Jump to content

Show us your plastic dinosaur


Bobby Rico

Recommended Posts

This thread explores the light hearted history of the dinosaurs in the public psyche.

A visually nostalgic tour of the evolution of the very popular toy, the plastic dinosaur . Focusing on film, illustration, sculpture, vintage photography and of course our prehistoric plastic playmates. I hope it invokes some very happy memories from our childhoods

56292F9B-E4B8-4408-AF9A-44951CF3ECE0.jpeg

 

Story starts here, Megalosaurus jawbone - in 1824. It was acquired by William Buckland (1784-1856), For the University of Oxford, after being found in a slate quarry in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire.

 

The names of of both Megalosaurus and Dinosaur were coined by Richard Owen.

 

A483C9BF-0F45-472F-9940-F924ED93875D.jpeg

image.jpeg

 

In the UK in 1974 the Megalosaurus  figure by Invicta Plastics was the best selling museum dinosaur.

7BC8F664-EC81-4114-9A39-DC961ED8E936.jpeg

8A3EC122-777B-466E-8083-B1A6343996AD.jpeg

 

The first ever dinosaurs sculptures exhibited in the world are the fantastic Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Displaying a series of sculptures of extinct animals. However, these are very misguided to modern standards, housed in London’s Crystal Palace, the sculptures were designed  by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Richard Owen. 

  • I found this Informative 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In film

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) - World's 1st Keyframe Animation Cartoon by Winsor McCay beautifuly drawn and lots of fun. 

0695593D-6B6A-4854-B9F6-CFA47CAB6E25.jpeg

 

King Kong 1933

9E76CF6E-0877-4622-9984-80D8C5FF163C.jpeg

 

Whilst on the subject King Kong I went to visit the big man in Leeds last year. This sculpture was originally part of an exhibition that was in Birmingham city centre when I was a child. Great memories of standing next to it as a small child and as an adult last year. 

2D743FB5-2649-4009-9AE8-4D67EBA5131A.jpeg

BB0B6B4C-6951-43E8-9C8D-78B9741F5CAF.jpeg

A0699D6A-E613-48EC-97C8-27666B737AB0.jpeg

 

 A few of my favourite dinosaur films .

406235C5-38AA-4F31-B3F7-E5ED880BA81E.jpeg

DBA2DCE5-ED9A-4556-B780-25F95F8D4622.jpeg

5427A511-C8CB-4129-B56E-D743CE5CDE14.jpeg

image.jpeg

 

My very first dinosaur collection was from Inpro Toys who did a series called How the World Began with Chivers Jelly in 1977.

image.jpeg

My next inspiration is from a book my sister gave to me, published in 1979 - Prehistoric Animals and Plants by Josef Benes illustrated by Zdenek Burain. Even thought the dinosaur illustrations aren't accurate to the science of modern standards, I saw some of the same images painted on canvas in the National Museum in Prague when I visited in 2008.

 

 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mold-a-Rama have produced some of my most treasured plastic dinos figures to date. Originally their machines grew in prominence at the 1964 NY Worlds Fair they can still be found (as most of out members from across the pond will know) in many museums and zoos in Florida and Illinois. I had a pocket full of dollar bills ready to spend on watching those brilliant machines make them just for me. 

image.jpeg

Screen Shot 2018-05-07 at 19.25.47.png

 

Dinosaurs on their way to the 1964 New York World Fair via barge on the Hudson River.

 

Next is the Invicta Plastics line of 23 dinosaur and prehistoric animals toys, produced in conjunction with the British Museum of Natural History starting in 1974. These I believe were distributed world wide and are recognised by many as the ones they owned as kids. Ironically I have ended up living no more than 5 miles away from where the factory was. 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

 

In in our garden 

 

 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Have a few of these not from my younger childhood but from my older childhood.

 

Very cool but have to step in..since we are here for accuracy.

Not a Dinosaur :Dimage.thumb.jpeg.1a9fb26c2a48eb4bc6ef75fd19f366d9.jpg.8dbeecdff01ced313b466586e781cf82.jpg

 

Alienosaurus bobbi

image.thumb.jpeg.1617cd18388434408306aa1b373324fb.thumb.jpg.36307dee476db4157c00775c0f2fb972.jpg

  • I found this Informative 7
  • Enjoyed 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would NOT allow any sail-backed reptiles to sit on MY sofa.! 

Cheers, Bobby, brings back a lot of memories.:)

 

  • I found this Informative 1

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first dinosaurs was a bag of plastic dinosaurs produced by Tim-Mee Toys and purchased for me by my parents in the early 1970s.  That bag of dinos (not all dinos - mammoth and Dimetrodon - I played with those separately so as not to mix eras :rofl:) was my very favorite toy.  I still have 5 from the original bag.  Then, a couple years ago, in a fit of nostalgia, I did a careful search for original Tim-Mee dinosaurs from the early 70s and found and bought a whole bag of them with all three colors (yellow, green, and red) for each species.  Not as easy as it sounds, because the original molds for these were used for quite a while, and the molds have recently been resurrected.

