What figure got you started in collecting dinosaur figures specifically?

[Lynx]

I think the title is self-explanatory. I have not seen this made into a thread so...

The figure that got me started was a Schleich figure. The Schleich 2019 Spinosaurus (which often gets forgotten as one of if not the first toys to have a "paddle tail"), which you may spot on my own collection thread, was played with a lot. It would sit on my bed, my shelves, everywhere. I named it Reed and would make it splash around in a puddle in the backyard.

Previously, I only really got Chinasaurs and the occasional Lego on my birthday. This was something new. The jaw could move, the paint wasn't neon orange, and I had no idea it existed. To be fair, I also had a couple very, very old Safari LTD toys from my grandparents, which I also have still, but that didn't get me started.

After that, I decided to research more about it in 2020, in which I came across the old version of this forum. It was a thread about someone's collection, but I left the tab to continue searching. About a month later, I was curious about it, found the new version, and here I am.

To this day the Schleich Spinosaurus is still one of my favorites, and even though it has tons of paint scuffs and a jaw that's almost broken, I don't plan on ever replacing it.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I've always been interested in animals and nature but first got into dinosaurs when I was in second grade and we spent the beginning of the year learning about them in science class. As part of this, we were assigned a shoebox diorama project, and I got my first dinosaur figures for it. These were the Wild Safari Triceratops, Utahraptor, Brachiosaurus, and Pteranodon. The brachiosaurus never made it into the diorama, but these four were the start of my dinosaur toy collection. I also got a pair of Carnegie mammoths for by birthday the year before as well.

[Concavenator]

I would consider those to be the Carnegie Giganotosaurus and the Papo Allosaurus. I had some Schleich dinosaurs before that, but it was after seeing those 2 figures in particular that I was really surprised by the quality some figures could get. So in retrospective I think it was those 2 figures that really got me into collecting.

[SidB]

For me,  it was the Invicta Mamenschisaurus,bluish factory painted version, back about 2008. I found it in a Value Village thrift shop in Toronto, and it cost me all of $2.99, Cdn.  I was quite taken with it, didn't know that a figure of this quality existed. Still has an honored place in my collections.

[Pliosaurking]

I have loved dinosaurs, prehistoric life and animals in general since I've been alive!
I can't remember the exact figure but I had several schleich and safari figures when I was younger. Watching Bionclesaurus is really what launched my collecting. I then made my first order from Dan's Dinosaurs, and the rest is history!

[Halichoeres]

What got me into it was walking through a museum gift shop full of Papo and Carnegie figures. The first batch I bought was four Papo figures: Pachycephalosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, Triceratops, and Styracosaurus. None of them is in my collection anymore, though, all replaced by better representations of the four genera. I bought a bunch of Carnegies after that, and a lot of them are still in my collection, having held up better to competition.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I recall just wanting dinosaur figures but never really thought of myself a as collector til I was 20 or so.

I guess the Tyco Dino-Riders series was the first line I wanted all of so started picking up each one, then I followed suite on Playskool, Jurassic Park, the Carnegie Collection, ect.. so that's when it first started I suppose.

My first dinosaur toy is a lot harder to pin down..I recall having Invictas, but they were pricey so I only got one or two. Imperial and other chinasaurs were likely first..possibly even Godzilla.

[Faelrin]

I've posted about this sort of thing in other threads that have come up over the years. It depends on when to start? I technically had a near complete set of Primal Rage toys as a kid, as young as like 4 I think? Thank my parents for that, but still. Later on when I was 10, I nearly had the whole set of those small electronic JPIII toys (just missed out a few like the aqua Spinosaurus, the pterosaurs, etc), plus the fence and gate set (that I bought online again a few years back).

As an adult, the Papo Allosaurus definitely had my eye long before i got back into collecting dinosaur figures, like 2011 or so I think (though I was still a collector of sorts then, with like the Final Fantasy action figures, and other video game themed figures at the time). I didn't actually get it until a few years back though. It wasn't really until the Hasbro JW line released, and I caved in on it to relive the joys of my childhood, despite how disappointing they were quality wise. Shortly after BotM was a thing, and eventually it led me here and introduced me to other brands like Safari Ltd, CollectA, PNSO, etc.

