Boki's Collection: A short goodbye (until we meet again) 3/7/23

[UK]

More inspiration for me to finish my mammal collection. Missing two large and two small figures. Thank you for sharing Ashley.

[Bokisaurus]

Thanks for all the comment guys I have plans to review all of the large mammals, just a matter of time

Okay, for the 2nd and 3rd installment of the Playvision set, we look at those amphibians and marine reptiles.

Part 2:Playvision Prehistoric Amphibian Set

This set is perhaps the most sought after of the series, largely due to the fact that not many prehistoric amphibians are given a chance to shine. They are fascinating group, with many first time, and to this day, still the only toy representation of the species.
They were briefly made available again a few years ago, I think under the Club Earth name. This re-release allowed some collectors to acquire them before they again went off the market.
The group of eight ( what a bunch of hard to pronounce names! ):

They are Diplocaulus, Eogyrinus, Platyhystrix, Triadobatrachus, Crassigyrinus, Eeyops, Gerrothorax, and Peltrabatrachus


The next set of mini  are the marine reptiles, there are also eight figures in the set.

Part 3: Playvision Marine Reptile Set
Just like the amphibians, the marine reptile set also has some uniques species in the mix, but the majority are popular enough that other companies has released versions of it. I think, today, the Mixosaurus is the only unquiet one.
The group of eight marine reptiles:

They are Hedonus, Placodus, Shonisaurus, Mosasaurus, Mixosaurus, Metriorynchus, Elasmosaurus, and Nothosaurus. At least this group have names that are easier to pronounce


So, there they are in all their glory They are truly a gem and worth searching for and acquiring.
End of Part 1-3, all together now

[Bokisaurus]

Concluding the Playvision Collection with part 4, this time we look at the dinosaur sets.

Playvision Dinosaur set: The American Museum of Natural History ( AMNH) set
Playvison has some dinosaurs in their like of course. Unfortunately, they are not that good quality and nothing really special and worth collecting for me personally. The only exception is this line of eight figures released under the auspice of the AMNH.
They are all common species as one would expect. Surprisingly, they are nicely done and very much underrated, overshadowed by the prehistoric mammals, amphibian, and marine reptile sets.
I have all eight of them, but somehow I misplaced the T rex, so for now, he is missing from the group
The group of seven ( missing mr. T)

For me, the standout and favorites are the Apatosaurus, Styracosaurs , with the Ceolophysis and Plateosaurus a close runner. The others are okay, especially the T rex.
The group consist of Apatosaurus, Euplocephalus, Plateosaurus, Styracosaurs, Allosaurus, Ceolophysis, Dilophosaurus, and Tryannosaurus


When I locate Mr. T, I will add him since he is a nice looking one.
The Apatosaurus pose is perhaps one of the most dynamic sauropod pose I have seen beside rearing ones. It's head/neck sideways, and it's tail lashing out. It remains one of my favorite figures.
I love the Styracosaurs as well. The paint scheme is clearly inspired by the DK book.
Overall, this set is worth acquiring. The regular Playvision dinosaurs are, as I said before, not worth the bother.


Thanks for checking in and hope that you enjoyed the series. Till next time, bye now!

[BrontoScorpio]

Playvision Dinosaur set: The American Museum of Natural History ( AMNH) set
The only exception is this line of eight figures released under the auspice of the AMNH.


For me, the standout and favorites are the Apatosaurus, Styracosaurs ,... and Plateosaurus a close runner. The others are okay, ...

