Super Dino Monsters - Ultraman knockoffs

[countzackula]

It took me YEARS to find and name this toy line, but I've finally re-discovered them...they are the SUPER DINO MONSTERS!!!

Oh, yeah baby! Some time ago, someone had a couple of these in the ID section as part of a post. When I saw them, I freaked 'cause I knew what they were but not what they were called. Now I do!

To recant my story with these...years ago, maybe late 80s/early 90s, I saw these in a "warehouse store" and have wanted them ever since. Being only a kid (a generally well-behaved kid who always asked his mumsy if he could use his own meager savings to buy toys), it was a bit hard to get permission to get new toys. Begging parents or grandparents doesn't always work...not even when using one's own moolah. I fell in love when I saw these, and never ever got 'em. I was so sad. Every Sunday, we stopped at this store for lunch meat and ended up looking around while mom waited in line. This place (called Gyp's) had a little of everything rolled up into one crappy store-like package. They tried to organize by aisle, but not always. Their toy aisle was kinda loose. Basically, they had a large cardboard box with a ton of these dumped in it. I always remember, week after week, rummaging through it and looking at all the different monsters in marvel at their design. They were about three bucks a pop with twelve in the assortment. I remember always carrying the $36 plus tax with me just in case. Eventually, the stock ran dry and I was devastated. My neighbor had a few of these and I was so darn jealous! I think he let me play with them once...maybe.

Years later, came the internet, then eBay, then when I got my feet in the technological water...I began snooping on the 'Bay for old toys of yore. Not remembering the name of this toy line didn't help. Randomly searching for monsters takes time and patience. I searched for years, on and off. I saw these babies in one of the ID threads on this site and it reignited my fervor. By sheer chance, I stumbled across one of these and quickly snatched it up with glee. Though happy, I wanted them all...no..."needed" the complete set! A little while later, again by chance, I saw something I could not believe! It almost seemed improbable...too good to be true...what are the odds?!?! Someone had a whole set, in good shape, with one example of a card backer...with the name! LAWDY LAWDY!!!

[countzackula]

Here's a back view of these guys.

Anyways, glad to get all these guys at once and in good shape. The seller was obviously a collector. Yes, I know what these guys really are. Anyone with an eye for kaiju knows these guys seem to be based off of various Ultraman bad guys. I'm guessing they were maybe, originally just bootlegs that got used for a generic toy line. They have no markings on their bodies. They are made of hollow vinyl with one point of articulation in the waist. They are about 4 inches high. These guys came zip-tied to a card back. I've also seen them come loose in a PDQ tray ( I've seen them sold once this way in a store called CHEERS which sold t-shirts and novelties at malls). I'll have to dig out the cardback later, since I probably buried it under some "paperwork".
Yeah, if a wanted to, I could research and ID each monster to its corresponding Ultraman kaiju, but no...not for me...I'll preserve they mystery. To me, they are just cool monsters!
NOTE: I've seen larger scale figures very similar to these...two of which I owned at one time. I won them as arcade prizes and sadly no longer have them. They were constructed the same way with the same style of sculpt. The monster designs were different, though.

[kylefromdirtnapp]

Those are great! And they have an even better story to go along with them.

[muckmonster87]

i remember your original post, i'm glad you finally got them all! i've seen a couple of these at thrift stores, but never the ones that i really like.

[pallidmask]

Wow, these are awesome! Hopefully I'll stumble across a few out there in one of the flea markets of this great land...

Yours is a great inspirational story for all the collectors out there; it's great to hear about somebody finally tracking down something with almost no info to go off of. Congrats!

I also really like the display you made for them in the first pic!

[countzackula]

Here is the card front! Ahhh, beautifully chessy, no? Looks like they ripped the cover off a dime store kids' dinosaur storybook and gave the dinos weird little tufts of colored hair...good golly Miss Molly! Note the two holes near the bottom half for the zip tie fastener.

[countzackula]

...and here's the card back! You'll take notice of the color variations. Lord knows if there actually are variations out there, however...they might just be all "made up" for the promotional photo on the back. The two biggest variations are the the orange dino monsters which are purple and grey in my collection.

You'll also notice how much of a dork I am by trying to recreate and 1-up the photo on the original card back......

