The main product Tyco wanted to sell from the Dino Riders toyline were of course the dinosaurs with their armour, accesories and so on, but these were complemented with a series of small blisters with one or two figures in them each.
Today (and tomorow) I will present the first eight 2-figure packs (16 figures) released in the first wave (1988).
For the second wave, Tyco released again 8 double packs (16 figures more), but also 6 different packs available with one figure and several accesories each. These are known as "Commandos" and are very hard to find nowadays. The third wave brought no new double packs, the same blisterpacks from wave 2 were sold during this short wave, but for the third wave (the wave with "Ice Age" references), 6 new double packs were released, 4 of which included 1 cavemen and 1 Rulon, the other two 1 Valorian and 1 Rulon. These will be discussed some other time. I want to let some time pass, because I do not have many of them, and meanwhile I may buy or find more.
So, back to the first wave of figure blisterpacks, there were 8 sets available. They were available in different regional versions: Tyco, Comansi (for Spain), Siso (for Germany)... but all of them had the same impressive T-Rex artwork. The Siso card is the same one from Tyco (in English) but with Siso stickers applied over the Tyco logo. In the backcard, where the collectable proof of purchase was, Siso put a sticker with the legal stuff: "Ages 5 and up", the CE stamp, importer data...
Comansi instead made cards in Spanish, translating every text in the front and back cards, but removed the proof of purchase.
Interestingly, some international blistercards are actually tyco blistercards with a sticker of the local toy distributor over the Tyco logo. The names of the figures are printed on stickers that are attached to the blister. Curiously, character names in these stickers differ from one country to the other, so I will use the original English names for all figures. Note also that many Valorian names are based on astronomy (planet, stars) and atomic (particles) concepts, while Rulon names somehow refer to the character race: Snakemen are called Rattlar and Fang, Sharkmen are called Six-Gill and Finn and one of the Antmen is called Termite (the other two are Fire and Demon, somehow two "subterranean" concepts).
Questar + Krulos
Mind Zei + Fire
Proto + Rattlar
Orion + Six-Gill
Boldar + Termite
Nova + Demon
Mercury + Fang
Quark + Finn
I have a few of these blisters still MOC in their Comansi versions, plus one in Tyco card (see above), and one Siso card, but since this collection is almost impossible to be completed MISB and MOC for a rational amount of money, I do not seek or try to get MISB or MOC items, I am only interested in loose items unless there is a great opportunity to get something for very little money.
These figures were advertised in the comic book together with the dinosaurs (in really small size), and also in the backcard of each blisterpack.
FACTS and FIGURES:
- Name: QUESTAR and KRULOS, MIND-ZEI and FIRE, PROTO and RATTLAR, ORION and SIX-GILL, BOLDAR and TERMITE, NOVA and DEMON, MERCURY and FANG and QUARK and FINN
- Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
- Year: 1988
- Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
- Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm
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