Hi, Nice collection.
But, I think you are right - Apatosaurus, Styracosaurs and Plateosaurus are the best -
because, I am not sure all 8 are from the AMNH line - maybe just those 3 and the Ankylosaurus :



Look at the following explenation :
http://www.dinosaurcollectorsitea.com/playVision.htm

I am not sure the other four belong also to AMNH, and in any case, they are inferior, in my opinion, to the previous four :

[Bokisaurus]

Hi there, and thanks for your comments.
They are indeed all part of the AMNH set. Perhaps different sculptors.
Randy's site broke down the set into two groups, ther herbevoures and carnivores 😀

[Halichoeres]

I think the Placodus might also be unique, unless you count the Placochelys by Starlux, which sure looks like a Placodus. Great photos as always
You might be right, I don't even think that TEDCO had one in their amphibian set. Thanks 

[Shonisaurus]

I congratulate you Bokisaurus your prehistoric animals of Play Visions are very good. In fact the company Play Visions has made figures of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals pretty cool. 

[SBell]

Hello dino fans!
Out next installment is going to be a 3 part since there will be a lot of photos
Today, I am sharing my Playvision collection of both the large and small set of prehistoric mammals.
The Playvision series is one of those odd ones. They released way back in the early 90's some set of cool looking prehistoric mammals, amphibians, reptiles, as well as dino.
When I first came across the mammal set, I was not really even into them yet, after all , prior to WW prehistoric beast movie, there really wasn't much out there besides the mammoth, smilodon, wholly  rhino.
By accident, back in 97, I was looking for some art supplies and checked out a small store that sold educational stuff. I happen to see a wall that had some dinosaurs, so obviously I had to check it out to see if there are ceratopsians or sauropods that I desperately need. I saw some odd looking animals that turns out to be the Eobasilius, Palorchestes, smilodon and Hyeanodon. I purchased the large smilodon and Hyaenodon thinking I would be back later to get the others since I was out of cash. I never did make it back.
Fast forward years later, when I joined the forum, I learned a lot about prehistoric mammals and what figures are out there. To my horror, I found out that the Large Playvison figures were some of the most rarest and sought after figures! Add insult to injury, by that time, I have long given away the original two figure I had.

With my new appreciation for prehistoric mammals and now knowing how rare these figures were, I went on a search for them hoping to get them.
If you tried searching for them, you will know that it is almost impossible to find them, and if they do turn up, the commanded astronomical price tag!
I pretty much gave up on trying to acquire the figures, I simply cannot afford the going price for them ( back then, they range from $ 50 - 100 each!). Then, in 2009, my luck would change as far as my search for these figures is concern.
I was offered a rare opportunity by a collector/seller to buy all four figures at way below the price. I was very shocked, and if I din't know the seller, I would think it was a scam,.
Anyway, more of these story of how I came about acquiring these figures in a later post since this particular event would change how I would go about building my collection.

Anyway, the figures were sold individually as well as in a pack, with two of the large figure along with the some of the small figures.
IN the large set, there were four species , and eight on the smaller ones. These sets would include some really odd and obscure species. Most of these are straight out from the Simon and Schuster book

Large set

The large figures in the set are Smilodon, Hyaenodon, Eobasilius ( Uintatherium), and Palorchestes.
As you can see, they truly are uniques species, with only the Smilodon being the common one. The choice of Palorchestes, and odd marsupial giant, is even more surprising considering it is so obscure back then.

I am personally glad that I got all of the mammals I could when I did, although I never got the large Palorchestes. Just didn't happen.

Also...just to nitpick, but the 'hyaendon' is Andrewsarchus. The large one is marked 'hyena' but the small one is marked Andrewsarchus Hyena (I guess they were trying to relate them to something modern? They did the same thing with Palorchestes Tapir). The colour scheme also matches better with the Dougal Dixon-inspired sculpt (the hyaenodon from the same image set is heavier headed and darker). I don't think a true Hyaendon toy figure was released until the early 2000s by AAA (not counting the Ral Partha Beasmasters figure I suppose).

Unlike the small sabre-tooth cat which is marked Smilodon but is obviously based on the Homotherium drawing--making that little cat pretty special as a figure!

[Shonisaurus]

With the mane the smilodon of Play Visions recalls the smilodon of Papo. 

[Roselaar]

Placodus is indeed also on the USL.

Lovely PV collection! Don't have the mammals myself, but I hope to some day (fat chance!). The marine reptiles and amphibians are simply gorgeous.

