Dinosaur Playsets

[jimm]

[horrorhunter]

How do these Dino toys entice women to disrobe? Inquiring minds want to know...

Don Glut wrote and directed Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996), and a few other low budget flicks, back in the '90s and 2000s involving an abundance of female skin. When he shot those pics of his collection I guess he wanted to carry on the tradition of dinos and babes. Thanks, Don. 

[Hepcat]

How do these Dino toys entice women to disrobe? Inquiring minds want to know....

Dinos are just so cool that they prompt women to disrobe, that's all.

[bigbud]

Finally have a Marx Prehistoric Set just about completed! This is a Series 1000 #3390 set which is one of the more common Marx dino playsets.  Thanks go to Horrorhunter for helping me track down info on what the set originally contained. I'm needing afew tan cavemen and acouple palm trees, but all the correct dinos are there and the colorful vacuum formed thin plastic terrain  .....

[horrorhunter]

Great score, Bud. Nice box and vacu-form terrain piece. Those brick-red cavemen are hard to find, the tan ones are a more common complimentary set to the cream ones. The #3390 is the cornerstone of any Marx dino collection.

By your pics here are your extra pieces that weren't originally included in the #3390:

Smilodon
Struthiomimus
Moschops
Styracosaurus
Cream Caveman (duplicate "Firestarter")

Here are the pieces you yet need:

Booklet P-56-1
Large Double Palm Tree w/2 fronds (to replace the broken one)
Dead Tree
Large & Small Stumps
3-leaf Fern w/Base
Cream Caveman w/Rock Over Head
Brick-Red Caveman w/Spear
Brick-Red Caveman w/Rock Over head
Green Plateosaurus (set had 2 originally)
Green Dimetrodon (set had 2 originally)
Gray Plateosaurus (set had 2 originally)
Gray Dimetrodon (set had 2 originally)

Here are pics of mine with the original parts to help you compare and tell more about what you need.

[Hepcat]

The #3390 is the cornerstone of any Marx dino collection.

Be a cornerstone of any monster kid collection!

[horrorhunter]

Picked up this box of Starlux dinos off eBay a few days ago.



These are painted hard plastic and come from France. They were made from the '60s up through the '90s. I didn't have any Starlux in my collection before this because they usually are only offered one at a time and are a little pricey. Since I didn't have them growing up I never really went after any until I saw this boxed set. It's the first packaged Starlux dinos I ever saw. They were obtained very reasonably because it was an auction and I got lucky. I'm still a Marx/MPC guy at heart though.

[Hepcat]

Nice paint job on those Starlux dinos!

[ramsey37]

I like that they included an icthyosaur in the set, you don't see many toy versions of that one.
George

[horrorhunter]

Nice paint job on those Starlux dinos!

Yeah, they have a retro style that appeals to the Monsterkid (Dinokid) in many of us. I don't think I'll try to collect Starlux because they seem to be a bit expensive compared to Marx and MPC, but if I run across the odd auction for a lot of them I may take a shot. Never had 'em as a kid so they don't pack the same nostalgic punch that the Marx/MPC/Ajax/Lidos do. And, they don't have the scientifically accurate appeal of Carnegie Safari, Papo, or even Invicta.

Still, it's nice to have them represented in my collection, especially in the cool packaging (that seems to be a bit scarce).

[horrorhunter]

Marx Prehistoric Mountain siting on evilBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/351564578555?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT



