Cadbury Yowie

[Brontozaurus]

Yowies, for the uninitiated, were Kinder Surprise-esque chocolates sold by Cadbury from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. They were made up of a chocolate shell around a plastic capsule. Inside the capsule was a plastic toy, called a 'playmate', that was a model of an animal. These animals were intitially Australian and New Zealand natives, but in later series they began to branch out into international animals. There were six Yowie characters (Rumble, Crag, Boof, Nap, Ditty, and Squish) who represented particular environments (the desert, wetlands, rainforest, gumtrees, woodland, and waterways, respectively).

Around 2000, the Lost Kingdoms subline was released. It was a tie-in to a travelling museum exhibit of the same name-indeed there were three small dioramas in the exhibit (of the Cretaceous, Miocene, and Pleistocene) that used Yowie figures. There were three series. Series A had 50 figures and covered animals from the Ediacaran to the present day. Series B had 30 and covered the Ediacaran to the Oligocene. Series C, the final series, also had 30. It included animals from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, and also had ten international dinosaurs. Each series also had six limited edition models. Series A had skulls, Series B had glow-in-the-dark versions of some models, and Series C had 'dazzling dinosaurs', which were transparent sparkly versions of some international dinosaurs.

The Earth's geological history was divided up into six 'Lost Kingdoms' for each of  the six Yowies. Squish had the Ediacaran to the Triassic, Crag had the Jurassic and Cretaceous, Ditty had the Eocene to the Oligocene, Boof had the Miocene, Nap had the late Miocene and Pliocene, and Rumble got the Pleistocene and modern day.

Since this is the dinosaur toy forum, we'll begin with the dinosaurs and other denizens of Crag's lost kingdom.

Here's the complete collection.



Now for some pics showing them by the series they were released in.

Series A:

L-R: Dromaeosaur, Flat-headed Amphibian (Siderops), Austrosaurus, Fleet-footed Dinosaur (Fulgurotherium), Muttaburrasaurus, Australian Icthyosaur (Platypterygius), Kronosaurus, Australian Allosaurid, Long-necked Plesiosaur (Wollungasaurus), Queensland Pterosaur (Ornithocheirus), Steropodon, Dawn Bird (Nanatius)

To the side you can see the Queensland Dicynodont and the Tasmaniosaurus, two Triassic denizens of Squish's Lost Kingdom.

Also note the limited edition allosaurid skull. It was the only dinosaur skull in the line. I also have the NZ giant eagle skull, the powerful thylacine skull, and the marsupial lion skull.

Series B:

L-R: Rapator, Minmi, Eric the Pliosaur (Umoonasaurus), Kakuru, Hotcrossbunodon (Kollikodon), Mauisaurus, Imperial Ammonite (Tropaeum imperator), New Zealand Mosasaur (Rikisaurus), Giant Sea Turtle (Cratochelene), Stegosaur, Timimus, Ceratopsian Dinosaur (Serendipaceratops), Giant Sauropod, Limited Edition Glow in the Dark Giant Sauropod, Ozraptor, Atlascopcosaurus, Giralia Pterosaur

The glow-in-the-dark limited edition models were the giant sauropod, ceratopsian dinosaur, Rapator, Atlascopcosaurus, Eric the pliosaur, and the stegosaur.

Series C:

L-R: Plateosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Prenocephale, Baryonyx, Chasmosaurus, Kentrosaurus, Edmontonia, Amargasaurus, Cryolophosaurus, Caudipteryx

The Plateosaurus is technically in Squish's lost kingdom, since it's from the Triassic. The dazzling dinosaurs were Plateosaurus (blue), Lambeosaurus (green), Armagasaurus (pink), Edmontonia (orange), Baryonyx (red), and Chasmosaurus (yellow). The Plateosaurus and Chasmosaurus had variations where their colours were switched. I have the blue Chasmosaurus, along with Edmontonia, Armagasaurus, and Baryonyx.

[stoneage]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

[ZoPteryx]

Nice to see some less well known creatures in figure form.

[SBell]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

Yeah, I'm a little confused too--there are at least 24 figures in each series--in set A, I think, there are 50 or so.

[Jetoar]

I think that Cadbury have done interesting figures of dinonosaurs and uncommon dinosaurs. In my country, I cant find these kind of figures  .

[SBell]

I think that Cadbury have done interesting figures of dinonosaurs and uncommon dinosaurs. In my country, I cant find these kind of figures  .

They've been out of production for about 10 years now, so nobody finds them anywhere anymore (except on ebay).  And they were never distributed beyond Australia and maybe New Zealand--there was a small UK set, but those were modern-animals only.

[stoneage]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

Yeah, I'm a little confused too--there are at least 24 figures in each series--in set A, I think, there are 50 or so.

Yes, he stated the right numbers in his opening paragraph.  There are 50 in A. and 30 in B and C.

[SBell]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

Yeah, I'm a little confused too--there are at least 24 figures in each series--in set A, I think, there are 50 or so.

Yes, he stated the right numbers in his opening paragraph.  There are 50 in A. and 30 in B and C.

So he did...

[Brontozaurus]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

I only posted these ones because a) they were dinosaurs and b) they're the complete collection of one of the six 'lost kingdoms' that were used as a sort of theme (e.g. the Mesozoic, the ice age, etc.)

[stoneage]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

I only posted these ones because a) they were dinosaurs and b) they're the complete collection of one of the six 'lost kingdoms' that were used as a sort of theme (e.g. the Mesozoic, the ice age, etc.)

I thought maybe you were trying to show just the dinosaurs.  I really have never thought about the kingdoms or characters. (Rumble etc.)

[Brontozaurus]

I'm not sure what you mean by the complete collection.  I have all the Lost Kingdom Yowies and you have several missing.  Yowies are not as well done as say Dinotales, and they tend to use English (Flat Headed Amphibian etc.) rather then scientific names which can be confusing.  This site provides good large pictures of all the Lost Kingdom and other Yowie figures.  http://yowielegacy.com/?cat=10

I only posted these ones because a) they were dinosaurs and b) they're the complete collection of one of the six 'lost kingdoms' that were used as a sort of theme (e.g. the Mesozoic, the ice age, etc.)

I thought maybe you were trying to show just the dinosaurs.  I really have never thought about the kingdoms or characters. (Rumble etc.)

The characters were a pretty big part of the marketing for these figures. For the exhibition they were associated with, an animated short was produced that began with each yowie sitting around a fire, implied to be sharing stories about the past. On the back of each leaflet was a short paragraph from the yowie character associated with the animal about how they'd learned about extinction. Also the chocolates and the packaging were in the shape of the yowies; for Lost Kingdoms the foil packaging changed so that they were holding a shovel and a sign reading 'Lost Kingdoms'.

The yowies were pretty big parts of the franchise, actually. Early on there were books and plush toys of them, as well as rare minifigures included in the chocolates. Later on there were larger figures of them. There were also two 'Yowie Adventure' lines that ran concurrently with the Lost Kingdoms, which included comic strip adventures on each leaflet and figures of characters, animals and objects from the strips.

So to me the Yowie line is just as much about the characters as it is about the figures, because I grew up with all of this, and I thought it'd be interesting to share it because today it's entirely about the figures.