Knockoffs

The popularity of Safari's Carnegie Collection dinosaur replicas led to numerous bootlegs and knockoffs by other manufacturers. Some of these were simply copied poses or color schemes, while others were more serious attempts to imitate the actual molds of more desirable or expensive models. A few of these are documented below.

1991 UKRD Dinosaurs

This series of cheap dinosaur toys was produced by UKRD in 1991 as a "museum line". Though obviously lower-quality sculpts akin to the 1980s Imperial Plastics dinosaurs of the 1980s and other no-name or off-brand "Chinasaurs", UKRD was clearly attempting to latch on to the recent success of the Carnegie Collection, and went so far as to copy the poses and color schemes of the Carnegie models available at that time.

In the image above, you can see most of these UKRD "Museum Line" (as well as two Invicta Pteranodons), almost all of which use similar color schemes to their Carnegie counterparts. From left to right, the top row features PAchycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. The bottom row features Allosaurus, Protoceratops, Deinonychus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, and Ankylosaurus. Ankylosaurus is the only one of these which does not copy a Carnegie figure (as no Carnegie Ankylosaurus existed at that time). Interestingly, the Allosaurus copies the first generation Carnegie Allosaurus rather than the "classic" 1990s era color scheme used by the rest. Also note that each dinosaur in this line came with paper information tags very similar to the ones used by the Carnegie Collection.

Salvat Dinosaurs

Another company that has produced an entire line's worth of Carnegie knockoffs is Salvat. Their sculpts are generally pretty close to the originals, with similar paint schemes. They have produced many species based directly on Carnegie, Battat, and other sculpts. Their Carnegie bootlegs include Parasaurolophus, Diplodocus, Elasmosaurus, Mosasaurus, Iguanodon, Spinosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Plateosaurus, Maiasaura, Deinosuchus, Kronosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Saltasaurus, Carnotaurus, Psittacosaurus, and the 10th Anniversary Tyrannosaurus. As you can see, they copied basically the entire 1990s run of figures!

1993 McDonalds Australia Happy Meal

In 1993, McDonalds ran a dinosaur toy promotion. The set pictured below seems to have been exclusive to Australia and contained several figures that were knockoffs of older dinosaur toys, including the Carnegie Pteranodon.

Image from Good Bad Marketing.

Tyrannosaurus Knockoffs

Photo by ksmith

This figure is clearly a smaller copy of the 1999 Carnegie Tyrannosaurus rex, but with a base attached to it. According to Randy Knol, This was part of a short series produced by ELC (Early Learning Centre) and there was also a Baryonyx and Triceratops. Supposedly Safari caught wind of this and filed a cease & desist order against ELC, ending the production of more knockoffs.

Brachiosaurus Knockoffs

Check out this video by Andy's Dinosaur Reviews featuring a bootleg 4th generation Carnegie Brachiosaurus. Given the high price and desirability of this model, it's not surprising knockoffs were made of it.

If you thought the Brachiosaurus bootleg in Andy's video was rough looking, take a look at Lamwin's version...

Miragaia Bootlegs

Another hard to find model, Miragaia also was subject to bootlegging. Here's a video review of a knockoff Miragaia by Darian the Dinosaur. The sculpt is very close to the original, and looks like it was probably a direct copy, making a new mold from a production sample. This one has an obviously different color and a mold seam cutting through the torso.

Here's another Miragaia bootleg by Zhong Jin Toys, part of their "Biological" series. This one is less faithful to the original sculpt but is closer to the original color scheme. Note the large head, short spikes, chunky legs, and mold seam running vertically through the torso.

Here is yet another Carnegie Miragaia knockoff, this time from toy company Lamwin:

And another no-name Miragaia copy... This one is very close to the original color scheme, and doesn't even have a seam down the middle!

This knockoff Miragaia is advertised as being made of solid PVC, like the original. But the plates look pretty warped.

Brass Bootlegs

Several Carnegie models have been produced as bootlegs cast in brass. These seem to be close copies of the original molds, like the Miragaia above. I have personally seen the original Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, and Apatosaurus Baby, so it is likely that other figures, at least among the original 10, received this treatment. Interestingly, you can also find brass copies of many old Marx dinosaurs as well.

Color Copies

Some knockoff dinosaur toy makers have copied just the color schemes of Carnegie Collection models rather than their molds. Beginning in the late 1980s, the Laramie company produced a line of Invicta knockoffs, closely copying the sculpts of those classic British Museum dinosaurs. These were sold in a variety of different paint schemes through the years, and a few included direct copies of corresponding Carnegie models. For example, Laramie produced a green Apatosaurus and gray/blue Brachiosaurus, with color patterns closely matching the Carnegie versions. Below: an assortment of photos I've found on eBay showing Laramie dinosaurs decked out in early '90s Carnegie colors.

 

Dor Mei also got in on the action, producing this Brachiosaurus (their original 1986 mold) repainted in the same colors as the first generation Carnegie Brachiosaurus:

Even Hasbro has gotten in on the Carnegie knockoff game, producing a Brachiosaurus for its Jurassic Park III line that closely mimics the 1990s era Carnegie model. Appropriate, since the Carnegie figure this is based on appeared on-screen in the film!