Fossilized-Rubber's collection (The Great Old Monocolors and their Chinasaur descendants)

[Fossilized-Rubber]

Hello! I'm somewhat of a novice collector. I started off collecting Dinosaur-in-my-pocket for a research project for a gameboy game I was creating and it somewhat snowballed. I mostly collect monocolour figures for their dramatic and often wonky sculpts - I'm fascinated with the character the mold process imbues.

I'm also interested in a term I've coined Paleogummis - the idea that dinosaur designs are copied and modified through generations of toys - giving a kind of evolution.

I'll start off with some of my prize figures. Please feel free to correct my identifications.


Left: A Chinasaur (I'd love to know more about this exaggerated pose) Right: MPC (1962 mold) Tyrannosaurus (Mold #12)


Left: 'El Cigarral' Spanish stegosaurus, Right: Ajax Tootsietoy stegosaurus


One of the more common dinosaurs I find in bulk which I like to call "the lipstick dinosaurs" because of their red mouths. I don't know where these come from but I feel like they're knockoffs of bronze dinosaurs from the 60s. I have a large batch in a similar style which I'll post later.


These ones I have absolutely no idea about. They're very small and heavily textured and I'd love to discover more.

[Faelrin]

Pretty sure that chicken leg T. rex is one of the Marx Toys ones, if not a recast of the mold.

The bottom ones kind of look like the Safari Ltd baby dinosaurs, but not quite the same.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

Pretty sure that chicken leg T. rex is one of the Marx Toys ones, if not a recast of the mold.

Was the Marx t-rex painted? The clarity of the mold makes me think you could be right, it's not become dagger-footed like the later recasts. There is a wonky "Made in ... China" on the inside leg.

The bottom ones kind of look like the Safari Ltd baby dinosaurs, but not quite the same.

Incredible, these are almost 1:1 the same. Thanks for your input. I think I'd like to get some toob baby dinos and paint them monocolor to compare. Is there a way to research chinasaurs that you know of? (i.e. find more of the same)

[BlueKrono]

The skinny rex is a very common knockoff of the Marx skinny rex. I see it in every dollar bag of dinos in grocery stores. The original Marx rex was known as the pot-bellied rex. It was chunky, and the plastic took a long time to cool after coming out of the molds. The T-rex was redesigned after the first few years to a slim, sweeping one that cooled faster, leading to higher productivity. The true Marx are cast in a single color of plastic (the earliest being sea green, brown and gray) and have much sharper detailing than the later knockoffs.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

I see it in every dollar bag of dinos in grocery stores.

If you see any more I'd love to see photos and measurements. I'm really interested in how this mould evolves.

[Halichoeres]

The skinny rex is a very common knockoff of the Marx skinny rex. I see it in every dollar bag of dinos in grocery stores. The original Marx rex was known as the pot-bellied rex. It was chunky, and the plastic took a long time to cool after coming out of the molds. The T-rex was redesigned after the first few years to a slim, sweeping one that cooled faster, leading to higher productivity. The true Marx are cast in a single color of plastic (the earliest being sea green, brown and gray) and have much sharper detailing than the later knockoffs.

I had no idea the rex was redesigned for a reason as prosaic as 'takes too long to set.'

I most often see its anguished, fork-footed mutant offspring in Ja-Ru multi-packs, like this one: https://wards5and10.com/jaru-jaru-1679.html (This is not an endorsement of the store, which I've never bought from, just the first result I found.) I think your gray one is probably also Ja-Ru.

That weird little biped with all the spikes I've sometimes considered using as a stand-in for Scutellosaurus, although I have no idea what, if anything, they had in mind when they made it.

[BlueKrono]

The skinny rex is a very common knockoff of the Marx skinny rex. I see it in every dollar bag of dinos in grocery stores. The original Marx rex was known as the pot-bellied rex. It was chunky, and the plastic took a long time to cool after coming out of the molds. The T-rex was redesigned after the first few years to a slim, sweeping one that cooled faster, leading to higher productivity. The true Marx are cast in a single color of plastic (the earliest being sea green, brown and gray) and have much sharper detailing than the later knockoffs.

