Dino Riders

What's better than Dinosaurs? How about Dinosaurs covered in armor and armed to their prehistoric teeth with guns. Nearly 30 years before Epic Games thought up the Brumak for Gears of War American toy manufacturer Tyco had strapped futuristic looking armor and all manner of weaponry onto T-Rex's, Triceratops, Stegosaurs and all in a toy line known as Dino-Riders.

Released in 1988, with an accompanying 14 episode TV cartoon series the Dino-Riders toy line consisted of two warring alien factions - the Valorians (whom were human in appearance) and the Rulons, whose intergalactic war had led them to prehistoric Earth where they used the native inhabitants aka Dinosaurs as steeds and mounts for their continued war upon each other. While the premise of the cartoon was a tad far fetched, the concept behind the toy line was a master stroke of genius, helping Dino-Riders claim cult status despite the short run of its TV cartoon series.



With the commercial success of the Transformers movies and Colin Trevorrows Jurassic World, Mattel, who now own Tyco and all of its Intellectual Properties have decided that they too want a piece of the '80's nostalgia movie craze and are reported to have a big screen adaptation of Dino-Riders in development with production company Solipsist Films.