’s entirely worth the price for that sort of thing. If you’re a collector of high-end toy and figures, or if you’re a fan and want to take your collection up a notch this figure is worth a look.

Collecting Things that Have a Story

When you collect as many things as I do, you inevitably run into the side of at least one hobby where everyone values the things that are being collected much more than you do. And that isn’t a problem, and this won’t be about that being a problem. These people tend to want things to be pristine, some of them in the package, some of them out. For fountain pens and knives, they’re the people who don’t want anything with an engraving.  For video games and toys, they’re the people that want the item in box, in shrink wrap. And for various other hobbies that I may or may not be involved in, there are different things that are important to the collectors.

Now, obviously I don’t agree with that. I have a video (but I haven’t posted it anywhere) of me opening a brand new Atari 2600 game in the late 2000’s. That would give some people a heart attack. But I just feel that if it’s a video game console or a toy, it was meant to be played with, and if it’s a fountain pen, or knife, or anything else it was meant to be used.

I know I’m not that way with everything. Older notebooks and art supplies I have a hard time using sometimes, because I feel like using them destroys them in a way, and that at least one specimen should be preserved. This applies more to something like a unique pencil and less to something like old paint that just seems wasted if it isn’t used.

It’s hard to find the balance of what to preserve and what to use, especially if you do believe that vintage items were meant to be used. My heart does sink every time I see someone who has an older item and is using it because it’s “cool” to do so and is in the process destroying it. They are well within their rights to do so, but I think that they should be putting at least a little more care into it.

I’m well aware that nothing will last forever, but I do want as many examples as possible of anything to last for as long as possible. That is part of why I invest so much time and money into my collections. I want to see them last, I like them a lot, and keeping them nice is just as important to me as the collection itself.

But what does that say about personal engravings in pens, knives, lighters, jewelry, and tools? Are they ruined even before the collector sees them? I don’t think so. While it is true that I tend to buy items without engravings or personalization, this has more to do with either them being less recognizable (No one would look at a painted Xbox and think it was an Xbox at first glance, and they might think I’m weird for painting one afterwards) or because people would think I stole things. “Hey, why are you using Edward Clavares’ pen?” Not that many people even really look at the engraving, but it could be a concern.

But as for items I won’t carry around: that older knife or fountain pen that should’ve been several hundred dollars that I got for free (that really happened), I like the wear and personalizations. It gives the items a sense of history. It’s even better when I know part of the story. I have a multi-tool with my dad’s name on it, a knife with my brother’s, and I had a notebook with my grandfather’s, but I gave that back to my mother. For all of those items I know part of the story, maybe very little, and I can only imagine the parts before, but having that realistic grounding is nice. I really do love the engravings on such items.

I also go to garage sales and charity shops a lot. Inside there are all sorts of items which have all sorts of different possible stories associated with them. Especially handmade items, which I always feel bad passing up. I feel like I’m leaving a part of history behind, even if it is poorly constructed history.

That’s why it’s nice to have several pieces in a collection that are personalized to some extent. I feel like I’m both saving history and getting a well-constructed product. Though I won’t seek out a product that has been personalized, having a few shows that these items were used by actual people, not just some other collector who took perfect care of them. And there is something collectable about a thing that has a person’s name on it, especially if it’s an uncommon name. It might be the only one like it in the world.

Really though, I’m just not snobby either way. I know there are some people who would never collect a personalized or even a used item, and there are some people who would only collect those items. And I understand the urge to do both, so I try to meet somewhere in the middle. I like to keep my mind open, and I haven’t yet gotten to the point in my collecting where I only collect a thing here and there that I’m really searching for. I may never get to that point. If you have exactly what you want to collect figured out, I’m glad, and your life is probably a lot more organized than mine. We all see value in different things in any given hobby. Like I’ve said previously, I’m not into buying anything very expensive. And as personalized items usually go for less on the second-hand market, the fact that I like them is just a bonus.

If you asked me why I collect what I do, I’d probably tell you I like to collect things that interest me, and stories interest me. Whether it’s some fictional universe the product is based on, or my personal experiences, or the crazy collection of a guy I met a few times who was a great person and really into all of this stuff, or just some letters on the side of a pen that I can make up a journey around, I like collecting for the story.