#87 DINO RIDERS – STEGOSAURUS with TARK and VEGA (1989)

If you remember or you check the older Dino Riders entries, “middle-sized” dinosaurs had some features like moving heads, while “small” dinosaurs had no featured action. Another sales argument in this toy-line is that some dinosaurs (the “big” ones) were battery operated, and they could actually walk.

The dinosaurs with “motorized walking action” are:

• Wave 1: Tyrannosaurus-Rex, Diplodocus, Triceratops, Torosaurus
• Wave 2: Stegosaurus
• Wave 3: Pachyrhinosaurus
• Wave 3 (Ice Age): Wooly Mammooth

If you look carefully at the original packaging of those dinosaurs you’ll quickly find a yellow spot that indicates this walking feature.

All of them were operated with a single R14 (size C) battery, and they were relatively slow. As a kid two friends of mine also had Dino Riders, (one of them had the tyrannosaurus, the other one the Diplodocus and I had this Stegosaurus), we used to organize races to see which dinosaur was the fastest. The tyrannosaurus was the fastest of all three, since it somehow “slides” with its wheels under the paws. Diplodocus always arrived second, and mine was the slowest.

The dinosaur, like all the others, is a great reproduction, including many details like glass eyes, the plates on the back (made in a different kind of plastic than the body), nice colours, and appropriate scale.

The armour and weaponry on this dinosaur is much more complicated than that from the previous ones. It includes many parts: harness with two seats and guns, 3 missiles and 2 rocket launchers plus two shields for the hind legs and the razors for the tail. The missile launchers are extremely fragile, since the peg that is inserted in the harness breaks easily. Another weak point are the pegs for the guns in the seats, which also break easily. In most second hand toys these parts are broken. The walking mechanism of the dinosaurs is also very likely to break down, specially is a battery has been left inside for many years.

The figures included with this dinosaur were two: Tark (right) and Vega (left). As Valorians from the second wave, they included the 2^nd wave set of weapons, which can be seen here. This packs consisted of: Psyche-Blade, Double Barrel Rifle (2 pieces), Chest Shield, AMP and Infrared Night Scope, all of the in gray colour, and originally attached to a tree. It is curious that in the original instructions sheet from many dinosaurs in this wave, the weapons depicted are still the ones packed with wave 1 dinosaurs. Check for example instructions here.

In the same picture is depicted the cover of the comic book which was included in Europe and that was the same included in the first wave. As far as I am concerned there was only one version made, while in the US there were two different versions.

More dioramas in which this dinosaur appears (without the armour) were published in the Placerias entry.

No chance for Rulons

BONUS: Spanish instruction sheets:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: STEGOSAURUS with TARK and VEGA
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 2)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm