Dinosaur Playsets

[Mord]

 That's one hell of an impressive mega playset!!! Congrats, buddy.

[Hepcat]

This is my Rulers Of The Earth Mountain Set (Superior, 1987). It's probably the most desirable of the After-Marx Playsets.

The colours of the prehistoric animals and terrain pieces are even more fabulous than the ones Marx used!



I believe that back in the 1990s a number of Marx playsets were repopped and reissued in boxes that very closely resembled the originals. There was a store that briefly dealt in these on the other side of town around the turn of the century. Do you know anything about these reissues? Were any of the dinosaur sets among the reissues?

[horrorhunter]

I believe that a number of Marx playsets were repopped and reissued in boxes that very closely resembled the originals backin the 1990s. There was a store that briefly dealt in these on the other side of town around the turn of the century. Do you know anything about these reissues? Were any of the dinosaur sets among the reissues?

I remember seeing ads for two dino sets in the late '90s that I bought. One is the Flintstones Ruby Edition, and the other is the Jurassic Village Isle Of Terror set from 1996 by Marx of Miami (ReMarx). Here's a link to one for sale: http://www.motorcycle-memories.com/store/New-In-The-Box-Marx-Isle-Of-Terror-Jurassic-Village-Playset-One-Of-The-Last-Set_221604731969.html ($250 is a high price for this set but you seldom ever see them for sale. I don't think many were made. Also, the box is huge and finding the set complete in a nice box could be a challenge. I believe it sold for around $70-$80 originally)

I ordered my Jurassic Village set from an ad in Toy Shop so mine is complete with a nice box. This set is a conglomeration of recast Marx and MPC parts made to capitalize on the popularity of Jurassic Park. I'll be posting both the Flintstones Ruby Edition set and the Jurassic Village set at some point in this thread. I still have quite a few dino sets and items to post so I'm not sure when I'll get around to these two After-Marx sets.

There were other Marx recast sets made in the '90s but I don't know much about them. There was a pirate set and a Battleground (War) set that I remember. I think there was also a knight's castle set and probably a western set too. I only paid attention to dinosaur and monster related items so the others went under my radar.

[horrorhunter]

The colours of the prehistoric animals and terrain pieces are even more fabulous than the ones Marx used!

The Superior recasts of the original Marx dinos are very desirable and much more scarce than the average original Marx dinos. Superior dinos were made in green, brown, and gray, and each was swirled with different patterns so each is unique. Sellers who know about Superior dinos ask much more for them than the common colored original Marx dinos. Of course, many sellers are ignorant of the difference and think Superior dinos are just another color of Marx.

Superior Dinosaurs (Large Mold Group & Medium Mold Group):

[Hepcat]

The Superior recasts appear to be of a very high quality? Is this true?

And how did Superior acquire the right to recast Marx dino playsets? Did Superior buy all the molds and rights to Marx' entire line of plastic playsets?

[horrorhunter]

The Superior recasts appear to be of a very high quality? Is this true?

And how did Superior acquire the right to recast Marx dino playsets? Did Superior buy all the molds and rights to Marx' entire line of plastic playsets?

Superior recasts are special because of the swirled colors in the plastic, and Superior did use good quality plastic as well. The Marx molds were showing wear by 1987 so there are some imperfections in the Superior dinos that the original Marx dinos didn't have, but those imperfections are minor and hardly affect the look of the dinosaurs.

Regarding rights it seems that none were needed. Since Marx went out of business in 1979 it was like the wild west with After-Marx dino production. Whoever got the molds just started making playsets, and those molds have changed hands several times. Marx Of Miami (ReMarx) even used the Marx name and logo. Maybe rights were being sold with the molds but I never read anything about that. It was probably more of a case that there was nobody left willing or able to file suit. Many of the old companies' product is pretty much up for grabs it would seem. Dennis Druktenis of Scary Monsters has been reprinting Charlton comics and monster mags for years. If someone wanted to and could get the molds and set up the operation they could probably remarket any of the old MPC (Multiple) toys. If anyone knows more about this please post.

[jimm]

How's the scale on these? Only Point of reference I noticed was the young lady a page or so back maybe put some regular mpc monsters in there for reference?

[horrorhunter]

How's the scale on these? Only Point of reference I noticed was the young lady a page or so back maybe put some regular mpc monsters in there for reference?