I had no idea the rex was redesigned for a reason as prosaic as 'takes too long to set.'

I most often see its anguished, fork-footed mutant offspring in Ja-Ru multi-packs, like this one: https://wards5and10.com/jaru-jaru-1679.html (This is not an endorsement of the store, which I've never bought from, just the first result I found.) I think your gray one is probably also Ja-Ru.

That weird little biped with all the spikes I've sometimes considered using as a stand-in for Scutellosaurus, although I have no idea what, if anything, they had in mind when they made it.

The bag in the link is the typical cast of characters I see with that rex in grocery stores, etc.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

I think your gray one is probably also Ja-Ru.

I'm learning so much from this thread! Thanks everyone

Here's some more for you to pore over.


This longneck was the first that started my collection. I found it in the bottom of a bric-a-brac basket in a Scope charity shop. I've since learned it's a mass-produced party favour / cake topper derived from TimMee toys. Yes I bought loads of variations of these in bulk once I'd found out what it was.


More TimMee chinasaur descendants - some variations of my t-rexes


One of my favourites for its variety of textures - a dinowaurs Keratocephalus, as featured on the blog.

[Fembrogon]

I see it in every dollar bag of dinos in grocery stores.

If you see any more I'd love to see photos and measurements. I'm really interested in how this mould evolves.

Here's what a true Marx T-rex looks like. Hong Kong companies like Tai Sang ended up knocking off several Marx molds; some remained fairly close in sculpt, but the rex got really distorted for some reason. I've got a bright orange one.

That "lipstick" dinosaur is a fresh blast from the past! I had one of that exact same figure years ago, nothing else like it in all my little dinos. I usually had ways of classifying all my figurines, but I can't remember if I had anything for that one! 

[Halichoeres]

I have that little Keratocephalus! For such a distinctive animal, it's crazy that that's the only toy ever made.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

I have that little Keratocephalus! For such a distinctive animal, it's crazy that that's the only toy ever made.

Yeah, the Dinowaurs models are either immediately amazing or kinda meh, but the Keratocephalus really tops them all off.

That "lipstick" dinosaur is a fresh blast from the past! I had one of that exact same figure years ago, nothing else like it in all my little dinos. I usually had ways of classifying all my figurines, but I can't remember if I had anything for that one! 

This one's for you. Here are my lipstick dinos.


Pretty sure these are painted TimMee knockoffs.


Here's the rest of what I assume are part of the collection of these dinosaurs based on the eye style. Note the different paint jobs from different reissues of the same figures.


Marx Megatherium. This literally reeks of "plastic toy from the 1960s".

[Halichoeres]

The Plateosaurus looks like it's been sleeping in a hammock. Or on a grill, maybe.

[Takama]

I have that little Keratocephalus! For such a distinctive animal, it's crazy that that's the only toy ever made.

Yeah, the Dinowaurs models are either immediately amazing or kinda meh, but the Keratocephalus really tops them all off.

That "lipstick" dinosaur is a fresh blast from the past! I had one of that exact same figure years ago, nothing else like it in all my little dinos. I usually had ways of classifying all my figurines, but I can't remember if I had anything for that one! 

This one's for you. Here are my lipstick dinos.


Pretty sure these are painted TimMee knockoffs.


Here's the rest of what I assume are part of the collection of these dinosaurs based on the eye style. Note the different paint jobs from different reissues of the same figures.

I remember these.  My grandma used to buy me tiny buckets of them at Dollar General in the Early 2000s.

[Bread]

Here are my lipstick dinos.


Pretty sure these are painted TimMee knockoffs.


Here's the rest of what I assume are part of the collection of these dinosaurs based on the eye style. Note the different paint jobs from different reissues of the same figures.

Wow, I just got hit with a wave of nostalgia.

I had both sets of these little figures. Probably some of my first ever prehistoric toys. I had the 1998 Carnegie Tyrannosaurus model which would eat all these poor little models

A great memory indeed. Thank you for sharing these!