[SBell]

With the mane the smilodon of Play Visions recalls the smilodon of Papo. 

Except that it came out 15 years earlier when we didn't know better (last I had heard, manes were unlikely in Smilodon)!

[Shonisaurus]

With the mane the smilodon of Play Visions recalls the smilodon of Papo. 

Except that it came out 15 years earlier when we didn't know better (last I had heard, manes were unlikely in Smilodon)!

Of course you're right, I should have said that the Smilodon Papo looks a lot like the Smilodon Play Visions taken more than a decade ago. The excitement of seeing these beauties makes me write inappropriately and wrongly, I'm sorry. 

[SBell]

With the mane the smilodon of Play Visions recalls the smilodon of Papo. 

Except that it came out 15 years earlier when we didn't know better (last I had heard, manes were unlikely in Smilodon)!

Of course you're right, I should have said that the Smilodon Papo looks a lot like the Smilodon Play Visions taken more than a decade ago. The excitement of seeing these beauties makes me write inappropriately and wrongly, I'm sorry. 

No worries, I kind of thought as much!

[Bokisaurus]

 Dawn of the Dinosaur Set
Next up we have that sought after set, Dawn of the Dinosaur. A nice, and highly unique set of critters from the dawn of the dinosaur.
They are rare and hard to find due to their very limited release. They were special figures for a museum exhibition in Japan ( of course!).
There are 3 larger resin figures, Frenguellisaurus, Exaertodon, and Saurosuchus, that came in beautifully illustrated box. There was also an official book that was sold as well.
In the small set, there are 11 figures, 6 fleshed out and 5 skeleton.
I was only able to acquire the large Saurosuchus from the large set. I got all of the mini fleshed out version, plus one skeleton. I'm not really into skeletons, and the other's were versions of the fleshed out ones.

Large figure and the box art, both front and back



The mini figures, they truly are unique!

Unfortunately, this little skeleton has met an accident with a vacuum cleaner and was forever lost.

Large and small Saurosuchus, as we'll as group shot of the mini figures with that little CollectA guy for scale


The small insert foldout sheet, as well as the entire group shot


If you like unique and odd looking critters, this set is worth seeking out and acquiring. Just need patience

NOTE:
As of this posting, the entire set is on their way to another continent to join another collector's collection
Yes, I traded them ( you will see soon what for ), but also know that they are going to someone who would appreciate them and really enjoy them.
I added them here as a reminder that I once owned them, but also as a reference for the collection.
Until the next post, cheers, and thanks for looking!

[Halichoeres]

Wow, the whole set! I can't wait to see what you got for it.

[Lanthanotus]

Said it before, but that salamander thingy is a real cutie... for the rest of that bunch,... weird, but I can respect and appreciate their collectability. I am curious where they show up next and what you got for

[Shonisaurus]

The saurosuchus is perhaps one of the best figures of the group. Detailed to the maximum is a remarkable paleoartistic work.

Pain that is of resin and not of PVC (I say it for the stability before involuntary and inevitable falls to the ground) of all ways it is a magnificent figure. 

[postsaurischian]

  Love this set!
     When a friend of mine visited the Dawn of the Dinosaurs exhibition in 2010, most people thought about 30 Dollars for one of the
     three resin figures was too expensive. Only good old member brontodocus (where is he ) was interested to get one as well.
     Things change.
     I also have the exhibition book. It's wonderfully illustrated .

[SBell]

I managed to grab the whole set when it was cheaper! Plus, I have the resin 'Frenguellisaurus' and it came with an exhibition book (box set)!

On top of that I have two different colour versions of the little Exaeretodon...not sure if there were separate runs or what (early papers left off one of the little figures)

[Libraraptor]

There it is again! Can't get my eyes Off the Exaerotodon and the Saurosuchus!

@postsaurischian.: brontodocus is not gone.  He is still quite active on the Animal Toy Forum.