Imperial Prehistorics

stargatedalek · July 09, 2015, 04:47:42 AM

Edited by Admin to make an appropriate opening post for this topic.

Image by Paleona

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I've never been interested in the Imperial dinosaurs but they make some beautiful modern animals, I have a good size lot of 1:1 marine life by Imperial.

Victoria's Cantina · July 09, 2015, 07:08:59 AM

Oh man... I had a bunch of those when I was a kid in the late '80s/early '90s. My first one was the purple and blue apatosaurus, which I lost on the last day of school my kindergarten year. I remember Walmart selling them, and they actually came in packages rather than in some toy bin. There was also the memorable green and yellow T-rex with the "lipstick." I also remember having the styracosaurus, triceratops, stegosaurus, mastodon, and my favorite of all for some odd reason, the grey trachodon (at least I think that's what it was called).

There's a grocery store chain in Texas (H-E-B) that last I checked, still sells them. They're the same molds as the old ones as far as I can tell but with new-ish paint schemes.

Blade-of-the-Moon · July 09, 2015, 07:15:00 AM

Your right it is a Trachodon. It was a Wave 2 release I think? After the Apato, Rex, Trike and Stego. I'd love to find a MIP set of them.

Victoria's Cantina · July 09, 2015, 09:04:17 AM

Quote from: Blade-of-the-Moon on July 09, 2015, 07:15:00 AM
Your right it is a Trachodon. It was a Wave 2 release I think? After the Apato, Rex, Trike and Stego. I'd love to find a MIP set of them.

I loved that one and I don't really know why. Looking at photos of it now, it's pretty wacky looking. I'd love to find some sealed ones too though for nostalgic reasons. A few years ago I started buying some loose ones on Ebay, but they didn't seem to be the same releases I remembered from when I was a kid. They were Imperial and the sculpts were the same, but they were painted a little differently. I ended up giving them to my former roommate's nephew.

Paleona · July 09, 2015, 02:26:37 PM

I don't personally collect them, but I have a bunch saved from my childhood! I'll have to pull them out later and take a group shot.

Halichoeres · July 09, 2015, 05:10:39 PM

I didn't know they were ever sold in packages! I can imagine those being pretty hard to turn up, as most people probably didn't regard them as collectibles when they were being sold.

Paleona · July 09, 2015, 06:19:07 PM

My old Imperial buddies

The blue Apato must have been my favorite, because his purple paint is nearly all rubbed off, but can just be made out in certain spots:

Blade-of-the-Moon · July 09, 2015, 06:44:37 PM

Quote from: Victoria B on July 09, 2015, 09:04:17 AM
Quote from: Blade-of-the-Moon on July 09, 2015, 07:15:00 AM
Your right it is a Trachodon. It was a Wave 2 release I think? After the Apato, Rex, Trike and Stego. I'd love to find a MIP set of them.

I loved that one and I don't really know why. Looking at photos of it now, it's pretty wacky looking. I'd love to find some sealed ones too though for nostalgic reasons. A few years ago I started buying some loose ones on Ebay, but they didn't seem to be the same releases I remembered from when I was a kid. They were Imperial and the sculpts were the same, but they were painted a little differently. I ended up giving them to my former roommate's nephew.

I've found differences in paint, molding, size, ect..and they all bear the same stamp. I think it's just the way they were made. The new paint, where it's totally different are probably later releases than the ones we know.

There was also a Velociraptor I don't have and electronic versions of the it, the T-Rex, and Mastodon.

I recall in third grade my grandmother told me if I said all my multiplication tables in school I could have a dinosaur she got me..I was really excited and I hated math..but I learned them and said them in front of the class..took me two weeks ( forever in kid years) and my prize? An Imperial electronic Mastodon. Great. I think I managed enough tack to still act grateful. lol

Victoria's Cantina · July 09, 2015, 08:10:55 PM

Great story! The first one I got was the apatosaurus. I took it with me everywhere I went as a 5 year old. On my last day of kindergarten, I made the ill-fated decision to bring it to school with me. It was in my backpack, and for whatever reason, I forgot my backpack in class. Before the next school year was about to begin, my mother took me to the school and we went to lost and found to see if it was there. They gave me my backpack, but the apatosaurus wasn't in it.

Takama · July 09, 2015, 11:03:03 PM

Imperials were one of my favorite Toys Growing up. My Parents bought me multiples of them, though i lost the most valuable ones (The Mastodon, and Annaotitan)

Raptoress · July 09, 2015, 11:52:12 PM

I had no idea people collected these. I gave away two to a charity shop!

ImperialKing · July 10, 2015, 03:42:56 AM

Quote from: Paleona on July 09, 2015, 06:19:07 PM
My old Imperial buddies

The blue Apato must have been my favorite, because his purple paint is nearly all rubbed off, but can just be made out in certain spots:

Bonus crazy 2-headed Imperial dragon:

You have some great Imperials, I love that 2 headed dragon. I have the same one in a less flashy color scheme. Thanks for sharing...great stuff!

ImperialKing · July 10, 2015, 03:49:43 AM

Quote from: Raptoress on July 09, 2015, 11:52:12 PM
I had no idea people collected these. I gave away two to a charity shop!

I often go to charity shops in search of them.

Blade-of-the-Moon · July 11, 2015, 05:30:24 AM

There's one now..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE00NTaonEs

Victoria's Cantina · July 11, 2015, 06:55:02 AM

Quote from: Blade-of-the-Moon on July 11, 2015, 05:30:24 AM

Oh man... that really takes me back. This is something I haven't laid eyes on in 25 years. I'd love to have a set of these for nostalgic reasons.

Blade-of-the-Moon · July 11, 2015, 07:15:48 AM

Same here! I remember staring at the artwork while my mom was shopping..really inspired my play time!

Victoria's Cantina · July 11, 2015, 11:44:26 AM

I love how the T-Rex is photobombing on most of the packages.

DinoToyForum · July 11, 2015, 04:12:01 PM

I'd always just presumed these were no-name chinasaurs!

Gwangi · July 11, 2015, 10:15:46 PM

I had a bunch of the Imperial toys growing up. The Imperial Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus were my favorite toy Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus that I had. Not sure why because I did have bigger and better growing up (Tyco, Carnegie, Dor Mei). I also had the Styracosaurus, Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus. Were there any others?

Blade-of-the-Moon · July 11, 2015, 10:49:21 PM

I had Carnegie and Tyco as well..but when it came to being rough, burying them in landslides, floods, ect.. these guys and maybe the old Playskool dinos were the best , not easily damaged, even their paint took a licking and they were cheap by comparison. So they were great take-along dinos on trips and outings..easily making them childhood favorites.

Here is the electronic Rex :

I also had this Imperial Parasaurolophus?

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Imperial Prehistorics