20180507_173959.thumb.jpg.790eca017131a46d67d08b99e43ec3cb.jpg

 

I think my favorite movie was the 1977 film, The Last Dinosaur 

Screenshot_20180507-174753.thumb.jpg.004dac3650feba6d34f533f332d9822d.jpg

 

Great thread!

:popcorn:

  • I found this Informative 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, Troodon said:
  • Have a few of these not from my younger childhood but from my older childhood.

 

Very cool but have to step in..since we are here for accuracy.

Not a Dinosaur :Dimage.thumb.jpeg.1a9fb26c2a48eb4bc6ef75fd19f366d9.jpg.8dbeecdff01ced313b466586e781cf82.jpg

 

Alienosaurus bobbi

image.thumb.jpeg.1617cd18388434408306aa1b373324fb.thumb.jpg.36307dee476db4157c00775c0f2fb972.jpg

Sorry Frank that was sloppy I will take myself of to the naughty corner. Thanks for spotting this. Lets see your  Plastic Dinosaur or prehistoric animal then. :D

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

- I played with those separately so as not to mix eras :rofl:

 

I completely understand, toy company’s have a lot to answer to with there tomfoolery but your principles was strong and true. Them dinosaur and prehistoric animals are really cool. I am :envy:  

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I would NOT allow any sail-backed reptiles to sit on MY sofa.! 

Cheers, Bobby, brings back a lot of memories.:)

 

Thanks Adam I have been think a lot about my childhood recently you know. So I thought making a post may be nice . Also the Crystal Palace sculpture must have been a complete revelation at that time.:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Bobby Rico said:

Thanks Adam I have been think a lot about my childhood recently you know. So I thought making a post may be nice . Also the Crystal Palace sculpture must have been a complete revelation at that time.:)

This little fellah arrived from @JohnBrewer

5af0d31ac7cd3_Wrens.thumb.jpg.6cd954afa4e638efff9fd579a759746a.jpg

He has since travelled on to visit Jay @DevonianDigger and John is currently thinking up a name so he can have his own thread and become an international traveller and be posted on from member to member. 

John, come up with a good name yet? :D

  • I found this Informative 6

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you @Troodon very fun. I am glad I am not the only big kid around here. :D you got to love them plastic dinosaurs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chewits were first advertised on television in 1976 with a very fun stop motion footage of a Dinosaur eating his way though some very  well-known international landmarks such as Barrow-in-Furness Bus Depot, a London block of flats, London Bridge, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Empire State Building. The Dinosaur’s hunger could only be quelled by a pack of Chewits. 

1134CA7C-6157-4BDA-A2BE-FB98417DB4BB.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's get serious here guys!  What dinosaur movie fan can say their life wasn't changed by this classic.

20180508_053243.png

Which according to the title would roughly put it taking place in the early Pleistocene.  Completely accurate depiction I think.

20180508_055112.jpg

Let me introduce you to Spike II. Spike was a fodder of tricks between my sister and I many years ago. Every so often he would be found tucked down between the sheets of one another's bed to be an unexpected surprise when you slipped in for bed. Or perhaps waiting to get you when you hurriedly put on a shoe. He was utilized for many years and unfortunately the original Spike the first was lost to the sands of time. So this guy I purchased a few years back and the games go on. :muahaha:

I do have several other small dinos dispersed amongst my collection here and there.  Some recieved in trades packages, some obtained from purchases. 

No matter what you collect and display, they just seem to fit in.

  • I found this Informative 9
  • Enjoyed 1

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I would NOT allow any sail-backed reptiles to sit on MY sofa.! 

Just ones with hard shells, right Adam?

  • I found this Informative 3

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend gave me a Mold-A-Rama Tyrannosaurus (dark green) a few years ago.  He was in Seattle when he got it.

 

 

  • I found this Informative 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/8/2018 at 10:01 AM, siteseer said:

A friend gave me a Mold-A-Rama Tyrannosaurus (dark green) a few years ago.  He was in Seattle when he got it.

 

 

I love them, picture please if you still have it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, caldigger said:

Just ones with hard shells, right Adam?

And herbivorous. 

(though some of the sailbacks were as well, i think, so i might waver with them. )

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, caldigger said:

Let's get serious here guys!  What dinosaur movie fan can say their life wasn't changed by this classic.

20180508_053243.png

Which according to the title would roughly put it taking place in the early Pleistocene. 

Were there dinosaurs in that movie ?

Can't say i noticed them. 

  • I found this Informative 3

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Were there dinosaurs in that movie ?

Can't say i noticed them. 

:o:trilosurprise: :shrug:  :rofl:

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@caldigger Doren I think your movie poster is getting the most attention probably because the dinosaur are painted so much nice than in the posters I offered.  :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I saw that movie when I was young and Raquel would introduce herself ( Uwana) I always responded "you betcha!"  Besides, Tumack wasn't good enough for her anyway.

As for the dinosaurs, I think there were a couple of them in there somewhere.

  • I found this Informative 3

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last year Mrs Rico and I wanted  to make something fun for the house. So here is what you can do with a lot of plastic dinosaurs . Stupidity indeed but fun. :D

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 16
  • Enjoyed 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...