Wild Park

[Ghouldrool]

Wild Park is a continuation of Wild Quest with more awesome safari creatures in a zoo themed setting.

[dinoviper]

This is by far my favorite set produced by Chap Mei it is also one of the last sets carried by Kmart. This set is full of exciting figures and loads of accessories. Included in the set are two anteaters, an adult and a baby. These were one of the most anticipated animal figures of the Wild Park line. The adult anteater has a movable head that can go up and down. It is scaled and painted to look like the giant South American anteater. The baby is a smaller version of the adult and doesn't have any movement. It is a nice addition to the anteater set.

Perhaps the best feature of this set are the termites included in the set. Their has been much debate about what they are exactly. Ants or termites? Well they are in fact termites, despite the name anteater. Most anteaters are seen ripping apart termite mounds and eating the termites with their fore arms and claws that are designed to do. The termites are all molded in a white plastic and are very tiny but large for 3 3/4 inch standards. Their are four drones and a single queen that can all be lost fairly easily.

I am not sure who the figure exactly that is included in the set he is not part of the Wild Park line and maybe a older figure from the Wild Quest lines. Perhaps someone on the forum will enlighten us about who he is. He is a nice looking figure wearing an orange vest and blue rimmed hat. He comes with a wide assortment of accessories all of which can be worn on the figure in some way. One nice thing about this figure is that he has a holster on his leg which you can fit a small pistol into it. The set did not come with a pistol but hand guns are not hard to come by in other Chap Mei sets. His accessories include a pair of binoculars, a canteen, a video camera and a red backpack all of which are from earlier line line Dino Quest and Wild Quest.

[dinoviper]

By now you have seen the bigger more impressive play sets Wild Park has to offer. Now here are several smaller sets that the line carried and are just as impressive as the bigger ones. First up we have the Crocodile set with Chip White. These sets were sold at Kmart for around $6.99 each and came with two smaller animals a human figure and a few other accessories.

The crocodile included in this set is the zebra crocky that was part of the Pirates collection. The crocodile has been repainted to match the color pattern of its real world cousin. The crocodile is just a solid piece of plastic with no movable parts. The jaws are positioned so they can fit a small tuna fish included with it, or a figures arms, or legs. The crocodile is the ideal scale for 3 3/4 inch figures. In the wild most crocodilians don't reach giant size and this is about the adverage size of a wild crocodile. It also makes a nice replacement for GI Joe collectors as Croc Master's pet crocodile.

The figure included in this set is Chip White who I have reviewed several times before so I will not waste any of your time going over him. Chip does come with some nice accessories a wooden fence that can be built up to make a large circular paddock. A blue bucket for cleaning or hauling food to feed the crocodile. A tuna most likely used as food for the crocodile and a blue scrub brush for cleaning the crocodile pen or giving it a bath. Their is also a red first aid case which comes with Dr. Henry Gage but this one does not come with any of his instruments. All an all a nice little set for a reasonable price. It is a shame Kmart no longer carries Chap Mei figures these were affordable figures full of creative imagination.

[dinoviper]

By far my favorite Chap Mei play set is the Grizzly Rescue. Their has never been so many figures and accessories included in such a set. The Grizzly Rescue was part of the Wild Park line and all but two figures were taken from other lines. The rest are all new sculpts. This set is still available a amazon.com and has been marked down since it was first introduced. This set has it all, a tree house, a cavern, a hummer truck, 3 figures, 3 small animals, a super cool serpent and a monstrous grizzly bear. Plus gobs and gobs of accessories.

Will first start with the least appealing yet nice addition to the set the hummer. The truck is the same exact truck used in the Dino Valley 2 Sudden Attack set with Suchomimus and Chip White. The only change done is it is now painted white with black stripes instead of red. The logo on the side has been changed and now says Wild Park Patrol. It does have a feature the light on the top can light up. It glows a red color when you press the button on top of the light. Like its Dino Valley twin the truck has free rolling wheels and fits up to 3 figures. The light rotates 360 degrees and raises and lowers. A antenna has been molded to the rear bumper and is easily broken off. It makes an ideal patrol vehicle for observing wild life either inside a park or out on the African savanna.


