A truly rare genus in the hobby to this day, MPC’s vintage figurine marks a bold move from a company most famous for its imitations – although the toy is perhaps showing its age with some design choices.
MPC (Multiple Products Corporation) is a well-known brand among experienced dinosaur collectors; their prehistoric line from 1961 and 1962 was widely sold through stores and catalogs for decades.
You’d think a creature like the dire wolf would have a few more toys to its name. Canis dirus (now reclassified as Aenocyon dirus) is almost unheard of on the prehistoric toy market, even though the genus made its introduction to paleo merchandise over fifty years ago.
One of the oldest toys of an iconic extinct mammal family still holds up pretty well, especialy alongside its more derivative contemproraries.
MPC (Multiple Products Corporations) toys are known in some circles as the “poor man’s Marx”; many of the prehistoric creatures represented in MPC’s lineup were lifted from the older Marx line, often sacrificing size and sculpt quality for bright colors and cheaper quantity.
When companies have been around for a long time, the opportunity for remaking it arises. In prehistoric species, the better for it, as new information can completely change the look of an animal. And with the announcement of a new model of Paraceratherium, many were thrilled.
Marsupials now are an interesting group, adapted to many different environments. In the distant past, even more incredible marsupials were around, megafauna and powerful carnivores lived in Australia, now gone from the world. One was a koala relative, adapted as a top predator, the Thylacoleo.
Eofauna only came onto the scene in 2017, and after five years, their wares can still be counted on just two hands. But darned if they haven’t shown themselves to be the very best company of all when it comes to prehistoric proboscideans.
The last million years has seen the rise of one of the most successful mammals of all time: humans, now the last of the genus Homo. It wasn’t so long ago that this wasn’t the case, as 50,000 years ago humans shared the world with at least 3 other Homo species.
Interview by Scrat, edited and photos by Bokisaurus
Hiiiiieee blog readers, Scrat here! Yes, I’m filling in for Bokisaurus! He begged me claiming he is suffering from writers block and needed a break. Before he left, he went on and on and on about me having to be on brand blah blah blah until I finally hit him in the head with my acorn to shut him up!
The canid family has produced some incredible species, though many are no longer around. Here we have one such, the Falkland Islands Dog. Related to Maned Wolf, this canid was isolated to the Falkland islands (perhaps unsurprisingly) and was likely the apex predator, as it lacked fear.
Africa is an amazing continent, full of incredible species throughout the history of the world. Many are sadly no longer extant, lost to time, often as the result of human expansion. Such is the case with the Red Gazelle, found in Algeria, all that is now left of this species are a few specimens…..
When I first became aware of the company called RECUR I was not sure what to make of them in terms of their collectible value. Scrolling down their prehistoric model list, one can see that they are definitely geared towards a much much younger age group.The designs are a mix bag and consists of mostly dinosaurs with a few prehistoric mammals thrown in the mix.In time, I became more curious about what these models look like in person, so I decided to purchase a couple of figures to see for myself, after all, its only fair to judge them when you actually have seen them with your own eyes in your hands.
With an estimated length of 24.3’ (7.4 meters), shoulder height of 15.7’ (4.8 meters), and neck length of 6.6-8.2’ (2-2.5 meters), the Paraceratherium is believed to be the largest land mammal that has ever lived, or at the very least among the largest.