Here ya go, jimm. There's a ruler in this pic of the Flintstones Hunting Party. The three large dinos in that set are much larger than regular Marx dinos, but the other ones in the pic are normal size.


And here's a pic of the custom MPC set I made with the MPC Monsters alongside the MPC dinos.


MPC dinos are roughly about the size of Marx dinos, but most are a bit more slender. The Marx Sleek T-Rex, Pot-Bellied T-Rex, Brontosaurus, and Kronosaurus are a little larger than their MPC brethren.. maybe an inch to an inch and a half longer, and more bulky.

[jimm]

Gotcha thanks

[Hepcat]

MPC dinos are roughly about the size of Marx dinos, but most are a bit more slender. The Marx Sleek T-Rex, Pot-Bellied T-Rex, Brontosaurus, and Kronosaurus are a little larger than their MPC brethren.. maybe an inch to an inch and a half longer, and more bulky.

No problem! Animals in nature aren't all the same size either. The MPC dinos are clearly just younger, smaller specimens.

[horrorhunter]

This is my Prehistoric Times Giant Playset #1400 (Marx, 1963). Not many collectors have heard of this one as it's quite scarce. The origin of this set is mysterious, but it is theorized that Marx was winding down Prehistoric Playset production and wanted to use accumulated inventory so they threw the prehistoric sink at this one. It features the four terrain pieces from the squarebox sets and the new 3 piece cave/rock arch/pond from the #3398. It also includes more dinos than any other Marx set- 42! Six of those are two sets of the Large Mold Group which was taken out of production around 1958. It's also the only Marx dinosaur set with cardboard terrain/accessories. Maybe Marx was experimenting toward the end of that production period. In any event there wouldn't be another Marx prehistoric playset until 1971 with the revised #3398 and Heritage plastic dinosaurs.

Box & Booklet:














Extra Cardboard Terrain/Accessories:


CONTENTS:

1 Cave/Rock Arch/Pond Terrain Set w/4 Clips (Brown Hard Plastic w/Black Marbling)

1 Cave/Lake/2 Large Rocks Terrain Set (4 Pieces Total in Brown Marbled Hard Plastic)

1 Large Lake (Blue Cardboard)

4 18" River Sections (Blue Cardboard)

2 Curved River Sections (Blue Cardboard)

4 18" Stream Sections (Blue Cardboard)

3 Curved Stream Sections (Blue Cardboard)

3 Tar Pits (Black Cardboard)

2 Large Mold Groups (PL-749) (6 Dinos, 3 in Metallic Silver, 3 in Various Colors)

1 Medium Mold Group (PL-750) (6 Dinos in Various Colors)

2 Small Mold Groups (PL-755-7) (14 Dinos in Various Colors)

1 Revised Mold Group (PL-977) (8 Dinos in Various Colors)

1 Second Series Mold Group (PL-1083) (8 Dinos/Prehistoric Mammals in Various Colors)

42 Total Dinos/Prehistoric Mammals

2 Sets of 6 Cavemen (12 Cavemen Total in Various Colors)

1 Large Campfire (Brown Hard Plastic)

2 Rafts (Brown & Black Cardboard)

1 Footbridge (Brown & Black Cardboard)

2 Sets of 4 Palm Trees & 4 Ferns (8 Total Palm Trees & Ferns in Various Colors)

1 Dead Tree & 2 Stumps (Gray)

4 Cacti (2 Large & 2 Small in Green Soft Plastic)

Booklet (Enlarged Edition) (P-1311)

Marx also did something else significant with this new Giant Playset- they included all mold groups of dinos but the colors were all mixed up. Marx had done this very sparingly with the Revised Mold Group, and with the Large Mold Group to include premium color dinos, but this set appears to be a catch-all for strange and heretofore unavailable colors (at least in playsets). In my set above you can see in the bottom right of the setup a Moschops and Styracosaurus in the very rare Metallic Green color which had previously only been available on blister cards for the Second Series Mold Group animals. Also there are three Tan dinos from the Medium Mold Group which had only been available in the desirable #3398 Time Tunnel set from 1961. There are also several Brown dinos and Gray Marbled Dinos, and a couple in a strange shade of Bluish Gray. One of the distinctive features about the #1400 is that one of the Large Mold Groups is always in Metallic Silver. This is the only Marx dinosaur set with more than one premium color dinosaur.. and this one has several, including an entire mold group!

