Ultrasaurus (Definitely Dinosaurs by Playskool)

Review and photographs by dinoguy2, edited by Suspsy. 

This toy is a monster. Is this the biggest dinosaur toy ever made? Probably not, but it’s definitely the biggest one I ever had. I still remember the first time I learned this existed. I saw the massive box, which had to be three feet long, on the bottom shelf of my local toy store, sometime back in 1988. Unlike the typical Definitely Dinosaurs packaging, there was no window box to see what was inside, just a full color illustration of a massive orange Ultrasaurus, complete with what looked like a caveman house on its back. I can’t remember if I got it for my birthday or Christmas that year, but either way, I was flabbergasted when I actually got it. And let’s be clear about this: That three-foot box was basically the TARDIS. Playskool had finally solved the problem of how to fit an erect-necked sauropod into a small box: two swivel joints along the neck that could cause it to curve downward. Once you straighten those and fold down the legs, this dinosaur is easily three feet long AND three feet tall! And it weighs a ton. And the legs are big and sturdy enough that even now, over 20 years later, my five year old can still ride on it without any problem. Yes, this is a dinosaur toy big enough for a kid to sit on and ride. It might be the best dinosaur toy ever.

Obviously, based on my above description, the toy is very sturdy. It’s made entirely of strong but relatively soft plastic, except for the feet, which are shell-like frames made of harder plastic. In addition to the two swivel joints on the neck, which allow for loads of poseability if you don’t mine counter-shaded color mismatches, the legs each have two points of articulation at the hips/shoulders and feet. The tail also rotates. The color is basic, with dark orange plastic under a dark red-orange paint job. In terms of skin texture, it’s pretty similar to the Playskool Apatosaurus, with lots of chunky, interesting wrinkles across the body, neck, and limbs.

Ultrasaurus came with a Cavester that seems to be unique – as far as I can tell, he was never repainted or re-released. His name is Grel, and he wears a dark blue fur toga that goes very well with his incredible, neatly trimmed hipster beard. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my Grel figure in order to take photos with him. Instead of a saddle, the Ultrasaurus came with a two-story structure that attached via peg to the back. You could easily fit five Cavesters in there, like a giant double-decker bus, complete with a seat on the front for the driver.

This is probably the only Ultrasaurus toy ever made. It was released either at the end of 1987 or early 1988, a time between when Jim Jenson’s dubious mega-sauropod species were seeing lots of publicity via children’s books and newspaper articles, but before the controversies began. First, the discovery that the name “Ultrasaurus” was already taken, necessitating a name change to Ultrasauros, and then later the realization that the specimen the genus was based on was a chimera, a combination of Supersaurus and Brachiosaurus bones. Still, one paleontology-related image that will always stick with me is that of Jensen standing next to his enormous set of Ultrasaurus leg bones (which I now know to have been a sculpture, rather than real fossils), and the joy at having a gigantic toy version of the largest dinosaur (we thought) that ever lived in my collection.