Tyrannosaurus rex (Unknown Company)

4.9 (55 votes)

Review and photos by Philsauria, edited by Suspsy

Tyrannosaurus rex is without a doubt one iconic animal, one of the handful of dinosaurs that most of the general public can identify on sight, and as far as prehistoric animal toys are concerned, there wouldn’t be too many making dinosaurs that didn’t have this guy in their lineup. Hardly a year goes by without new versions coming out from existing companies or new manufacturers kicking off their product selection with one. You’ve gotta have a T. rex.

Now, I’ve no idea who the manufacturer of this one is – there’s no maker’s brand on it and no mention on the listing where I saw and ordered it from. This figure has been reviewed elsewhere online recently and that reviewer also failed to come up with any info on this impressive piece of plastic of unknown origin.

It has a very commanding presence: large, heavy and quite menacing as it looks back over its shoulder at you with one of those highly detailed eyes. I knew that I wanted one of these as soon as I saw the image accompanying the listing. The price does vary and will fluctuate, so patience can pay off if you strike at the right point in the cycle as I did. This figure also comes with a base which you can buy separately. I didn’t buy it myself, but the figure stands okay without it. The base has a broken tree in one corner with exposed roots snaking out over the grassy, rock-strewn piece of landscape. Foot impressions are provided as an aid to standing this guy in the right place.

Getting back to the size, this T. rex measures 40 cm (15 and a half inches) from nose to tail and stands 17 cm (7 inches) to the top of the arch in its wrinkled and scaly neck. It’s larger than the Rebor version and overshadows the original Papo version.

There are no feathers on this T. rex for those who still like a scaly version and the arms are very small in keeping with the actual animal. It looks impressively naturalistic and alive, striding along as it is with its tail raised and its head turned, although certain elements of its appearance may owe more to Stan Winston and ‘Crash’ McCreery than anything currently standing in a museum.

The colour scheme puts you in mind of the T. rexes in The Lost World: Jurassic Park with its dappled green markings and stripes. The paint application in general is nicely done, especially on the head. White is cleanly applied to the individually sculpted and very sharp teeth and the eyes are cream coloured with orange irises and black pupils. That’s a pretty small area to receive so much detail on a mass-produced figure. There is abundant detailing: small scales all over, ridges, wrinkles, and bumps from one end to the other. Jaw articulation on theropod figures is, of course, a given these days and so it’s no surprise to find that we have it here as well.

A lot of work has clearly gone into this T. rex, so it’s just odd that nobody seems to want to take credit for it by slapping their logo on the underside.

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Comments 26

  • When i got mine off of AliExpress, it shipped with a little tag that said MoFun. By googling it I found their website which, low and behold, has this Rex along with a (not as good) brown version! They also sell bases which look surprisingly decent among other things. TLDR; this is from some Chinese brand, MoFun. Here’s the link to their website. http://mofuntoys.toysol.com/Company/ADV/1453-mofuntoys/en.html

  • That’s the Edage brand Tarbosaurus if I’m not mistaken. I too was curious about it years ago and found it eventually through that company name. They have a couple other dinosaurs.

  • This one’s neat. Though, it looks a little like the evolutionary step from a Recur to a Papo.

  • I too am curious which company originally produced this figure. Aliexpress has listings under 2 brand names: Wiben and Oenux. It’s more likely these 2 are just re-sellers. Wiben labelled their version as “First Edition” and ships it with the base and 2 familiar looking companions (A schleich Triceratops and a Papo acrocanthosaurus). Oenux claims theirs is a “Remastered version” and is shipped with a plastic plant instead of the base.

    This figure has also appeared in Philippine toy stores in boxes labelled “Dinosaur World”. Wiben uses this tagline in their Aliexpress page.

  • This model is not bad but till date, PNSO Wilson T.rex based on Stan specimen is the most accurate retention of that animal even it has surpassed the safari feathered one, though it is unfeathered and they have given reason for the scaly rendition.

    I have too much hope from Eofauna, let’s see how much accurate rendition of T.rex Eofauna team give us in the near future.

    • I hope Eofauna won’t make a T. rex in the near future. If one feels no T. rex figure is perfect, well, then the same would be true for figures of other prehistoric animals too. There’s quite a number of decent figures for T. rex, while there’s a lack of good options for many other prehistoric animals people would like to have, often having only one or no good representation at all.

