In the world of paleoart and paleomerch, it’s very common to see artists and toymakers draw inspiration from the imagery of other creators. Often this can be a good thing and a chance to reinforce contemporary understanding – consider how many vintage toys drew from Charles R Knight and Rudolph Zallinger – but sometimes it ends up becoming flagrant theft of another’s hard work.
Brand: Gosnell
Review: Stegosaurus (Boley by Gosnell)
2.8 (29 votes)
Venturing the sea of unlicensed “3rd-party” dinosaur toys can bring interesting results. Sometimes one can find hidden gold; other times one finds something like this Stegosaurus figure, which is certainly among the more unusual takes I’ve seen of the famous roofed reptile (albeit probably not intentionally so).
Review: Tyrannosaurus (Boley/Gosnell)
2.1 (34 votes)
This derivative dinosaur toy draws its inspiration from a surprisingly modern and good-quality source; but like all knockoffs, the nature of that “inspiration” might leave a bad taste in one’s mouth.
Knockoffs are an ever-present element of the toy industry, and a persistent quandary for collectors. A knockoff is a product which imitates another, original product, usually without copying it precisely in order to slyly evade copyright infringement.