Most produced Paleozoic genera (visual encyclopedia)

[SBell]

"Extinct For A Reason" ... ah, so THAT'S the title! lol
Thanks for sharing. I actually have the books that these are related to, but I bought them in a random shop somewhere and nobody was able to translate it for me. I got them anyway because I liked the illustrations.

Is there a way to get those figures! I need the Ceratogaulus!

[SBell]

Fabulous list @Faelrin, well done on your hard work.

@SBell - I think the list wasn't counting model kits? There'd be also be two Aurora Diplocauluses to add if they were though.

Also I think Deiner did an Edaphosaurus too and SRG did a Dinicthys, though again not sure if it could count as a toy (remember reading someone in Prehistoric Times saying he played with the metal figures as a child in the 50s, before Marx came along).

Looking again, there's definitely some Starlux missing. Like SRG they wouldn't really be toys now, but they were sold as such

[Faelrin]

@Stuckasaurus You might want to keep an eye out on Japanese auction sites. Or you can take the chance of getting the blind bag bath balls. Here's a link with more information:

http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=8731.msg259240#msg259240

That's also one of the ones I'm hunting for here and there as well. Though I haven't been keeping an eye as of late. I would also recommend having @brettnj help you out with these.

@SBell See my response above. Also since the comment you quoted is from 2020 I want to remind that I've massively revised the list this year, and recently. Things from Starlux, etc are no longer being considered at this time. Please see the op for more info.

[Halichoeres]

This is the first I've heard of Furuta ChocoEgg Anomalocaris! I'll have to look into that one.

I really want that Goticaris. It must be about 40× life size; it would be the largest-scale figure in my collection.

[bmathison1972]

This is the first I've heard of Furuta ChocoEgg Anomalocaris! I'll have to look into that one.

I really want that Goticaris. It must be about 40× life size; it would be the largest-scale figure in my collection.

me too; for both! Also would like that Doraemon Motto Anomalocaris

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres I literally just found out about it the other day doing a search on the So-Ta one on Mercari JP, etc to try to get more info on it. I think they had a Purussaurus as well? I bookmarked the link but unfortunately I'm hands off on the laptop for a few weeks while I recover from my surgery.

Also yes I absolutely want that little Goticaris too. Amazing someone made a toy of it at all.

[Halichoeres]

Purussaurus, eh? That's interesting too, I'll have to look into that one.

[bmathison1972]

Purussaurus? Are you sure you aren't just kitten around with us?!? 

[Halichoeres]

Purussaurus? Are you sure you aren't just kitten around with us?!? 

I see what you did there and I'm mad about it.

[TheCambrianCrusader]

Oh there's still the starlux figures. They made quite a few paleozoic figures back in the day. I believe they made an Edaphosaurus, Endothiodon, Cephalaspis, Scutosaurus, Bradysaurus, Drepanaspis, Diplocaulus, Eusthenopteron, and Ichtyostega. There's also a non named Labyrinthodont which I believe is supposed to be Cacops but I'm not sure, and a brachiopod but I have no idea if that figure is based off an extant or extinct genera. Also a Dimetrodon of course but that's a given

[Halichoeres]

Oh there's still the starlux figures. They made quite a few paleozoic figures back in the day. I believe they made an Edaphosaurus, Endothiodon, Cephalaspis, Scutosaurus, Bradysaurus, Drepanaspis, Diplocaulus, Eusthenopteron, and Ichtyostega. There's also a non named Labyrinthodont which I believe is supposed to be Cacops but I'm not sure, and a brachiopod but I have no idea if that figure is based off an extant or extinct genera. Also a Dimetrodon of course but that's a given

True, but Faelrin specifically isn't including figures made out of fragile materials. Starlux used a very brittle, pre-PVC plastic.

[TheCambrianCrusader]

Oh there's still the starlux figures. They made quite a few paleozoic figures back in the day. I believe they made an Edaphosaurus, Endothiodon, Cephalaspis, Scutosaurus, Bradysaurus, Drepanaspis, Diplocaulus, Eusthenopteron, and Ichtyostega. There's also a non named Labyrinthodont which I believe is supposed to be Cacops but I'm not sure, and a brachiopod but I have no idea if that figure is based off an extant or extinct genera. Also a Dimetrodon of course but that's a given

True, but Faelrin specifically isn't including figures made out of fragile materials. Starlux used a very brittle, pre-PVC plastic.

