I like the rubber one

Wasn't Frank looking for a Bulette for himself?

serleran wrote:I don't imagine they are worth a whole lot. At least, I would not pay much for them.

They were available for years (well into the '80s, if not well into the '90s), so I can't imagine they're worth much either.

The bulettes at least are still available from school supplies catalogs/suppliers; I haven't checked into the rust monsters (nor the owlbears, which I've read @ http://www.thiel-a-vision.com/?p=327 were also part of the same sets/available in the same time periods:  is anyone able to confirm/deny??).

grodog wrote:The bulettes at least are still available from school supplies catalogs/suppliers; I haven't checked into the rust monsters (nor the owlbears, which I've read @ http://www.thiel-a-vision.com/?p=327 were also part of the same sets/available in the same time periods:  is anyone able to confirm/deny??).

I had the bulette (colored gray, though, and maybe a slightly different sculpt than those pictured above) and the rust monster (identical), but do not recall an owlbear at all. I used to keep these mixed in with my Britains plastic animals, which I've since passed on to my boys, but they're not there anymore... I'm going to have to do a thorough search of my 'rents' house when I go there next.

When I got them originally (around '81 I guess) I was annoyed with the Chinese toy company for ripping off TSR's monster ideas. LOL! Just goes to show how D&D-centric my worldview was at the time .

I used to know someone who had the bulette and rust monster before I even heard of D&D (this would be about '78 or before). Don't recall seeing an owlbear, though.

I'm guessing if it's true that this supplier will be getting a few orders shortly...

These plastic figures are very common. Back in the 70s they came in a drugstore set that was a mix of weird creatures plus a few standard yet tiny dinosaurs (brontosaurus, dimetrodon, stegosaurus, IIRC). I still have a few original creatures from these sets, paint-stripped from years in the sand. Later I occasionally spotted them at thrift stores & there is almost always an Ebay auction to be found with one of them. Paint color and even sculpt quality/excess plastic flashing seems to vary quite a bit.



I found this auction with a few minutes of searching. It has the rust monster (upper left). Min bid is too high, though.


** expired/removed eBay auction **




IIRC, the green-yellow dimetrodon and the oddity below him (which we used to call "hammerhead" due to his squashed appearance) came in the same set. The key is to search large lots of mixed plastic dinosaurs. People selling these on Ebay have no clue what they are, and since they came with a few regular dinosaurs, they get lumped together with them. They differ from a lot of earlier/contemporary dinosaurs in that they are painted (albeit sloppily). I think at least one that I have is stamped Hong Kong on the bottom.



What's unfortunate is that the other cool weird creatures from the same set never made it into D&D. I'll try to post some pics of these when I get a chance.

I've been collecting these (and other "Fantasy Toy Soldiers" and knights of various lines) for many years.

As Zenopus76 says, they were sold in bagged and boxed Dinosaur sets from Hong Kong starting in the early 70s through the mid 1980s (most marked MADE IN HONG KONG, some not marked).  Many of the figures were available in "dime store" format at toy stores during that time as well (e.g. you could buy them individually).  Later (late 1980s to late 1990s), the figures (obviously from the same dies) were being produced by Chinese toy companies (marked CHINA or unmarked).  One Company was selling a "Dinosaurs and Monsters" set with some of the "monsters" and dinosaurs from the older sets, as well as knock-offs of MPC cavemen, as recently as the early 2000s - I've seen them in drugstores in boxed sets produced by ToyMajor (http://www.toymajor.net/).  Sometimes you can find them in Chinese-made sets sold in "Dollar" type stores.

As others have stated, there are variations to the quality of the paint jobs.  Earlier Hong Kong versions are usually well painted (for Hong Kong plastic toys!!), later Hong Kong and most of the China versions have poorer paint jobs (eyes overpainted, missing paint, etc . . ).

The earlier models are hard plastic.  The softer plastic ones and rubberized ones are usually later (Chinese) models.

The actual dinosaurs in the sets were Hong Kong knock-offs of older Marx and MPC plastic dinosaurs.

There must have been several dies as each of the dinosaurs and "monsters" came in various sizes - I have Bulettes that are not much larger than an inch and a half, and some that are almost 2.5" - some of the actual dinosaurs in the sets had even larger size ranges - the Allosaur comes in a 2.5" size and I have seen them as large as 4".

The "Monsters" in the sets seem to be knock-offs of other Asian toys - many of them somewhat resembling Japanese Kaiju figures (the Bulette itself is very evocative of some Kaiju designs).

I've created a web page with some pictures of some of the figures from my collection.  Along with the Bulette and the Rust Monster, there are figures that resemble the AD&D Salamander, Owlbear, Su-Monster, and Umber Hulk.  Others that are slightly like the Troglodyte and maybe some of the dragons/dragonne.  And there is one Oriental Dragon design that is identical to a dragon from a large, hard-rubber toy line later (or at the same time) released by Imperial Toys.  

http://www.bhkwt.com/open/acaeum

For sale value - if they are in lots with other Fantasy Toy Soldier figures
(Arco, Marx, MPC, DFC, Multi-Toy, etc . . . ) or auctioned/sold individually (and "search-ably" identified for what they are), they sell for more than other dinosaur figures of the same period.  But usually they are found in mixed lots of older and modern dinosaur figures (or in bulk with other toy soldiers/toys) and then they don't sell for a lot.  Many of them (the Rust Monster and Umber Hulk especially) have antennae and parts that are prone to breaking - so you often see very beat up ones for sale.

Grodog - Thanks for that link - I'd seen it before but had lost the link, and
have been looking for it ever since!  It backs up what I've always thought: Given the fact that the designs we are discussing were being produced as plastic figures in the early 1970s, and would seem to pre-date many of the fantasy role playing publications in which they appear, I have always assumed that the concept for the Rust Monster and Bulette (and maybe some of the others) came FROM the figures and was used BY early role players and then TSR, and not the other way around (I think many assume the Hong Kong figures were "borrowed" from the
pictures in the Monster Manual, et al, and not the other way around).  But there are definitely others here who may know more about that, or can shed further light . . .

[Note - there were Hong Kong made figures, specifically made by DFC (later Multi-Toy), that were EXACT copies of drawings of AD&D Orcs and Nagas - and later models produced had no faces - many Fantasy Toy Soldier collectors assume this was because of a threat of a copyright lawsuit by TSR - but I've never seen proof of that (other than that DFC/Multi-Toy altered the figures to make them less identifiable as knock-offs of the drawings from the Monster Manual).  There were also ARCO knock-offs of older Heritage miniature designs.  I have pictures of
some of these items as well if anyone is interested].

I've learned a lot from members here over the years - I hope this post helps pass on some of my own knowledge!