This rare Dolichorhynchops toy, released in conjunction with the documentary film Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (2007), is a special little figure. Although a range of plastic marine reptile figures were developed by Wild Republic to tie in with the film, and even made it all the way to the prototype and packaging stage, they were ultimately cancelled at the last minute. So this unique model, which was only given away as a promotional movie tie-in for Jack in the Box restaurants, is the only plastic figure connected to Sea Monsters (2007), and gives us some idea what could have been! I specify “plastic” because a range of plush toys and puzzles by Wild Republic did go into production. Just no figures.
I was working as a curator at the ThinkTank: Birmingham Science Museum when Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure was released. Luckily for me, the ThinkTank was directly connected to a giant screen theatre, which was showing the movie, so I got to see it on the big screen a few times. I’ll admit the theatre may have got a little dusty the first time the plesiosaurs appeared. The film follows a young female Dolichorhynchops nicknamed ‘Dolly’ on its adventure. So, this figure represents her.
Of course, because we were showing the film, the museum shop also sold the Wild Republic merchandise connected to the film. That’s how I came into possession of the plush version of the Dolichorhynchops as well, a toy I wouldn’t have acquired if I hadn’t been literally walking past it every day. Plush toys aren’t really my thing, but the plush ‘Dolly’ makes for a striking size comparison alongside to the tiny Jack in the Box figure.
Because of its limited distribution (USA only?), the Jack in the Box toy is very difficult to find. I acquired mine in 2008 from a fellow Dino Toy Forum member, who managed to get hold of a few and still had a loose one to spare at the time. There were lots of other promotional products in the Jack in the Box line, but they were mostly paper-based products including stickers, posters, and a height chart. The only figure was the ‘Dolly’.
Anatomically the figure is excellent, particularly for such a small toy, and especially for a fast food giveaway. It’s immediately obvious this is a polycotylid plesiosaur, with its long narrow snout, torpedo-shaped body, short neck and tail, and graceful high aspect-ratio flippers. The eyes and nostrils are in the correct positions. Ten years after the release of Sea Monsters, a new polycotylid was described from Mexico with soft tissues preserved. This showed that the animal, Mauriciosaurus, had a chunky body with a beefy tail. This suggests that all polycotylids, and maybe even all plesiosaurs, were ‘fatter’ than previously supposed. So, if the Sea Monsters ‘Dolly’ were made today it might have been given a chunkier, less delicate design.
I also have a copy of the book that accompanied the film: Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep (2007), by Mike Everhart. There’s an interesting spread in the book showing the design process for the Dolichorhynchops, and it is useful because it shows how faithful the toy is to the on-screen depiction.
The colouration is also true to the movie, with grey on top, a white underside, and some white streaks on the flank. The large eyes are marked with black dots. There is a large rectangular slot on the belly of the figure. This is designed to fit into a peg on a tall, narrow-based, monochrome blue plastic display stand, which came with the figure. I don’t have the display stand, but I can tell from photos that it was embossed with the film logo and an image of a mosasaur. Without the stand, the figure is a bit front heavy so it slumps forwards. There is some yellowing in the plastic of my figure where the limbs meet the body.
There are some markings on the underside. First, a warning across the two front flippers “Not for children”… “under 3 years old.” And then the company details on the hind flippers. One flipper reads “NGHT, Inc”, which, I believe, is the company that disseminates National Geographic’s visual media. I presume “NG” stands for National Geographic, but it might not, and I couldn’t for the life of me work out what “HT” stands for. The book is also copyright to the same name. The other hind flipper reads “Mfg [=Manufactured] for JACK IN THE BOX restaurants”.
The toy has no points of articulation and the plastic is hard and brittle. There are some seams where it looks like different sections have clicked together. And it is also small, just 7.5 cm long with a 6.5 cm ‘wingspan’. In all these aspects it is reminiscent of Kaiyodo Dinotales, and displays nicely alongside them.
This is a lovely model and one of my favourite plesiosaurs in my collection, but it’s a tricky one to get hold of these days.
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