The Dinosaur Action Set books

[triceratops83]

Anyone remember these from the mid eighties? You popped out the dinosaurs, folded and/or tabbed them together, and set them against a backdrop to make dioramas. I had a few of these as a youngster, I remember one had on the cover a Mosasaur, Elasmosaurus and Pteranodon. Anyway, some good retro paleoart.

[CityRaptor]

I had the German ( both called "Die Dinosaurier Bastelbuch" ) versions of the first and second Dinosaur Action Sets in the early 90s, but no longer have them.  I managed to obtain the "The Dinosaur Action Set" and "Undersea Dinosaur Action Set" ( the one with the Mosasaurus ) a few years ago, but keep them unbuild for various reasons. Seems like there is a total of four books:
The Dinosaur Action Set
The Second Dinosaur Action Set
Undersea Dinosaur Action Set
Prehistoric Mammals Action Set
The first two can also combine to form a larger diorama.

[Halichoeres]

These are so cool! CityRaptor posted about the "Undersea Dinosaur" one in my collection thread. I'd love to see photos of that one if they're available. Especially if it includes any interesting fishes.

[CityRaptor]

Here it is:

[BlueKrono]

Well that is incredibly cool. Almost makes me want to collect paper. Limits, self, LIMITS!

[CityRaptor]

I mean it got a BLUE Kronosaurus an all. Hmm, just noticed that my copy of "The Dinosaur Action Set" seems to be older than @triceratops83 ones, not mentioning the other Action Sets. Also seems a bit darker regarding the print.

[triceratops83]

@CityRaptor Thanks so much for posting this, another trip down memory lane! Seems I remember the cover well enough, but I don't recall the contents
so clearly. So cool to see this again.

[Halichoeres]

Well that is incredibly cool. Almost makes me want to collect paper. Limits, self, LIMITS!

I'm feeling this, with all the cool Devonian fish in the background of the Dunkleosteus section.

Thanks again for posting these photos @CityRaptor. PS for anyone wondering, Portheus (the large fish in the Tylosaurus/Hesperornis diorama) is a synonym of Xiphactinus. The name Portheus was coined by E.D. Cope, and I'm always happy to see one of his names sunk into synonymy, because to heck with that guy.

[triceratops83]

PS for anyone wondering, Portheus (the large fish in the Tylosaurus/Hesperornis diorama) is a synonym of Xiphactinus. The name Portheus was coined by E.D. Cope, and I'm always happy to see one of his names sunk into synonymy, because to heck with that guy.

I thought one of those fish looked like Xiphactinus - I just figured it was a relative.

@Halichoeres just wondering - what have you got against Cope? You one of Marsh's guys?

[Libraraptor]

Well that is incredibly cool. Almost makes me want to collect paper. Limits, self, LIMITS!

[Halichoeres]

Halichoeres just wondering - what have you got against Cope? You one of Marsh's guys?

In addition to being a fairly sloppy paleontologist and doing active harm to the field with his corrosive, spiteful rivalry with Marsh, Cope was a public and vociferous racist. Not just in the "product of his time" way, either.

[triceratops83]

In addition to being a fairly sloppy paleontologist and doing active harm to the field with his corrosive, spiteful rivalry with Marsh, Cope was a public and vociferous racist. Not just "for the time," either.

My favorite Cope story was Marsh informing him that he put Elasmosaurus' head on the wrong end.

[Darko2300]

Dear God. I just now found this thread, and had to jump in. As a middle-to-lower class child of the eighties, these books were... just - almost everything to me. Something relatively inexpensive that could literally create an entire prehistoric world to play in. It's almost horrifying now to think that I actually punched the dinosaurs out and used them, but how could I not? It's not far off to say that this series somehow became part of me, and influenced so many aspects of my journey into adulthood. Probably more than I realize. (Just look at my avatar... 😅)

As an adult, I've managed to find and collect new copies of The Dinosaur Action Set, The Dinosaur Action Set II, The Undersea Dinosaur Action Set, and the Prehistoric Mammal Action Set (though that one is missing a single smaller animal). I also Have the Wild Safari Action Set, but because it's previous owner was a smoker, it remains sealed in several layers of archival plastic in storage far away from anything else. (I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, but these things are so hard to come by I can't bring myself to get rid of it.)

At one point I started to scan pages of these books in order to preserve them, but I didn't get very far, I'm afraid. Due to the page size, I had to scan each page twice and splice the images together in Photoshop. (And correct any changes in color or contrast.) If I'm ever actually able to complete this, rest assured I'll upload the files so anyone can download, print them, and - maybe - experience just a little of the joy these books brought me as a kid.

To paraphrase a popular fictional Archeologist, "These things really do belong in a museum. 😁

[Halichoeres]

Oh I wouldn't feel bad for having punched these out and played with them. That's what they were for! What fun they must have been to play with

[CityRaptor]

Exactly. These sets are meant for that. They also make nice backgrounds for other figures. Indeed my younger self used them for that, but mostly ignored the paper Dinosaurs.

[DC]

http://www.dinosaurcollectorsitea.com/images/UnderSeaActopn.JPG