Up next we have the tree house which doubles as an observation post and zip line transport. The base of the tree has a large suction cup which sticks to most smooth surfaces. This adds support to the zip line feature with the cavern. The tree house also has a pulley system on the right side with a bucket and cord. A hook attaches to the base of the tree once the basket is raised and locks into place. The basket holds a wide variety of things but included with the set is a set of bananas which fit well inside the basket and I guess are used to throw at the angry grizzly to distract it. On the other side of the tree house is a branch where the cable for the zip line goes the limb can move from side to side and aids in adjusting the zip cord. A para scope sits on the mesh ledge and moves back and forth so it can be used for several vantage points to spot approaching danger. A large limb sticks out on the left hand side of the tree and can be detached it is very detailed and has a variety of vines including a large green vine that sits on the limb itself and can be used by the chimp to climb. Their is also a birds nest that is molded to the limb and a peg which the red panda can be attached to via a hole on the belly. The red panda also fits perfectly inside the hole in the tree. This is a nice little set in itself a bit smaller then the Dino Valley play set tree house but is easily transported and a lot of fun.


The cavern acts as the finishing point for the zip line. The orange basket is attached to the cord on the tree house side and is sent over the the cave hopefully landing on the platform above the cavern. The cavern and platform are two features in one. The platform comes off and has a large suction cup on the bottom. It is easier to work the zip line if the platform alone is placed on a smooth hard surface. Trying to work the zip line attached to the cavern which cause the platform to fly off the top of the cave. The basket will hold figures and small animals but it works best with lighter objects like a basket of bananas. The cavern on the other hand is an interesting piece of scenery. I have used it in several dio story's and find it very multi functional. Chap Mai is the only toy company to even imagine selling 3 3/4 inch caverns, tree houses, red pandas and zip lines. They are the best at what they do and the only company to get these sets and props for 3 3/4 inch collections. Back to the cavern. It is nothing fancy it just acts as a support for the platform. However you can fit small and medium size figures inside the cavern. A large brown viper guards the mouth of the cave in this set. More on the viper later. Their are 3 main openings to the cavern one on the front one in the back and one on top. It actually makes an awesome cave entrance when you stick the cave in front of a larger opening like under the bed or under the porch so it appears darker and more forbidden.


Their are 3 human characters included in this set the first is Sally West. Mrs. West is the assistant veterinarian to Dr. Gage she is also a research assistant in the field. She is also the only one that comes with the vet ID tag in this set. Sally also comes with a large flashlight and binoculars. I usually have Sally up in the tree observing the animals while the men go out and wrangle them Sally reminds me a lot of Sara Harding from Jurassic Park The Lost World. You can really see this in her Kenner action figure. Sally has a removable green belt with pouches and a rope molded to it. She also has a neat wide brim hat and its a wonder she was not repackaged in the Adventure Heroes collection as Sandy Storm's assistant. Sally is an extremely difficult figure to get a hold of at least over here and I only have seen her in this set.

Peter Pix is the chief photographer and documentarien of Wild Park. He goes out and films all the hardship that goes into keeping up a wildlife sanctuary. Peter is exactly the same mold as the Dino Valley 2 version and is painted slightly different. He has a different logo on his shirt that distinguishes him as a Wild Park figure. Peter comes with his video camera, adjustable blue tripod and snapshot camera.

Dr. Henry Gage is the top professor of the park and conducts all the research and surgeries when the animals get sick. Gage is no different from his Dino Valley version. He does not come with a ID vet tag which he did have in the rhino set. He does however come with his basic equipment and field bag. I have enclosed a pic of all the accessories that are included in his med bag for you to view.








Their is quite a slew of animals included in the Grizzly Rescue set. We have three smaller animals a baby grizzly, a chimp and a red panda. As I stated in a previous review Wild Park is centered around vetanery care and baby animals. I guess to feel in the gaps for all age groups young and old, boys and girls to enjoy. The baby bear is more of a brown bear then grizzly. Grizzlies are a sub species of brown bears just like Kodak bears. They are almost exactly alike but different slightly in appearance, size and location. I tend to put the baby bear with the medium size Wild Quest 2 brown bear simply because the giant grizzly is to large and too aggressive looking. Male bears are also known to kill and eat young bears to thin out competition for food and to get female bears back into estrus. I like the the bear cub it looks like a young bear and is a good sturdy figure. It also fits well on the zip line basket.

