Moschops (Marx)

Given that I counted correctly, this here will be my 50th review for the DTB. On the search for a worthy entry for that occasion, I decided to add some figures to my collection that will provide the chance to combine the jubilee with a premiere cause to my big surprise I found that the American company Marx, despite its significance for our hobby, has not a single entry on the blog as of yet….

“Louis Marx and company” was founded in 1919 and quickly grew to one of the most distributed and and well known manufacturers of toys in the Unitd States. Amongst their great variety of toys, the numerous playsets were very successfull and are still in high demand by collectors. In 1955 Marx started to produce dinosaur figures. These were produced in several waves over the years and sold in playsets, differently combined in regard of the species and additional equipment (like rocks, caves or plants).

Despite its success on the North American market, Marx’ figures are almost unknown in Europe, at least from their company name. Over the decades lots of companies released copies and knock-offs of Marx’ “dinosaur” figures. Even today you can still find those figures in thrift store bags, though most of them are horribly outdated. I myself had a bunch of Marx knock-offs back in my childhood, I am not sure about the company that made them but while some were true to their originals others were very poor copies. Still, even some of the originals did not resemble the real animal well, I know I deemed the Allosaurus some kind of iguanodontian until I found out about its true identity here on the DTB forums.

The Moschops is one of the youngest Marx figures, being first produced in 1961. Being amongst the very first producers of dinosaur toys, Marx’ figures sure are to be credited for having impressed a lot of kids and collectors. For those who would like to delve deeper into the history of Marx dinosaur figures and playsets, Jeffrey S. Pfeiffer released a comprehensive guide. I myself am not too educated on the history of the figures, in fact the figure I’m reviewing here is one of my three first original Marx figures. So let’s have a closer look.

Moschops is not a very common choice for toy producers, but it is with no doubt one of Marx’ strongest figures in terms of accuracy. It seems all figures of this 1961 mold are much more accurate and intricate in detailing than the former ones. Maybe another sculptor was commissioned, mybe the technical possibilites for molding were more advanced, maybe both. The Moschops figure strongly resembles the restoration by Zdenek Burian, which is nice to see as this is still, after all this years, correct for the better part (the hind legs should be more straight but that is basically it), making it the most advanced and accurate Moschops toy model on the market – at the age of almost 60! The figure measures approx. 8 cm in direct line,so it is approximately The genus name and length (7 feet) are molded into the belly.

The figure suffers from more or less obvious seam lines and sprues, but those can be cut away carefully. The plastic is after all those years still robust and makes the figures durable toys. It lack ear and rear openings for those wondering. I’d recommend the Moschops, not at least as I am only aware of two other possible choices – one being the definition of ugly, the other being as virtually unavailable as the former.

[This review was originally part of a larger review of three Marx figures, Moschops, Sphenacodon and Cynognathus, which were subsequently teased apart into three separate figure reviews and tweaked slightly. – Ed. (DinoToyBlog)]

For those of you looking out for the highly collectible Marx figures, check ebay.com or visit the Prehistoric Times Dinostore.

Additional photos by Gwangi.