So, friends, here I am again. It took a little longer, that’s for sure. I was busy writing and marketing my first book about my own and other people´s fascination for prehistory (The Dinosaur Toy Blog and Forum play a big role in it!) and had the usual private and professional struggles. But from now on I would like to shorten the intervals between my reviews a bit. This is not a promise, but at least a resolution. My collection is more of a hodgepodge of purposefully acquired figurines, chance finds and small gifts. So, apart from the often high-priced, hyper-realistic figures that have been appearing more and more in the recent past and which we could only dream of when this blog and the forum started, there is at least one copy of many brands in my collection. Tyco is no exception. Their Chasmosaurus is said to be a fairly rare figure. I bought mine at a flea market a few months ago. Today I’m glad that I grabbed hold of it. Otherwise, I couldn’t present you with this review today. So let´s get to work.
The inimitable Tyco style is quickly recognizable. The figure is part of the Dino Riders – line, in which armed science fiction warriors ride dinosaurs and use them as technically advanced fighting machines.
The template for this strong and stocky action figure was the Late Cretaceous dinosaur Chasmosaurus. According to wikipedia, Chasmosaurus was a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur found in North America. Its given name means ‘opening lizard’, referring to the large openings in its frill (Greek chasma, meaning ‘opening’, ‘hollow’, or ‘gulf’; and sauros, meaning ‘lizard’). With a length of 4.3–4.8 metres (14,1 – 15,7 ft) and a weight of 1.5 – 2 tonnes Chasmosaurus was of a slightly smaller to ‘average’ size, especially when compared to larger ceratopsians- It was initially to be called Protorosaurus, but this name had been previously published for another animal. All of the excavated specimens of Chasmosaurus were collected at the Dinosaur Park Formation, Dinosaur Provincial Park, ALberta, Canada. Referred specimens of C. russelli come from the lower beds of the formation, while C. belli comes from the middle and upper beds.
As I said, this figure wears the unique look of the Dino Riders, which themselves were undeniably “children” of the eighties from the late eighties and early nineties. In the skull are the well-known button eyes with theirs in contrast to the rather angular style of the line. From the tip of its tail to the tip of its distinctive front horn, it is nearly 17,6 cm (6,93 in) long and, to the top of its impressive frill, it is 8 cm (3,2 in) tall, which makes it one of the smaller figures from the line.
The warm orange colour (one of my favourite colours!), which is complemented by black stripes and rings starting at the back, looks good on a figure of this size and quickly attracts all attention in the display case. The pose is not very dynamic, I would rather speak of ready to fight, which is no wonder. Individual body parts such as the toes, horns or beak are not painted individually, but in the same warm orange as the rest of the figure.
The skin is teeming with scale-imitating bumps, which often look as if they were strung on a string of pearls. On the abdomen, where it says “(c)1990 Tyco Toys Inc Made in China”, the lumps become thicker. It looks like a corn cob. All this testifies to a great deal of attention to detail.
The aforementioned cuddly toy button eyes undermine the warlike look a bit. Finally, let’s talk about the small play feature. If you move the tail in one direction, the head moves in another. In this way, you can imitate intimidation attempts while playing and depict the meandering movement pattern typical of reptiles. The legs are moveable, too.
As a conclusion, it can be said that I really like to offer this pretty figure a home in my showcases. It looks good in the colorful ranks of my other ceratopsians and you should get yourself a copy, too. As mentioned at the beginning, a single copy fetches high prices in collectors’ circles even without the armament and the human action figure it originally came with (I spoke of a toy line depicting war), which will probably increase.
Occasionally, one appears on eBay or on flea- and collector´s markets. Then you should snap up if you have a soft spot for characters who are both beautiful in themselves and confidently exude the style of a great era for toys.
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