Jurassic World the Exhibition coming to Philadelphia Nov. 25th, 2016!

It’s official (again)! Jurassic World the Exhibition will arrive in the US this November, its first stop: Philadelphia Pennsylvania. We exclusively announced the city as the next location back in March of this year, and it was later confirmed in July by its new home, the Franklin Institute. However, it seems their confirmation was a bit premature as yesterday the news was again announced ‘exclusively’ via USA Today.

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Currently residing in Melbourne Australia, Jurassic World the Exhibition is an innovative interactive tour like no other. Created by Imagine Exhibitions in partnership with Creature Technology Company, the exhibition takes you to Isla Nublar, and face to face with numerous dinosaur species via life sized animatronics. Check out our video walk-through of the Australian version of the tour (Spoiler warning!), or read on to see what’s new.

While details are scarce, our understanding is the the experience has continued to evolve behind the scenes in preparation of its debut in the United States.  Tweaks to make the experience more immersive as well as flow comfortably in its new home have been made (such as climbing through a log to first see the Indominus). New attractions such as the ‘Raptor Training Paddock’ have been confirmed by the ‘Philly Voice’, and it seems reasonable to expect other surprises as well. Our guess: perhaps some props from the films can make an appearance alongside, or the Jurassic World VR experience resurrected.

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Of course, with something this cool happening it only makes sense for fans to try to arrange an official meetup! Stay tuned, as we’re hoping to arrange something like that for the upcoming debut.. we’ll be sure to share more as plans become formally fleshed out.

Are you excited for Jurassic World the Exhibition, and are there any changes or additions you’d like to see at the tour? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news!

Source: The Franklin Institute

Review: Hasbro Jurassic World ‘Hybrid Rampage’ Indominus Rex

The fearsome hybrid Indominus Rex is terrifying and unpredictable. Born in captivity, she on the loose stalking her prey. Watch out! She’s rampaging across Jurassic World!

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Hasbro’s Jurassic World ‘Hybrid Rampage’ Indominus Rex is now appearing in stores and online, retailing at $34.99. This is a brand new sculpt, and was first shown off at Toy Fair 2016. Measuring 22 inches long, she is actually about 2 inches larger than the 2015 ‘Bad Boy’ Indominus Rex. She features articulated legs, left arm lever activated ‘Chomping Jaws’ & ‘Fang Reveal’,  button activated ‘Spike Reveal’, and a free to move articulated right arm. Plus, she’s electronic and features numerous different roaring sounds! What’s not to love?

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The first thing that stands out about this toy to me is its clean, crisp white coloration. While it has a tendency to wash out in photos a bit, it really pops and looks fantastic on the toy. The color scheme shines with the addition of the clearly defined reddish orange striping patterns running the length of her head and body, applied with a mildly metallic sheen. Her underbelly, hands, and feet are painted with an incredibly metallic gold paint – it looks really good in my opinion, but could have used better blending work. The orbital and fenstra sockets are filled with a dark, brownish purple paint which gives her face a sinister and skull like appearance. The eyes are nicely detailed, conveying a mean look, and featuring four different colors. The inside of the mouth is painted a solid, flat dark purple, and the teeth a cream color – sadly the claws are unpainted.

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The detail work on the sculpt is really great, and captures the Indominus Rex fantastically – albeit with larger, more stylized spikes. The teeth, claws, scutes, spikes and other finer details are all shaped very nicely, while still lending themselves to safe play. The skin detail feels very hand crafted, with each scale and scute inter-playing with the muscle and skeletal structure – something most Jurassic World toys were severely lacking. Unfortunately, the right flank of the toy features six visible screw holes, however these are far less offensive than those seen in prior releases. The biggest issue with the sculpt is the feet. While they look great, they are not proportioned for the weight of the toy, leading to major balance issues (surely to frustrate both kids and collectors).

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The toy is made out of hard plastic which is fairly lightweight. It doesn’t feel as cheap as generic toys offered by competitors, though its lightness does feel quite strange for a Jurassic Park toy and gives a sense of added fragility. The sound quality sits at a nice middle ground, neither too loud nor too quiet. The sounds can accidentally activate in play, as the jaw hinge is loose and can open and close from momentum rather easily. Otherwise, the sounds are activated by the spike reveal button on her left flank, and the ‘chomping jaw’ activation via her left arm.

