Ictonyx's Carnegie collection

[Ictonyx]

A few pictures of my Carnegie toys. I would guess I got most of these 15 - 20 years ago. Dug them out and put them all together for the first time in many years.

Overview:





A wing of large theropods:





Some marginocephalians:





Stegosaurus, marine reptiles:





Iguanodon and Corythosaurus:





Some allosauroids:





Miscellaneous shot:





Morrison sauropods:

[ceratopsian]

If only I had my childhood dinosaurs!  Carnegie models retain their charm despite the passage of the years I think.

[Ictonyx]

Yeah, there are some that I have really vivid memories of playing with. They are very variable in quality, but I think a few of them are really good for relatively cheap models - i.e., models that would be classed as toys rather than models for collectors.

[ZoPteryx]

Great collection!  These were the first dinosaur figures I ever endeavored to collected.  I still remember how excited I was when I found the Kronosaurus in a toy store as a child. 

[Shonisaurus]

Honestly in my case when I bought the kronosaurus there in 1998 in the Museum Store of Natural Sciences I was thrilled by this figure was for years my favorite figure of prehistoric marine animal along with the elasmosaurus also of Safari and the marine reptiles of Invicta.

[ceratopsian]

When I started collecting dinosaur toys three years ago, it was Carnegie that drew me in. I'm not completist enough to have chased down everything in their line, just the ones that appealed in some way.

[Ictonyx]

I was really excited when I got the Kronosaurus, it's just such a large impressive model, the jaws and colour scheme are fantastic, and I was going through a big pliosaur phase at the time. Quite an interesting historical snapshot as well, as it is closely based on the very inaccurate Harvard mount of Kronosaurus. The torso is ridiculously long, the hind flippers ridiculously short, and all four flippers bizarrely narrow.

ceratopsian: yeah that's exactly how it was for me - I never actively collected anything but Carnegie, though I did end up with some other bits and bobs.

[Halichoeres]

The Carnegie Collection was such a great line. We enjoy such an abundance of good dinosaur figures these days, but in Carnegie's heyday, there was very little else like it!

[Pachyallosaurus]

Nice collection! I'm currently trying to collect all of the Carnegie figures(which for some reason I think they all have their own charm, even the ugly ones.) I don't need every repaint and sculpt variation, but they would be nice.

[Ictonyx]

Pachyallosaurus: Well in case it's relevant, I am going to be looking for new homes for all my figures at some point - I wanted to get decent photo documentation of the collection beforehand, and I have not sold any figures before so I don't really know how people usually go about it, but anyone interested in Carnegie figures should watch this space.

Halichoeres: Yes, I think it was undoubtedly a landmark series of figures, and my personal attachment to the Carnegie line is largely due to my amazement at finding dinosaur toys that were *actually good* on a fateful childhood museum visit. That was the start of my Carnegie collecting, and the charm didn't wear off for a long time!

[Ictonyx]

I think one of the very best Carnegie figures - certainly out of the ones I own - is the Corythosaurus.



The sculpt - in terms of both gross anatomy and finer detail - and the posing are both pretty amazing for a 1991 dinosaur toy.



My biggest quibble, if I'm going to be fussy, is something that applies to many toy dinosaurs, even the very good ones - the very wide stance (see below). These hind limbs would look a lot more elegant (and probably be more accurate) if they were closer to the midline.

[Jose S.M.]

I think Carnegie Corythosaurus is still the best toy of that genus. It's wonderful and compared with the Parasaurolophus for the same line, looks kind of "ahead of it's time". Aside for the hands it looks like something released in these years. About the stance, yeah the leg is weirdly positioned, to me it looks like it's about to get up and run away from something it just spotted.

[Ictonyx]

I also have a soft spot for the Iguanodon. The pose is much worse than in the Corythosaurus, with the dreaded tripod formed by a sharply bent tail. For a large ornithopod with ossified caudal tendons, this was presumably anatomically impossible, as well as looking awkward and unrealistic compared to the quadrupedal Corythosaurus with its nice, straight tail.