[countzackula]

Alrighty.....now for some "fan art".....

I quick whipped up these drawings last night. I used to have two figures like these. I mentioned before about having some larger versions of Super Dino Monster-like toys. They are made of the same material, in the same style, with the same articulation...just proportionally about twice as large!

I won these as arcade prizes at an amusement park called Knoebel's in Elysburg PA...nice place! I have no clue if these larger ones had a name. They were purchased as prizes with arcade tickets in the early 90s. I'm not sure of the assortment. They only displayed two or so figures at a time in the glass prize case. I remember picking these out of a small plastic bin. Trying to win enough tickets on a single trip to the arcade was tough, if I remember correctly. They had these monsters as prizes for about two years before they disappeared. The brown one I won myself...the grey one, I had to go halfsies with my little brother. Had 'em for years before foolishly selling them! Saw a pseudo-pterodon one on eBay once, but it was heavily worn. Anybody have any of these?

[muckmonster87]

that is some amazing card art! such feathery hair on those dinos! thanks for rediscovering/exposing this weird and i guess super obscure toy line for all of us!

[pallidmask]

...And the line just keeps getting better.

That card art! That hair! Dinosaurs with hair! Hysterical! Thanks for posting the pics, this definitely brought a smile to my face.

Man, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for these guys in the future. Even if the toys themselves don't have hair...

[countzackula]

Check these guys out...

Yeah, I know.....Ultra monster ripoffs...

Anyhow, won these eight figures a little while ago on the 'Bay. Saw what might be bootleg or knock off Ultraman monsters, took a chance and won these guys for a pretty low price! According to the seller they were found in some kind of street fair some time in the 80s. They have no manufacturer or date. Most have the classic gold, ovular "made in China" sticker on the bottom foot. Some even still have their tags!

[countzackula]

Okay, here's the real kicker (at least for me, anyway)...check out the tags:

SUPER DINOSAURS?!?! The font/typeface is the same on the Super Dino Monsters cardbacker! Holy smokes....neat! They even blatantly use the Ultra monsters names.

[countzackula]

Here's a size comparison shot...some of the Super Dino Monsters and their Super Dinosaur brethren.

If you can see, the Super Dinosaurs have much more articulation than the Super Dino Monsters as well as a different sculptural aesthetic. Kinda makes you wish you knew the exact origins of both of these toy lines and their connection.

Oh, and FYI, not to long ago, spotted some of the variations on the Super Dino Monster cardback. I saw the green belly "Bemstar", the red/orange "Titanosaurus", and the black faced "king Caesar". Didn't have extra money to buy them at the time, but oh well.

[kylefromdirtnapp]

Those kick ass! Side note-your pix are always huge, but if you re-load the page, they come up a good size. We need a pic of all 18 of them together!

[countzackula]

ARGH! P-p-page not found?! Awwww......

[kylefromdirtnapp]

Nah, that @ in Flickr links make them not work like they should Here you go- linky

[countzackula]

HOLY CRABSSS!!! THAT"S THEM! The ones I saw at that amusement park arcade! The ones I foolishly sold! AWESOME! Thanks for the pics...odds of finding all these...slim, but you never know!

[theformlessone]

Sept 26, 2010 12:33:13 GMT -6 countzackula said:

Check these guys out...

Yeah, I know.....Ultra monster ripoffs...

Anyhow, won these eight figures a little while ago on the 'Bay. Saw what might be bootleg or knock off Ultraman monsters, took a chance and won these guys for a pretty low price! According to the seller they were found in some kind of street fair some time in the 80s. They have no manufacturer or date. Most have the classic gold, ovular "made in China" sticker on the bottom foot. Some even still have their tags!

Great! I had all of those guys... man, I'm 13 again, while watching this.

[countzackula]

Here's a nice update and add-on to this ol' thread...looks like there's no need for Santa, the mailman delivered the real Christmas gifts for me two days after Christmas! Behold...variations...AND a box!!!



As you can see, these are simply called "Dino Monster" as opposed to "Super Dino Monsters"...apparently not as special? These boxed ones all have a golden, oval-shaped Made In China sticker on their one foot. Six came packed in a box. Each was in plastic bag, but I'm actually not sure if the person I got these from did that or not. I guess this confirms the PDQ displayer I had mention oh so long ago, and the approximate price...although, I already knew...*tee hee*!

Here are some side-by-side comparisons...enjoy!



The one "wolf dino" is similar...the main difference is more silver paint apps. I've seen these two in like amounts over the course of time, as well as another whiter version with bluish paint apps...gotta have one! The other finned guy has a major color change...waaay different!



Here are the versions of the "owl sloth"...aside from eye color difference, the big one is the green belly while the other version has a green back. The horned nose and forehead guy has a yellow belly...that coward! Oh, his back is yella too, pardner!



Ol' rocky has a version with a lighter body and all-gold paint apps and different eyes. The "fin wing" guy is up to debate. I'm not sure if I should consider it a major ongoing variation or not, but you can see the first one has a lot more greenish apps all over his body while the second one has it mostly on the upper body. Yes, I have seen the gold-bodied one before...I just need to get one.

You can see the top of the box in the first pic, but here are some other angles......





The bottom is just white...you can hopefully see the perforations to make it into a displayer...I'll probably leave mine "stock" until I can get a second one (maybe). I usually don't care about packaging, but this one's special! I had won this off eBay from a seller which I assume was selling old store stock. They had a second set which I passed on, since it only had one variation (I think). I'd love to see if the side photos were different on that box, now that I think about it. I could have sworn the PDQ I saw in my youth had all twelve monsters...so maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. I've also heard about these being sold up until a few years ago at an odd place: Ben Franklin Crafts. There's also a Youtube video of a guy doing a review on these, only they were called "Ultra Dinosaurs" according to him (I hafta look it up to make sure)...his also had several variations, including a "Barney shark" that was greyish and the "traffic light" eyed version of the multi-eyed monster. Great to have tracked down some variations...now off to find more!

[countzackula]

'Nother one for the records...here's another alternate color scheme comparison.



There is also a red version with blue back paint apps instead of green...I know someone here has one...wink! wink!

[skullbooska]

count, how can i say no to all that winking.
heres the other version (with yours before i sent him to you)



and here he is with are some more of his relatives, all chilling and shit.

[countzackula]

Actually, ol' blueback is more of a cherry red, now that I really look...nice!

[iCollect]

Can Anyone Tell me who this is? Cannot find any markings. About 10cm tall.

[countzackula]

Why...he's a Super Dino Monster or just Dino-Monster or whatever. Basically, they are bootlegged Ultraman foes...I forget the name of the monster this one is based off of (always do).

[iCollect]

Thanks for that, I appreciate it.

[countzackula]

Why...it's just a dino-monster kinda week, ain't it?

Here are some long awaited finds. Bought 'em off a member of the Little Rubber Guys forums...variations of the Super Dino Monsters. I've only ever seen these once before (I think).



Ol' Barney Shark and his dead prune cousin! Peer into his soulless eyes and come out with your mind in shreds...moo hoo ha ha haaa!



Make new friends, but keep the old...one is sorta silver, but the other's gold! This guy has two of everything...almost.



Hungry like the wolf? Try a blue freeze pop! Behold the stages of monster hypothermia and tremble.



Little in the middle...got much back. *WHUPSSSH*

Group heiny shot.

[bowheadwhale]

THOSE ARE WONDERFUL!!! When were they available?

[countzackula]

Another member of the clan:



The most outwardly noticeable thing about this variation are the orange-colored lumps on his back.

Comparison shot with the other versions reveal this guy has a much darker purple body and yellower eyes as well.



I love getting more of these fellas!

[scottishtoys]

Hey guys, this is why this forum is brilliant! I just picked up a couple of boxes of these of old shop stock! Just the other day! I'm still going through the stuff, I'll list it in marketplace soon as well. Here are some pics.

[StarRunn]

I have all 12 of these Super Dino Monsters. I bought them back in May 1993 at a store specializing in closeout merchandise at $1.00 each! For the most part, the colors on mine match those that countzackula showed in the post that started this thread. However, there are a couple of minor variations. My red-eyed Bemstar is green on the front instead of tan and my three-eyed creature has a lot of dark brown on the front of its legs. My cards have some additional copy across the bottom of the back side.

I also have the dark purple version of the Barney type, but I don’t remember where or when that one turned up.