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The spike reveal works rather nicely – one firm push of the button, and they pop out and stay in place. Another push, and they recede back into the neutral pose. The chomping mechanism is a lot of fun – when it works. It has a tendency to get stuck, and not complete its activation without further nudging of the arm. Ideally, the arm is pulled back, and upon release it resets and activates a randomized amount of chomping motions (up to 14), plus different roars. It’s quite cool when it works, but I worry that so many reports of it being faulty straight out of the package may lead to complete brokenness via casual play.

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The toy sizes nicely compared to the rest of the Jurassic World lineup, and Jurassic Park toys of the past. This toy has notably more size to it (helped by better proportions) than other large offerings from the 2015 range, and is quite eye catching. Not only is it longer that the previous large Indominus Rex, it stands taller at the hips, and is wider overall. Its head and arms are lightly smaller, and legs slightly larger, but all look more natural. Honestly, this is the perfect sized toy.

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Overall, this is easily my favorite toy from the Jurassic World lineup, and is the first that looks at home next to past Jurassic Park items. I really dig the sculpt, colors, play features and sounds – but am certainly bummed by the quality control issues on the chomping mechanism, plus item balance. For a collector it’s frustrating, but for a parent it’s a nightmare and for a child, a letdown. However, overall this toy skews positive in my eyes – and it’s important not to forget that target audience:

 

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If that adorable video doesn’t prove this toy is a must buy, I don’t know what will. Should future releases have the chomping gimmick fixed, and feature better balance it’s a near perfect toy. Hopefully the QA issues are short lived, as this overall is something special (in fact, it also may be the last big Dinosaur from Hasbro as Mattel is taking ownership in late 2017). If those issues did not exist, I would note the room for improvement in the gold paint blending, and perhaps continuation of the red stripes to the tail.

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6~8 / 10

(Based upon variable balance & chomping activation experiences)Recommended for collectors and parents/kids, but we wary of bad balance and faulty chomping features! Want more? Check out the additional photos below!!

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New LEGO Jurassic World DVD film ‘The Indominus Escape’ releasing in October!

The Indominus Rex loves herself some hotdogs according to an upcoming Direct-to-DVD film. LEGO® Jurassic World ‘The Indominus Escape’ has been revealed by Amazon.com, and is releasing October 16th, 2016. Currently, it is only listed as part of a DVD 2-pack that also includes Jurassic World, and is unclear if other distribution plans exist.

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In LEGO® Jurassic World: The lndominus Escape, two of the most beloved brands
of all time come together like never before! When Simon Masrani accidentally
destroys one of the park’s main attractions (he really should learn how to
fly that helicopter), he calls upon his trusted employee Claire to save the day.
Alter some quick Dino-DNA building in Dr. Wu’s lab, Claire comes up with
the perfect solution that is sure to delight Masrani and kids everywhere – the
lndominus rex- the smartest, biggest and scariest hot dog-loving hybrid
dinosaur ever created! Unfortunately, disaster strikes after the lndominus eats all the hot dogs and escapes from its pen in a hungry rage. It’s now up to the talented and rugged dinosaur trainer Owen Grady to save the day and battle the lndominus rex in an epic, action-packed finale!

Also included in the package are some new bonus features, including a short film ‘Employee Safety Video’ . While the runtime of ‘The Indominus Escape’ is uncertain, it seems to be longer than a typical short as it getting shared billing alongside the 2015 movie. Surprisingly, this is the first time an animated film or cartoon spinoff of Jurassic Park has been released – though many had been planned in the past.

Are you excited for ‘The Indominus Escape’? While it’s clearly aimed at younger ages, it’s certainly refreshing to see the brand expanding into new territory! Perhaps a special edition Blu-ray with more special features, or a commentary is also inbound this October?

Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned! We’ll be sure to share news about upcoming releases, and this fun new Jurassic spinoff as soon as we know more.

Source: Amazon.com (Thanks to Jurassiraptor for the discovery!)

New Jada Toys 1:24th scale Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler!

Jada Toys recently revealed via Instagram that the previously teased 1:24th scale Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler would be released this fall. While they have yet to post anything to their website yet, eBay store ‘Minineopet‘ has seemingly gotten the items in stock, giving us our first look! Take a look at the images below!

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The 1:24th Jeep Wrangler measures 7 in (17.8 cm) long, and features rotating wheels, plus an opening hood and doors. This is an accurate representation of the 1992 Jeep Wrangler featured in the film, which is a first – the previous 1:43 scale Die Cast from Jada was not an entirely accurate model like so. The final retail price has yet to be officially revealed, but will likely be between $14.99~$19.99.

