The 10 Rarest Jurassic Park Toys | Gemr
There’s a Jurassic World of Toys to Collect, but Some are Rarer than Others
Collecting Jurassic Park is in our Dino-DNA. Okay, we don’t have Dino-DNA, but we really wish we did. We do, however, have a fantastic collection of Jurassic Park merch, which is totally almost as good. With Mattel taking over the mantle of Jurassic Park toys, we hope that we can see better paint jobs and articulation (and so far we have — keep them coming, Mattel!). This new line is going to be awesome to add to our collection — but that got us wondering: what are the ten rarest Jurassic Park toys? We have to admit, some of them surprised us.
Chaos Effect Thrasher T-rex
The Chaos Effect line was a riot of color. No figure was left in neutral tones. They threw every neon color they could manage at these figures and hoped they’d stick (good/bad news: they did). This had two effects — it made them hard to stare at for too long, but allowed them to really stand out on a shelf — like really stand out. Our only complaint? It’s an exact repaint of the earlier Thrasher T-rex (which is incredibly awesome itself). This raveosaur is on the rare side, so you’ll have to work hard to track it down. They do come onto the market from time to time, but if you’re looking for mint in box? It can run you as much as $600!
Carnotaurus “Demon”
If the big red Rex was the star of the Series I line, then the Carnotaurus, codenamed “Demon” was the star of Series II. This seems weird for a dinosaur that never even showed up in the movie, but this is an incredibly rare, incredibly awesome toy. The paint job (black with red) is incredible. Her teeth aren’t quite right, they stick out a little oddly, but it doesn’t take away from the charm of this piece. Finding one has become a challenge for a lot of collectors, especially if you want it mint in box. They can go for up to an incredible $685 apiece! While this figure features little to no articulation, it’s cool enough that we don’t even mind.
Lost World: Thrasher T-Rex
This big guy was the cornerstone of the Lost World line. He is huge, well painted, and looks awesome on a shelf. The sculpt was out of this world, especially the head, and we love the addition of articulation in the legs and arms. Much like the red Rex from the first line, this dino sold really well and was a favorite for a lot of kids. Also like the red Rex, the tail has a kink at the end — in order to save on shelf space, the box was a bit too small. Thankfully it’s closer to the tip than it was on the first Rex, making it a little less obvious on display.
The gimmick of this toy was really cool — the snapping jaws and the thrashing action are used to great effect! This is a great piece to add to any Jurassic Park collection. Finding one new in box can be a struggle, which is what makes this bad boy rare. If you’re looking for one in mint condition, they can sell for as much as $790.
Jurassic Park III: RC Spinosaurus
More casual collectors might be asking, “do you mean the animatronic Spinosaurus?” but you hardcore collectors know we don’t. This thing was made by a subsidiary of Hasbro, Wow-Wee, and from what we can tell, they only used the animatronic Spino as a base. This thing is incredibly rare and exceedingly hard to come by. In fact, it is so rare, we don’t actually know what it looks like in motion (we searched for almost ten whole minutes for a video and the internet didn’t provide, so we moved on). This bad boy gently used out of box sells for up to a staggering (we’re guessing that’s how it moved) $900!!!
Tyrannosaurus Rex (Electronic)
Who didn’t want this toy? Every kid everywhere wanted one. It was one of the coolest things to come out of the first Jurassic Park movie. It was HUGE. It roared, it stomped, and it flew off the shelves like it was going out of style. Sure, there’s no real articulation, but it’s just too cool for us to be upset (maybe it’s our nostalgia goggles). Our biggest complaint with this model is this: in order to save shelf space, they cut a few inches off the box, which means that every single one of these Awesomesaurus Rex comes with a kink in its tail.
But hey, if this was such a hot ticket item, why is it considered rare? Well, most of these giant Rexes were ripped out of their boxes and used until their sound feature crackled and popped like Rice Krispies. If you managed to resist the urge to rip one open and the features are still in 100% working order, a mint in box Rex can sell for as much as $1,000, which is a Jurassic-sized sum.