Ah gotcha, my bad

[Faelrin]

Don't they also have lead paint? I could have sworn I saw something about that before. That was another concern of mine (aside from their fragile nature), and why I didn't want to include them in this list which is mostly (older child safe) toy focused, even if most here are adults anyways. Though I do appreciate what they did for the time.

[Halichoeres]

Oh maybe, I hadn't thought of that. After a cursory search it seems like France banned lead paint in 1948, before Starlux started making prehistoric toys, but it's not clear to me whether the ban applied to toys.

[SBell]

@Halichoeres I literally just found out about it the other day doing a search on the So-Ta one on Mercari JP, etc to try to get more info on it. I think they had a Purussaurus as well? I bookmarked the link but unfortunately I'm hands off on the laptop for a few weeks while I recover from my surgery.

Also yes I absolutely want that little Goticaris too. Amazing someone made a toy of it at all.

I think a lot of us would like to track that one down, as we as a few others from the series

[Faelrin]

Long time no update. I've added a few recent figures (2023 Bandai Anomalocaris, 2023 Mattel Scutosaurus, 2022 Mattel Lystrosaurus mini, 2022 Captivz Lystrosaurus), and some old ones from Diener (Eryops, and Edaphosaurus), as well as Diplocaulus, Moschops, and Pterichthyodes/Pterichthys from 1970's Henkel/Ovomaltine/Yoplait. I just came to learn about those from browsing @BrontoScorpio thread. I think some of the images in the op need fixed, but I'm a bit sleep deprived atm, so I'll need to do that another day.

Anything else of potential interest I am currently missing from the list (Dimetrodon aside)?

Edit: Should I also reconsider adding Starlux, Paleozoo, etc but with warnings that they are not toys in the modern sense? Thinking about it more, I probably should do that with Kaiyodo's figures since they are pretty small, and fragile as well, despite being listed already. What do folks think?

Edit 2: Was browsing Paleoplastic's ebay and just learned of two more figures I added to the list. 1987 Panosh Place (D.I.N.O Mites) Sphenacodon and Ophiacodon respectively. They also had a Dimetrodon too of course.

[Halichoeres]

I don't know if it matters, but to the best of my knowledge Panosh never labeled the Dino-Mites or Dino-Brites figures. The IDs you find online are fan IDs.

As far as Kaiyodo is concerned, they are made of either PVC or ABS (ABS is what Lego bricks are made of) so I wouldn't put them in the same category of fragility as Paleozoo or Starlux.

[Faelrin]

That's true, they're definitely made of some plastic frequently used in other toys these days, though they are still delicate, and prone to breaking on some, like the Meganeura, if not some others, and they often do need assembly before hand. That said I do plan to note out why I wouldn't recommend them to children, as a one size fits all approach wouldn't work here anyways.

I guess I'll remove those two then if they weren't officially identified as such.

[Halichoeres]

Yeah, that's reasonable. I wouldn't give a Dinotales figure to a 4-year-old (although I guess that goes for a lot of Lego sets, too).

Apart from that, beyond Henkel, you're getting into truly strange or extremely rare stuff like White Post, Niels Norvil, and Lanier. Some of those probably only have a few dozen copies in existence, so I'm not sure where you'll want to draw the line on "it exists" and "it is a helpful thing to add to a reference list."

[Faelrin]

Those are really good points. It's why I typically only stuck to stuff that was mass produced or readily available either now, or was in the past (in domestic market; such as Kaiyodo Dinotales, Kenner, Yowies, etc). Outside of Marx and Invicta I'm not really familiar with many vintage brands, so I'm not really sure how much I was missing when it comes to certain prehistoric animals, so I've just tried to add them as I learned about them (like recently), like such as referencing the Dinotoycollector and Toyanimalwiki.

I guess things that only have a few copies in existence like custom figures, some 3D printed things (like on shapeways or etsy), probably wouldn't count. Perhaps those brands you've mentioned (more I'm not particularly familiar with) would be more examples of this. I wonder then if things like Paleozoo, the Life game figures, or Paleo-Creatures would need to keep being excluded in this case (despite otherwise being on the DTC for example)?

Like is there anything missing that should definitely be there, or is there something currently that probably shouldn't be?