MPC Allosaurus? Why not?

The MPC Allosaurus, in living color(s).

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"mmmmm, tasty little Sauropods."

1964 saw the opening up the Dinosaur toys market with the MPC Allosaurus alphabetically leading the charge. Here (left) seen shopping at the mini-Sauropod buffet-mart. They were created as near copies of the Marx Allosaurus. Weighing in at one-half ounce (1/2 ounce, 14 gms) and measuring four & a quarter inches (4.25", 11 cms) long this 1/85 scale model is most recognizable for its absolute lack of imagination. Apart from its simpler mold, lesser detail and the "arms" presented in a different position this is apparently a copy of the earlier Marx Allosaurus. (MPC-left, Marx-right)
As will be readily noted, the MPC figure is much the thinner of the two. This is NOT a matter of fitness but one of design.

(-Little Stegosaurus come with their own toothpicks.-)

The MPC Allosaurus (darker color gray, above) was in the same scale as the 1955 Marx Allosaurus. The relatively simplistic skin detailing consists of 'stippling' (little dots roughing up the surface) that covers the entire figure.

(below- lighter gray is the MPC figure)
The stippling is broken up on the figure with jagged vertebrae down the spine and the application of grooves to indicate creases and folds in the skin at the juncture of the limbs and body. On the MPC's head these creases look a lot like rolls of fat. On the Marx figure the protruding spines begin just behind the eyes. The eyes of the MPC Allosaurus are also smaller, placed more closely together on a narrower and longer "skull". (below, left)

The MPC Allosaurus does stand a tiny bit taller than the Marx model. You can see that it is not merely thinner, overall, it is far less robust. The thighs as well as the "arms" and feet are much smaller in both dimension and proportion.
The detail on the limbs, head and body are clearly less sharp on the MPC Allosaurus as well.



To me what is quite interesting about these two is the MPC Allosaurus weighs only one-eighth of an ounce less than the Marx even given the differences in both size and proportion between the figures. The MPC Allosaurus is narrower, thinner and just plain less substantial in every dimension, yet the difference in mass is only 25% (eighth of an ounce- <4 grams).


The MPC Allosaurus needs to put out a lot of effort to find adequate food:
"So. You say we can't eat you, because we're your ancestors?

"And you say we can't eat you because you taste like chicken??"

"Well, we don't care what you say you taste like. Please ask the dog to leave...."

The MPC Allosaurus: neither here nor there.

The incredible success of Marx Toys was such that it invited, demanded, that competitors would appear. Today we see great toy companies each trying to out-do the next with new figures with greater detail and more natural colors. Back in the sixties that competition appeared in the form less imaginative copy-cat competition. There were many true knock-offs of the Marx figures but MPC wasn't quite that.

They did produce actual copies of several of the Marx figures, and did replicate the entire Marx line, but they also produced some unique and quite nice figures. The MPC Allosaurus is kind of a combination of poor copy and unique creation. It is different from the Marx, but not very. Why would anyone want one of these instead of a Marx Allosaur? Because they were cheaper and the quality difference is more apparent today, with the benefit of both hindsight and our great variety of choices. In the 1960s (and, really, until 1988 and the debut of The Carnegie Collection,) the choices in Dinosaur toys and the Allosaurus in particular were limited to the MPC Allosaurus and the Marx. That was it.

The choice in Allosaurs today is not only broader but far deeper than it was forty years ago, in the time of the MPC Allosaurus. From left to right, rear, Safari Ltd., Bullyland and the PAPO Allosaurus. The small, front pair are the MPC on the left and the MARX on the right.

The MPC figures are considered as collectibles but they are quite often found in mixed lots of inexpensive Dinosaur toys on eBay and other venues. Many times they are not noted or recognized and the wary buyer needs to look closely at the photo to determine the contents of the lot. Pricing varies but is usually what the market will bear, which isn't terribly much. They tend to draw the best prices of perhaps $2-3.00 a piece when sold in lots consisting of full sets (YES!) or color matched groups (all reds, all greens, whatever). Their main value today is as historical artifacts for collectors as their direct relation to actual Allosaurs has been pretty well totally co-opted by new Dinosaur toys. They are also what could be described as "way small." They could be formed into packs, but it is not that easy to find enough to form one. I have never gone out of my way to get these.

As for toxicity and other such considerations I strongly doubt that anyone has been hurt by handling these (although I have met a lot of somewhat 'burned-out' hippies, I don't think that playing with MPC Dinosaur toys is responsible for their condition) but I wouldn't suggest chowing down because their safety for taking internally has not been established. On the other hand these are certainly not 'toys of doom'.

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