Dinosaur Playsets

[Hepcat]

I've been working on my dino collection of late. Here are my Lido/Nabisco dinos. At the top are all 10 of the Fritos premiums from the late '60s. In the middle are all 8 of the Prehistoric Beasts given away in Rice Honeys and Wheat Honeys around 1960. The marbled green ones at the bottom are all 10 of the dino premiums given away in those cereals in the late '50s. The box at the bottom is the original mailing box for the green dinos.

My large toothy Ajax collection, all 6. These dinos are scientifically ridiculous but megacool to Dinoboomers back when dinosaurs weren't just prehistoric animals... they were MONSTERS by god!

Oh man! Having complete sets of all those dinos including premium giveaways plus the shipping box is just too awesome!

[horrorhunter]

Oh man! Having complete sets of all those dinos including premium giveaways plus the shipping box is just too awesome!

Thanks, Hep.

I remember buying those large hollow Ajax dinos in dime stores (especially Lays) back in the early/mid '60s for 10 cents each. I still have some of my original ones but the ravages of the Dinokid wars took their toll and I had to replace them with nice examples off fleaBay. A few years ago those things had almost no collector value, but now they seem to sell regularly for $5-$10 each, or more, for nice examples. The Stegosaurus in particular is very hard to find undamaged. Some of those backplates are almost always broken off. The Tyrannosaurus also seems a bit harder to find in nice condition. Those things are iconic to Dinoboomers. They were repopped a few years ago by Tootsietoy, and it's very difficult, sometimes impossible, to tell the difference between the original Ajax issues and the Tootsietoy reissues. Still, people pursue them and treat them about the same. As far as I know they haven't been repopped since the '90s. I have no idea where the molds are now, probably doorstops in Mexico.

Collectors seem to be seriously on the hunt for the Lido Nabisco dinos. A seller on eBay has been selling complete sets for around $70-$80. I had all of the Fritos premiums from my youth but I had to hunt down the original 1950s issues and the Prehistoric Beasts. The Beasts seem to be the most scarce and, I think, the coolest. But, I do love the marbling on the original green dinos. It reminds me of the marbling on premium Marx dinos. They strike me as little gems, sort of like monster flicker rings. I already had the green Stego from a previous fleaBay deal, and I picked up the other 9 and the shipping box in an auction listing them as Sinclair dinos. I wrote to the seller and asked why they thought they were from Sinclair, and was told the person they were selling them for told them that. I knew what they were and ended up getting them for $28. You just have to know about what you're hunting and be patient. It also helps to search related categories for wrongly identified items. Since I also collect Sinclair stuff I fell on that listing by accident.

[Sean]

This thread is for dinosaur playsets or pieces, or pretty much anything having to do with dinosaur toys. I'll start us off with one of my favorite dino playsets.

Marx Prehistoric Mountain Playset #3414 (1975)













In the '70s Marx "went vertical" with three of their playsets: Comanche Pass (western), Navarone Mountain (war), and One Million B.C. (dinosaur, 1974). This playset came out in 1975 to replace the One Million B.C. set with identical contents but a different box (sorry, no Raquel Welch figure in the One Million B.C. set). Shown above is the playset, instruction sheet, color booklet, postcard to be returned with customer info/evaluation, and photo box. The One Million B.C. box was drawn in bold simplistic lines as most of the older Marx playset boxes were.

#3414 contents:
29 Prehistoric Animals: 1 PL-750 Medium Mold Group(6), 1 PL-755 Small Mold Group(7), 1 PL-977 Revised Mold Group( 8 ), 1 PL-1083 Second Series Mold Group( 8 ), all in the shiny "Heritage" type plastic (lead paint free). (note: most collectors prefer the older lead paint based plastic for the individuality and variety it gave to the dinosaurs....and it had "that" smell that assailed your olfactory sense and took you back to when you were a kid)
18 Cavemen in 6 poses
5 Piece Mountain including Land Bridge and Walking Bridge
5 Metal Screws & Nuts for Mountain Assembly
4 Palm Trees with 7 Fronds & 4 Ferns with 4 Bases
Playmat
Instruction Sheet for Mountain Assembly
Color Booklet
Postcard for customer info/evaluation
Photo Box (The box is 26" tall. The ones that survived usually have extensive damage.)

I had something very similar as a kid.  I loved it.

[Hepcat]

I remember buying those large hollow Ajax dinos in dime stores (especially Lays) back in the early/mid '60s for 10 cents each.

Lays was a dime store like Woolworth or Kresge in your neck of the woods?

...I picked up the other 9 and the shipping box in an auction listing them as Sinclair dinos. I wrote to the seller and asked why they thought they were from Sinclair, and was told the person they were selling them for told them that. I knew what they were and ended up getting them for $28. You just have to know about what you're hunting and be patient. It also helps to search related categories for wrongly identified items. Since I also collect Sinclair stuff I fell on that listing by accident.

Oh man, great score! I love premium giveaways of all kinds, but ones that came in chip bags get the edge over service station giveaways.

[Wich2]

The Lido/Nabiscos are one of my most beloved little toys from kidhood!

I looked forward to the Fritos multi-packs for a long time, till I had several that I wanted. Still have the well-playworn originals, my fave probably being the pinkish-gray marbled Allosaurus.

