Dwelling upon Pepe's (Or whatever his name was) dino toys in DINOSAURUS has got me thinking about about all the non-descript Dinosaur toys I so cherished in my tot-hood. Can anyone help me identify them?
In the late 70's I can recall two strands of toys the most clearly. One where a set of various Dinos with a strong Charles Knight (hope I got the name right) influence, at least as far as he depicted them in his fantastic mural (which I had a framed copy on my wall just above my bed.... no wonder I am a victem of troilism now!) for the Smithsonian. I can remember having at least one nicely boxed set of them bought at the Smithsonian. and then later would see them reduced to half sized and sold in plastic bags well into the 80's at every supermarket (but packed with fantasy creatures as well... one antenaed quodroped, tail crittered I later noticed was accurately depicted in a Dungeons and Dragons book circa 1984 or so... although I suspect the D&D creature... I think it was called a Rust Monster.... was physically based on the somewhat annonymous toy.).
I think I have these dinos narrowed down to being a Loise Marx mold from the late 50's.
The other dinos I remember well from youth where also solid plastic, but totally hollow with virtually no plastic to protect their soft underbellies. The could double nicely as fingerpuppets. They where all cast in unpainted, solid color plastics, and I think I bought them all at TG&Y's. Their T-Rex... or was it Alosaur? was distictive in that, despite otherwise looking like the Knight drawing.... had an incredibly arched over back, but head and kneck held high... it looked something like some classic wash or charcoal drawings (maybe also by Knight?) I remember from some old book of my youth.
Anyhelp would be appreciated but lets hear every one elses fave dino toys of their youth!
In the late 70's I can recall two strands of toys the most clearly. One where a set of various Dinos with a strong Charles Knight (hope I got the name right) influence, at least as far as he depicted them in his fantastic mural (which I had a framed copy on my wall just above my bed.... no wonder I am a victem of troilism now!) for the Smithsonian. I can remember having at least one nicely boxed set of them bought at the Smithsonian. and then later would see them reduced to half sized and sold in plastic bags well into the 80's at every supermarket (but packed with fantasy creatures as well... one antenaed quodroped, tail crittered I later noticed was accurately depicted in a Dungeons and Dragons book circa 1984 or so... although I suspect the D&D creature... I think it was called a Rust Monster.... was physically based on the somewhat annonymous toy.).
I think I have these dinos narrowed down to being a Loise Marx mold from the late 50's.
The other dinos I remember well from youth where also solid plastic, but totally hollow with virtually no plastic to protect their soft underbellies. The could double nicely as fingerpuppets. They where all cast in unpainted, solid color plastics, and I think I bought them all at TG&Y's. Their T-Rex... or was it Alosaur? was distictive in that, despite otherwise looking like the Knight drawing.... had an incredibly arched over back, but head and kneck held high... it looked something like some classic wash or charcoal drawings (maybe also by Knight?) I remember from some old book of my youth.
Anyhelp would be appreciated but lets hear every one elses fave dino toys of their youth!
"NO BEDS!"
