The tyrannosaurs were, not too long ago, nearly everybody's favorite dino, but then those damn raptors became fashionable. During the heyday of the Marx figures, though, T. rex was king. Tyrannosaurus (a), known to Marx fans as the "potbellied" Tyrannosaurus (although I refer to him here as "Tyrannosaurus (a)"), was the original version (at left in the picture above). He appeared about 1955 and was part of the "large" mold group (Marx mold # PL749). The revised version, Tyrannosaurus (b), was part of the "revised" mold group (Marx mold # PL977). Possibly early specimens of (b) were made in a different mold, but I haven't examined enough specimens to be able to say. Tyrannosaurus (a) and (b) are obviously radically different figures. No other Marx dino figure was revised to such an extent. Tyrannosaurus (a) was made until about 1961. He most often appeared in gray or light green, although sometimes was found in Play Sets in metallic green or metallic silver. I don't believe he ever appeared in brown or tan. There are reports that Tyrannosaurus (a) has been seen in marbled gray and in an unusual light brown, but I can't verify those. He was not reissued by Marx in the early 1970s. The pose and sculpting of Tyrannosaurus (a) are certainly eccentric. I had at one time assumed that the figure was modeled after the T. rex in Rudolph Zallinger's mural at the Peabody at Yale, but that's probably incorrect. The Zallinger "Age of Reptiles" mural was (and is) very well-known, due partially to its being published shrunk-down in Life in the mid-1950s, and it could have been a convenient source of inspiration for the Marx sculptors. But the Zallinger and Marx Tyrannosauri are only vaguely similar - Zallinger's has a much bigger head, smaller arms, and is walking, rather than just loitering. So perhaps it's not all Zallinger's fault.
The strangely monumental potbelly profile does have some anatomical justification. The tyrannosaurids, in common with all the Saurischia or "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs, had a pelvic girdle consisting of the ilium, located where one would expect to find the pelvis in a mammal, and two inconveniently long bones, the ischium, directed down and aft, and the pubis, sticking out forward and down a bit. The pubis is the problem - it prevents us from imposing a stylish outline on these reptiles. The more modern trend is to imagine a bulge accommodating the distal end of the pubis and hope it doesn't look too odd. But it tends to look like an engine oil sump hanging out the bottom of a pickup truck - see an example here. Current reconstructions of the Saurischia tend to show them rocked forward a bit on their legs, so the bulge is partially hidden between the knees.
The Marx Tyrannosaurus (a) was made in a fairly complex four-segment mold - left, right, front (between arms and legs), and another segment in the mouth to make those formidable freestanding teeth. The body is crosshatched and the head is stippled, to simulate his imaginary reptilian skin.
Tyrannosaurus (a) markings - 50' LONG (right side of tail), TYRANNOSAURUS (left side of tail). A fifty foot length seems excessive; forty would be more realistic.Tyrannosaurus (b) was part of the "revised" mold group. The original production period ended in 1964. This entire mold group was reissued in the early 1970s. Tyrannosaurus (b) is a much more plausible figure than the earlier incarnation. The strange features of Tyrannosaurus (a) - the potbelly profile, the large arms, short tail - have gone away. The new Tyrannosaurus is a much more dynamic specimen from any angle.
Nice gaping-jaw effect on both, although (a) is the clear winner in the fang department ....
Since (b)'s teeth aren't undercut, Marx didn't need another mold segment just for the mouth. Tyrannosaurus (b) was made in a three-segment mold - right, left, and front (ventral/front surface, and the inboard surfaces of the legs and arms). Instead of crosshatched skin like Tyrannosaurus (a), (b) has more carefully delineated scales on his legs, and a curious bricklike tiled pattern on his body.
Tyrannosaurus (b) markings - TYRANNOSAURUS REX, 50' LONG (both on bottom of tail). The (a) version was not named to specific level - he was just plain TYRANNOSAURUS.For a while production of Tyrannosaurus (a) and (b) overlapped. One of each was included in some of the Play Sets. But sometime after Tyrannosaurus (b) went into production, the large mold was retired and its figures discontinued. That seems to have been circa 1961. The "large" mold group figures (Tyrannosaurus (a), Brontosaurus (a), and Kronosaurus) were not reissued when the figures of the other four molds were reissued in the early 1970s. Tyrannosaurus (b), however, was of course reissued along with the other denizens of the "revised" mold group. All tyrannosaurs are classified in the family Tyrannosauridae. There are several genera in the family, and as usual not everyone agrees on just who goes where. Here, more or less, is the currently fashionable generic lineup -
There may be more than one species of the genus Tyrannosaurus. Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn (1905) is currently equated with Dynamosaurus imperiosus Osborn (1905) and, maybe, Manospondylus gigas Cope (1892). But there is a slightly smaller Asiatic form, T. bataar Maleev (1955), which is sometimes put in the genus Tarbosaurus and sometimes in the genus Tyrannosaurus. |