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Interestingly, the toy features Jurassic Park Jeep #12 which Dennis Nedry drove, and was not featured in Jurassic World (like #29). That perhaps makes the usage of the same Jurassic World merchandise packaging with that ugly generic looking Tyrannosaurus a pinch confusing, as something more closely themed with the first film would feel at home. Either way, this a piece fans and collectors have wanted for years, and it’s great to see it finally come to fruition!

Things have been fairly quiet lately, but this is just the calm before the storm. Jurassic World 2 begins filming around February of 2017, and news is sure to begin flowing soon. Further, Jurassic World the Exhibition comes to the US in November of this year, first stop Philadelphia PA!

As always, stay tuned for the latest news and sound off in the comments below!

Source: eBay (thanks to Baptiste Coudert for the heads up!)

Location Scouting for Jurassic World sequel set to start in Hawaii this November!

As we previously revealed, the untitled Jurassic World sequel (working title: Ancient Futures) is set to return to Hawaii with filming set to start on February 27th, 2017.

It was unclear which islands specifically the film crew will utilise (with both Oahu and Kauai being used in the past) but we have now learned that the production crew will head to the islands in November of this year, to scout locations for the sequel.

Both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World filmed at the Kualoa Ranch on Oahu, so it’s possible the iconic location will see a return, as well as many others.

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Considering all four movies have been filmed on the islands they may already have specific locations in mind, with this “scout” being more of a chance to director J.A. Bayona and his team to plan out scenes. However, it could also allow for them to decide where crucial sets will be built – providing any will be.

The Jurassic World sequel will film in Hawaii, London and rumours of Beacons Beach in Wales have also been heard. The story is currently unknown.

Thanks to Reel News Hawaii and Nublar7 for first reporting this news!

Now that we know the sequel will return to the islands, what are you hoping to see? Nublar, Sorna, or something new entirely? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below!

Source: BizJournals

New Jurassic World ‘Dino Hybrid’ toys – could these be Hasbro’s finale?

It seems Dr. Wu has cooked up come crazy and colorful new dinosaur in that lab. Thanks to JP Carnotaur on Twitter, we have pictures of the rest of the Hasbro ‘Dino Hybrid’ toys via Amazon! While all of these minus the ‘Pteramimus’ (likely a hybrid of a Pteranodon and Suchomimus) were revealed at Toy Fair 2016, it’s fun to see what the final product will actually look like.

Take a look at the gallery below:

PTERAMIMUS (Growler) – MSRP $14.99

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DILOPHOSAURUS Hybrid (Growler) – MSRP $14.99

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CARNORAPTOR (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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STEGOCERATOPS Hybrid (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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DILOPHOSAURUS REX (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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SPINOSAURUS Hybrid (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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Hybrid Armor Ankylosaurus (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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Hybrid Armor Indominus Rex (Bash & Bite) – MSRP $9.99

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I’ll be the first to say it – I actually like some of these, or at least I like the paint jobs. They’re richer, fuller, vibrant and more detailed than their initial sloppy and cheap looking 2015 releases. While most of the sculpts leave something to be desired, there is a clear budget increase with the paints used, and it helps bring some creative life to these toys. As a big fan of ‘Chaos Effect‘ and ‘CamoXtreme‘ these are a welcome, if not bizarre, addition to the toy lineup.

There a few toys missing which were present at Toy Fair 2016 – most notably the ‘Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex’ – thought Entertainment Earth reports it will be released some time this month. The other absentees are a Carnoraptor Growler, and two different Indominus Rex Bash & Bite repaints. I really hope they Hybrid Rampage Indominus is released, it’s easily the best toy Hasbro has created for Jurassic World.

Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex at Toy Fair 2016
Hybrid Rampage Indominus Rex at Toy Fair 2016

While I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the ‘Hybrid Armor’ toys, it’s interesting to see some new variations of play style. If only Hasbro released the toys with capture gear and 3.75″ humans alongside instead! However, the burden of creating better toys now lays in Mattels hands, who take over the license in late 2017. With that in mind, these may be some of the final, if not the final, Hasbro Jurassic Park toys created.

The toys are expected to begin shipping to stores this Fall. Will you be picking up any of the 2016 Dino Hybrid items? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned for everything Jurassic!

Thanks again to JP Carnotaur for the discovery!