The Legion of Silly Dinosaurs: Unidentified creepy pachycephalosaur!

 

It's my weekend post, and that means time for a dino blog. This time around, I have something I don't suppose I ever doubted would end up here sooner or later, but didn't have a plan for. It's the kind of acquisition I make all the time, yet still quite different. In fact, it could be among the weirdest dinos in what I have long since shown to be a vast and eclectic collection, though it remains difficult to say why. Here's a pic in full glory of my mystery pachycephalosaur in full glory, with its counterpart from the Definitely Dinosaurs line.

As usual, I have a definite recollection how I got this one. About 10 years ago, during my chronic unemployment, I went with friends to the state fair a few years in a row. On the grounds, there was always at least one merchants' floor with an impressive and eclectic selection of kaka even by my standards. On one of these expeditions, I found and purchased this. In further hindsight, there would almost certainly have been others conceivably from the same manufacturer, but even I don't recall what else was there. This certainly stood out to me then and since. The first thing of note about it is that it's quite large for a clearly cheap toy. (I definitely wasn't buying anything expensive back then....) It's also of pretty good quality, made of evidently sturdy, almost rigid plastic. Finally, it's a unique restoration, dated overall, yet with interesting touches, like a beaky snout that seems to emphasize (or overemphasize) both a significant part of the dinosaur's anatomy and its relatively close relationship with ceratopsians. Then the really odd part is the pose, which to me feels almost skulking, more like what might have been shown for a pre-JP dromaeosaur (why not take a look at the retro raptors post?) than an herbivorous dinosaur. Here's a pic with the Truckstop Queen (and Connie). I said this thing is big...

And a couple closeups...

"That's him! That's the dino who gave our chief paleontologist a heart attack!"

In the course of this post, I finally looked into who may have made this. It's marked "Made in China", which is as unhelpful as it usually is, plus two letters, one maybe an "S" and the other definitely an "H". In online research, I had no trouble finding pics of dinos that are clearly either the same dino or variations (some with the tail off the ground) that may have come from the same manufacturer. Unfortunately, it was clear none of the posters knew any more than I did about its origin, which is the main reason I have neither linked to other content or added any photos. I was especially suspicious of repeated claims that this was "1980s". By my assessment, it's certainly in the style of that period, and I can easily believe that this is from a mold handed down from manufacturer to manufacturer for decades. However, none of the examples I found showed significantly greater wear or even distinct paint variants; therefore, I diagnose them as almost certainly of the same origin and age as mine. 

Now, while I'm at it, here's a few pics of the Definitely Dinosaurs specimen. It's everything that made the line "classic",  but alas, even less accurate than the sketchy flea market dino.

With that, I'm through my pics and ready to call it a day. What comes to my mind finishing this is that the pachycephalosaurs were one of the major influences of the dinosaur "renaissance" of the 1980s onward. They were cool, they were dynamic, and they proved that even an herbivorous dino could have a dangerous vibe. And how about one last pic with Connie?

I literally could not keep her on the other one.

That's all for now, more to come!