Your favorite companies: poll short list

[Halichoeres]

There has been periodic talk of rebooting this poll, started in 2012 and asking people's favorite (favourite, for the rest of the Anglosphere) dinosaur companies. There are so many new companies that it seems worth re-asking the question. Before I launch the poll, please leave a comment here if there is some other company you'd like me to include. A couple of hundred different companies have made dinosaur toys over the years, so I don't want an exhaustive list. Please only suggest a company you think you'd vote for. I'm going to make a slight alteration to the original poll, and stipulate that you can only vote for 10 companies.

These aren't all my personal favorites, but I'm planning to include the following, which are routinely among the most visited/commented threads on the "New for 20__" boards, or which otherwise seem to have a pretty strong following on the forum, or have been requested below:

Aurora
Battat
Bullyland
CollectA
Creative Beast
EoFauna
Favorite Co
GR Toys
Hasbro qua Hasbro
Hasbro qua Kenner
Inpro
Invicta
Kaiyodo
Marx
Mattel
MPC
Nanmu
Oumcraft
Papo
PNSO
Rebor
Safari Ltd
Schleich
Sinclair
Takara Tomy
Toyway (Walking with Dinosaurs; NHM London)
Tyco
Vitae
W-Dragon

[Leyster]

This includes now defunct companies?

[Sim]

I'd like Creative Beast Studio and Battat to be included.

[Faelrin]

I'm guessing there will be people that want Rebor and Nanmu on the list as well.

Not really a company per se, but I'd definitely toss my vote in for the Life game miniatures, if applicable. Considering they took second place in my collection, with 100 figures, and 99 genera (although it was intended to 100 total, with Spriggina present, but ended up with a duplicate Fractofusus instead). Though I imagine the next haul I do for Safari Ltd will put them back into second place once more (and that's including things like the Carnegie Collection, individual Toob figures, etc).

Edit: Come to think of it, I might vote for Takara Tomy as well. I really like some of their ARTS figures, and some of the Ania stuff I've been behind on picking up.

[SidB]

This includes now defunct companies?

True, Battat  is "defunct", but you'll remember that they were resurrected as 'Battat Terra. Could that happen again - I'm not a prophet, but you never know. Then too, Battat dinosaurs are far from forgotten and still have an iconic name in the living memories of most BTB/BTF collectors. Worthy of inclusion IMO.

[Gwangi]

I would like to see Tyco and Battat in the poll. And I also hope Hasbro and Kenner are not lumped together.

[stargatedalek]

I would like to see Tyco and Battat in the poll. And I also hope Hasbro and Kenner are not lumped together.

I know we tend to think of them as different companies, but Kenner was a subsidiary of Habro (since 1991) at the time the JP and TLW toy lines were made.

[Leyster]

I might be one of the few voting for it, but I'd like to see Vitae included, too.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I'd vote for Bullyland and probably Schleich as well.

It also looks like the Carnegie can hold it's own, considering the original poll.

[Cretaceous Crab]

STATIC FIGURES
At this moment, I would have to say PNSO and Eofauna are the highest on my list. Pricey, but I think most of their figures are worth it.

CollectA has been doing better but availability in my area is scarce.

Safari LTD was doing good for a while (including their later Carnegie figures), but I just have not been impressed with the last couple of years.

Papo and Schleich are, as we all know, hit and miss.
‐---------------
ACTION FIGURES
Creative Beasts Studios hands down.

The Jurassic World Mattel lines are also hit and miss.

Everyone else is just too pricey.

[Gwangi]

I would like to see Tyco and Battat in the poll. And I also hope Hasbro and Kenner are not lumped together.

I know we tend to think of them as different companies, but Kenner was a subsidiary of Habro (since 1991) at the time the JP and TLW toy lines were made.

I know that. But the toys differ so much that I think it warrants separating them.

[Pliosaurking]

Yeah Nanmu and Rebor should definitely be there, as should Creative Beast Studio. GR toys could also be up there as well.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Creative Beast is an obvious one I overlooked because it isn't generally discussed by year here.

I would like to see Tyco and Battat in the poll. And I also hope Hasbro and Kenner are not lumped together.

I know we tend to think of them as different companies, but Kenner was a subsidiary of Habro (since 1991) at the time the JP and TLW toy lines were made.

I know that. But the toys differ so much that I think it warrants separating them.

That was my logic, that it was always Hasbro. But it was still a Kenner logo on the package, fans do seem to hold different opinions on the two, and Kenner operated with some degree of autonomy before being dissolved, so I can see separating them.

It also looks like the Carnegie can hold it's own, considering the original poll.

This is a harder sell for me. Carnegie was a line, but never anything like a separate company. It doesn't make sense to me that it was separated in the original poll, and I think Safari should be judged on their total output. Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

@Faelrin I would also be inclined to vote for Oumcraft. They're now the top contributor to my collection. We might be the only two though!