Young T-Rex
Did you really think there would only be one Rex on this list? Think again! The Young Rex was released as an alternative to the giant version. The sculpt was VERY different if you can’t tell from the pictures. It has almost no articulation — the legs have none (this hurts us), the head has none, but in good news, its tiny little arms wiggle. It has dino-damage, which is something… we guess. It’s tan with brown spots, which means the paint is kinda boring, but it stands on its own so it’s good enough. It wasn’t super rare at the time, but mint in box, it can sell for as much as $1,195.
Jurassic Park III: CamoXtreme Desert Spinosaurus
This guy was supposed to be in wave two of the CamoXtreme line, but the second wave was pulled (for one reason or another). This was a huge disappointment as we have so few good Spinosaurus figures in the Jurassic Park lines (but cheer up! Mattel is answering our prayers). The paint job was all in neutral tones and looked really good. Because it was never released, and the fact that only one has surfaced on eBay, this is considered one of the rarest figures you could collect.
Only one is known to exist and it sold for around $700 waaayyyy back in 2002, making it an incredibly hard to find item. It’s very likely that, were one to go up for sale now, the asking price would be MUCH higher. We don’t like to speculate but expect to drop a lot if you want one of these to roar its way into your collection.
Lost World: Triceratops
This prototype is one fans scramble to snatch up the moment it hits eBay. The Triceratops was said to have dino damage, and a movement feature that allowed the head to move with the tail. Despite Triceratops being one of the most popular herbivores, it was pulled from the lineup — much to the sorrow of kids and collectors everywhere. The reasoning? The horns on its face were too sharp, and kids could hurt themselves on them. We think this is a pretty lame excuse, but we understand — “safety first” and all that.
All of this makes the prototypes for this Triceratops worth a lot of dino-dollars (Which are the same as U.S. dollars, but sound cooler). In 2000, an unpainted prototype sold for $710, and in 2012, a lot with a painted prototype sold for $6,000, but we’re not entirely sure how much they would sell for now — we just know the value is only going up.
Night Hunter Pteranodon
Another prototype makes the list. We wish there were more dinos that were obtainable and rare — but that’s the thing with rarity: the harder it is to find, the more it will cost you. The Night Hunter series was actually going to be quite a large line, but Hasbro pulled the entire set before they ever reached shelves. The gimmick of the Night Hunter line was simple: they glowed in the dark. Which, we need to say, would have been awesome. Instead, Hasbro decided that a glow in the dark line was a sign they were officially creatively bankrupt and stopped production. This means that all we have to prove they (almost) existed are the prototypes that have surfaced and marketing materials.
The Pteranodon, until recently, was considered a unicorn. None had ever made it to auction, and collectors believed that all carded examples had been destroyed. Turns out they were wrong. Glowing out of the shadows in 2018, one pristine example went to auction and sold for a staggering $4,000. The luminescent Pteranodon came with two babies and, while all figures were repaints, it would have been a fun addition to a Jurassic Park collection. We wish they had released this set so we could have a shelf full of glowing dinos when we turn off the lights, but sometimes… life doesn’t find a way.
Chaos Effect Ultimasaurus
This right here is the biggest, baddest, rarest JP toy you could get your hands on. It’s almost on a mythical level, it’s so rare. At 14" long and 7" high, this was a huge toy and primed to be the crown jewel of the Chaos Effect line. We like to think that it would have been bigger than the original T-rex if it had made it to shelves. Collectors speculate that Hasbro pulled it out of fear of the same danger as The Lost World Triceratops. Yep, its iconic horns were its downfall.
This is such a disappointment because this thing is so cool. From the triceratops horns to the ankylosaurus back, all the way to the spines on its tail — this dinosaur had it all. Its rarity is what makes this piece a holy grail, as we only know of two examples that exist. One of them lives in a private collection, and the other showed up on Ebay in the early 2000’s. Neither has been verified to be real, so all we have to go off of are the promotional materials and our hopes and dreams. As this thing is so highly coveted in the collecting community, we have no idea how much it would sell for if a verified prototype went on sale. For now, we will estimate a lot.
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Originally published at https://gemr.com on June 11, 2018.