      While the prehistoric animal figure market has a lot to offer, there’s also a lot it doesn’t currently offer, to such an extent that entire groups have little or no good options for figures. I’m sure interest in particular types of animals has an effect on what gets made, but I don’t think the interest people have is entirely being met. Instead, I think certain types of prehistoric animals end up getting made too often. Groups I’d like to see less figures of in the future include tyrannosauroids (especially T. rex), allosauroids (especially Giganotosaurus), ceratopsids and elephantimorphs.

      I understand how you feel about T. rex from long posts you’ve made on the forum. I don’t doubt more decent T. rex figures will be made in the future. One example I’m aware of is Rebor’s upcoming grab and go T. rex – there are photos of it on page 152 of the REBOR general discussion thread on the forum. Other good options for T. rex figures include ones made by Battat, and the T. rex in Favorite’s often-overlooked first “soft model series” – one colour version of this T. rex figure is reviewed on this blog where in the title it’s simply identified as being from the “kinto favorite collection”.

      Eofauna is currently only releasing one figure at a time, each time quite far apart. I’d like them to NOT give priority to T. rex like almost everyone else does, and instead offer dinosaurs (and other prehistoric animals) which have not been made well often. Maybe then I might be able to have at least one animal I like by Eofauna! For the record, the way PNSO gave priority to T. rex has had the consequence that T. rex is the ONLY theropod currently available from them that isn’t a mini figure. It seems finally PNSO will be releasing larger figures of other threopods, although they’re really don’t bring much different to what’s already available unfortunately. I wish Eofauna success and I hope they make many prehistoric animal figures! But, I hope their only theropods won’t be Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus (/Spinosaurus/Carnotaurus/Ceratosaurus/any other allosauroid).

      • I honestly would not want Eofauna to make a tyrannosaurus rex even if it was perfect. I agree with you, I would like in any case figures of dinosaurs and obscure prehistoric animals, the giganotosaurus although it is already a known figure for which we are collectors is a rarer animal, but the iconic tyrannosaurus rex (my favorite theropod by far) and it is very represented and I understand it will continue being a represented figure because it is an animal that sells much comparable with the lion, giraffe, elephant or tiger among the current mammals.

        If you read these lines Eofauna brand I would like to make figures a little more rare or obscure in the toy market, although I am aware that the tyrannosaurus rex sells a lot and as I say, I can not amend the commercial philosophy of a brand of prehistoric animals toy. To choose would prefer a tarbosaurus on the part of Eofauna is similar and except Favorite’s is a figure very little represented yet although there is a version of that tyrannosaurid by Chinese toy brands.

    • I too am very hopeful for a T. rex from EoFauna. Their first three figures have been extremely impressive, so I’m fully confident they’d do proper justice to the tyrant king. Besides, you really can’t have a dinosaur toyline without T. rex. Be no different from having a DC superhero line without Batman or a Marvel superhero line without Spider-Man. Cultural icons can’t be stopped.

    • Like Sim, I’d really rather see some different species. I’m sufficiently bored of Tyrannosaurus that in 2018 I didn’t buy any of the at least 18 different versions released, and I’ve vowed not to buy any in 2019 or 2020 either. I think it is quite possible for a toy line to thrive without Tyrannosaurus, and more of them should try it.

      • I agree with Halichoeres in thinking it’s possible for toy lines to succeed without T. rex, and that more of them should try it. If a toy line wants to have another tyrannosauroid instead, I think Tarbosaurus would be able to replace Tyrannosaurus just fine. It might even sell more than Tyrannosaurus, especially in a figure line aimed at collectors, due to the lack of adequate Tarbosaurus figures, in contrast to people who don’t want yet another T. rex. Other tyrannosauroids like Daspletosaurus might also be able to work as replacements for T. rex. Or perhaps one could also look at other types of theropods, and this has already been happening, with Vitae and Eofauna both making their first theropod Giganotosaurus, rather than T. rex.

        Personally, I’ve never found T. rex to be a very appealing animal. I don’t want to have another figure of it.

        • *shrug* I suppose it’s always *possible* that a dinosaur toyline could get by without a T. rex, but I highly doubt that that will ever come to pass. Schleich, Safari, Papo, and all the other big companies clearly don’t think so. Again, you gents might as well be pining for a Transformers toyline that doesn’t include Optimus Prime, or a Disney theme park where Mickey Mouse’s presence isn’t felt. T. rex will always be the flagship dinosaur, no matter how much you may personally dislike it. And no, it cannot be replaced by Tarbosaurus or Daspletosaurus or any other theropod, any more than Optimus can be replaced by Rodimus or Ultra Magnus or Grimlock. Certainly not among the children who are generally the primary consumers of dinosaur products, or many adult collectors. Heck, look at how JP3 tried its best to ram Spinosaurus down everyone’s throats only to end up being the poorest grossing film in the franchise. Say what you will about the JW films, but they knew that audiences liked T. rex the best.