But despite the posing issues, there's something about this Iguanodon that really does it for me - I love the colour scheme (I much prefer it to the later, grey and red version) - there's something in the positioning of the head and neck that I really like, and the hind limbs are in a narrow, vertical stance - something I look out for in dinosaur toys. I always liked Iguanodon as a dinosaur, and I remember really enjoying playing with this toy.

[Ictonyx]

One of my absolute favourite Carnegie models is this version of Diplodocus. I like the colour scheme, I think the sculpt is generally very good for a relatively cheap 'toy' and I think the posing is, for the most part, defensible. The legs are a weak point as it often the case with Carnegie sauropods - the posing of the legs is a bit strange and the feet are extremely broad. Particular high points for me are the whip like end of the tail - so often left out on diplodocid sculpts - and the general impression of life and movement given off by this model.

[Ictonyx]

The adult Apatosaurus model is a mixed bag. The sculpt and posing are not as good as the Diplodocus - the neck is rather awkwardly positioned, and the whiplike end of the tail has been left out, as if this is a titanosaur. The weird giant feet and very flexed legs are similar to those of the Diplodocus. One thing that is nice to see is that the torso of the Apatosaurus is noticeably wider than that of the Diplodocus, and the Apatosaurus is also noticeably higher at the hip. This goes some way to giving the Apatosaurus the right aura of robustness, but I wish they had made it a bit bigger so it really looked a lot heavier than the Diplodocus. Despite my quibbles though, there is something very endearing about the Carnegie Apatosaurus, especially when posed with the baby.

[Ictonyx]

The 1988 Brachiosaurus possibly edges out the Diplodocus as my favourite of the Carnegie sauropods I have owned. This is a huge, show stopping toy. I love the posing - there is a real sense of life and movement in the limbs, the gracefully curved neck and tail, and the open mouthed head turned slightly to one side. Yes, it is pretty fat, and once again the legs and feet leave something to be desired. But overall, I think this is an amazing sculpt, and it's great to see it towering over the other Carnegie models.

[Ictonyx]

I really like the Carnegie Deinosuchus - it has a fantastic sense of weight and robusticity, with the broad torso, broad skull, and huge posterior pterygoideus muscles bulging on the sides of the neck. I think the paint job is great with the exception of the area around the mouth, which would have benefited from more attention to detail. My main problems with this model are a couple of proportional things - I would love the tail to be deeper and probably a bit longer, so it really looks like it could propel a multi-tonne crocodilian. The snout tip could be lower as in modern reconstructions, though to be fair it's a 1995 model. But the big problem for me with this model is the eyes - they are just ridiculously big. Allometry would suggest tiny little piggy eyes compared to the massive skull for a crocodilian this size - and little piggy eyes really add a sense of immensity to the Deinosuchus reconstructions that use them - check out Doug Henderson's Deinosuchus, for example - probably my favourite artwork of this animal.

[PhilSauria]

Nice collection and great pix of same. Like the Invictas these are true classics in regard to the history of Paleo figures - I have more Sauropods than any other species in my collection including all of the Carnegies - except the Diplodocus. For a variety of reasons it has eluded me over the years (usually to do with prices), maybe one day... Thanks for sharing.

[Shonisaurus]

Thank you for sharing without a doubt the most beloved figure of that collection is without a doubt the deinosuchus of Carnegie. To date it is the best deinosuchus in the toy market that I have in my collection.

The sauropods brachiosaurus and diplodocus of Carnegie are increasingly difficult to find in the toy market. I hope that Safari or another company will be encouraged to commercialize more sauropods of an acceptable size as those two figures. The iguanodon Carnegie is perhaps the weak figure of the group considering that Doug Watson's Safari iguanodon is superior sculpturally and scientifically speaking.

[Ictonyx]

Thanks for the comments. At some point when I have looked into the practicalities of postage etc., I will almost certainly be listing my entire collection for sale.