Mr. Dinosaur (Promotional Partners Worldwide or PPW)

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Review and photos by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy

If you are unfamiliar with the world of Peppa Pig, I can only assume you don’t know a child who is ten or younger. It is a cartoon television program that focuses on the eponymous anthropomorphic pig and her family. Peppa’s younger brother, George, is rarely seen without his favorite toy, Mr. Dinosaur. The real life emulation of George’s fictional toy is the subject of our review today.

I’m a big fan of fictional products made real. It’s a neat way of making the media we love that much more real. In the case of Mr. Dinosaur, this is not an easy task. Given the simplistic the artwork of the show, recreating an actual toy that looks exactly like the toy in the cartoon would be next to impossible. The artwork of the cartoon has a flat, two dimensional look, that is difficult to emulate in manufacturing a three dimensional object. For example, Mr. Dinosaur’s eyes are generally both visible even though his head is usually shown from the side (This is a style of drawing cartoonish characters that can be seen everywhere from Garfield to Family Guy.). If the toy designers were to put both Mr. Dinosaur’s eyes on one side of his head, it would likely look very strange, so one eye has been sewn on each side of the head. Additionally, the cartoon Mr. Dinosaur’s arms and legs are represented by stick figure lines, but the toy has more thick, defined arms and legs, presumably because that makes the toy better for playing with.

There doesn’t seem to be any canon as to what species Mr. Dinosaur is. Clearly he is modeled after the old depiction of theropods in an upright stance. Considering the popularity of Tyrannosaurus rex in pop culture, I think it’s safe to assume that this is the most likely species for Mr. Dinosaur. Three-fingered depictions of T. rex have been a pop culture mainstay since Fantasia, and considering the outdated look of the figure, it’s not hard to believe artistic liberties were taken to make the toy more in keeping with a traditional understanding of dinosaurs. Moreover, I suspect that when Mr. Dinosaur was created, there was no thought given to his specific genus. Rather, I think he was intended to be a generic, standard dinosaur, as if such a thing existed.

The toy stands approximately 9 cm (4 inches) tall, which means when held by a small child it will be proportionally about the same as Mr. Dinosaur is to George in the cartoon. Getting the toy to stand up is quite difficult. Its legs (and arms, for that matter) are too soft and weak to support its weight. The quality of its construction, however, is quite good, and it’s the sort of toy that could be enjoyed long after its original owner has grown up. I wouldn’t let a dog play with it, though. They have yet to invent a toy that can withstand such play. Mr. Dinosaur is available wherever toys are sold.