TOPPS Dino Toys

[BrightYellowTriceratops]

I'm trying to get a better handle on exactly which figures were released by TOPPS in their Dino toy and candy line back in the late 80's and I'm hoping someone who has a set can offer some insight.

I recently purchased some of the TOPPS Dino figures and was confused to find 2 different brontosaur sculpts. They are very similar but one is smaller and is very wrinkled, in fact the tail almost looks segmented. I've seen the larger version on the few websites I can find that discuss the line, but the smaller version isn't shown, so I thought it was from some other line. But it is the same shade of brown plastic as the genuine TOPPS and it is also shown with the line on page 59 of Cain and Fredericks "Dinosaur Collectibles" book. The larger version has the animal's name molded on the underside (like the other TOPPS dinos) but the smaller version does not. Did TOPPS use two different brontosaurs for the line?

In addition, there is a bipedal Dino of unknown identity. It came with the lot of TOPPS stuff and is the exact same shade of brown. But it is smaller, lacks a molded name, has a goofy look about it (including a segmented tail) and isn't pictured on the websites I've looked at. But again, this one is pictured with the TOPPS set on the aforementioned page 59 of the collectibles book. Is this also part of the TOPPS set?

Here is a pic of the smaller brontosaur and mystery biped with a genuine TOPPS Triceratops for comparison:

[DinoToyForum]

The only TOPPS figure I have is the Plesiosaurus:



So I can't help solve your mystery, but I hope someone else on the forum can. It sounds like you might have a rarity! TOPPS is another line that hasn't yet been covered on the Dinosaur Toy Blog. That should be rectified!

[ReMarxist]

I have a complete set and even got a few "in the wild" as a kid. The candy eggs they were sold with were really, really good. Utterly unlike the similar candy eggs I'd tried. Here's all 12 with a shot of the little collector's checklist they came with. I only had two as a kid (dimetrodon & stegosaurus) but I lucked out and found this set w/paper on eBay a few years ago for $20.

[Halichoeres]

Wow, a set with more ornithischians than theropods? A rare treat!

[CityRaptor]

Well, it used to be more common in the past. Just look at old Sinclairs, Marx etc. The pinnacle of that would probably be Kleinwelka. Three Ornithopods, not a single Theropod.

[ReMarxist]

Yup. Back in the 80's there were only two theropods. Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Things like deinonychus and megolasaurus were mere whispers in the dark.

[Stegotyranno420]

Yup. Back in the 80's there were only two theropods. Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Things like deinonychus and megolasaurus were mere whispers in the dark.

I thought Megalosaurus and sometimes ceratosaurus were like super popular back then

[CityRaptor]

No, prior to the 80s Megalosaurus got only the Invicta figure. Okay, and a super rare one based on the Crystal Palace figure made in 1858, which costed 5 dollars back then.  That would be 157 dollars today, so yeah, clearly not indended to be a toy.  I might be wrong but I think Ceratosaurus only got a Screamer-type Chinasaur. But otherwise? You got T.rex and sometimes Allosaurus, which was more of a smaller, three-fingered T.rex back then ( both of that can be seen in the original Carnegie line up as well ). There are a few rare instances of other Theropods ( Marx got a Struthiomimus in additionn to the two, but that took to the second series, which came out after T.rex already got a make over and also added 2 more Ornithopods. Instead of Allosaurus Invicta had Megalosaurus and later Baryonyx, likely due to being British, and Dino Riders featured Deinonychus and Struthiomimus, but no Allosaurus ) but yeah, usually it was usually just these two back then, if there even was a second Theropod.

Although Topps themselves also averted it with their Dinosaurs Attack! series of trading cards.   

[ReMarxist]

Other theropods were so rare in the 80's that when I got one at the Dino Nat'l Monument gift shop, I just assumed my Invicta Meg was an allosaurus. I mean they only sold two: megs and stegs. Since I knew allosaurus lived closer in time to stegosaurus than tyrannosaurus did, it made sense. Must be an allosaurus.