Today is a super special Toy Trio–3 figures from the marvelous original Dinotales series! One is from series 1, one is from series 1 version 2 (sort of) and one is from series 2 (sort of). All are of course wonderful–and two are super special editions! Dino Fun!
Kaiyodo Dinotales series 1 Dimetrodon
Here is our first one, from the very first Dinotales series–and probably among the first ones I ever got. It is of course the very not-Dinosaur Dimetrodon. It is of course a fantastic small figure, with lots of detail and what might be one of the most imaginative colour schemes that was applied in…1999? At least until they revamped this figure for their Series 1 version 2. One distinct thing about this figure, unlike most of the other Dinotales figures, this Dimetrodon is a single piece–so no seams!
The first Dinotales series featured 24 figures (plus a secret figure). This Dimetrodon is number 13 in the series. And of course they are long out of production. That said, I don’t think the Dimetrodon is too hard to find or, relative to some of them, all that expensive. And it’s still a great little figure of what might be one of the most popular non-dinosaur prehistoric animal figures.
Kaiyodo Dinotales Jurassic Park Institute Tour Parasaurolophus
Next up, a Parasaurolophus, but from a special release series–it was a promotional set from a themed exhibit tour in Japan from the Jurassic Park Institute (but not this Jurassic Park set). In this instance, it was a box set of existing figures from their Series 1 version 2, Series 2, and series 4 sets, all of which showed up in Jurassic Park movies. The Parasaurolophus was originally from Series 1, but this particular model was from the Series 1 version 2 re-release but with a unique paint scheme…although I don’t think it reflects any colour scheme from movies (not that I have actually checked).
Because the figures are reissues, their numbers carry over from the main line but with a stamped modifier. In the Dinotales series, Parasaurolophus is number 007; this one is labelled 007.JP. That little “.” indicates that the sculpt is the series 1 version 2. The full series contained 5 figures total (maybe someday I’ll get to Run the Set) but oddly one was not a ‘raptor (because they never made a Velociraptor). Most of the figures are life reconstructions, which makes sense, but for whatever reason one is a skeleton. And it is:
Kaiyodo Dinotales Jurassic Park Institute Tour Stegosaurus skeleton
It’s a skeleton figure. A Stegosaurus skeleton to be exact. Which as far as I can tell relates to Jurassic Park in that…the animal showed up in the Jurassic Park: Lost World movie. As an animal. Which the Dinotales line actually has in the second series…but instead they repainted the skeleton (also from the second series). As far as a skeleton figure goes, this one is of course an impressive model–so much detail, and so well made. Tricky to put together though…and it’s kind of fragile.
As with the Parasaurolophus, the Stegosaurus skeleton has been repainted compared to its original Series 2 counterpart–a darker brown, but not as dark as the skeletons in Series 1 version 2. It’s a whole thing. The figure is number 030 in the Dinotales line, so this one is marked 030.JP As individuals, it is uncommon to see the JP Tour figures available, as the set is usually sold in its box. And the box set is not all that common either. Which means that, as far as Dinotales go, they aren’t always cheap. More for completists (or, in my case, I think it was a trade or lucky find, something like that!) but not an impossible find.
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