[Fossilized-Rubber]

The Plateosaurus looks like it's been sleeping in a hammock. Or on a grill, maybe.

How do you like your steak? Rare, Well-Done or Paleolithic?

@Bread @Takama Glad you enjoyed the post! Have some more.

New Invicta diplodicus (1974) from the Natural History museum. It's 50cm long and cost me £12.99 including shipping, making it £0.25/cm.


I think this is an Imperial t-rex. These two are the largest dinosaurs I own now.


My Safari Ltd dinos. I don't really collect Safari but they end up in my collection when I buy bulk. If anyone is interested in these let me know.


Not a clue what this is (other than a relative of the stegosaurus), but it's a shiny, hard, slightly greasy feeling plastic and I really enjoy it. I especially like the sharp skin texture.


A painted hadrosaur of some type? I like its vivid colours.


I have info on these which I'll fill in later. Safari LTD stego for scale.


These are a recent acquisition from Amazon. They're listed as "dinosaur counters". That's all I could get from it. They arrived in unmarked packaging.




The red stegosaurus from this batch is my favourite of my collection now. Look at those dramatic lines, those flowing weights, that speckled skin! What's not to love? (Oh, other than it's made of flexible rubber. Yeuch.)


And then things got silly before I wrapped up shooting.

[Halichoeres]

Ooh the Xidi Barosaurus. Somehow the most recent Barosaurus toy made.

Does your little wooden town exist for the specific purpose of dinosaurs marauding it?

[Faelrin]

The tiny blue and purple Pteranodon looks like the Diener ones, or well based on their sculpt, recast, bootleg, whatever. Same posture and pycnofibers.

Some of the others might be as well? I would need to double check. Only reason I caught this one was because I was just checking them out on ebay as of late.

[Eatmycar]

@Fossilized-Rubber I'm 99% sure that grey Stegosaurus is a bootlegged Lost World Microverse Stegosaurus.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

Does your little wooden town exist for the specific purpose of dinosaurs marauding it?

The wooden town is actually the reason why I started collecting dinosaurs. I should share some of the sculpts I've made with my blocks. I use miniatures to build large scale compositions to practice my 3D layout and lighting and get away from my PC (my day job is digital art for games).

The tiny blue and purple Pteranodon looks like the Diener ones, or well based on their sculpt, recast, bootleg, whatever. Same posture and pycnofibers.

When I'm back from my trip I'll do a comparison. I've got some Diener erasers waiting for me at my next stop. It seems the design is repeated again and again, and I'm obsessed with paleogumis (a term I coined meaning the evolution of rubber sculpts, though I'm sure it's probably bad latin). I collect sculpts and bootlegs which are visually similar.

@Fossilized-Rubber I'm 99% sure that grey Stegosaurus is a bootlegged Lost World Microverse Stegosaurus.

You are correct! It's a perfect match.

[Fossilized-Rubber]

I recently bought some """Diener""" dinosaurs off Ebay. I use heavy quotes because they are quite clearly high quality bootlegs. To save on delivery I shipped it to America just before I went out there. I'll explain why I'm convinced they're bootlegs shortly. Don't let my close analysis mislead you - I'm very happy with this purchase, and they even gave me a neon pink t-rex like I requested!

Here's a comparisson against one of my existing dinosaur erasers. Note that this too is clearly not Diener (no text on the tail). My guess is that this is a Paperchase dinosaur eraser produced within the last 20 years. The Paperchase one is in green, the new acquisition is in pink.



Here's the full selection of moulds. From left to right: stegosaurus, dimetrodon, t-rex, pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops. This also shows the variety of colours.



As to why they're not real Diener - they still have unmarred flash (where the mould material leaks slightly in a thin line and frays around the mould joins), they're altogether uniformly too clean and undamaged for something 40 years old. Last of all, Diener erasers are... well, erasers. These are firm, slightly flexible plastic and wouldn't work well as an eraser at all.

This is also why they're better than the original thing. They're clean, the moulds are sharp and detailed, and they're vibrant and brightly coloured.

In total I have twenty of these at roughly a dollar each after shipping. Absolute bargain. You can order your own here.