          • I don’t think T. rex, as the real animal it is, is equivalent to fictional characters. I think it can be equivalent to them when it is in the context of something fictional, for example the T. rex in the Jurassic Park franchise. Consequently, I don’t agree with the sentiments that equate T. rex in general to a fictional character.

            Vitae, Southlands Replicas and Beasts of the Mesozoic are all doing well, and none of these have made a T. rex to achieve that.

          • As far as the general public is concerned, T. rex is absolutely in the exact same league as fictional characters, be they from cartoons, comics, or movies. So is Velociraptor to a lesser extent. And sure, we can point out the many differences between the real deal and the public perception, but when it comes to the business of selling toys, and more specifically, remaining afloat in the business of selling toys, the bottom line is that T. rex is more popular and more profitable than any other prehistoric animal. I’m not saying that you have to like the situation (you certainly have every right in the world not to), but you seem unwilling to accept the reality of it. At least that’s my impression right now.

            Southlands Replicas’ stated focus is on fauna from Australia and other southern regions, and they haven’t even begun to tackle dinosaurs yet. Vitae and Beasts of the Mesozoic are relatively new companies, (and the latter relies mainly on funding from consumers) so it’s only a matter of time before they tackle T. rex. That’ll likely be their next project once they’re done with their current ceratopsian one. And you bet your bottom dollar that any T. rex figure they produce will sell like crazy.

            We’ll just have to wait and see what these companies, along with Eofauna, have in store for the future. I will note in closing that I do share your desire for a wider range of tyrannosaurid toys. I would absolutely snap up a Tarbosaurus or a Zhuchengtyrannus or an Albertosaurus.

          • If we run with your analogy, and think of the Phanerozoic as a TV show or comic book, T. rex appears in maybe 2 or 3 of the last 500 episodes. Bit player.

            I think you’re right that in lines aimed at kids, T. rex is going to feature prominently because kids don’t really have a grasp of deep time or ecology or whatever else. They just want some monsters to bash together (yes, I know there are exceptions, like those of us who grew up to argue about toys on this site). But I think Sim is right that lines aimed at collectors can forgo T. rex. Here’s one piece of evidence in addition to the several lines he’s cited that don’t currently offer one: PNSO has released 10 large vinyl figures in the Age of the Dinosaurs line, and T. rex is one of the 3 that nobody has bothered to review for the blog. It’s also the least popular figure in the line, judging by its stats on dinotoycollector.com: http://dinotoycollector.com/Browse/Browse.php?Company=PNSO&Line=Age%20of%20the%20Dinosaurs

            Sure, small sample size, but I think the rankings still suggest that collectors are interested in some variety. PNSO also made the 1:35 version, which is a little more popular, but I think it’s a stretch to say that they’re only staying afloat because of T. rex. I would bet $100 that when the other 1:35 figures are released , most of them will outsell “Wilson.”

          • That’s a great analogy, Halichoeres, but if we run with it even further, every single prehistoric animal is reduced to a bit player. Besides, there’s ultimately no point to such arguments (at least in my view), because none of them are ever going to affect the popularity of T. rex one smidgen. Again, you have absolutely every right not to personally like it and I understand and respect that sentiment, even if I hold the opposite one.

            As far as that Dinosaur Collector ranking for the PNSO T. rex is concerned, I would respond with what you admitted yourself: it’s far too small a sample to be conclusive one way or the other. Official sales figures from PNSO would be more persuasive. And no, I don’t think PNSO or any other company is staying afloat simply because of T. rex, but there can’t be any denying the fact that T. rex outsells every other dinosaur on the whole. Look at how many versions CollectA, Papo, Safari, and Schleich have produced in the last decade or so. Heck, Papo and Safari have repainted and re-released the exact same version of their respective T. rexes three or four times now. They wouldn’t be doing that if they weren’t reasonably certain that it was going to turn them a profit.

            Anyway, as I said before, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds.

  • This replica of tyrannosaurus rex looks fabulous despite being an unknown company. By the way, is it available on eBay or Amazon?

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