The Legion of Silly Dinosaurs: Big Mouth Mayhem!

 

To round out my "fifth week" lineup, I decided it was time for an extra dino blog. This time around, I have kind of a backlog, simply because there's what I consider a whole category of dinos. They aren't big, they aren't flashy, and they certainly aren't good, but when it comes to "silly", these guys give even the patchisaurs a run for their money. Here are the big-mouth dinos, starting with a pic with Bossk.

For the background, it should go without saying that "big mouth" is a term of my own creation, though I was a little surprised I didn't find it in independent use already. My definition is a hollow creature made from rubber or otherwise flexible material, with an opening into the interior space at the mouth. A secondary characteristic is that they are larger than usual for low-end dinos, sometimes extraordinarily so. From what can be known, they were definitely being made in the 1970s if not earlier, by manufacturers including Dormei, Arco and Imperial (see the Genericzilla Junior post). Unsurprisingly, there's plenty of gray area, especially on what you count as a dinosaur. Many toys made with the same technique and materials represent lizards, crocs, and other relatively mundane creatures. Others represented dragons and other fantasy creatures, a trend that intensified in the 1980s with a wave of He-Man knockoffs. While several egregious offenders released examples with proper manufacturing marks, most were as anonymous and untraceable as we should now expect. Here's a pair from my collection that I'm sure must have come from the same manufacturer.

For this particular set, I had the one on the right when I was a kid. I picked the one up on the right in the wild a few years back. I knew on sight that it was part of a set with my old dino, though at that point, I wasn't sure I still had it. Eventually, the old one turned up in one of my searches, and there were no real surprises on examination. The gimmick with these pair is that they glow in the dark. Overall, they actually look more realistic than might be expected, though how they came up with the "crest" on the carnosaur's head is anyone's guess. Here's some more pics.

"C'mon, let's ditch these nerds... `Incoming asteroid', what's that even mean?"

And to show what I mean about realism, here's another specimen I picked up in the second-hand stores, as I recall in a set that also had a patchisaur Pteranodon. It's one thing to make a goofy creature and call it a dinosaur, it's another to give it the name of a cool dino that was getting famous. And to think we complained about Velociraptor being portrayed without feathers...

Here's one more closeup.

Now's the time for further rambling. In my recollections, these were toys even I viewed as disposable, and I wasn't wrong. I'm sure there's more I still have and many more that disappeared long ago.  The only ones I really formed any further memories around were a pair that came on a birthday cake and a huge example that I'm sure was well over 6 inches tall that battled Husky and Sidekick Carl on occasion. Over time, they faded away, but never disappeared entirely. Meanwhile, I  gradually found a certain fondness for these guys. Then... I found this. And bought it, so I would have proof it exists. Oh dear Logos, how the Hell does this thing exist???

It kind of looks okay on this side, doesn't it? But take another look...

Wow. The thing about mass production is that you have interchangeable molds so basic symmetry isn't a problem. It would practically be easier and cheaper to do it right than to have it come out this wrong. Then we still haven't had a closeup. The horror, the horror...

And with that, I'm definitely ready to quit. That's all for now, more to come!