Valuable items - for me at least

[Federreptil]

Play it again, Sam.

On German television, the stand-up comedian Torsten Sträter recaptures his childhood under this title when he buys the toys from childhood days on Ebay for bigger money to present them in the "Spiels noch einmal Sam" column. That is exactly what I have done here. Because this is exactly again the first dinosaur set with eight figures, which I got in the early 70s. With it, I was able to live out my dinosaur enthusiasm in a plastic way, and in addition to primeval adventures, the dinos appeared alongside Cowboys and Indians and in the city traffic of matchbox cars.

The figures were so unique because there was little other way to get dinosaur figures in the province at the time, as Schleich didn't release its first dinosaurs until 1994. Also, the figures exactly matched the illustrations in my first dinosaur book from WAS IST WAS in 1972. The set is a China replica of the first dinosaur figures from the Marx company from the 60s. So the T-Rex still has three fingers on the front claw and the Allosaurus looks like an upright little dog or like the monsters with zipper on the belly from Japanese monster movies, which I could experience as a child in the cinema on Sunday mornings matinee at reduced prices. There, Godzilla alternated weekly with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies.



A Trachodon as a duck-billed dinosaur is now completely out of fashion. Name, head shape and posture do not exist today, just like the flat head deep above the ground of the Stegosaurus, which by the way still had two brains at that time. A walnut-sized one in the head for the front part and a second one in the pelvis for the steering of the tail with the thagomizer. Why a Dimetrion from the Permian got lost here, probably not even the Chinese copyists knew. But also otherwise there are some liberties to admire. How should the prehistoric people from the colorful printed cardboard ever hunt down a dinosaur, when there are a mere 100 million years in between?



This set corresponds exactly to the playset of my childhood, even though this one comes from the United States and was sold for $1.75 at GEMCO back then. With the higher purchasing power of the dollar at the beginning of the 7O's, this is also pretty much exactly the price at German Woolworth's at that time, which I still have in my head, at about 8,- DM. That was with the pocket money at that time already a very expensive investment, which required a friendly sponsoring of parents.

Whereby it still amazes me that I could find this original blister packaging on Ebay. What child would not have immediately torn open the packaging to play with the figures?



My figures were badly played with and even the clear painting on the figures had rubbed off and disappeared over the years. They were so important to me that in the 90s I still felt very generous when I allowed my mother to give these figures to the nephews and nieces to play with and even to give them away.

When my third dino fever started about 10 years ago, I naturally wanted to find the figures of my childhood again. But they remained missing and when I had to close up the parental home after the death of my mother, only a lonely Stegosaurus emerged in the napkin drawer under the good cutlery, which had been separated from its herd in the meantime.

So now I am the proud owner of this newly acquired childhood, which of course is now a little more expensive than $1.75.

[Lanthanotus]

I`m born `76 and had the exact same figures in the ealry 80`s. For the life of mine I cannot recall how or where I got them from but they were heavily played aswell though I always thought the Allosaurus being an Iguanodon (I could not make any sense of this strange mix of bunny hands, flat feet, ridged back and boxy head) and the T. rex with its super weird feet was just creepy. Personally I was in love with the Bullyland Dinos of which I had a yellow Plesiosaurus even early, when I was like 3 or 4 (I lost it somewhen and replaced it just three years ago). So my congratulations on this pristine blister card with your beloved dinosaurs

[Faelrin]

Congrats on being able to track down your first set of dinosaurs, especially still in package like that after all this time. No easy feat I'm sure. I mean it blows my mind to find 90's toys still in mint packaging (like with the WWD toys, or Jurassic Park). Anything older is an incredible sight.

Some of my earliest dinosaur toys were recast Marx figures as well, although I was born in '91. It was some kind of bucket set with a volcano, palm trees, and grey rocks. The little Dimetrodon and Ankylosaurus sculpts are so familiar to me. I think the set also had Parasaurolophus, Smilodon, Woolly mammoth, cave people, among others. It's fascinating how timeless those molds are and how they still continue to be produced despite Marx being out of the picture now. Heck I even found a set of them at the Dollar Tree last year.

