The Yale mural painted by Zallinger for the Peabody Museum does not reflect the current popular view of Mesozoic life but it has certainly influenced the public view of dinosaurs to the present day. Marx gave Zallinger’s work a 3 dimensional life. Like Zallingers mural the Marx figures and their followers are silent and unmoving designating their place in time (it is stamped onto the Marx figures while the mural shows it to us by the position in the relentless march right to left from the Carboniferous birth to late Cretaceous doom ). You always felt that the Mural was teaching you something just as the figures taught you by having the names and lengths stamped on them. Anyone familiar with the Marx toy line cannot fail to notice a similarity in subject matter between Marx and Zallinger. Three decades of children and their parents had their knowledge of dinosaurs primarily from Marx and his competitors Miller and MPC. Marx produced 19 Mesozoic and Paleozoic figures 14 of whom are in the Zallinger mural.
Zallinger and Charles Knight are the best known paleo artists of the 50's and 60's. The toys of the time reflect their art. Zallinger did not show the Cretaceous of Judith River in his mural. Marx acknowledged the Judith River fauna, with Styracosaurus and Parasaurlophus. ROM (Royal Ontario Museum ) highlited the Judith River with its series of dinosaur figures in the Marx style.
Struthiomimus by Marx, Parasaurlophus from ROM and a Toys and Things Nodosaur.
Chasmosaurus and Albertosaurus from ROM. The tan Chasmosaur is a ROM copy.
The Albertosaurus is a ROM copy. The brown Styracosaurus is a Marx copy from the original mold. Original Marx pieces are usually found in a range of greens, greys, tans or metalic colors. The grey is is an MPC Styracosaurus smaller than the Marx figure and often in bright red, blue or green colors. The green Parasaurlophus is a Marx recast.
Lambeosaurs from left to right ROM, Invicta and ROM copy from Hong Kong. The Invicta company from England created a series of dinosaur figures in conjunction with the British Mueum Of Natural History. While they maintained the Marx tradition of solid plastic figures in conservative colors they produced most of their figures in a consistent 1/45 scale. The figures are based on older reconstructions still favored in Europe.
Euplcephalus and Tyrannosaurus from China in Marx style. Pachycephlasaurus by Toys and Things.
Links
for more information about
Go the Marx Page for details about MARX figures
Go the MPC Page for more information about MPC figures
Return to Site A Home
Return to Site B Home