Honestly it is actually overwhelming how many options are out there and to keep up with. With all the uncertainty about my living situation this past year, and having things packed into storage for the better part of a year, it's sort of given me a chance to size down in a way, with a semi fresh start (kept a few older figures on hand I do not want to part with in any circumstances like the Mattel Postosuchus and Scutosaurus, the Favorite Cambrian critters set, still in package WWD T. rex etc), and plenty of time to think and plan things out going forward. That said there are still some I dearly miss having on display, such as the beautiful PNSO Lambeosaurus and Parasaurolophus pair, and numerous others.

[PrimevalRaptor]

That one's always been a fun story since the same incident also sparked my general interest in dinosaurs, literally started when I was two or three years old and my mum brought home some of the UKRD models (I still have thos, the ones I remember most here are the Dimetrodon, Allosaurus and Apatosaurus) she had in her office and that started the dinosaur avalanche.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Papo Allo & Dimetro

[Gwangi]

Kind of hard to pinpoint what figure got me into collecting but I credit seeing the Carnegie feathered dinosaurs at a craft store for igniting the initial spark. Nostalgia for the toys I had a kid also played a factor. Toys by Carnegie, Invicta, Kenner, and Tyco to name a few. The X-Plus Styracosaurus was also a catalyst and although I never got it I was definitely motivated by it. And then there is the Dakin Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus. Trying to track it down is what made me finally join the forum after several months of lurking and reading the DTB. Honestly, it was the DTB that really got the ball rolling.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

The Papo feathered Velociraptor.
When I saw that in a shop when I was out in Blackpool, that really piqued my interest. To see that dinosaur depicted that way really made me want it. And it was when I was just starting to think about dinosaurs again after hardly thinking about them for over 10 years, to see that in person. And right when I was just starting to learn about the fact they did have feathers. It made me want to clect them, an damage me look more into them.

[Dyscrasia]

Invicta T. rex, Triceratops, Megalosaurus, and Iguanodon. I got them at a young age back in the 80's.

[MLMjp]

Have been collecting dinosaur figures since I was a kid, so I can´t remember which one was the first one

Even if we take my teen years when my collecting became more "serious" as the starting point...I still don't remember which figure started it.

[Stegotyranno420]

Long story with various key points

Before dinosaurs, I was obsessed with elephants. To get me off this elephant craze, my father bought this small bag of chinasaurs. Little did he know, this will kickfire a storm of more and more dinosaurs. This is probably what has gotten me and my brother involved with dinosaurs in the first place. I recall a small stegosaurus which was a tender navy blue, underbellied with a creamy yellow, adorned with robust magenta plates, and a red theropod which he refered to a giganotosaurus called "Jalapeño", which didnt make sense because Jalapeño peppers tend to be green. I was 3 and he was 5 when we got this set.
Later I received a Tyrannosaurus which I christened "Terry " after the one in dinosaur king. This was a very important theme throughout my years of dinosaurs, and to thsi day I jokingly refer to my safari Tyrannosaurus as Terry oacasionally
, for old times sake.

At some point when I was 9, I was persuaded to give up 90% of my toys(most weren't figurines, and I observe such a distinction). It was analogous to an extinction. All thar survived were some cartoony JW Hero Mashers, which at the time were my favorites, and where I got the moniker of "Stegotyranno", but
when i was 11 I saw a video of a popular reviwer repainting some chinasaurs. To my untrained eyes, these chinasaurs were incredibly well made, compared to previous. 20$ for 12? It was perfect to test my painting skills onto. I have gotten back into dinosaur toys figures

But finally the figures that has gotten me back to collecting were the safari ltd and carnegie Giganotosauri, which ironically I never gotten, but it is what made me join the forum after I searched for custom painted renditions of the former. The next year I would recieve Mojo figures from a friend and later the Limited Papo Spinosaurus,  and the following year, save up money for various safaris, and so on. Really been a nice trip, and it is only the start.

