Vintage Dino Profiles: Marx Pot Bellied T-Rex

Marx's first attempt at a Tyrannosaurus Rex (meaning: Lizard King) was a bit comical - the guy looks like he just finished eating one too many bronto burgers! The T-Rex was the apex predator of its time during the Maastrichtian age of the upper Cretaceous epoch of the Mesozoic era some 68-66mil years ago and found in western North America. They would have preyed on the likes of ceratopsians, ankylosaurs, and possibly sauropods and may have been both a predator as well as a scavenger.  It was among the last known non-avian dinosaurs to roam the planet before the Rock From The Skies fell to earth and put an end to the dinosaurs reign at the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.  Marx's T-Rex measures 4 1/2" (11.43cm) L x 3 3/8" (8.57cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Vintage Dino Profiles: Marx Mold Group PL-749 and Brontosaurus

 Marx Mold Group PL-749 - also called the Large Mold Group - from 1957 has only three figures:

-Brontosaurus

-Pot Bellied Tyranosaurus Rex

-Kronosaurus

IMO, two of the three figures in the group represent the most popular dino figures of all time: the Brontosaurus and Tyranosaurus Rex. Marx's first T-Rex - with its big belly - looks like he just finished eating a big Bronto Burger and that would be corrected when Marx put out their revised mold group. 

But for now let's first look at the Brontosaurus (meaning: thunder lizard), classified as a quadruped sauropod. This poor guy has seen its ups-&-downs. First he was called Brontosaurus, then the pundits said, "no that was a wrong classification" and changed his designation to Apatosaurus, but then in 2015 a new group of scientists said those earlier 'experts' were wrong and changed the fella back to Brontosaurus! When I was growing up he was BRONTOSAURUS and Fred Flintstone ate 'Bronto burgers' not 'Apato burgers' phhhhht - take that 'experts'! hahahahahaha Of course, that's a vast oversimplification of the whole process, but that's it in a nutshell.

This is the only instance I'm aware of that the dino figures in one mold set were all from the same era, in this case the Mesozoic. The herbivorous Bronto's ranged during the Late Jurassic epoch in what is now Colorado, and by its end were extinct.  Marx's Brontosaurus is shown walking with its tail dragging the ground and neck held high - a common pose for this dino during the early period of dino toys - but later studies have shown that it more than likely walked with both its neck and tail extended, each serving as a counterbalnce for its massive frame. Marx's Bronto measure's 7.5" (19.05cm) L x 3" (7,62cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Mold Group PL-749

Here we see Marx's Bronto and MPC's smaller Bronto

A Marx Bronto and Toy Street repop of Marx's Trachodon

The Bronto's from this mold group have these large circles under their feet. The revised figures had little tiny circles

Vintage Dino Profiles: Marx Cynognathus

Marx's Cynognathus (meaning: dog jaw) was one of the actual dino's in their Mold Group PL-755. Before it was immorta;ized in plastic, it lived way longer than a few weeks ago, specifically it was a predator during the Middle Triassic - ca247.2-237mil yrs ago - and ranged in the southern hemisphere with fiossils being found in Argentina, South Africa, Namibia, and Antarctica. The Triassic period was a part of the Mesozoic age and it was during the Middle Triassic when pine forests emerged and thrived in what was a much warmer period than it is now. (sooooo, if global warming keeps up the way it is will we see an emergence of the dinosaurs?? hmmm) The Marx version, being from 1957, has some innaccuracies in that the hindlimbs would have sat directly beneath the body while the forelimbs were splayed outwards. The Marx dino measures  2 3/4" (6.98cm)L x 3/8" (0.95cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz