King T-Rex: Rebor 1:35 scale Tyrannosaurus Rex Figure Review

Rebor is relatively new to the Dinosaur Collectibles market. They are a UK-based maker of museum quality dinosaur collectibles going for the opening between Papo’s $20-$30 offerings and Sideshow’s $200-$300 Dinosauria stautes. Their initial offering, Yutyrannus Huali was one I missed out on (I’ve since put one on pre-order in hopes of a re-stock), and I nearly passed on Tyrannosaurus Rex. As a friend of mine put it when I was considering the purchase: “No, you do not need a $65 T-Rex.” Fast forward a couple of months and my Papo/Schleich collection is growing, along with my excitement at Jurassic World. I saw Rebor still had a few dinosaurs in stock, so I took the plunge and bought a pair: Savage and King T-Rex. This first official review goes to the King. I’ll take a look at Rebor’s Ceratosaurus next, but Rex comes first…

Rebor’s dinosaurs come packaged in plastic wrap within foam, within a box, within a slipcase.

The slipcase, which is what you see first, is a matte black with the silhouette of the entire dinosaur outlined in white, front-and-center, encasing the outlines of its skeleton within. The dinosaur name, nickname and scale are clear in the upper left hand corner, and the Rebor logo in the lower right. The back shows other dinosaurs in the line. The look is “minimalist classy”, which seems to be the current rage started by Star Wars Black Series. I don’t care for slipcases, though (I don’t like the Mezco One:12 Collective slipcase either). The inner box is a pain in the neck to slide in and out. I’d much prefer a window box with a flap I can lift to see what I’m getting inside. That said, Rebor’s box looks good and does what it is intended to do: protect the product.

Rebor includes a small bagged card with some information about the dinosaur, along with a cool scale-shot diagram. It's a neat little collectible piece, and I'll probably pick up a 5x7 inch frame for each to display alongside the dinosaurs on the shelf.

King Tyrannosaurus Rex is done in a 1:35 scale, weighs in at 1 lb. 5 oz., and measures 13 & ¾ inches long from tip to tail, and 6 & ½ inches tall at his highest point (head). And there’s no doubt, this figure is a work of art. At this moment, I’ve got 9 T-Rex figures in my collection and Rebor’s is far-and-away the best. The sculpt is gorgeous.

I love the head sculpt and the level of detail across the entire figure is immediately striking.

The cuts, wrinkles and folds are sharp and deep. There’s a variety of pebbly textures all over the figure, with finer bumps populating the lower jaw, and larger, flatter scale-like variations making up the belly and underside. Rex has a row of fairly sharp spikes running the length of his spine from the center of the skull to the tip of the tail. There are several thick veins along the flanks, which are slightly too “Hulk-ish” for my tastes, but the bulging muscles along the thighs and calves are incredible.

The paint applications are absolutely spot-on and do a great job of accentuating the sculpt details. King Tyrannosaurus is mostly a dark orange/brown, with a much lighter tan underside.

There’s a great deal of airbrushing and dry brushing done all across the body to bring out the crevices and high points, as well. There’s no slop at all, and the mouth (tongue, individual teeth, roof and all) and eyes (done in gold) are perfect. There’s a hint of gloss added to the mouth’s interior and above the eyes to lend some additional complexity. In short, the figure is hideously gorgeous.

King T-Rex comes with a small rocky “base” which is necessary to get him standing. This is actually my only major gripe with Rebor’s Rex figure: he’s very difficult to stand. The underside of his padded right foot is rounded, as is the top of the rock base. As a result, it really doesn’t do a great job of keeping the figure secure. It takes a lot of work to get the figure balanced, and 9 times out of 10 it falls over within a week. The rock really needs a metal post coming up from it’s top, with a corresponding hole in the underside of the right foot. Another option would have been to actually include a second right leg that could attach at the knee (elbow?), which would allow for a standing pose. As it is, we’ve got a dynamic stance that’s too precarious for comfort, and I’ll probably end up drilling holes eventually anyway. Nevertheless, King T-Rex is a marvelous statue, well worth it’s $70 price-tag. I’ve spent more time enjoying this figure than nearly any other in my collection, and I look forward to adding more Rebor to my shelves…

Scaled with a 2" Halo figure (approx. 1/35 scale)

Alongside Papo's Standing T-Rex (brown version)