#212 DINO RIDERS – PROTOCERATOPS with KANON (1989)

DINO RIDERS WEAPONS AND ACCESSORIES

The Protoceratops is one of the three smallest dinosaurs in the second Dino-Riders’ wave. Another one was the Placerias. Despite having an harness comprised of only 4 parts (harness, 2x gun tips, shield) it is one of the most difficult dinosaurs to find complete, since the shield is not fixed to the harness (it just “lean” on it) and therefore it is often missing. The harness is decorated with two light yellow stickers: one of them in the binoculars, the second one on the “inner” part of the harness. These stickers glow in the dark. To my knowledge, this one might be the only dinosaur that came with extra stickers to apply. If you’re a completist, take care on this!

I was lucky to find this toy complete and with the figure. Kanon is made out of one of the common casts used already during the 1^st wave. If we take a look at the original artwork in the box of this toy, we see, that the figure can ride the dinosaur by leaning on the harness, although this doesn’t work very well in the real toy.

In this entry I’d also like to show the different accessories that were available with Dino-Riders figures. These accessories were only sold together with the figures that came with dinosaurs, not the figures which were sold in two-packs. Commando figures came with some accessories, but these are (almost all) different to the ones shown in this entry.

It is important to mention that the weapons are divided in two groups: grey accessories belong to the Valorians, while red accessories belong to the Rulons. There were two different sets of each colour.

• The first wave dinosaurs came with one set of weapons for each figure. Valorians came with “set 1”, and Rulons came with “set 1”.
• The second wave comprised much more Valorian dinosaurs as Rulon dinosaurs. Some Valorian dinosaurs came with “set 1”, some other with “set 2”. Protoceratops, for instance, came with “set 1”. All Rulon dinosaurs (there were three of them) came with “set 2” accessories.
• The third wave was very short (3 dinosaurs) and they all came with “set 2” accessories, except the Ice Age dinosaurs animals, that came with Valorian set number 1.

All weapons and accessories came attached to a plastic tree, so you had to remove them before you could play with them. As every figure from a faction came with the same accesories, some of these accesories do not attach firmly to the figure wrists, or simply cannot be used. Some cases are not so bad...

Let’s start with the Valorians:

Valorian set 1 (6 accesories)

-AMP

-Rifle

-Handgun

-Water Skin

-Bandoleer

-Ladder

Valorian set 2 (5 accesories)

-AMP (different to set 1’s)

-Chest Shield

-Psyche Blade

-Infrared Night Scope

-Double Barrel Rifle with Harness (2 parts)

And now, let’s go with Rulon’s accessories:

Rulon set 1 (6 accesories)

-Bazooka

-Binoculars

-Shield

-Cross Bow

-Electronic Whip

-Ladder (same as for valorians)

Rulon set 2 (6 accesories)

-AMP Detector

-Rifle

-Boomerang

-Neck Clip (can carry the rifle or the boomerang)

-Whip

-Blade Mace

The AMP is the device Valorians carry in their chests that enables telepathic communication between them and dinosaurs or even other creatures. Whenever one of the Valorians wants to use it, they take it in their hand and it shines. It is the most important accessory they have. There are two version of this accesory. The first is clearly larger. It is also more difficult to find, because it falls off the figure if you turn it down. The second version remains attached to the figures neck, and needs considerable effort to remove it.

AMP version 1 (left) and version 2 (right)

Rifles and Hanguns are used very often in the cartoons; they produce a bright red or bright blue beam. In the cartoons, which are oriented for children, never a Valorian or a Rulon got aimed by those lasers. At the most, the laser was aimed to a Rulon brainbox, so they lost control over the dinosaur.

Ladders were probably designed to improve realism. Some dinosaurs were too high and the figures too small, so, hanging a couple of ladders to harnesses and cockpits would be a nice addition to your dinosaurs. This is great in the big dinosaurs, like the Diplodocus or the Triceratops, but in smaller dinosaurs it doesn’t make any sense at all, as it doesn’t in flying dinosaurs either.

Two more pics of the mushroom's diorama:

And a frontal view of the dinosaur with the glow-in-the-dark sticker and the typical eyes used in most dinosaurs in this toy-line.

You can see here the yellow sticker that glows in the dark

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PROTOCERATOPS with KANON
• 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