Also figured I'd share something I learned recently, since you mentioned it. It turns out Schleich had been making prehistoric figures long before the 90's. Toyanimalwiki has some info on those early figures.

https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Schleich_Classics#Schleich_Classics_Prehistorics

[Gwangi]

I think every kid that played with dinosaurs from the 70's on had at least some of these. I believe some are still in production too! I swear I've seen them at dollar and grocery stores. My daughter has some in her box of toy dinosaurs. I don't collect them but I do collect Marx dinosaurs. The packaging for yours is beautiful!

[Federreptil]

Oh boy, I'm the oldest kid here. Born in 1964, I took the early 70s for the first dinosaur enthusiasm. I also had the early monochrome mini figures from Schleich. But they were so small compared to the China dinosaurs in the blister pack that they also fit behind the steering wheel of a 1:43 car. No comparison to T-Rex and Brontosaurus, which could have done real damage to the cars 

That the figures shown here would have existed until a few years ago amazes me. The Marx and MRC figures must have had a longer aftermath with the Chinasaurs. When I started to buy up children's collections on Ebay 10 years ago, there were also cheap starter models from China. But these heroes of my childhood were no longer there.

I missed the first monochrome Bullyland figures like the yellow Elasmosaurus back then. And these dinosaur figures shown by me were really rare in my environment. Except for me, I didn't know any kid who had them too. Everyone had the WAS IST WAS book Dinosaur, but figures were really rare. And to get the Invicta figures from 1974 would have been a dream. There was no global marketplace on the Internet. At that time, we had to press our noses flat against the toy stores and hope for the Christmas business.

It was probably due to the success of Jurassic Park in 1993 that both Schleich and Bullyland started with large dinosaur figures. And it's probably a German Sonderweg that both didn't base their molds on the successful movie franchise. Actually, the first Schleich figures even look as if the model templates had been waiting for more than 10 years to be realized 
Collection of Schleichtiersammler

[BrontoScorpio]

... I learned recently, since you mentioned it. It turns out Schleich had been making prehistoric figures long before the 90's...

Yes, those Schleich Classics have certain 'monochrome' charm within them - they are indeed a merry looking bunch .

[BrontoScorpio]

... I missed the first monochrome Bullyland figures like the yellow Elasmosaurus back then...

I have an old yellow AAA Elasmosaurus.
never seen a yellow Bullyland one, more over a monochrome.
you can't be meaning to this group of yellow monochromes ?

[postsaurischian]

 Of course I had that set too as a kid in the 70s. And "Was ist Was" also was my first book in 1972/73 ... can't say exactly.  Pure magic .

Oh boy, I'm the oldest kid here. Born in 1964, I took the early 70s for the first dinosaur enthusiasm. ....

 Among the oldest, but not the oldest, S @stoneage might be No.1 in this event.

... I learned recently, since you mentioned it. It turns out Schleich had been making prehistoric figures long before the 90's...

Yes, those Schleich Classics have certain 'monochrome' charm within them - they are indeed a merry looking bunch .

 Those are the repaints - maybe indeed from the 90s. I had the original truly monochrome figures already during the mid 70s.
 I know toyanimalwiki says they're from 1979, but this cannot be true. I turned 13 in 1979 and I played with them at primary school.
 The Schleich minis are even older.

[Federreptil]

... I missed the first monochrome Bullyland figures like the yellow Elasmosaurus back then...

I have an old yellow AAA Elasmosaurus.
never seen a yellow Bullyland one, more over a monochrome.
you can't be meaning to this group of yellow monochromes ?

I'm referring to the comment here by Lanthanotus and his reference to the yellow Elasmosaurus from Bullyland. I found a hint and picture of the figures in the Dinosaur Toy Collector Guide.
Ancient Bullyand dinosaurs
This series from AAA has completely passed me by as well. But that was surely also due to the fact that at that time the toy trade was not yet so international and imports landed rather accidentally in the German stores.

[Halichoeres]

My eye went straight past the dinosaurs to the homemade fan palms and cycads (unless I misidentify them).

I like how the package goes to the trouble of specifying when each of the animals lived, but also portrays some humans hunting a Brontosaurus with spears. A little like, "We know you don't really care for the purposes of your play."

[dragon53]

When I was a kid, I bought the Marx dinosaur blister pack for 99 cents similar to the one below, except mine had only grey and green dinosaurs--no brown. Later, I bought another Marx blister pack with mammals and dinosaurs. I also got a Marx small box set with more dinosaurs and mammals and a pond, etc.
A friend of mine had a large box set which included a larger number of dinosaurs, mammals, rock formations, cave men and palm trees.

[Federreptil]

My eye went straight past the dinosaurs to the homemade fan palms and cycads (unless I misidentify them).

I like how the package goes to the trouble of specifying when each of the animals lived, but also portrays some humans hunting a Brontosaurus with spears. A little like, "We know you don't really care for the purposes of your play."

Homemade is too much of an honor for the palm fern and cycads. They are handmade from a Filipino store "Prassiri" that I found on Ebay.

To be honest, they are right with their is-it-doesn't-matter attitude. As a kid, I didn't really care about the times and the dinosaurs could appear in any time while playing. When the role models are King Kong, Godzilla and Gwangi, it's no wonder.

[Federreptil]

When I was a kid, I bought the Marx dinosaur blister pack for 99 cents similar to the one below, except mine had only grey and green dinosaurs--no brown. Later, I bought another Marx blister pack with mammals and dinosaurs. I also got a Marx small box set with more dinosaurs and mammals and a pond, etc.
A friend of mine had a large box set which included a larger number of dinosaurs, mammals, rock formations, cave men and palm trees.

I also think, these Marx sets are the role model for my blister pack of the China copy. But Marx did not come to Osnabrück in Germany, even the China dinosaurs did in the 70s. The wild mix of times is also seen in your example: the cave mens fights with dinosaurs were obviously an usual activity in the prehistoric times. So my set is here a copy again.

[Libraraptor]

That is an interesting story, @Federreptil! Storys like these make a collector' live worthwhile, don't they? 

[BrontoScorpio]

... I missed the first monochrome Bullyland figures like the yellow Elasmosaurus back then...

I have an old yellow AAA Elasmosaurus.
never seen a yellow Bullyland one, more over a monochrome.
you can't be meaning to this group of yellow monochromes ?

I'm referring to the comment here by Lanthanotus and his reference to the yellow Elasmosaurus from Bullyland.
I found a hint and picture of the figures in the Dinosaur Toy Collector Guide. Ancient Bullyand dinosaurs
...

Somehow, the small yellow Elasmosaurus doen't pass me as belong to this set of Bullyland Standard size figures .

[Lanthanotus]

... I missed the first monochrome Bullyland figures like the yellow Elasmosaurus back then...

I have an old yellow AAA Elasmosaurus.
never seen a yellow Bullyland one, more over a monochrome.
you can't be meaning to this group of yellow monochromes ?

I'm referring to the comment here by Lanthanotus and his reference to the yellow Elasmosaurus from Bullyland.
I found a hint and picture of the figures in the Dinosaur Toy Collector Guide. Ancient Bullyand dinosaurs
...

Somehow, the small yellow Elasmosaurus doen't pass me as belong to this set of Bullyland Standard size figures .

I was referring to this one: Bullyland Plesiosaurus, belonging to the Bullyland Mini series, though being considerably bigger than the Schleich Mini series (which figures were really small).

Personally I was in love with the Bullyland Dinos of which I had a yellow Plesiosaurus even early, when I was like 3 or 4 (I lost it somewhen and replaced it just three years ago). So my congratulations on this pristine blister card with your beloved dinosaurs

Years after loosng that figure I obtained (dunno where from) several others of the line like the T.rex, Trike and Stegosaurus. All of them got lost but some years back I got a few back, but I cannot recall which belong to my collection right now (I think Plesiosaurus, Pteranodon, Stego and T. rex).

In fact, the very first dinosaur figure in my possesion was the "Urechse" (Prehistoric Lizard, was never sure what animal that should be... maybe a Plateosaurus or so?!) of the Schleich Mini series. I got photo evidence for this in a photo album at my parents and I still own that one. It is kept safely away with its peer (and - I think the complete - mini collection) in a tin can.