-Craig

[horrorhunter]

Lays was a dime store like Woolworth or Kresge in your neck of the woods?

Oh man, great score! I love premium giveaways of all kinds, but ones that came in chip bags get the edge over service station giveaways.

Yes, we had a Lays dime store on the main street in Cleveland, TN for several years. A block down there was a Woolworth. And Kresge and Coles drugstore was at the Village shopping center (along with Hobby Mart & Camera Center which had 8mm films and movie posters). I was at those stores as much as possible buying toy monsters and dinos from about age 6 (1965). Then, a little later it was G.I.Joes, Captain Action, model cars and tanks, and Hot Wheels. I sold most of that later stuff over the years and I'm back to collecting monsters and dinos. The wheel turns 'round...

[horrorhunter]

Don Glut has a cool dinosaur collecting site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NUZd8I52Iv4

http://www.donglutsdinosaurs.com/

[horrorhunter]

Got these off of Amazon recently. They are three of the new Safari "Toobs", Prehistoric Sealife, Prehistoric Crocodiles, and Prehistoric Sharks.



Safari releases nice figures. These are scientifically accurate (though not to scale) and have the names printed on the animals' stomachs. They're made of rather hard rubber, but still pliable. Each Toob has ten figures. I really like these. Very cool and colorful, and prehistoric which makes them exotic and mysterious, and desirable for us dino lovers. 

[horrorhunter]

This is a fun little custom playset a fellow dino collector created along with 17 other similar ones. It's called "Cave Wars", and this is #10/18.



CONTENTS:

MPC Cave Repop

3 Moss Covered Boulders

4 pieces of foliage

15 Prehistoric Animals
(Marx Kronosaurus Repop)
(Marx Wooly Mammoth Repop)
(Marx Allosaurus Repop)
(Marx Iguanodon Repop)
(Marx Struthiomimus Repop)
(MPC Dimetrodon, Plateosaurus, Pteranodon)
(Sinclair Trachodon & Stegosaurus Repops by DFC)
(5 Original 1960s Timmee Dinos: Brontosaurus, Dimetrodon, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, and lizard-like dino on the rock)

20 Marx Cavemen Repops in all 6 poses (Candy Red, Green, and Blue)

3 Bags

Two Sided Instruction Sheet

Box (It was also the shipping box with the box art on the inside. You flip it inside out and reassemble it when you receive it.)

This was a pretty good idea to sell some extra pieces.. use them in a limited run of custom playsets. These are very reasonably priced on eBay: $37 including shipping. One thing that made it attractive to me was that no one had done this before and I wanted one to add to my dino collection because it harkens back to classic Dinokid playsets by Marx and MPC. Them being numbered ties them into a theme which is cool. The others are very similar to this one. The mix of dinos and cavemen vary a bit. I procrastinated about buying #1 and someone beat me to it, so I picked the mix I liked best of the others and ordered this #10. Good job, Paul, and I'm looking forward to getting one of those Turok sets you plan to do next. As long as there are us Dinokids these dino playsets will live on! 

[Hepcat]

This is a fun little custom playset a fellow dino collector created along with 17 other similar ones. It's called "Cave Wars", and this is #10/18.

This was a pretty good idea to sell some extra pieces.. use them in a limited run of custom playsets.... because it harkens back to classic Dinokid playsets by Marx and MPC. Them being numbered ties them into a theme which is cool. The others are very similar to this one.

Oh yeah! Boss cool!

[horrorhunter]

I decided to finally dust my dino shelf so I thought to take the opportunity to photograph some of the shelf dwellers.

These are some of my Carnegie Safari prehistoric animals. The big Spinosaurus in the middle is by Papo. In the background are two carded sets by MPC and Marx, a Marx Prehistoric Pinball bagatelle game, and a tall drinking cup souvenir from Dinosaur World in Plant City, Florida where I bought most of the Carnegies.





These pics are busy. Be sure to click the pic to expand it so as to better make out the dino chaos.

[the_horror_man]

It's Dino Mania. In the pics, the top right corner. Isn't that an old brachiosaurus figure from like 1988?

thm

[horrorhunter]

It's Dino Mania. In the pics, the top right corner. Isn't that an old brachiosaurus figure from like 1988?

thm

Yep, except it's '89 according to this site: http://dinosaurcollectorsitea.com/carnegieSafariB.html

Darned close, though.

The big sauropods are in the back since they are so huge. That brachi weighs like 3 lbs! A caveman could use him for a club! 

[the_horror_man]

Yep, except it's '89 according to this site: http://dinosaurcollectorsitea.com/carnegieSafariB.html

Darned close, though.

The big sauropods are in the back since they are so huge. That brachi weighs like 3 lbs! A caveman could use him for a club! 

It is a really nice dino figure. So is the one in front of it.

thm

[horrorhunter]

It is a really nice dino figure. So is the one in front of it.

thm

The one immediately in front of the Brachi is the Mamenchisaurus (very long neck sticking off the table). The other more visible sauropod is a Carnegie Diplodocus. Carnegie Safaris are cool looking beasts, and mostly scientifically accurate, but Papo and maybe a couple of other companies seem to be the measuring stick now. I really like the newer, scientifically accurate, prehistoric figures, but my heart lies with Marx, MPC, and other '60s & '70s dinos and especially dino playsets. When you grow up with them they become part of you.