Dino Toy Line Questions- Original Thread -

[dinonikes]

Ok, so if someone were planning on making a limited edition line of dino toys- which would you like to see made? After the obligatory T-Rex and Triceratops. Should they be made in 1:40 scale? What about prehistoric mammals, should there be a few of those as well? I am 'toying' with the idea of doing this after seeing all of the cool toy lines out there and the toys they have made.

[dinonikes]

Should they be painted, or just one color?

[tomhet]

They should be painted.

You shouldn't include T-Rex OR Triceratops ;D Seriously, they are everywhere

Scale should be variable, that way you can do small creatures, although 1:40 is a good scale for large and medium dinos. Dinos I'd love to see: Acrocanthosaurus, Carnotaurus, Megalosaurus, Wuehrosaurus, Masiakasaurus, Cryolophosaurus.

IMHO you should include non-dinosaur prehistoric animals, and my main suggestions would be: marine reptiles, fishes, amphibians, invertebrates and pterosaurs

[kuni]

I'd say variable scale as well, with the creatures themselves ranging from 4 inches at the smallest to around 12 at the largest, with most around 6-8 inches.

I endorse Tomhet's specific creature suggestions.

In general, cool dinosaurs that either haven't been done a billion times by other companies, or haven't been done well before would be excellent candidates. Big nasty amphibians would be awesome, too.

[therizinosaurus]

I would say make a line of Therizinosaurs.
;D
I would love some marine reptiles, amphibians, paleozoic animals, and mammals, too.

[webdragon]

If you're looking for suggestions, I'd say look at the complete ecosystem of a particular region for inspiration! Sure everyone has T. rex and Triceratops, but what about all of the other things running around too? Troodon, for example, or the small early mammals, fish, and turtles also known from the North American Cretaceous. This would be great for people looking to build dioramas, or people who would just like to have prey animals to attach to their predators, or vice versa.

Also I'd suggest, in light of the cancellation of Wild Republic's Sea Monsters toys, why not make some of your own? An Archelon perhaps? Or a Xiphactinus! Or a neat fish-snagging Hesperornis, yay!

[dinonikes]

I appreciate the suggestions. Question- as far as the plastic material that I would use to cast these 'toy dinos', should they be rigid or semi flexible? I would not be casting using injection molds, like toys are made, at least not at first (too optimistic maybe). I would be hand casting into molds i create. Thus limited editions. The vinyl that is used to cast most toys isn't an option with my casting methods, but threre are plastics with some of the same qualities of toughness and unbreakability. I would be using some sort of urethane casting material, these come in various steps of rigidity, from real floppy rubbery stretchability up to rock hard density with no give really except in very thin areas.

I am thinking that this line of toys would take me a while to get started,but once I get going, i am hoping to get one done every two months or so.

I plan on making accessory pieces, to go with the line of critters.THe plastic accessories were always my favorite part of vintage playsets by Marx and MPC (not just talking about their dino sets here). Some ideas are-
-plants and trees that are fairly accurate to work with dino toys, like a few nice plastic clumps of cycads. Scale would be general in the plants-like those old sets were
-Some custom rock displays- vacuum formed -like some of those old ones were
-maybe some carcasses to go with carnivores, half eaten duckbills, or something along those lines(too gruesome for toys?)

Just having this idea gelling in my head, going over the idea. i have to say that coming to this site and seeing all of the cool toys available has sort of sparked a reaction, not to collect, but to get into the fray myself and try to make some cool looking toys. i like the style of these toy lines. I won't pick a favorite but there are some VERY cool dinos out there. I 've read all of the reviews of toys that one finds here, and the critiques are very much informative and help me, hopefully, not make the same mistakes pointed out by the reviewers.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

All I have to say-
1 or 2 amphibians
A couple of pliosaurs
A sleeping theropod dinosaur
An anatotitan carcass.

I'm sure everybody on this forum would buy them and love them.

[tomhet]

I absolutely love the accesory idea, it's something that nobody picked up after Marx and such I like the idea of the carcass.

The material should be resistant. Starlux figs are hatefully brittle.

I'm glad our reviews have been helpful!

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Dec 8, 2008 0:08:23 GMT therizinosaurus said:

I would say make a line of Therizinosaurs.
;D

I know you are being sarcastic, but that would be awesome! there are so many things you could do with theries.

[Tyrannax]

^ That really is a great idea. They should make a line of Tyrannosaurs, all in different colors and sizes. I think it would give other companies excuses to stop making Tyrannosaurs (I wouldn't like it, but I know you guys would)


Maybe like a sub line dedicated to Tyrannosaurs.

