Understanding Favorite/Kinto/Dinostoreus

[DinoToyForum]

Could anyone please tease apart the history and relationship between these different companies/lines? I'm trying to clean up the classification on the dinotoyblog and I'm getting in a muddle!

[SBell]

As far as I understood it when talking with Dinosatoreus people a few years ago:

Kinto is the overall company. Favourite is one line among others, of the line of soft models. Dinostoreus is the US distributor of Kinto products.

[postsaurischian]

You're right about Dinostoreus.
But Favorite is not part of Kinto. Favorite is the company's (not soo) new name.
There's no Kinto anymore. All products are on Favorite's homepage: http://www.f-favorite.net/
The old desktop models that were distributed by Dinostoreus though won't be produced anymore.

[DinoToyForum]

As far as I understood it when talking with Dinosatoreus people a few years ago:

Kinto is the overall company. Favourite is one line among others, of the line of soft models. Dinostoreus is the US distributor of Kinto products.

Thanks. I don't understand this bit: "Favourite is one line among others, of the line of soft models." If Favorite is a 'line', why is it referred to as Favorite Co. Ltd? It must be a sub-company of Kinto, then, or something?

[DinoToyForum]

You're right about Dinostoreus.
But Favorite is not part of Kinto. Favorite is the company's (not soo) new name.
There's no Kinto anymore. All products are on Favorite's homepage: http://www.f-favorite.net/
The old desktop models that were distributed by Dinostoreus though won't be produced anymore.

Ah, so "Kinto" (the name, not the company) is defunct?

[postsaurischian]

Ah, so "Kinto" (the name, not the company) is defunct?

Right.

[SBell]

As far as I understood it when talking with Dinosatoreus people a few years ago:

Kinto is the overall company. Favourite is one line among others, of the line of soft models. Dinostoreus is the US distributor of Kinto products.

Thanks. I don't understand this bit: "Favourite is one line among others, of the line of soft models." If Favorite is a 'line', why is it referred to as Favorite Co. Ltd? It must be a sub-company of Kinto, then, or something?

For a while it was the name of the toy dinos. The other products were just Kinto products. Apparently at some point they changed to a DBA of Favorite to include everything.

[Dan]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

[Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

Makes sense.

[DinoToyForum]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

So Dinostoreus are part distribution company for Favorite models, part separate company that sells different non-favorite models? What exactly are the differences between their new releases?

[Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

So Dinostoreus are part distribution company for Favorite models, part separate company that sells different non-favorite models? What exactly are the differences between their new releases?

If I'm correct, I believe that Dinostoreus produces "desktop" models, and Favorite does "soft" models. That'd be the most obvious difference, I'd think. But I could be wrong about that.

[DinoToyForum]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

So Dinostoreus are part distribution company for Favorite models, part separate company that sells different non-favorite models? What exactly are the differences between their new releases?

If I'm correct, I believe that Dinostoreus produces "desktop" models, and Favorite does "soft" models. That'd be the most obvious difference, I'd think. But I could be wrong about that.

Look on the Favorite website, they produce all of the above. The models Dinostoreus sell are the same as the ones Favorite sell, I think. To be honest, I'm confused again! 

[Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

So Dinostoreus are part distribution company for Favorite models, part separate company that sells different non-favorite models? What exactly are the differences between their new releases?

If I'm correct, I believe that Dinostoreus produces "desktop" models, and Favorite does "soft" models. That'd be the most obvious difference, I'd think. But I could be wrong about that.

Look on the Favorite website, they produce all of the above. The models Dinostoreus sell are the same as the ones Favorite sell, I think. To be honest, I'm confused again! 

Really? Oh. Now I'm confused too! 

[SBell]

Sean's info would have been correct when he received it, a few years ago. Now it is no longer the case. Dinostoreus pulled away from Favorite to form a completely separate company. This is why new releases for one company are different than the new releases of the other.

I never dealt with them in more than an exploratory manner, so I haven't kept up with their changes. It seemed kind of complex several years ago, so it's good that some things are staying the same!

[amargasaurus cazaui]

So the nice models made of stiff resin like material and mounted on wood placques are being discontinued? I love that series of models...the compie and sciopnyx are life sized !!!

[tyrantqueen]

So the nice models made of stiff resin like material and mounted on wood placques are being discontinued? I love that series of models...the compie and sciopnyx are life sized !!!

All good things must come to an end, they say

[Dan]

They offer many similar items because they were once the same company. Some of the older pieces are of course made from the same mold, so can be tricky to tell the differences unless the model is viewed in hand. Once they split into two companies, the divergence becomes apparent when you study their newer releases. For example, Dinostoreus has the Smilodon skull, while Favorite has the green Triceratops prorsus desktop model. Favorite is retiring and replacing many of their older pieces, which is why their skull and skeleton models look quite different now.

Categorically they are two different companies now, so in terms of the blog, each piece would just be categorized as either Favorite or Dinostoreus. Let me know if that helps.

[DinoToyForum]

They offer many similar items because they were once the same company. Some of the older pieces are of course made from the same mold, so can be tricky to tell the differences unless the model is viewed in hand. Once they split into two companies, the divergence becomes apparent when you study their newer releases. For example, Dinostoreus has the Smilodon skull, while Favorite has the green Triceratops prorsus desktop model. Favorite is retiring and replacing many of their older pieces, which is why their skull and skeleton models look quite different now.

Categorically they are two different companies now, so in terms of the blog, each piece would just be categorized as either Favorite or Dinostoreus. Let me know if that helps.

Thanks Dan, I see. So I need a Dinostoreus page to go alongside the Favorite page: http://dinotoyblog.com/companies/favorite-co-ltd/ It does make it a bit difficult to categorise some of the blog entries without it getting confusing, but since that is the reality, we will get by. Do you know when the companies split? That would help.

For those models that are similar to the point of being identical (made from same mold)(e.g. http://dinotoyblog.com/2011/12/16/allosaurus-skeleton-model-dinostoreus/ ?), it could be misleading to classify them as belonging to just one company or the other. I'm edging towards categorising them as both, despite whatever label appears on the underside. Or, do you think, based on your experience with these two companies, that the differences are sufficient to warrant a separate review for each company's version?

Thanks for your help!

[postsaurischian]

Comparing the Stegosaurus skeleton model from the Dinostoreus page with mine (which has the Favorite label on the underside) shows that there seems to be absolutely no difference.

[DinoToyForum]

Comparing the Stegosaurus skeleton model from the Dinostoreus page with mine (which has the Favorite label on the underside) shows that there seems to be absolutely no difference.

So a separate review of both versions would be quite pointless. Simpler, then, to categorise one review on both company pages, with a title like so: Stegosaurus (Favorite co. Ltd. and Dinostoreus). Unless there are any objections, that's what I'll do. I never imagined the rabbit hole would go so deep! Thanks for your help folks!:)