Greetings and Bienvenue

Greetings friends, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this nondescript Blogspot. First and foremost, my name is Phillip. My alias for just about everywhere across this world wide web is Dragonsmana. But enough about all that, I know what you are here for. Let me introduce..... THE BOX!

This is the box that over the years has amassed at least a hundred miniature dinosaurs and various creatures. And the primary focus of this blog. Just because I should dump this information somewhere.

First up is one of the oldest dinosaur figures I have memories of:

A green Tyrannosaur. Other than "China, 1993, Tyrannosaurus" he has no other identifiable traits. I believe I remember having this guy around 93 or 94 when my interest in dinosaurs was ignited. This is surely a fierce contender. A mold probably used thousands of times. With his majestic tail dragging pose, and still clearly attached molding around his face seam. Yep. He does have some nice details and a better than expected paint job. Inaccuracies and production mistakes aside. I can't deny how much I loved this little piece of hard rubber as a kid. What kid DOESN'T love dinosaurs? Well, maybe heartless ones, but lets not get into that.

Since this is the first post, lets tackle some relatively boring figures. The following I got in a HUGE set at ToysRus, and its probably a fraction of what the set came with. Probably 1/4. The set was in a large cardboard box, I can't remember any of the writing on it. Imagine a giant shoe box, but the lid had a photo of all the dinosaurs and the giant volcano. This was the only "art" the rest of the box was brown cardboard. The set came with A LOT of rubber mono color dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles. I have since lost the box, and a fair amount of dinos. As well as the large, hollow volcano, which had a button in the top crater you could press and it would roar. The implication being it was the dinosaur roars. Which is pretty clever to be honest. Though volcano sounds would of been more appropriate. And would sound a lot less like Godzilla yelling into a toilet paper roll. To change the batteries there was a rod underneath that you could replace them. Double AAs I think. Onto the survivors.

First off are the Gallimimus. At least I always believed them to be so. The only other option is probably Troodon but I doubt it. Note the two in back are one color while the one in the front has 2. That is because the ones in back are from the original set, while the front came out of a grab bag somewhere much later on (within the past few years). I used to have a miniature herd of these guys like in Jurassic Park. Or should I say flock? Grant can lecture me later I'm sure. Not terribly exciting alone, but the fact they used to have a large group made for some interesting play scenes.

Dimetrodons are staples of almost any pack of dinosaurs. Despite living in a completely different time period and being mammal-reptiles. Much like the above two tone Gally, the neon green is from a later grab bag. I wonder if the grab bag was for a rave of some kind. I mean, if I ever went to a rave with all sorts of techno music, dancing and UV blacklights flashing everywhere, I'd most certainly toss out rubber neon dinosaurs. They'd likely glow under the lights for everyone to see, that despite being dead for millions of years, dinosaurs (and prehistoric mammal-reptiles) can still have a good time. Not that'd I'd go to a rave. But still, its the thought that counts. Oh right, the Dimetrodons...  The volcano set also had some larger rubber dinosaurs like the big Dimetrodon here, while the little ones have round and smooth sails, the big guy actually has more detail put into his, along with contours of the sail. And like all the other generic dinos that use these molds, the big one has an open mouth and is hollow. Inviting you to put your finger or something else into his mouth you likely will have a hard time pulling out again. Saaaaaailing, take me away....

Ceratopsians. Only the foremost grey one is an actual Triceratops, while all the rest are hornless. Most likely Protoceratops of some sort. And yes, the purple and yellow one is from the same grab bag. Unce Unce Unce. I'm pretty sure the grey Triceratops was alone in the set, at least he had some non-horny friends. The Ankylosaur with the lizard face probably had a duplicate too. Out of all the colors the set went with, to me back then, and even now I find it the most out of place to be the yellow. And yet bright green and dark blue are just fine... No idea why. Then again, I should take a cue from Grey and his million dinosaur march above, and not judge a dinosaur by his scales. But by the actions of his heart. Why must I think out loud?

Some likely Hadrosaurs, or even Maisaurus. The most I can tell is that they have duck bills.Along with them I put in the Stegosaurs. Both are pretty generic, the Hadros usually can't stand very well. The blue one in particular seems to have a club foot. He'd make an excellent mad scientist's assistant. Only to turn on and murder his master when hes crossed the line and played God just a little too much. Trying in vain to stop his new creation, and dying as Franken-dinosaur tears him apart for standing in his way. Or he can just sit in the box. A or B. It wasn't until I began typing this, but I wonder if I subconsciously placed the duckbills with the stegos as a reference to The Land Before Time? A childhood movie that could of ended much more depressingly according to Wikipedia. It probably would of been more merciful than the endless sequels and T.V. series.

Some Apatosaurs, and what I imagine are meant to be Northosaurs? The ones to the right of the picture are clearly generic sauropods. They'd probably say Brontosaurs if they had any writing at all on them. They don't even say "Made in China". None of these rubber dinos do. The figures on the left are very similar to the Sauropods at first glance, but they have different legs, body shapes, and even faces. But what really sets them apart is the fins placed on their tail ends. Even to this day I'm still not sure if they were trying for Northosaurus (despite North not having a tail fin) or something different. But given the vague similarities, I just call them Northos and be done with it.

Now this is still my absolute FAVORITE from that old set. A simple, grey, rubber Plesiosaur. Always was a great stand in for a Loch Ness Monster toy. Despite at this point, with all the evidence against Nessie being some hold over from the Jurassic era, my inner child will cling to the romanticism. My adult self will just say to put more stock in Champ. I love the simplicity of this figure still, it just works. there were no little ones of this in the set. The closest things were the Northos. He has managed to yellow a little bit from age, not incredibly noticeable, but its there. I've taken special care to be sure I didn't loose this one. And it payed off.

The largest piece from that dinosaur grab bag for raves I just can't stop bringing up. The original set had a Styracosaur just like this. Only in blue I think. This one has little yellow pieces jabbed into it's sides. By me. For whatever reason I was messing around and felt like stabbing it with the blades of a Gundam model kit, and then breaking them off inside him. Why? Your guess is good as mine. Maybe he made me angry. Maybe he was an innocent victim, with a wife and two kids, or a wife and two girlfriends. Whatever the case. I like him better now with the "dino damage". See what I did there? Moving on to the last dinosaur for this post...

A mini Tyrannosaur, he can usually stand fine with this tripod stance. But its usually hit or miss regardless. His expression makes me think hes bored, or contemplating what he intends for lunch. Or why he was passed over his promotion. We may never know, its like the smile on the Mona Lisa. Only instead of a priceless Italian artwork, its a rubber dinosaur from a no-name Chinese company. He was accompanied by a larger, hollow Tyrannosaur with a forehead crest which I liked more. Almost as much as the Plesiosaur. But, he obviously didn't withstand the test of time and getting lost, so we all knew who won...

Thanks for reading everyone, if you managed to make it this far that is. Hopefully I will get around to posting more in the future. For more miniature dioramas, which are admittedly better than those above, check my Deviant Art gallery here (shameless self promotion!):  http://dragonsmana.deviantart.com/gallery/29756664