[kuni]

Yeah, in terms of material, focus on durability, then detail. This will probably mean a fairly rigid plastic, which might have issues if a figure was dropped onto a tile floor, but otherwise would be totally fine.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Dude, you already have these to choose from:

Jps1 red rex
JPS1 junior rex
Jps2 junior rex
TLW thrasher rex
TLW bull rex
TLW junior rex
TLW baby rex
Chaos effect thrasher rex
" " bull rex
JP3 deluxe rex
JP3 ultra rex
CxT arctic rex
Cxt Canyon rex
JPD1 junior rex
JPD1 baby rex
JPD2 baby rex
JPD2 deluxe rex
JPd3 ultra rex
JPD3 deluxe rex
Carnegie old rex
Carnegie new rex
Wild safari rex
Feathered wild safari rex
Wild safari rex hatching out of egg
Great dinos rex
Both procon rexes
That big procon rex (2 feet tall)
Schliech old trex
Schliech new trex
Schliech new kangaroo pose rex
schliech junior series rex
the various marx rexes

And the theries that are available:

Old safari one
Great dinos one
The kaiyodos
Colorata theri
Famemaster theri
Discovery kids smart animals theri
Chap mei theries

Make more theries!

[Tyrannax]

^ But there are only like 1,000, 000 Tyrannosaurs to choose from. We have like 10 theries to choose from. Don't you agree we need more Rexes?

*laughs* ;D You know I would never turn down a T-Rex Cordy!

[kuni]

In terms of paintjob, particularly if you want them to stay affordable with a small line, I'd say a basic two-tone airbrush, with teeth/claw/eye detailing is sufficient.

I'm probably going to repaint them anyways, though, so I'd be fine with Invicta-style single-color dinos, especially if it keeps them (somewhat) cheap.

In fact, yes: Invicta-style modern dinosaur sculpts would be awesome -- lots of detail, different colors, durable, and probably a lot more doable than Wild Safari-style figures.

[stoneage]

Dec 8, 2008 2:52:36 GMT [][][]cordylus[][][] said:

Dude, you already have these to choose from:

Jps1 red rex
JPS1 junior rex
Jps2 junior rex
TLW thrasher rex
TLW bull rex
TLW junior rex
TLW baby rex
Chaos effect thrasher rex
" " bull rex
JP3 deluxe rex
JP3 ultra rex
CxT arctic rex
Cxt Canyon rex
JPD1 junior rex
JPD1 baby rex
JPD2 baby rex
JPD2 deluxe rex
JPd3 ultra rex
JPD3 deluxe rex
Carnegie old rex
Carnegie new rex
Wild safari rex
Feathered wild safari rex
Wild safari rex hatching out of egg
Great dinos rex
Both procon rexes
That big procon rex (2 feet tall)
Schliech old trex
Schliech new trex
Schliech new kangaroo pose rex
schliech junior series rex
the various marx rexes

And the theries that are available:

Old safari one
Great dinos one
The kaiyodos
Colorata theri
Famemaster theri
Discovery kids smart animals theri
Chap mei theries

Make more theries!

;D You forgot these T-Rex's: Dinotails series 1 & 5, Play Vision, Bullyland, Resaurus, MPC, Larami, WWD, Invicta, Battat, Dinoworld, Kinto (Open & Closed Mouth), Dino Horizon (COG), and Kayaba (Red & Green). Therizinosaurus there is also the Dinotails series 4. ;D

[Tyrannax]

He's forgetting a lot of Tyrannosaurs, but thats alright.

[sbell]

I think go for variety--and don't do any animals that have been done before. I am with Tomhet--there are enough Trcieratops, T rex, mammoths, and smilodon. let's see some of the more unusual animals, including from groups that are never produced (especially among the fish, amphibians, non-dino reptiles and the inverts).

[dinonikes]

All of your suggestions are helpful. I am actually getting pretty excited by the idea.

The plastic I would use can survive a fall to a tile floor.

I could have unpainted with optional painted 'collector' series.

I like the idea of making different ecosystems. Maybe those could be separate collections- Like a package deal- maybe like- Coal Forest- comes with a few Lepidodendron trunks, calamites, Euryops, dragonfly - or - Burgess Shale- comes with various strange critters from that formation. Might get too complicated though.

[stoneage]

Dec 8, 2008 3:47:39 GMT dinonikes said:

All of your suggestions are helpful. I am actually getting pretty excited by the idea.

The plastic I would use can survive a fall to a tile floor.

I could have unpainted with optional painted 'collector' series.

I like the idea of making different ecosystems. Maybe those could be separate collections- Like a package deal- maybe like- Coal Forest- comes with a few Lepidodendron trunks, calamites, Euryops, dragonfly - or - Burgess Shale- comes with various strange critters from that formation. Might get too complicated though.

Do you have any idea what the price range would be? Would it be affordable?