JPToys - News

Wow, talk about a great way to kick off this new month! After last month's news about Mr. Bradley's interview by a Transformers fan website, we tried to contact him to see if he would agree to be interviewed by JPToys. And with a big help of forum members Musichead and Jack De La Mare, a contact has been made, and an interview could be planned. You can read it all here: interview with Tim Bradley.
Mr. Bradley was kind enough to give us a great insight of the production of the Jurassic Park toy line, especially of the Chaos Effect series. It is truly a great pleasure and honor for us to have been able to get in touch with someone so passionate about he does, and still accessible enough to agree to be interviewed by us fans. Thank you, Mr. Bradley!

UPDATE! Mr. Bradley was kind enough to take pictures of the Ultimasaurus and the Velocirapteryx maquette he mentioned in the interview! The pictures have been added on the interview page. Enjoy!
You can now access Tim Bradley's website through the button on the Affiliates section (on your left). Make sure to check it out!

So, as people lurking around the forums have noticed, two prototypes have recently been unearthed, and luckily for us, the owner (a well-known collector nicknamed Ajaythehunter) was kind enough to take a bunch of pictures for us to drool over. All these pictures have been added to the The Lost World Triceratops and the Chaos Effect Ultimasaurus individual pages. Feel free to take a look at these gems, and again, a big thanks to Ajaythehunter for his kindness!

We're happy to present you a new Ultimasaurus prototype that was recently unearthed by forum member Barbara22, from France. Simply by contacting Hasbro France, she had, with some patience, the opportunity to get in touch with someone from the US who had worked on the Chaos Effect line. And luckily for her, that person still had an Ultimasaurus prototype and was ready to sell it. And that's how Barbara22 could get her hand on this gem, and was kind enough to share great quality pictures of her find.

Two new close-ups (front view and back view) have been added on the Ultimasaurus page, as well as a bigger version of the picture seen below. Enjoy!

*UPDATE*: We've been told that these pictures aren't from an Ultimasaurus owned by forum member Barbara, but in fact were taken by toy designer Tim Bradley, who worked on the Chaos Effect line, and was kind enough to be interviewed by JPToys a few months ago. So, to give credits back to where it's due, thanks a lot for these pictures, Mr. Bradley!

We have a total of three new reviews up and ready for your viewing pleasure today. "BubbleGum-Chan" sent in a CE Paradeinonychus review (our first CE review) and "-Wave3-" took a look at the Tanystropeus and TLW Spinosaurus. I hope you all enjoy those and we'll be back later this week with an update to the Diorama section...stay tuned! (Update - Wave3 just sent in three more reviews: JP Quetzalocoatlus, CE Roland Tembo w/Ultimasaurus and the CE Anklyoranodon...enjoy!)

Check out these cool scans that forum member 'Raptorbite' stumbled upon at a local Goodwill store. He found them in a booklet that was inserted with a VHS copy of The Lost World. Click on the thumbnails for a larger view:

Well there's good news and bad news. The good news is that JP won the poll in a landslide. The bad news is that JP was not announced at this years Comic-Con. Apparently Sideshow announced a Conan The Barbarian line. Don't be discouraged though because these poll results can't do anything but help JP in the future with regards to Sideshow.

In other news, an interesting collection thread popped up on our forum over the weekend that shows what appears to be the unreleased CE Ultimasaurus (along with a few other unreleased items). We haven't heard back from this member since the posting so there's no way to verify its authenticity just yet. In the meantime, you can check it out on our forum and decide for yourself. We will of course pass along any updates on this if/when they become available so please stay tuned.

Remember that uber rare Ultimasaurus that showed up on ebay (see April 5th update) and caused so much fuss recently? It ended at the time with no apparent winner and no chance at us learning more about it. Well forum moderator 'Raptoralpha' and member 'Andrewsaurus' recently inquired about its fate and received the following from the seller:

"That figure was already sold a few months ago. My son had intended to re-list it on eBay, but we got an offer from a private collector for $5,000 and he just couldn't turn it down. And I'm sorry, but I can't provide you with more pictures of the dinosaur, as part of the deal the buyer asked that I didn't. "

So there you have it. Will we ever get to the bottom of this mystery? Doesn't seem like it at this point. But then again, stranger things have happened so you never know. To the collector who purchased it, we would be thrilled (to say the least) if you would like to contact us here at JPtoys and shed some light on this very rare gem.

No, this isn't our idea of a late April Fool's joke (although it would've made a good one). Forum member 'Piltdown Chickenraptors' came across an ebay auction recently that may just have the only "unreleased" Chaos Effect Ultimasaurs that we've seen so far. Is it the real deal or perhaps a clever custom? Click here for the pic. We will of course keep you updated if/when we receive any more info. on this potential stunning find.

(UPDATE 4/09) - The auction has ended with apparently no winner according to the seller who told us that the item was withdrawn so that he could take more time to properly evaluate the item's worth and go from there. We can only hope that it will pop up on ebay again sometime soon so that we'll have another chance to solve this mystery. Until then, stay tuned for further updates and please pass along anything you see fit as it relates to this story.

The news keeps coming fast and furious here at JPtoys lately! This latest news item was stubmbled upon by forum members 'Triceratops123', 'giganotoigauana' and 'parasaurolophus722 and appears to be a mock-up or prototype packaged version of the previously unreleased JPS2 Ornithosuchus. Similar to the packaged (but unreleased) CE Ultimasaurus, this Ornithosuchus was more than likely packaged for showcase at a Toy Fair but ultimately never saw the light of toy store shelves. The Ornithosuchus was being sold on eBay in England but unforunately was cancelled recently due to what the seller termed "oversealous fans" asking too many questions about the item.

Forum member 'yankeetrex' spotted these 2 auctions of what appears to be prototype figures of the unreleased Ultimasaurus & Gulper T-Rex. Could it be true? Check the auctions out for yourself & judge. The starting bids are not low at all so be careful!

We have 4 new additions to pass along today. First up, we have 2 additions to our new What If? section. Stitch sends along a very nice work up of the infamous Chaos Effect Ultimasaurus and an unknown sender did a little cut & paste action to show us the San Diego Stadium from the Lost World. Next on the list is a new custom from JP Action Man, the JP H2 Hummer. And finally today, we have a new poll up for your voting pleasure!

JPToys is proud to bring you yet another exclusive look at some never before seen Chaos Effect toys! Forum member Extinct came across these in a 1998 Toy Fair Catalog. Just what's included? You can see it all in our Catalogs section, but here's a quick glance:

* InGen Lab
* Ian Malcom
* "Power Suit"
* Ankylosaurus
* Stegosaurus and Pachysaurolophus
* Ultimasaurus & Deynocanis
* Deynocanis (closeup)

We will try to get higher quality scans up as soon as possible. Be sure to catch the discussion regarding this significant find in our FORUMS (you may have to register). In conjunction with these great new pictures, we also have a new poll question up for your voting pleasure today.

Forum member Quetzalcoatlus posted yet another custom of his friend, Roberto. After the very good copy of the unreleased TLW series 2 Triceratops he managed to copy the Ultimasaurus from the Chaos Effect series. He even managed to modify the figure into something even more bad-ass! No T-Rex would want to meet this guy out in the open... More pictures are found here on the forums.