[Fembrogon]

It also looks like the Carnegie can hold it's own, considering the original poll.

This is a harder sell for me. Carnegie was a line, but never anything like a separate company. It doesn't make sense to me that it was separated in the original poll, and I think Safari should be judged on their total output. Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

I support giving Carnegie its own poll option, with the caveat that maybe "companies/lines" would be a more accurate poll title. Although it was always part of the larger Safari ltd. output, the Carnegie Collection has always felt unique to me, very distinct from the Wild Safari output both then and now. I'd suggest possibly splitting the Safari option into Safari/Carnegie and Safari/Wild Safari(etc). I'd admittedly vote for both, but perhaps there are those who would feel more inclined towards one or the other.

I'd also like to nominate Sinclair for the poll; their output may have been limited in terms of toys, but the Mold-A-Rama and Dinoland figures are certainly worthy of recognition.

[Gwangi]

Carnegie and Safari should be separate. The Carnegie line has a distinct look and feel thanks to having the same sculptor (Forrest Rogers) who never sculpted dinosaurs for the main Safari line.

I think of it like this. Pixar is part of Disney but if you were talking animated movie companies you're still going to acknowledge them as their own entity. There are Disney movies, but there are also Pixar movies. There are Hasbro toys, but there are also Kenner toys. There are Safari toys, but there are also Carnegie toys.

[Halichoeres]

Hm, to me the Pixar/Disney analogy works a lot better for Kenner/Hasbro than for Carnegie/Safari. Pixar, like Kenner, started as its own company, and each, when acquired by its respective parent company, continued to operate somewhat independently for a while at least. The Carnegie Collection never had, as far as I know, its own dedicated staff, just a contract between Safari and Rogers, much like they have contracts with Doug Watson, or like they had with Ely Kish for the Dinosaurs of China line. The only difference there is the longevity. And while the CC was marketed in conjunction with the museum, you could say the same for Schleich's Humboldt Museum line, or Bullyland's Stuttgart Museum line, but I haven't seen anyone suggest that those be separated. I agree that during the 90s and aughts, CC was a lot nicer than what was in the Wild Safari line, but you could think of it as a premium line like the Hammond Collection with respect to Mattel's main line. I dunno, my instinct is to combine all of Safari's lines: Wild Safari and its successor, Prehistoric World; Carnegie Collection; TOOBs; Sue and Friends at the Field Museum; Dinosaurs of China; and Dino Discoveries.

[edited to add: I think you're right that Rogers never sculpted for the Wild Safari line, but I believe she was responsible for the Safari Authentics. Where would those go if Safari and Carnegie were separate?]

All that said, if people really want to keep them separate, I'll bow to the popular will. Maybe I've finally found a use for the like button: If people still think that Safari and Carnegie should have separate entries in the poll, 'like' Gwangi's comment above. If you think they should be combined, 'like' this comment. We can think of this as the petition stage for getting on the ballot.

[Gwangi]

The main point of my analogy is that one exists within the other but is different enough to be acknowledged separately. I cannot say the same for Schleich or other museum lines and offshoots. Carnegie has a bit more prestige and significance I think. I understand that Pixar existed before being assimilated by Disney. I remember when it happened. I guess I should have laid all that out as a foot note in my initial post to avoid this inevitable response. No point arguing about it, let the people decide, as you suggest. I'm not that invested anyway, I would vote for both even if they were separate. But I know there are some collectors that only collect Carnegie, or specialize with it specifically. 

Forrest Rogers might have sculpted some of the Safari Authentics, so you got me there. I know Greg Wenzel did some too though. 

[Sim]

I seem to remember reading that initially the Carnegie Collection was distributed by Schleich in Europe while Safari was its North American distributor.  Perhaps that would support keeping the Carnegie Collection separate?

[stargatedalek]

I seem to remember reading that initially the Carnegie Collection was distributed by Schleich in Europe while Safari was its North American distributor.  Perhaps that would support keeping the Carnegie Collection separate?

Schleich seemingly distributed a number of Safari modern animal sculpts up until relatively recently, that wasn't specific to Carnegie.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres I don't mind if they are combined or separate one way or the other. If combined I do think maybe mentioning Carnegie Collection, Toobs, etc, included in parenthesis to inform people that might not be as aware that those are included and/or fall under the Safari poll option, that it isn't just for their main Prehistoric World line up, that they would be voting for. So it would basically be an inclusive any or all of the above I suppose.

I also think having a write in option would be good, just in case people prefer to specify a preferred particular line (or company) if not present. Probably to cover anything minor such as the Ancestors models, Oumcraft, Wild Past, Dinozoo, etc (edit: maybe PRI/Paleozoic Pals as another example. Not figures, but I do have a lot of their plushies, and have backed all their kickstarters, with exception of the first one).