What figure got you started in collecting dinosaur figures specifically?

[suspsy]

I would have to say the four feathered dinosaurs released in 2006 for the Carnegie Collection: Beipeiosaurus, Caudipteryx, Dilong, and Microraptor.

[Fembrogon]

Dinosaurs - and dinosaur toys - have been a constant present throughout my life, so it's hard to pinpoint when my interest shifted from "having" toys to "collecting" toys, and which specific figure was responsible.
I think, however, that one of the first turning points was in 2007-2008, when I was first subscribing to The Prehistoric Times and becoming more aware of the general toy market. The announcement of the Carnegie Giganotosaurus was probably the most excited I'd ever been for a toy, and the new Wild Safari Allosaurus, Triceratops, and Dunkleosteus were probably the first "dino" figures I bought for myself from an online shop. I already owned several Safaris and Carnegies, but I'd say getting to purchase those three signaled something of a change. The Giga was gifted to me later on, and quickly became something of a centerpiece display.

[SidB]

It's good to have a pearl in the oyster, so to speak, @Fembrogon . The Carnegie Giga was a prize acquisition back then for myself also, and I still display it next to the Wild Safari successor.

[laticauda]

When I was a small kid, I did have a bunch of Marx and MPC cheap plastic dino toys. I also had a few other dinosaur toys, but they were for play not collecting.

I can't tell you exactly what toy, because it was an entire line.  The first time I collected prehistoric animals was the original Carnegie line.  I still remember seeing the huge display in a local toy store and wanting to buy them.  I made my list of figures that I was going to get, and I used my paper route money to buy them.  Those were the original Allosaurus, Corythosaurus (which is beautiful), Deinonychus (loved it then, now, not so much), Diplodocus (My all-time favorite toy), Mosasaurus (I thought it looked cool back then), Smilodon, Stegosaurus, and Pteradon.  I do not know in which order I bought them.   

[EmperorDinobot]

JP Dilophosaurus. Still have it to this day along with all of my JP toys. I also got a few AAA minis from my dad, still also have them, and a rev-up orange Deinonychus, brand unknown (same size as a Dino Riders one, if you wanna help me find it), but that one I lost at the beach when we moved back to Venezuela.

[DinoToyForum]

I think my first collectible prehistoric animal toy was the Invicta woolly mammoth, my dad got it for me when he took me to the Natural History Museum in London in the early 80s. I got the Invicta Iguanodon shortly after on a holiday to the Isle of Wight. I was too young to be a collector at the time so they got played with along with other toys: dinoriders and cheap Marx knockoffs also in the 80s. As I got older, probably in my early teens, the Invicta line is certainly the first line I gradually collected to put on a shelf and admire. I remember finally getting some of the big sauropods for my birthday, probably my 16th or 17th, and 'completing' the collection (minus the Dimetrodon and Lambeosaurus, which I didn't know about until later).

[Prehistory Resurrection]

Cheap plastic dinosaur toys. I was little and in my country, there weren't yet high quality dinosaur figures from the major brands. Through the Internet, I got to know about Schleich, Papo, CollectA and Safari Ltd figures and viewed images of figures from those lines. I remember that I was very amazed because I didn't know about the existence of figures from such brands.  It was only from trips abroad (still occasionally) that I was able to get my hands on some Schleich, Papo and CollectA figures and eventually, my collection grew. It is only recently that the toy stores in my country have CollectA and some Schleich figures as well as some Jurassic World Dominion. merchandise. So yes, that's how my collection started.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Hard to tell, since there was Childhood Dinosaur figures and the "adulthood" time. I guess, living in Germany and mostly seeing only Schleich figures everywhere(!), the Interest in collecting Dinosaur Toys was not that... well. I think seeing some Papos in a Store startet my Interest again, because i was shocked and happy to see, that there is more than Schleich. Of course there had to be more, but I found Schleich Dinosaurs so uninteresting, that i wasn't even considering looking for more.

But it was mostly the rebirth of the Interest in prehistoric Aanimals and my overall interest for Figures. Papo did the rest. And then, Papo was left behind by me quite fast After updating myself to more modern reseaches.

[Paleo Flo]

It was back in 2015 when I stumbled over the Safari Ltd. Diabloceratops. That was my new start in collecting dinosaurs.
I learned several years later, that it was something special because the coloration differd from the regular colouration.
It is still one of my favourite items in my collection...and of course I got the regular version, too 

left: regular / right: the special one

[Dinoguy2]

I've always maintained it was the Carnegie Pteranodon that got me into collecting. I was getting dinosaur figures before that and even completing entire collections, mostly (DinoRiders, Playskool, very early Bullyland dinos) but I think my mentality changed when I got the Pteranodon. The Carnegie display at the place I bought it had all the 1988 figures, big and small, so I instantly saw that this was a "collection" with both big, high-price items and tiny low-price items, I could, right then and there, start planning which ones I wanted most/were a priority for me, and thinking about what dinosaurs I would want to be added. I knew that even though my parents only let me buy one of the cheapest figures they had, this was like my "buy in" to a bigger picture. Plus, they looked and felt more premium and 'adult' than the Tyco and Playskool toys I'd had before. I feel like this was the first time my kid brain experienced something beyond "collect them all!" and wanting everything shown on the back of the package, to thinking about a line, planning, speculating about future releases, and ultimately getting one or two new figures every year. Basically, it activated my collector brain.

[SidB]

It was back in 2015 when I stumbled over the Safari Ltd. Diabloceratops. That was my new start in collecting dinosaurs.
I learned several years later, that it was something special because the coloration differd from the regular colouration.
It is still one of my favourite items in my collection...and of course I got the regular version, too 

left: regular / right: the special one

Interesting, @Paleo Flo , I didn't know that there was another subvariant. I picked up my one from the gift shop in a retile house north of Toronto, called, not inappropriately "Reptilia". While far from the first paleo-collectable acquired, it launched my acquisition spree of Doug Watson Safari figures, especially the marvelous ceratopsians.

[Paleo Flo]

I guess it was a not a regular variant, it was a production error

You are right. I love the ceratopsians by Mr Watson, too