At 300 bucks it isn't a bad deal. The 5 piece mountain terrain is nice, and undamaged examples of the 5-pc terrain set seem to sell for around $150-$200. It's only missing a couple of common dinos (there's even a red MPC Ceratogaulos thrown in), 7 common cavemen, 1 palm tree with frond(s), 1 other palm frond, 1 fern base, instruction sheet, and color booklet. The box is little more than trash and really has little if any value in that condition. If I were selling that set in person I would throw in the box for free. The playmat is rough, but this is the condition they usually show up in. I would only advocate cutting up a collectible box in an extreme situation since packaging is so important and valuable. But, this situation is pretty extreme. If it were mine I would cut up that crappy box to salvage whatever graphics I could and just store them stacked on a shelf. That box is certainly not displayable, and I wouldn't want to use it to store the pieces either. Nice boxes and paperwork are the hardest things to find with these sets. Maybe another incomplete example might net a decent box in future. It seems to cost $500-$600 or more to complete a nice example of one of these mountain sets currently. But, the sooner you get started the less you spend. Older high demand collectibles continue to rise in price, sometimes dramatically. These mountain sets have steadily gone up over the past few years due to supply and demand.

In order to get a complete playset a collector has to buy one or more incomplete examples and finish it out with the correct bits and pieces. If anyone is serious about this it pays to amass a stash of extra playset parts, and, of course, know what the set contained initially. The stash saves a lot of trouble and shipping costs having to buy things as you need them. And, you can always sell the extra pieces after you've finished your playsets. Since it takes years to finish several playsets, the extra pieces you've accumulated will probably bring a profit if listed correctly on eBay because this stuff seems to outpace inflation consistently.

Looks like this one sold for $300.00.

There is a SEALED one on eBay currently. I'm curious to see what it sells for since a complete opened one with a nice box should sell in the $500.00-$600.00 range. I've never seen a sealed Marx Prehistoric Mountain Set before. I would definitely throw in a bid or two if I didn't already have a nice example. Besides, if I bought a sealed one I couldn't resist the urge to open it, so I would end up with what I already have (with a little better box). 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311532605216?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT



Kind of hard to tell for sure if it's factory sealed (with BIG staples) on both ends by those pictures. I also see tape which would be redundant if it were stapled. Well, at least the box is pretty nice. 

[jimm]

Very nice

[Hepcat]

Besides, if I bought a sealed one I couldn't resist the urge to open it, so I would end up with what I already have (with a little better box). 

I'm with you. I'd find it very tough to leave a Marx playset unopened, because all the individual pieces are so much cooler than the box. I have no problem leaving a model kit sealed though, quite simply because the box art itself is much cooler in appearance than are the scattered individual parts

Kind of hard to tell for sure if it's factory sealed (with BIG staples) on both ends by those pictures. I also see tape which would be redundant if it were stapled. Well, at least the box is pretty nice. 

Hmmmmm, tape, eh? Now why would that be necessary if the staples had never been removed and the box opened? I wonder....

[horrorhunter]

I'm with you. I'd find it very tough to leave a Marx playset unopened, because all the individual pieces are so much cooler than the box. I have no problem leaving a model kit sealed though, quite simply because the box art itself is much cooler in appearance than are the scattered individual parts

Hmmmmm, tape, eh? Now why would that be necessary if the staples had never been removed and the box opened? I wonder....

The only way I would leave a playset sealed is if it were in a nice displayable window box, which would be the ideal way to have a sealed set. Now if I were rich (which certainly isn't the case) I might leave a regular boxed playset sealed if I already had that set opened and complete in a nice box. But, it would still be difficult to fight the urge to open it just to see if there was a variation of pieces included.

I agree about leaving original model kits sealed. Enjoy the nice box art, and knowing you have a piece of sealed history, and buy a repro kit to open and build.

[Hepcat]

The #3390 is the cornerstone of any Marx dino collection.

Admittedly I might be tempted to keep a M.I.B. #3390 sealed simply because the box veritably screams late fifties monster kid goodness.

Loose though I'd be tempted to combine it with Comanche Pass in a thrilling diorama. Cowboys and Indians versus prehistoric beasts! Talk about wild! Or how about the Ben Hur playset with the Marx dinos? Imagine an ultra-disciplined unit of Roman soldiers facing down a horde of savage bloodthirsty prehistoric beasts! Wow! Now that would be kid grade entertainment.