>>8912352>In 1990, shortly after the end of the Dino-Riders line, Tyco re-released its dinosaur toys with the launch of its Smithsonian Institution line. Tyco actually received an endorsement from the Smithsonian Institution, which was apparently impressed enough with the technical accuracy of the sculpts that it was willing to license its name for use on Tyco's products. The situation was great for Tyco because it found itself with all these excess Dino-Riders that didn’t sell and all they had to do was basically repackage them. The dinosaurs were basically the same as the Dino-Riders except that no figures or weapons of any sort were included with them.It was a brilliant move, and it allowed them to get their name out there through the Museum network. I seriously wish that it was enough to save Tyco. It breaks my heart this line fell to ruin; it was a million dollar idea and it deserved much much more fanfare than it received.
The Iceage Line was amazing too. Although a tad absurd to have cavemen as mounts, it added to the charm of the product. I bought most of the Smithsonian lineup for these, but when I was 19 my mom knew how much I loved dino riders so she surprised me by buying one off ebay from germany; the Killer Warthog.
I don't know exactly why, but the germans ended up with tons and TONS of unopened boxes of dinoriders. I wonder if Tyco sold them wholesale across the pond to make a quick buck.
