Here’s a toy that many of you will no doubt recognize. It probably doesn’t stand on too many collectors’ shelves today but certainly helped fill a lot of toy boxes in the 80’s and 90’s. Yes, you could call this a Chinasaur but you could also call it retro, vintage, and nostalgic. For me it’s an iconic toy from my youth and now that I’ve reacquired it I’m excited to formally introduce you all to the Dor Mei Tyrannosaurus.
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that many of these old toys by Dor Mei, Laramie, and Imperial have high levels of lead in their paint and are unsafe for children. You can read more about that over at Lead Safe Mama.
Even if you didn’t have this particular toy growing up roughly 30 years ago you no doubt had something produced by Dor Mei. They were responsible for a lot of the cheap dinosaur toys from the late 80’s. Dor Mei was right up there with the likes of UKRD, Imperial, and AAA. They closely resembled their contemporaries of that time and their toys stood out if for no other reason than they were large. The Tyrannosaurus in this review stands 10” tall and measures 12” from snout to tail. Dor Mei was also responsible for a lineup of Godzilla knockoffs and other large menacing plastic reptiles.
This is the kind of toy only a hopeless nostalgic could love. Superficially it resembles a Tyrannosaurus. Large toothy head? Yup! Small arms? Of course! Bipedal? You got it! But it gets just about everything wrong with the details. For starters it is of course a tail-dragger. That should be of no surprise but if you look closely at the legs and feet you’ll see that anatomically they look more human than dinosaurian. This is a model of a man in a dinosaur costume, looking like something straight out of “Unknown Island.”
The tail is short and thin, the torso laughably long. The arms are too long as well but the hands aren’t pronated. Not an intentional decision to be sure. The head is big and boxy. The mouth is filled with generic pointy “shark teeth” and two gigantic eyes resting atop the head. The toy comes off looking more like a frog than our favorite theropod. Ear and eye openings are present and surprisingly the finer details aren’t as bad as you might expect. The skin is covered with pebbly scales; the belly has scales resembling those on a crocodile. The fleshy throat dewlap is cross hatched but gives the toy a lot of its charm. Skin folds run down the torso and the crudest hint of musculature is present on the legs. No bad for what it is.
This toy can be found in at least two color schemes that I’m aware of. The most common being this reddish-brown version. The back is a lighter shade of greenish-brown with a black stripe down the spine. The eyes and nostrils are red and the claws aren’t painted. The teeth are sloppily painted white, and some don’t have paint on them at all. Another version exists that’s painted yellow with black tiger stripes coming down the flanks along the back.
The toy is hollow which as a child meant you could stuff a lot of smaller dinosaur toys in there. Or action figures. Whatever you wanted really. It was a lot of fun to play with and was the matriarch of my particular pack of Tyrannosaurus. Although hilariously outdated this is one of those toys you can’t help but love. It has a lot of personality and represents a unique approach to the Tyrant King. It’s easy enough to find to this day, on eBay in lots or singly. No doubt there are hundreds lurking around yard sales and flea markets as well. If vintage retrosaurs are your thing, check out the Dor Mei Tyrannosaurus.
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I remember having this guy in a set with a triceratops and diplodocus.
Although I had a lot of (Dor Mei / Chinasaur) dinosaur toys as a kid, this figure was never one of them. I had seen it multiple times at the toystore, but when I finally could go and get it they were sold out.
I came across one a couple of months ago and bought it. Just because of the childhood memories. No regrets!
I had this in the 80s/90s. Exact same model, only mine was blue. He was nicknamed Big Blue. So you can add that as a colour variant. 🙂 I loved that it was hollow inside as a kid. Although I recall that I cracked the plastic near the corners of the mouth from making it “bite” so much. It was not designed to bite, haha.
I had this one growing up. Even as a kid I thought it looked terrible, but it was big and it could swallow hot wheels cars, so it was fun. It usually did battle with my brother’s Dor Mei Triceratops. Triceratops had the exact same teeth as TRex had, which made my nerd OCD flare up.
Que recuerdos!! yo aun tengo el mio.
Ah yes, that one was great for nomming on smaller toys. I remember my mom tracking down a “weird smell” to my brother’s toy, which he had been feeding bits of his lunch to for quite a while!
Ah man the nostalgia! This dude and my three foot long plastic crocodile probably died of heart disease from all the G.I. Joe’s I stuff down their throats as a kid!
It’s ugly.i like modern dinosaurs
Eloquently stated.
Oh man! I used to have this exact one!!! It’s so weird how everyone knows T. rex had tiny arms, yet usually when portrayed in popular culture it’s arms are made too long. Go figure.
I had this sucker when I was a kid. Surprised that it took this long for it to be reviewed for the blog! Well done!
Well one does not always expect these type of toys to get the DTB Treatment
For me, in my opinion, we must cherish our toys equally. They bring back souvenirs, most precious souvenirs and nostalgia. They are like time machines, which bring you back to a distant period where you were a little kid playing with it.We must preserve our toys and not sell them just for a handful of bucks, or else, we would make a huge mistake and it is at our stake or risk or peril. Anyways, it looks like the huge Prehistoric Scenes by Aurora Tyrannosaurus. This oddball is a majestic toy with its fiery red eyes indeed. I am a fan of vintage retrosaurs and tyrants.
If you know any other dinosaur figures from this line, please do let me know.Thanks and nice detailed review for such a simple but classic figure which means you are a very good observer. I just love this toy, it may look simple and outdated but it is a real treat and a classic vintage tyrant.