Return to the Crackington Formation

[Blackdanter]

Thanks for sharing @Blackdanter - lovely photo of you and your sisters and good to see you had the Allosaurus too. I never had the Rex either, but my best mate did, it seemed huge back then!

Here's some more snaps of the kits - I think from this angle the Cro-Magnon is beginning to see a way to survive the tussle after all:



The Aurora bases were famous for being able to interlink and form a bigger "landmass". The Cave Bear's base can connect to the Cave in a few ways, but this vulture's eye view helps illustrate this:


 

More soon!

They're brilliant. Congrats on getting the new kits.

[Crackington]

Thanks very much @Blackdanter, but only the Cave Bear is new (I.e the Atlantis reissue).

The other kits are original Auroras which I've managed to get over the years. They are all a bit battered with parts missing, but this meant they were cheaper. The Cave doesn't quite fit together and has a chunk missing from the roof so I just store it now. The Sabre-tooth Tiger was missing its base and the Cro-Magnon's shoulder and arm looked like he'd been through a mangler (Ursus?) so I tried to make this into a feature when I painted him. He looks git hard now with his scarring 

I did blow a lot on the Jungle Swamp last year (see back on page 10-11) so occasionally will be silly with these kits. Speaking of which two final snaps to show. The back of the Cave with its nice paint job - whoever did this was very talented and even did some cave art inside (see page 3):




Finally, I did get the Papo Cave Bear from @UK (thanks Steve) so couldn't resist this one - Get out of my Cave!!!

[Torvosaurus]

I had the cave bear when I was a kid. My parents bought it because I thought it would make a good grizzly bear for my, uhm, Johnny West toys.

I have those toys packed away in the garage, my son was into GI Joe and Star Wars as a kid but didn't like the cowboy stuff. I'll have to go see if the bear is still out there with them. I don't remember if it is.

Torvo

[Crackington]

Thanks T @Torvosaurus and I hope you are able to find the Bear.

I'm not sure who Johnny West was (a cowboy toy?), but having the Cave Bear standing in for a Grizzly is not too much of a stretch.

I read somewhere that the Cave Bear was originally intended to be just that and designed as a contemporary animal for their American Bison kit. They repurposed it for the Prehistoric Scenes series when the first wave of kits did really well.

[Torvosaurus]

Thanks T @Torvosaurus and I hope you are able to find the Bear.

I'm not sure who Johnny West was (a cowboy toy?), but having the Cave Bear standing in for a Grizzly is not too much of a stretch.

I read somewhere that the Cave Bear was originally intended to be just that and designed as a contemporary animal for their American Bison kit. They repurposed it for the Prehistoric Scenes series when the first wave of kits did really well.

It was a 12" action figure, with a horse and guns and stuff. There was a whole line of figures that went with it.

I'll get up in the attic of the garage this weekend, to see about the bear. We're finally having some really nice weather.

Torvo

[Crackington]

Sounds great stuff! Good luck finding the old toys and hope the weather improves (been very damp and wet in South-East England so far this year, nicer today though!).

[Crackington]

Well its more than time for some more snaps from the Crackington formation (been busy with work etc recently). Have still managed to collect some bits and bobs in the last few months and will add them here.

Firstly, my minor obsession with old Dinosaur cards/stickers used as premiums for tea, baked beans, 1970s inedible chocolate bars etc continues. This time with margarine (of course!) getting in on the act. I think you'll agree that this 1987 tie in between Flora margarine and the British Natural History Museum is a real beauty:



This was a sticker album with John Sibbick's artwork always worthy of attention and the Zallinger mural as bonus.



Wonder if the stickers were actually inside the margarine tubs, might explain their crumpled appearance?

However, what really caught my eye was that fabulous Invicta artwork which I've only seen elsewhere in those posters. The album has a large horizontal poster as its centrepiece and thankfully the previous owner left it intact:



More soon!

[SidB]

I'm looking forward to your next set, @Crackington !

[Crackington]

Thanks S @SidB - I recently discovered another old card set which I will post here soon,  but first a bit more on the "Florasaur" album.

A bit of digging on t'net found a great article on the album and also an appraisal of the Invicta poster, by the artist Ian Coleman: https://chasmosaurs.com/2022/11/17/vintage-dinosaur-art-the-second-invicta-poster/

This is really good with the Stenonychosaurus and Brachiosaurus taking starring roles. I also love the Blue Whale jumping out the ocean on the right of the poster:




Here's a close up of the other side with older figures, both in terms of geological and production age:



The article doesn't look too much at the rest of the album, but this is also of interest to paleo-fans. The forward is by the late Angela Milner from the NHM:



There's a nice photo of the Museum in the 80s here too:



All in all a great find, not too expensive and taking up little space in the Crackington Formation!

[BrontoScorpio]

Great retro Invicta poster.
Long have I searched for it - until I found one and dedicated a post for it as well as as part of my Invicta collection.