The Prehistoric Times Giant Playset #1400 is definitely a strange conglomeration of dino playset parts, and the only one to feature Caveman Marxie on the box. The box shows a Marx Kronosaurus attacking a Marx Brontosaurus and drawing blood! Because of the box and large lake piece this set is sometimes called "the lake set". With all of the river and stream sections you could fill up a small room with a toy dinosaur diorama, if you wish. And, it all fits in the box. A weird and wonderful set with an enigmatic backstory.


Okay, now for the truth. This is actually a custom set I put together from all the best extra original Marx pieces that I had accumulated over the years of dinoing. I made up the background for the set, it's all fictitious. I drew the box and the cardboard pieces and put the set together. It's fun to create a custom background for a custom set, as long as you come clean at the end. 

[Hepcat]

This is my Prehistoric Times Giant Playset #1400 (Marx, 1963).... It features the four terrain pieces from the squarebox sets....

2 Curved River Sections (Blue Cardboard)

3 Curved Stream Sections (Blue Cardboard)

2 Sets of 6 Cavemen (12 Cavemen Total in Various Colors)

This is actually a custom set I put together from all the best extra original Marx pieces that I had accumulated over the years of dinoing. I made up the background for the set.... I drew the box and the cardboard pieces and put the set together.

I don't understand. I would have thought you'd have wanted to include Raquel Welch, Victoria Vetri and Imogen Hassall with their curved terrain features in your set.

[horrorhunter]

I don't understand. I would have thought you'd have wanted to include Raquel Welch, Victoria Vetri and Imogen Hassall with their curved terrain features in your set.

That would be great to put their curves and sets in my set, but it's quite beyond my scope. Finding accurately sculpted 30mm plastic figures of those prehistoric Hammer Hotties would be heavenly. 

[horrorhunter]

Here's another After-Marx dino playset. This is my Land Of The Dinosaurs Prehistoric Playset #4700 (Toy Street, 1992).









CONTENTS:

3 Piece Marx Recast Terrain w/4 Clips (Cave/Rock Arch/Pond in Brown Soft Plastic)

1 Marx Recast Large Mold Group (3 Dinos in Green)

1 Marx Recast Medium Mold Group (6 Dinos in Light Blue)

2 MPC Recast Small Mold Group (8 Dinos in Brown & Light Brown)

17 Dinosaurs Total

2 Sets of 6 Marx Recast Cavemen (12 Cavemen Total in Off White)

8 Recast MPC Palm Trees (Green Soft Plastic)

1 Playmat (25" X 19")

1 2-Sided Instruction Sheet

Instruction Sheet (Front):


Back:


Toy Street only made this one dinosaur playset that I know of. They also made other genre playsets in the early '90s. The plastic is inferior to Marx plastic, and the dinosaurs are harder and more brittle. There is also a large amount of excess plastic at the mold seems. This is a set in the vein of the Marx #3398 with a recast of the same terrain pieces. The Marx Small Mold was gone by this time so Toy Street used the MPC Small Mold and included 2 sets of them, so you get the strange combination of 1 Marx Pteranodon and 2 MPC Pteranodons. The set also includes MPC palm trees instead of the better Marx palm trees. This set is inferior to original Marx sets, but is sought after by collectors now as one of the After-Marx sets.

I bought this one at Toys R Us in 1993 for $9.99. I'm glad I bought this new because these things are tough to find now complete and in nice condition. They show up on eBay every few months but the boxes are usually damaged and the contents are usually off with missing pieces and extra pieces that never came with the set (as is the case with nearly every dinosaur playset offered for sale nowadays). Even so they still sell for much more than when new. I wish I had bought a dozen of these back in '93 and just stored them away. A still sealed example would probably sell for $75-$100. A nice complete one would probably sell for $50-$75. These prices are only estimates of course, and they could go much higher to the few people willing to pay the most. The incomplete damaged ones I've seen sell at eBay auction have sold for $25 or more. You never know about the great chaos that is evilBay auctions.

[Hepcat]

Here's another After-Marx dino playset. This is my Land Of The Dinosaurs Prehistoric Playset #4700 (Toy Street, 1992).

The plastic is inferior to Marx plastic, and the dinosaurs are harder and more brittle. There is also a large amount of excess plastic at the mold seams.... This set is inferior to original Marx sets....

The colours are good though!

...is sought after by collectors now as one of the After-Marx sets.

Interesting that a playset as recent as 1992 is now prized by collectors! Comics, cards and model kits from the nineties that are prized by collectors are very few and far between.