The chimp is one of the only figures that is not new and is from Wild Quest. I believe the hummer is also from soldier force and has been retrofitted to work in the Dino Valley and Wild Park lines. The chimp is one of the few small figures with articulation and has it in both legs. The chimp is very posiable on the ground and hanging from a vine. It is a very well detailed figure which is probable why it has survived not being replaced all these years.

I am not sure if this is truly a red panda or not I did go to school in fish and wildlife management but we have never discussed many exotic species like this that live outside the southeastern United States. They do appear to resemble a raccoon commonly seen around here yet they are a type of panda. I am glad Chap Mei made it it is an extremely rare creature and is only available in this set. I have always seen these creatures in trees in pictures and I like how Chap Mei molded it so it will sit on the limb. I also like the fact Chap Mei sculpted it so it can fit in the hole in the tree. I just wish Chap Mei sculpted other animals to fit in that hole like an owl or bat.


My favorite animal in this set and the reason for picking up this set in the first place is the viper. I am a huge reptile fanatic and love to identify them in the wild and as toys, but this one eludes me. It looks sort of like a copperhead but is coiled like a rattlesnake. In fact when I first saw the snake I imminently thought we were getting a new rattlesnake. The viper is based ruffly on the small blue snake that came with Count Orcus and the Devils Trap Set. The viper is a medium sized snake with no articulation. About all it can do is sit inside the cave and look scary. One other feature I like about the viper is you can put any 3 3/4 inch figure between the coils and it appears to be constricting them. The viper appeared in another Wild Park set with a pair of beavers. The viper is becoming a common figure included in many different collections. A green variant is found in the Knights Quest for Dark Beasts and Vikings. A red yellow and black version is included with the Anubis single pack which has proved to be a popular figure pack to get. Recently a red and black version was been seen in the new Jungle Adventure line and a different mold of the snake was spotted coiled around a limb in the Crocodile danger set.


Whew... We are just about finished with this review. However we cannot finish without the high lite of the set the Giant Grizzly which the set gets it name from. The giant grizzly is enormous it towers over the Dino Valley Spinosaurus and Dino Quest T rex. It can look the giant gorilla right in the eye and is perhaps a more formidable enemy to the gorilla then say a Tyrannosaurus. The Bear is painted a darker shade of brown then its cub and medium sized cousin. The bear has much more detail in the mold with the tuffs of hair and the facial expression. The legs move so the bear can sit on its butt or stand up right and can also stand on three legs, however the right arm is very tricky to position. When you press the button on the grizzlies back the right arm slams down and the bear makes a load roar very similar to the Spinosaurus. When standing upright the grizzly could look into a two story window. This is one massive bear and extremely heavy for a figure. The grizzly like the rhino and gorilla has a arm cast that can be worn around the wrist. Since there is no scars on the bear like on the grizzly I don't use the cast because it doesn't fit the arm very well. When I first saw pics of the bear I was like whatever I already have a brown bear and polar bear for my Chap Mei collection I don't need another. Then when I heard how big this bear was I had second thoughts. It would be great to build my Ice Age collection, I already had a mammoth and smilodon a cave bear or short face bear would be a nice addition. I really didn't think it was that big until Christmas day and I saw it through the packaging. The grizzly is a celeb in my collection and has been in many pics and dio-stories. This bear is no longer referred to as a grizzly it is now a short face bear and proudly rules the prehistoric world with my mammoth. The big bear has not made any recent appearances in other lines but this is a fantastic figure and I am sure will see on in time.

[dinoviper]

About the same time Dino Valley and the Sea Life series were released we got yet another Safari Park line. Wild Park was based on the first two lines called Wild Quest featuring native and exotic animals. These are by far the best articulate 3 3/4 inch figures to date. Many 3 3/4 inch collectors include these animal figures in their GI Joe collections and other figure collections. That is if they could find them;)
Wild Park was a series based on a wildlife park or zoo and many of the figures are taken from earlier lines such as Wild Quest. Their are however many new figures including animals that are a part of this line. One of the bigger playsets released for Wild Park is the Rhino Playset which included a vehicle, two figures, small medium and large animals and many many accessories.

