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and the Boston Museum of Science Page 1 - Introduction and Index Table 
This was potentially the outstanding rubber dinosaur set, and for a while it was expanded regularly. It started off with a half-dozen figures released circa 1994, another half-dozen around 1996, and a half-dozen more in 1998. A smaller-sized series also appeared in 1998. But the whole project went extinct in late 2002. A persistent production problem may have contributed to the demise, but I can only speculate about that. Like the Carnegie Museum [Safari] and Natural History Museum [Invicta] figures, the Boston Museum of Science [Battat] figures were intended to be made to the same scale, in this case 1:40 (the same nominal scale as the majority of the Carnegie figures). Unlike the other two sets, however, all of the Boston MofS figures are actually dinosaurs. There's not a mosasaur, pliosaur, nothosaur, synapsid, pteranodon, mammoth, sabre tooth, or caveman in the batch. Another breakthrough distinguishing this set is that all the animals are identified to specific level. With the common exception of T. rex, most earlier rubber dinos from other manufacturers were identified only to generic level. Eighteen different dinosaurs were modeled for the BMofS set. But counting all variations, there were 34 distinct figures. Eleven of these variants were smaller versions. They were identical to the 1:40 figures except for size - though not all were made to quite the same scale. All the figures of the 1994 and 1996 series (excepting the 1994 Diplodocus) reappeared in 1998 in smaller size. There were apparently no small versions of the 1998 1:40 figures. Second, there are multiple versions of several of the 1:40 figures. This is because some of them wouldn't stand on their two (or sometimes one) feet. Whether or not this is important perhaps depends on what you intend to do with these things. If you hold one in each hand and bang them together while going "Grrrrr grrrr" between your teeth, then whether or not they stand is unimportant. Or if you are making dioramas (such as those at Randy Knol's site, the Dinosaur Collector Museum), you can help them stand with glue and wires. Or if you're stuck doing Battat's product photography, you introduce a handy prop for them to lean on - in this case, a log. But be that as it may - some just won't stand by themselves, and that's a real faux pas in the plastics business. Whether it's the fault of the figure's sculptor, the mold maker, or the production people is irrelevant to the consumer - figures which won't stand up are simply not supposed to happen, at least not at the sort of prices these sold for. Battat Inc is in Plattsburg, NY (site of an important battle in the War of 1812, in which MacDonough destroyed a more powerful British squadron on Lake Champlain, thus bringing the British invasion of the US from the north to an end. The battle was remarkable in part because it was won by manoeuver, even though MacDonough's ships were anchored at the time .... but I digress). Battat also has offices in the UK and Canada. The figures are, unsurprisingly, manufactured in China. Battat has a very minimal web presence - their site at www.battat-toys.com is little more than a splash page [UPDATE - Even that is down now - let's get with the program, guys!]. And the distribution of the figures was so wretched that they had been on the market for several years before I stumbled onto one. The Boston Museum of Science had a good stash, naturally, although the Museum shop's web site didn't have a decent listing until the series was discontinued .... really too bad, as once they got around to it, the Museum did a decent job on the site, with competent photos of the figures and surprisingly (for the BMofS) moderate prices .... all too late, though. Below is the production data for all variants. Note that almost all the figures are marked with 1994 as the copyright date. However most figures actually appeared in 1996 or 1998, so some of those 1994s are bogus. Photos are linked from the table, but not all are pictured because I don't have all variations of all figures. I do not have the 1994 Tyrannosaurus or Dilophosaurus, the 1996 Tyrannosaurus, the 1998 Dilophosaurus, the Mini Dino Collection 2, or the Mini T. rex. Readers have sent in photos of the 1996 Tyrannosaurus and the 1998 Dilophosaurus, as well as a 1998 Ceratosaurus (that one was news to me). As always on this site, a coin is shown in the photos for scale. It is a 1971 "Eagle Has Landed" silver dollar, exactly 1.5 inches (38,1 mm) in diameter.
Right from the start, the 1994 versions of Dilophosaurus wetherilli and Tyrannosaurus rex wouldn't stand up. D. wetherilli was a particularly ambitious sculpting job, as he was intended to stand on one foot. I don't have specimens of these 1994 incarnations of either figure, so neither is pictured. In 1996 both figures were modifed to stand on square bases, making them look like they are wearing snowshoes (or at least "snowshoe"). Here is this second version of D. wetherilli. In 1998 both were modified again. The snowshoes were eliminated, extra support coming from redirected tails. Here is the third version of T. rex. Dilophosaurus and Tyrannosaurus weren't Battat's only problem children. A 1996 release, Ceratosaurus, wasn't quite right, either. I examined a bucket full of these and some were worse than others. The best of that batch is the one I have, and it's none too good. Battat later modified this figure, skipping the snowshoe stage and going directly to the turned-down tail tip for another point of support. As late as 1998 Battat still hadn't quite gotten the knack of molding vinyl in such a way that the feet don't end up warped .... as witness the otherwise magnificent Acrocanthosaurus. The Utahraptor ostrommaysi in the second series has poor stability but perhaps was not intended to stand on his own. From the positioning of his claws it seems that he was maybe meant to be snapped onto the back of some of the herbivore figures. |
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