Then and Now: The Evolution of Dino Collectibles

[need4swede]

Greetings and Salutations folks,

I want to gain some insight into how our hobby has evolved over time; what has changed over the decades and how we embrace those changes, for better or for worse. I've been out of the game for a while, but a lot has changed since then. The craftsmanship of some of these models is beyond anything I remember - at least in terms of what was commercially available and viable for the average collector.

What are some things that have changed over the years? What has remained roughly the same? And what are some aspects you would like to see amended going forward?

Thank you!

[Gwangi]

I think that the biggest shift has been in the demographic many dinosaur toys are targeting. It used to be just kids and it has now shifted to include adult consumers. With that you get the added craftsmanship, attention to detail and accuracy, etc.

[Ikessauro]

I am not as old and experienced as some of the other members of the forum, but I think I can offer some info. I apologize in advance if what I say here was already obvious.

Something that obviously changed as the years went by is the extinction of the so called "Museum Lines", the toy collections officially linked to Museums like the Carnegie, Battat etc. In the 80's and 90's they seemed to be the symbol of high quality scientifically approved toys. Nowadays we are seeing more up to date and scientifically accurate models available, although most of them are not in any way linked to any museums.

Toy manufacturing of course improved a lot with newer technologies like the more mainstream worldwide use of internet for easy access to references, like high res pictures of fossils, papers, skeletal reconstructions and even as a tool for contacting paleontology professionals that can offer guidance when sculpting a model. So a lot of models today tend to be more accurate and I think newer updated versions of toys are released more often, sometimes right after a new study is published making older models inaccurate. Of course, I can't mention technology without talking about 3D modelling and printing.

These tools offer now a way to prototype models, test them and revise them in a cheaper and faster way than before, with most companies using high quality 3d printing as their main prototyping method. The 3D models allow for finer details and endless updates so companies can revise anatomy during  the planning stages, make alternate poses for the same species of dinosaur, releasing sometimes two or more versions of the same species at a time. Multiple color variants also became normal with more modern companies, that always release two or more color variations for each model at the same time.;

Back in the day a model only was repainted after quite a few years in production, when the old color scheme was dropping in sales. Now, from the start you often get 3 different ones, if not more. Good for people who like to choose between various options, bad for completists who struggle to get all variants and usually fail to get them all 

[indohyus]

Lot more branching out now, in terms of species and the overall quality is better. Lot more options to tailor to different tastes.

[Bread]

Almost a decade ago for me, Papo were probably the best you could get to a high quality, affordable and unofficial Jurassic Park figure/collectible. Now, you have Nanmu and W-dragon really blowing Papo into the past. Higher quality, yet still somewhat affordable (below $100 at least) and even more screen accurate. Not only Jurassic Park inspired figures, but a variety of unofficial Peter Jackson's King Kong V-Rex (plural), both by Nanmu and Rebor. As someone who had Papo's in the past, they worked for the time but as I got older I wanted higher quality models, as such I discovered Nanmu and W-Dragon not too long ago. Papo does deserve credit for sparking this unofficial JP and other film inspired/highly detailed figures in the dinosaur toy market.

Besides movie monsters/dinosaurs, scientific based prehistoric animals are thriving. I never really collected scientific based figures until recently so I can't really comment on how it was 10 years ago. I do know that by looking on Minizoo and Happy Hen Toys websites, they still have old CollectA's/Procon and Safari's. Figures that are almost 10 years ago still available through these sites although may seem outdated but yet charming.

A lot of new companies continue to appear as well. A good thing to note on how various companies now exist instead of the very few there were a decade ago.

[BlueKrono]

If you want a look into the past more ancient than the 80's...
Dinosaur lines were originally made from metal: Mignot in the 20's, Messemore & Damon in the 30's, and SRG in the 40's. Composite (similar to wood putty, often made from sawdust or bone powder and a binding agent) was used for lines in the 50's and 60's like Chialu and Neoform. All these lines besides SRG had VERY limited distribution and are very hard to find nowadays.

In the mid-1950's Louis Marx released his dinosaur line. Known as "the Henry Ford of toys", he developed an assembly line approach to toy manufacturing and helped create the advent of affordable plastic toys. In the 50's and 60's Marx was the biggest toy company in the world. Marx believed all children and parents should be able to get toys at affordable prices, not just the fancy carved wooden toys of the past. His factories pumped out millions of toy dinosaurs, soldiers, cars, etc. until 1980. In the early 90's Jurassic Park came out, leading to a huge renaissance of dinosaur toys, and that never really died down, especially since the franchise keeps putting out new movies and merchandise.

[Bokisaurus]

Today, changes happens so quickly it's hard to keep up.
For me, the biggest change is in the way prehistoric animals models are viewed.
Before Jurassic park, most figures were either tied in with some museums to be take "seriously ", and most viewed Dino toys as not lucrative enough and most for kids.

With JP, it's allowed dinosaurs to enter the mainstream for better or worse.
Just 10 years ago when I first joined the forum there was very limited toy companies that had big Dino collection.
As more and more movies and documentaries started to come out featuring or about dinosaurs, companies finally started to pay attention to the market.

I still remember when CollectA first came out, back then as Procon. The figures were crude and very much targets kids.
But they would soon quickly realize that there is a market out there that wants more accurate figures and they quickly moved to that direction and never looked back.

I also believe that with the internet and proliferation of social media, blogs, forums- that the voices of the collectors were finally were given attention and listen to.
It's amazing how much impact reviews have on how products success.

The internet market has also made it easier to sell without having to find a retailer and without having to be investing on inventory.
The globalization of course had a huge impact as well.
All made it easier and competitive on a global scale that was unimaginable just a decade ago.
We are simply living in a world now where information and photos are just a finger tap and readily available; we no longer rely on having to go to a store to see a figure.

I know I have broached the subject in a couple of my blog reviews.
We are now overwhelmed with so much choices that we can now afford to be so picky and nitpicking 🤣