#1 DINO RIDERS – MONOCLONIUS with MAKO (1988)

You all probably remember this toy-line from the late 80s because of the toys or maybe because of the cartoons. To make the story short, the Valorians are the habitants of a destroyed planet who escape in a spaceship to a primitive Earth. Their enemies, the Rulons follow them to the Earth, and the battle continues among dinosaurs, but with future technologies and weapons.

Box pic courtesy of Ted (www.dinoridersworld.com)

The toys were manufactured by the north american company Tyco, and marketed in the U.S., Sweden and Japan (among others). In other European countries, other companies, like Ideal (France), Comansi (Spain), Action GT (U.K.), Siso (Germany) or GiG (Italy) distributed the toys.

These are great quality toys; they are both beautifully and toughly built in plastic. The dinosaurs are scale model of real dinosaurs, and the figures that come with them are also built at nearly the same scale, so you can get an idea of “how big” the dinosaur was. The boxes included precious artworks depicting the dinosaurs in action.

It's a trap!

The Monoclonius (old name for the Centrosaurus), was released in 1988, as part of the first Dino-Riders wave. It was not one of the “big” boxes in this series, but it is also worth commenting. Like each creature in this collection, the box included the full battle armour, and one figure (some bigger boxes included 2 or 3 figures). The Monoclonius belongs to the Rulons and includes additionally a “trap”.

Mako captures the Monoclonius and puts the brain-box on its head

Remarkable is the movement of the dinosaur’s head by pushing/pulling its tail at one side or the other.

Fully Armored

Its battle armour consists of: the brain-box, a harness with cockpit and guns at both sides, and a tail-collar.

Last but not least, in the box was included a comic book with the story of the valorians and the rulons. Please feel free to leave any comment of suggestion you have about this article or the blog.

Uneven Battle!

If you want to see more Dino Riders, click here!

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MONOCLONIUS with MAKO
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm