Marine reptile toys

[Dinotoyforum]

Feb 6, 2008 11:43:34 GMT piltdown said:

Off topic, but Dinotoyforum should write a book about Mesozoic marine reptiles geared towards young readers--or more accurately towards their parents, since the kids probably know much more than their folks do about liopleurodon, kronosaurs et al ;D -- to promote 'awareness' about them, so manufacturers would have more incentive to produce placodonts and similar critters.

--though if there is mention of fuzzy dromeosaurs I will be forced to give the book a less than positive review ;D {j/k}

You read my mind ;D The main problem is getting a foot in the door - most publishers only accept solicited manuscripts. Certainly the popularity of marine reptiles is increasing, especially on the back of IMAX Sea Monsters movie.

I have spoken to one toy distributor about marine reptiles

1. They say they don't sell well.
2. They are awkward to produce (long-necked ones anyway).

While the second may be true, I have dificulty believing the first point. the Carnegie Kronoaurus is one of the best selling replicas on Amazon, for example. Imagine if they produced a GOOD one! ;D

I have argued that a good mass-produced Liopleurodon, by any of the big complanies, would sell like hot cakes.

[EmperorDinobot]

They aren't as exciting as dinosaurs...

Especially feathered dinosaurs

[piltdown]

I'm guessing the Safari Kronosaur is based on Plastersaurus harvardicus? ;D

It's sad though that the number of marine reptiles is actually decreasing The Safari mosasaur hasn't been replaced, and Schleich exterminated all of its marine reptiles, though they were the glory of its Replica Saurus line (Schleich has never been able to produce a respectable tyrannosaurus after all this time). Here's hoping that the Wild Republic "Sea Monsters" line is a respectable attempt--some of their dinosaurs were good, but I still cringe at its feathered raptor

[Dinotoyforum]

Feb 6, 2008 21:45:34 GMT piltdown said:

I'm guessing the Safari Kronosaur is based on Plastersaurus harvardicus? ;D

I think so. It's about time they created a new one. Well, they know where I am of they need advice

[tsums]

i would really like to see a really detailed NOTHOSAUR figure..it could be possible...

[Dinotoyforum]

Oh - I DREAM of a good nothosaur toy! Lets form a petition

[tomhet]

Feb 6, 2008 12:09:25 GMT Dinotoyforum said:

1. They say they don't sell well.

No wonder many companies fail to be succesful, they don't even know their business.

The WwD Liopleurodon and the Ophthalmosaurus are two of the most sought after replicas.

The now defunct Schleich Shonisaurus just sold for an indecent $70 something.

The Marx Kronosaurus must be one of the most succesful sculpts ever.

The Kaiyodo Tylosaurus and Plesiosaurus are almost impossible to find nowadays.

Even the oddly shaped Carnegie Kronosaurus is moderately succesful.

The list goes on and on. So, what the hell is he talking about?! They just need to produce decent sculpts. Besides, if the neck of the plesiosauria is hard to sculpt, why have the sauropoda prospered among toy makers?

A few months ago I wrote a petition of sorts to Safari, I hope they read it.

[Dinotoyforum]

Unfortunately, dinosaur collectors probably represent a tiny fraction of the toy comanies customer base. I think your average museum visitor or kid, wants a T.rex, or any one of the 'typical' 'popular' dinosaurs.

Pliosaurs however - they ARE popular these days! More I say! more!

[brad]

If we are not satisfied with the existing toy companies, how hard would it be to start my own "indie" dinosaur company? It doesn't have to compete with the major companies for museum gift shop displays, just distribute the figures through mail order. What work is involved in going from having an idea for a toy, to actually having that toy? How few of each model could I sell without losing thousands of dollars?

Imagine if in the future, every home had one of those 3D printers seen in JP3? Amatuer paleoartists could create 3D digital models of prehistoric animals, upload them to this forum, and anyone could download the data to produce a plastic Rhomaleosaurus replica at home. Public demand would be obsolete.

[sbell]

May 13, 2008 17:12:30 GMT brad said:

If we are not satisfied with the existing toy companies, how hard would it be to start my own "indie" dinosaur company? It doesn't have to compete with the major companies for museum gift shop displays, just distribute the figures through mail order. What work is involved in going from having an idea for a toy, to actually having that toy? How few of each model could I sell without losing thousands of dollars?

Imagine if in the future, every home had one of those 3D printers seen in JP3? Amatuer paleoartists could create 3D digital models of prehistoric animals, upload them to this forum, and anyone could download the data to produce a plastic Rhomaleosaurus replica at home. Public demand would be obsolete.

I spoke to a fellow that owns a shop in Drumheller, who actually had an Albertosaurus commissioned and produced.



I believe the run of that one figure--roughly the size of your average Carnegie or Papo, ran him $50000 to $100000--he needed to mortgage against his house. The reason is two-fold--one, getting the sculpt right (it is a balanced biped; I don't have one so I don't know if it works); and two, the material (in this case, a type of PVC or rubber). The first can be controlled, the second is fixed by the production cost--it doesn't matter what you are producing, you pay by volume of material (and with petroleum prices rising, stuff like PVC and most plastics will also rise). Nonetheless, it is a very expensive process, and volume is probably the only way around it.

The use of 3D rendering printers is intriguing, but I think that technology is still too far off--"all" it would require is to sculpt the figure as a 3D model, then high precision scan it; from there, it can be printed in a renderer. This could be a possibility for producing figures on a small scale, since those 'printers' are expensive to run as well. But just think--if people did have access to those printers (and there are people trying to make that happen) then people could even customize colourings.