[Crackington]

Thanks @BrontoScorpio 😊

Your post was very interesting too and the members' comments. The poster was clearly re-issued later in the 1990s, so good to see it had an after life.

I liked those dinosaur postcards you showed there too. I had a few of these back in the day (late 1970s/early 80s). Must keep an eye out for them too....

[Halichoeres]

When I was a kid I didn't have many toys, but I did have things like dinosaur stickers and trading cards and even a few postage stamps. @Crackington did you also start out collecting paper? It definitely has advantages in terms of space!

[Crackington]

A bit of both @Halichoeres . I was able to collect models quite gradually through birthdays, Xmas and saving pocket money. The cards were easier in many ways, premiums given away by a myriad companies with their products.

The PG Tips tea cards were the first I remember collecting and coming from a large Irish descent family, I had lots of lovely aunts saving them for me too. Their Prehistoric Animals set still stands up well today and is featured up stream in this thread.

It wasn't just dinosaurs though, I also collected wildlife, inventors and Doctor Who cards from Weetabix. I used to put them in my own scrapbook if they didn't have an album.

I must of driven my parents mad with pester power!

What kind of cards did you collect?

[Libraraptor]

That Invicta poster is a highlight without a doubt! I have its first version, but am still looking out for this one as well.

[Justin_]

I had quite a lot of these Weetabix Doctor Who cards. I especially liked the background images on the back of the boxes:
https://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/weetabix-doctor-who-boxes-and-replica-cards/
I'm trying to remember which cereal brand did a series of really nice 3D wildlife scenes in the mid to late '70s, which involved cutting and folding bits of the back of the box, so the result was a bit like a cardboard theatre. Maybe @ceratopsian recalls?
I was also a big fan of Letraset Action Transfers. There's a great collectors site here: https://www.action-transfers.com , which I'm very glad includes this image of early hominid head shapes from the Patterson Blick Instant Picture Books — Monsters to Caveman, which I clearly remember being fascinated by a child:

[Halichoeres]

What kind of cards did you collect?

The ones I remember best are the 1993 DinoCardz. Solid artwork. I also had some JP trading cards, including some of the ones that came with Kenner's die-cast dinosaurs. And some superhero cards until my mother, in the clutches of the Satanic Panic, made me burn them lol.

[Crackington]

Sorry for late replies @Justin, @Libraraptor  and @Halichoeres - seem to be so busy these days!

Libraraptor - I'll keep an eye out for the Invicta poster, you never know I might come across another in my travels!

Justin - Not sure about the 3D wildlife cereal images, I think it might have been Shredded Wheat? Love the Letraset image - almost looks like two images put together; a very nice hominid family group with a less impressive Charles Knight-esque Smilodon stuck on top.
 
Sorry to hear about your prehistoric card sets @Halichoeres - my stuff was got rid of in my parents move and I can't really blame them for that, moving into a smaller home and all. Losing your stuff when still a kid for uber religous reasons sounds a real bummer. My parents were (and are) church goers too but am glad to say that they didn't take everything literally and really valued education. I think I was lucky really.

I also managed to "score" a few figures in recent months, among them some rarer vintage stuff:




Pick of the bunch were these two - 1950s Cherilea Dimetrodon and a 1970s Starlux Diplocaulus (sadly missing its twin):



They were unidentified and in a job lot with more modern cheaposaurs, so got them for a great price. I also got a few Wheeto rubber dinos, at the back in the first photo. I'll show more of them soon     

[Crackington]

A bit more of the Weetos as promised. @Faelrin and I had been discussing Diener rubber dinosaurs and whether or not to put them on the DinoToyCollector site. As old figures they are more complicated than we'd thought with possibly different series and lots of bootlegs. They did have some nice figures though like Eryops and Edaphosaurus (see page 11 here).

I came across for a nice price some similar rubber dinos from the UK, Weetos cereal premiums from 1992 and found a good wepage on them too:

https://cerealoffers.com/Weetabix_Ltd/Weetos/1990s/Prehistoric_Model/prehistoric_model.html

Here they are with some of the Dieners:



The Weetos have a pretty usual line-up for cereal dinos, though with a Lambeosaurus and a Talarurus instead of "Trachodon" and an Ankylosaurus:



Some appear to be rubber versions of the Paninis, like the Icthyosaurus (my fave) and the Tylosaurus.

There are similarities with the Dieners too though, here's the T-Rex with two suspect Dieners:



There are also three Triceratops too underneath. It would be good to get more of a handle on these Dieners, but I  think we could add the Weetos to the DinoToyCollector site now. I'm happy to provide the snaps!

[Halichoeres]

That has to be the earliest Talarurus. One of those names where it's a bit of a mystery how of why they chose it for that particular figure. Does it even have a club?

[Crackington]

Not really @Halichoeres - looks more like a fishing hook!