Collecting Jurassic Toys: Beyond the Big Four Brands

If you’re a Jurassic Park toy collector, chances are you’ve heard of the big players like Kenner, Hasbro, LEGO, and Mattel. But did you know that there are several more obscure companies that have released some pretty cool Jurassic Park toys as well? In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at some of these lesser-known companies and their contributions to the Jurassic Park toy universe.

6. Byggis

Byggis was a Swedish company that made LEGO-style toys based on a few franchises in the early 90s. These included Super Mario Bros, The Flinstones and Jurassic Park. For the latter they produced two large sets and several small dinosaur packs. The Byggis Jurassic Park sets are not easy to find, especially in mint condition.

5. Dakin

Dakin was an American toy company producing mostly stuffed toys. They were founded in 1966 and went bankrupt in 2004. For Jurassic Park they released a number of toys and merchandising including keychains of the movie’s dinosaurs. They are however best known for their stuffed toys of the Velociraptor, Dilophosaurus, Triceratops and the enormous Brachiosaurus. For many years, this was the only Brachiosaurus toy that was (somewhat) in scale with the original Kenner action figures.

4. Josman

Josman is a Spanish toy company that makes mostly pretend play toys like costumes, play sets and tents. In the 80s and 90s these were based on popular franchises like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many more. For Jurassic Park their line included two pretend play sets with binoculars, weapons, ID-cards, dart gun and more. These sets are very hard to find, especially outside of Europe.

3. Tyco

Before its brand name disappeared in the 2000s after being acquired by Mattel in 1997, Tyco was a well known toy company making mostly remote control vehicles. For the Jurassic Park franchise they produced two race tracks for Jurassic Park and The Lost World, as well as a RC vehicle for The Lost World that had a water spitting Dilophosaurus. Because Tyco also owned the View-Master brand, they released View-Master sets and discs for both Jurassic Park and The Lost World.

2. Equity Toys

Equity Toys is an American toy company that produces mostly licensed toys based on motion pictures and television programs. In 1997 they released a number of toys and merchandising based on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. These included dinosaur keychains, stuffed dinosaurs (including Mamenchisaurus) and the (now) rare Site B Exploration Kit.

1. Toy Biz

Toy Biz was a Canadian company founded in 1988 and later purchased by Marvel Entertainment. Although it went defunct in 2007, Toy Biz did release a number of toys in 1997 for The Lost World. All of these were remote control dinosaurs, as well as the Mercedes-Benz AAV.

While these companies may not have had the same level of success as Kenner, Hasbro, LEGO, and Mattel, they still made some pretty cool Jurassic Park toys that are worth checking out. So if you’re a fan of the franchise and want to expand your collection, don’t overlook these more obscure companies and their contributions to the Jurassic Park toy universe!

Find these and other toys from the Jurassic franchise in our online collection.

Do you have any of these toys in your collection? Let us known in the comments below!