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Joined: Jul 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 5,209 Location: Under the Mountains of TN
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #1 on Aug 28, 2008, 2:47pm »
Yeah, the humans look excellent...but the dinos look bad because they aren't orig sculpts.. the Rex bust looks like the head off that matchbox/hot wheels playset...and the Trike is a model..I think Aurora.. :?
The Foetodon is just the King Kong figure...now if he had sculpted his dinos and armor they could have been cast and sold...
" Way out West are boney clues of many an ancient clash, preserved by deadly sand and mud and dark volcanic ash, these late Jurassic sediments, the Morrison Formation, a record of the Allosaurus, Prince of all Predation..." - Jurassic Punk
Joined: Mar 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 6,028 Location: Cypress Hills Formation, SK
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #2 on Aug 28, 2008, 3:36pm »
Huh. I have tosay, not impressed--the original series' figures were very well done, with a wide variety of types. Somehow, just using Aurora models seems like a step back--the original DR figures were so well done (for the time) that they were re-released as the Smithsonian series of dinos.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 277 Location: Rapid City, SD
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #3 on Aug 28, 2008, 3:41pm »
Hehee, to me it's not a good Dino Riders dinosaur if it doesn't have those lovely golden eyes! Dino Riders were my first foray into paleo toys, and their eyes really captured my imagination as a little kid. The snake-faced fella (Rulon? Shamefully enough I never actually watched the show, I was just in it for the dinosaurs!) looks pretty cool though!
Joined: Apr 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 1,240 Location: The Morrison Formation
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #4 on Aug 28, 2008, 4:36pm »
Those human characters are pretty neat looking.
I too loved the eyes on the dinoriders figures. My 3 favorite figures in the series were the "Brontosaurus", Protoceratops and the Struthiomimus. Amusingly, the struthio has "dinofuzz". I think the dinoriders proto is still my favorite Protoceratops figure ever produced.
As always, I prefer the marginal figures, i.e. Placerias (my favourite by far), Dimetrodon, Killer Wart Hog, Sabre Tooth Cat.
The only Dino Riders I have are the Megachoerus (wart hog, really an entelodon) and the Placerias. The most I have ever paid for a figure was the Wart Hog, MIB from Germany. I subsequently tossed everything but the figure itself. I needed to get it after being inspired by the critters at Agate Springs in Nebraska.
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #7 on Aug 28, 2008, 10:04pm »
I'm very lucky,regarding Dinoriders and such...Thanks to my parents (who are dino-fans like me) who bought me these kickin' ass toys when i was a toddler,i own the COMPLETE collection
I'm very lucky,regarding Dinoriders and such...Thanks to my parents (who are dino-fans like me) who bought me these kickin' ass toys when i was a toddler,i own the COMPLETE collection
Even the mail-away Quetzalcoatlus and the Pachyrhinosaurus? That last one sold for over $800 on ebay (it was MIB mind you, but still).
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #11 on Aug 29, 2008, 12:04am »
I remember DinoRiders. I used to ogle at tiny images of them in old Argos catalogues.
Never had any though.
Then I remember them being rereleased with Smithsonian endorsement in the nineties. I saw them in shops a lot, and maybe could've afforded them, but I just wasn't interested at that point. They seemed clunky and dated to me, and I felt they were too trashy for the Smithsonian be giving the seal of approval. Given their origins, it was obvious there hadn't been any museum input.
I probably wouldn't be so fussy these days. Somehow the level of accuracy doesn't bother me the way it did when I was a kid.
Wish I had the rex. It's a great design with lots of retro charm. I always got the impression it was the model for the Toy Story character(which just isn't as cool, but great to be referenced like that).
I'm very lucky,regarding Dinoriders and such...Thanks to my parents (who are dino-fans like me) who bought me these kickin' ass toys when i was a toddler,i own the COMPLETE collection
Even the mail-away Quetzalcoatlus and the Pachyrhinosaurus? That last one sold for over $800 on ebay (it was MIB mind you, but still).
I have everything in various conditions but the Pachyrhinosaurus and really if I could find a good price on a loose one I'd take it...
" Way out West are boney clues of many an ancient clash, preserved by deadly sand and mud and dark volcanic ash, these late Jurassic sediments, the Morrison Formation, a record of the Allosaurus, Prince of all Predation..." - Jurassic Punk
I remember DinoRiders. I used to ogle at tiny images of them in old Argos catalogues.
Never had any though.
Then I remember them being rereleased with Smithsonian endorsement in the nineties. I saw them in shops a lot, and maybe could've afforded them, but I just wasn't interested at that point. They seemed clunky and dated to me, and I felt they were too trashy for the Smithsonian be giving the seal of approval. Given their origins, it was obvious there hadn't been any museum input.
I probably wouldn't be so fussy these days. Somehow the level of accuracy doesn't bother me the way it did when I was a kid.
Wish I had the rex. It's a great design with lots of retro charm. I always got the impression it was the model for the Toy Story character(which just isn't as cool, but great to be referenced like that).
I think Smithsonian was looking for a quick, cheap answer to the Carnegie collection. I think most of the DinoRiders weren't museum quality (though I did have every single one minus the Mammoth as a kid).
Some were better than others. Series 2 had a lot of good figures--rumor has it Bob Bakker consulted and had a hand in a lot of the designs of that series, which explains the rise in accuracy compared to series 1 and the feathery Struthiomimus
I also think the toy Story rex is based on the DinoRider... it looks very similar. The rex was one of my most memorable Christmas presents when I was a little kid. That and the Thundercats base... and the DinoRiders Brontosaurus, which was bloody EPIC! I wish I still had it.
By that time I knew Brontosaurus a) was an invalid name and b) wasn't that big, so I pretended it was Seismosaurus and made it team up with my Playschool Ultrasauros
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Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 3,744 Location: Nottingham, UK
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #17 on Aug 29, 2008, 5:23pm »
Oh nostalgia!
I had the T.rex one Christmas too when I was little. And Thundercats - Thag, your Christmas list sounds like it was exactly the same as mine My mum convinced me to sell my Dinoriders rex to a much younger dinosaur enthusiast than myself. I regret that. But I hope he took care of it, I hope he retained his interest in dinosaurs. Perhaps one of you is that boy!?
Re: Dinoriders « Reply #18 on Aug 29, 2008, 7:38pm »
I had the Deinonychus, around 1993 (Hmmm, wonder why? ) They were sold in Toys R Us in the UK under the Natural History Museum banner (basically the Smithsonian packaging, but with "Natural History Museum, London" at the top)
Preferred the JP stuff that came out at the same time though, so only got that one, although I did pick up the Styracosaurus earlier at a car boot sale.
Oh, and I looked up the Entelodont, and that is a thing of beauty! Bloody ugly, but gorgeously sculpted!
I think Smithsonian was looking for a quick, cheap answer to the Carnegie collection. I think most of the DinoRiders weren't museum quality (though I did have every single one minus the Mammoth as a kid).
Some were better than others. Series 2 had a lot of good figures--rumor has it Bob Bakker consulted and had a hand in a lot of the designs of that series, which explains the rise in accuracy compared to series 1 and the feathery Struthiomimus
That's interesting, I didn't realise the Smithsonian had made additional figures for the line. I'll havta check that out. A feathered Struthiomimus would've been ahead of it's time by toy standards.
I remember in the early/mid-nineties, the museum in dublin put together a dinosaur display. Part of it was this big prehistory diorama with dinosaur toys, including quite a few of the Smithsonian figures, and multiples of the T.rex. The curator Nigel told me the toys all belonged to this one kid. Lucky kid.
I think a Dino Rider figure might've also made it into the London NHM's dinosaur exhibit.