[Halichoeres]

I like how many of you trace it back to childhood toys. I had a handful of cheap ones as a kid but they're all long gone. I had a maybe 20-year dinosaur-less dark age.

[Gwangi]

I like how many of you trace it back to childhood toys. I had a handful of cheap ones as a kid but they're all long gone. I had a maybe 20-year dinosaur-less dark age.

I must have had about a 10 year gap between my childhood and adult collections. I got rid of my collection when I was about 15 and started regretting it around the age of 25. I suppose that's why I have two distinct collections. The reaquired toys of my youth (plus Mattel) to satisfy my nostalgia, and the more "serious" collection of accuracy orientated models for the adult me that's interested in natural science.

[Libraraptor]

I would say Invicta Stegosaurus and Diplodocus, the duo that got me into "serious" collecting when I was 16 or so years old.
My second, far bigger collecting wave began with the Invicta Blue Whaleb that was the very reason I came here where I saw what else there is to collect.

[Over9K]

My adult collection got started with the Kaiyodo 1/20 Dinoland 'Bellowing' Tyrannosaurus. I got the early grey pre-built, with the wood base, in '94 or '95, and picked up the tiger-striped version a few years later.




I collected until 2007, when I hit eBay and sold off a huge collection of vintage toys and figures across several genres to generate the down payment on a home, teamed with my wife selling her collection of vintage clothing, quilts and fabric. I didn't feel I could get anywhere near what the dinosaurs were worth, so I kept them, which by then included stuff from Resaurus, huge plywood skeleton kits from BC Bones, Sega crane game prize figures, X-Plus vinyl models and a bunch of Papos. The dinosaurs went into storage in early 2008, thinking we'd be moving into a new home soon.

Finally actually bought said home in 2015, and after a couple years of renovations, when I finally had space to bring out the dinosaur collection, the wife decided she wanted to start collecting again, so we negotiated and gave ourselves a reasonable, monthly, discretionary fund, purchases from which would not be questioned by the other.   

The first thing I immediately grabbed were both colors of the REBOR Vanilla Ice V.rex. I was a big fan of Peter Jackson's King Kong, especially the V.rex and once I saw the REBOR, I had a mighty need.




I grabbed the Nanmu 'Berserker' Indominus not even a week later, and it's a rare a month passes without box on the porch, holding some new dinosaur from PNSO, or Creative Beasts, or W-Dragon.

[Eatmycar]

I'll skip my childhood and jump right to 2017.

I had previously bought a few Papo dinosaurs back in college ('09-'14)... T. rex, Spinosaurus, Brachiosaurus, etc. But when I graduated I had to focus on "reality".

Then Fallen Kingdom came out. I though Jurassic World was a dumpster fire, I pirated Fallen Kingdom, and I've seen Dominion three times (and that's where it'll stay). I kept up with the Jurassic fandom a bit, and as you all know, Hasbro lost the license because they shit the bed with the 2015 line. Mattel got the line, and I became curious. Then the prototypes came out... then the photos of the first waves...

I told myself I'd just get Carnotaurus since it was my favorite theropod. It looked good. Then it became the Stegosaurus, Carnotaurus, and a few of the Attack Pack figures... and so on, and so forth. I gave in when I saw the figures of the Legacy humans and the Chomping T. rex

I paired down this collection a bit, and I'm keeping myself mostly within the boundaries of film animals only and Hammond Collection stuff. Beasts of the Mesozoic, specifically the Ceratopsians, have worked their way onto my shelves as well and at this point my love is only for articulated dinosaurs. I have a few PNSO and my old Papo figures, but after the disappointing Caroline the Corythosaurus as well as the Carnotaurus both being unable to stand freely, I've stepped away from that scale and those figures in general.

1/18 is a nightmare for shelf space though... so I am envious of the 1/32 scale collectors!