Who makes it? Playmates as part of their Wave 1 Dinosaur King small figures. They don’t use item numbers.
When did it come out? Around 2009? 2010?
Still available? They were barely available when they were for sale. They never really hit many markets. Sometimes they show up on Ebay. They were more common in some parts of Europe.
Where can it be found in my displays? The shelf of random and colourful things (easily the most colourful one) Hemnes2Aβ
How does it fit in the collection? Well, sometimes a set just appeals to me. In this case, I liked the small size and wider range of dinos. Small dinos fit the shelves so much better!
Any story behind it? Not exactly. I had seen some people with them on the Dinosaur Toy Forum and wanted them. I found a seller on Ebay UK that had all of them (in two batches) and I only ended up with a couple doubles. Plus, my son enjoyed the cards that apparently are part of a game or something…which were all part of a TV show Tie in that I still know nothing about.
Notable remarks about this figure (a review that isn’t really a review): This isn’t really a figure that’s meant to be realistic. I don’t even know if it reflects its appearance on the show…game…cards…wherever it appeared. It’s recognizable as Saltasaurus based on the pronounced scutes on the back, but they seem exaggerated. Given that it’s from a show (or something?) about fighting dinosaurs, I guess it makes sense in the context of the show. But this isn’t exactly a scale model of the real animal by any means.
Would I recommend it? Sure, if you like small, unique figures, it’s roughly 1:90. Probably not the most accurate. But may not be worth the effort to track down, there are other small dinosaur figures out there. Unless you’re a real sauropod completist. Or a Dinosaur Kind superfan (?). There are also a number of other versions out there, mostly in Japan. Including a much larger hollow vinyl figure. Design is the same, but they are big, articulated figures! And they seem to be more readily available if you have access to Japanese auctions.