Will start with the Giraffe Transport truck. Yes it is a bit odd that a truck used to transport Giraffe's is included with a set of rhino's and a panther. The truck does not transport the large rhino very well but it does work well carrying the panther and baby rhino. I guess their was a last minute change made to this set when it called for a giraffe and it would cost to much to include it. The truck itself can hold two human figures in the passenger seats. The rear bed unsnaps and makes a nice little ramp to load and unload wildlife. The truck also has free rolling wheels and a rescue and wild park logo on each side of the vehicle. Their is also some neat equipment which is molded to the vehicle like hooks to attach items to the truck and a tow cable rope. This is one of the more interesting vehicles in this series and is great for carrying equipment as well as animals.


The figures included in this set are Chip White who is fairly common in both Wild Park and Dino Valley. I have reviewed him several times already so I am going to skip this one and just say Chip makes an excellent troop builder. Chip also comes with a large fly swatter which is used to capture or ward off larger animals and a white rope or lasso.
The other figure included in this set is the ever popular Dr. Harry Gage. Dr. Gage is one of my favorite Chap Mei figures and is the most sought after for collectors due to his scientific background. Gage looks across between a crazy sci-fi professor and Albert Einstein. He is featured in both Wild Park and Dino Valley 2 but he blends in well with other 3 3/4 inch lines. Dr. Gage has a very colorful parrot that sits on his shoulder and can be removed. He also has a nice looking ID tag that is a staple among Dino Valley 2 and Wild Park figures. His belt is equipped with all sorts of gadgets used in the field including a small removable ear device which fits on a loop in his belt.
Dr. Gage comes with a number of accessories including his trusty doctors bag with removable lid. Inside is a slew of instruments used to poke and probe including a hypodermic needle, forceps and a bottle of pills. The instruments included with this set are a bright orange note pad for writing height and weight, a scale for measuring height and a lantern. All ideal for a scientist to take out into the field.




Perhaps the meat and potatoes of this set are the animals and the set includes three of them. The first is the black panther, cougar or Jaguar, however you say large cat in that region of the world. I am no cat expert but I will say that their is no such thing as a species of black feline. This is just a color variation like in all animals and black seems to work far better in the wild then white. The panther is a nice addition to the already growing number of big cats Chap Mei has put out. I believe their is a tan variation of this cat in the Jungle Adventure line. This version has movable legs and the right paw reaches up to strike when the button on the back is pressed. I wish that the head and tail could move but sadly they do not. The panther has some really interesting blue spots on his coat although this is creative licensing by the artist if you look closely on most big cats including leopards that are black, you can make out the spots. My parents have a black cat named Cassie who has several dark stripes running down her neck. So not all black cats are a solid black. Chap Mei is showing they do have some variation. Very clever...


One of the largest animals in the series is the Rhinoceros. It first appeared as a medium size figure in Wild Quest. It was not the best figure at any means with its head facing straight down and is impossible for any real rhino to do this. The wild park version is bigger and more accurate scale wise then its predecessor. Its head is sloped downward but still looking straight foreword. It is just a solid piece of plastic with only articulation in the head. It has a sound feature when you press the button on its back. The head raises up in a butting motion and a mooing sound is heard. I leg bandage is also included with the rhino. It is the same one that came with the giant gorilla Wild Quest 2 carried. These bandages seem to be included with all the bigger animals from Dino Valley 2 and Wild Park. This is one of my favorite Wild Park animals because I love rhinos, they are such a strange looking animal and extremely rare.
Aside from the large rhino their is also a baby included. It is a solid piece of plastic lacking any articulation. However it seems like in this line baby animals are the staple of the series. The baby rhino looks very much like a young rhino and not just a miniature scale version that Chap Mei and many other toy companies are guilty of doing.

[Ghouldrool]

Unfortunately Wild Park did not see ANY release in the Netherlands at all. It's a shame, because it means I have to hunt for these great animal sets abroad. I already own the human figures including Sally West, I have the giant Grizzly (an Ancient Dire Bear in my universe!) and with luck the Rhino and black Panther. There's much more to find!

[Jbyrdd]

I never seen these at retail, shame to as it is a great line, though some of those animals are in different sets at TRU.