Bone Age: T-Rex

I vaguely remember these toys from my childhood, but when I had a chance to pick up a large bag of parts I couldn't resist. I took a gamble on the purchase and it paid off to some extent. Since I don't have much information on these toys nor do I have the instructions this won't be a very in depth review...sorry.

From what I remember these toys were basically large building sets...kind of. Each dinosaur came with a caveman type figure about the size of the figures that came with M.A.S.K. toys. The figure's accessories were very simple - ranging from clubs, small bones to spears. Additional figures were also sold separately. Each dinosaur could be broken down into bones and the rebuilt as some sort of vehicle...and I use that term loosely. There were also smaller sets that were weapons or small vehicles.

I had enough parts in the bag to construct what I think is a complete T-Rex. I gotta say that for a toy from the mid to late 80's I was impressed with the overall quality. The bones were cast in sturdy plastic and for the most part were still white. Old white toys don't usually stay very white. The connector points are cast in clear plastic. The set holds together fairly well. The T-Rex is a little top heavy making it hard to stand up on it's own without some sort of support, but not impossible for it to stand. I think the caveman figure was supposed to "ride" in the skull as the mouth is articulated enough to let it open and close. There isn't really any other articulation to speak of.

The back spine pieces are a different shade of white and I'm not sure if that was meant to be or if the plastic has started to yellow. I wish I had remembered to pull out my measuring tape as this toy stands fairly tall. I don't own the toy anymore, but my best guess from memory would say the toy stood about 2 feet tall.

You would have thought that these toys would have sold well. 1) they are dinosaurs and what little boy doesn't like dinosaurs? and 2) they are a building set of sorts. A lot of the toys I grew up with had some sort of accompanying cartoon show on TV or at least a comic book. Bone Age from what I understand didn't have either so there wasn't an outside force that helped draw kids (and their parent's wallets) in. It's a shame too because when I tried to research these toys after I bought the bag I found some rather nice sets. They don't seem to be all that common on the secondary market either, but that doesn't surprise me if they didn't sell well to begin with. I wish I had more information about these toys to share with you, but for now that is all.