News Flash: United States Quarantined from 2018 CollectA products

You will not read about this in the New York Times, or in your local newspaper or online news feed.  And it's not even technically accurate.  But because of decisions beyond the control or influence of any of us collectors in the United States, we will find it very difficult to acquire new 2018 CollectA figures for our collections and stores.

Here is the notification received earlier today, directly from a CollectA representative:

Very much to my regret I need to tell you that we are unable to serve you any longer with shipments to the US. We have signed an exclusive agreement with Reeves International in the US which makes it impossible for us to send shipments to the US.

The labelling and batch codes of the different series making a full back-tracking of a shipment possible and it would be obvious who was the one to breach the territory rights. Contractually penalty clauses have been agreed upon and we cannot take the risk to go undiscovered.

I am very sorry and as much as we would like to serve you I hope you can understand that our hands are bound.

So, this doesn't sound so bad - just get the figures from Reeves International who has the exclusive rights for CollectA products in the USA.  That would be the answer except that earlier Reeves had chosen to only carry 60 of the 200+ prehistoric figures available from CollectA.  None of the 2018 pieces are among that number.

For the time being, it appears we may be at the mercy of our friends and collectors outside the borders of the USA to help us add these figures to our collections.  DeJankins will continue looking for some way to provide these to our customers and will communicate with Reeves to see if some concessions can be made.  Updates will be posted to this blog as they become available.

Unexpected, but not unwelcome . . .

Safari Ltd. has for the past several years, released it's new items just before the opening of the new year, and so this release in late September was not really expected.  The company has produced their new American Mastodon piece and it is already available, long before the end of the year!  In addition to surprising us with a new item at this time of the year, they've chosen well and produced an American species that has had (for quite a while) a lack of attention from the manufacturers that we all keep our eyes on.  While we are still waiting for a few 2017 items to make it to store shelves, and know of some items that should have been out years ago which may never make it to our hands, it is nice to have an unexpected treat like this fine Mastodon.  We have plenty in stock at DeJankins, just say the word and one will be on it's way to you right away!

Time for a little (or not so little) change

It has been several months now since the images were removed from the Store pages on the DeJankins site.  But there is good news - completely new product pages are almost complete and ready for your use!  Almost 20 new product pages have been created and there are still a few more to complete.  These new pages are much better than the old URL links to offsite images.  And in addition to the new images and easier navigation, we are also introducing a shopping cart.  All of these changes should be debuting in the next two or three weeks with periodic updates and enhancements following.  Sometime soon, probably at the end of the first week of October, we'll put up a temporary cover page indicating that the site is temporarily down while we upload all of the new pages.  We hope that the interruption will be a short one.

Please know that our addition of a new shopping cart does not mean that you are limited to placing orders only that way.  If you had emailed your order, or called us with an order in the past, you may still continue to interact with us that way.  But the shopping cart will make things more convenient for many.

Please check back occasionally over the next few weeks to see when these renovations are complete, and then let us know what you think about them!

Not all collectors of Prehistoric Animal figures will be excited about this, but some will be.

In 2001, the Morbi Dinosaurs were introduced in Italy.  They were available in foil packets with a color brochure which described the series and listed the 24 figures which one could collect.  They were sold for €2-3 each and were generally available in red, yellow, blue, and green.  Some of the figures seem not to have been made in the same quantities as others in the series, indeed we have yet to see the Laellynosaura figure at all (and we've looked through almost 150 pieces).  Also, occasionally a buyer would come across a figure made in white, but these are almost as rare as the Laellynosaura.

DeJankins has acquired a good number of these packets and are making them available to interested customers.  These figures are not "scientifically accurate" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are the sort of "fun rubber dinosaurs" which many of the older collectors will fondly remember.  You will be hard pressed to find new old stock items such as these today.  But you can find them in the "Other Brands" store here at DeJankins.  Prices vary based on the rarity of the figures in this particular lot of animals.  Quantites are very limited, so if you are interested, it's best to get your order in quickly.  Email us at DeJankins with your list of Morbi Dino wants!  Note, all packets have been opened in order to know the animal and color of the figure inside.  Otherwise they are mint items with all of their packaging.

And now, a word from Dr. Steve Hunters (well, almost . . .)

The word from Customer Service at GeoWorld, just 15 minutes ago, is that the Pre-Dinos figures (Deinosuchus, Postosuchus, Moschops, Scutosaurus, Dimetrodon, and Diplocaulus) have been put on "temporary" hold.  The rebranding that has occurred with the GeoWorld "Jurassic Hunters" line of products (indeed, most of their "prehistoric" products) has taken longer and has caused yet more delays in these items which have been anticipated already for a couple of years.  It might be that the figures will not be produced until 2018 or 2019.  So, if you have been holding your breath for them you might want to stop that.  Whenever new information for these products is available, DeJankins will be sure to share it as soon as we can.  Thanks!

Time for a little bit of news . . .

One thing after another has delayed the 2017 CollectA figures from entering the North American marketplace, but that will (hopefully) be changing in two to three weeks.  The supplier in Europe will be sending some 570 figures to DeJankins within the next week or two.  This shipment will contain all of the new 2017 figures with four exceptions, the Basilosaurus, the Mini set of Marine Reptiles, the Deluxe Dimorphodon and Uintatherium.  As soon as the shipping charge has been finalized, we will update the prices for the new figures in the CollectA store on this website.

We have also found a supplier for Mojö figures and have placed an order for the newest three figures (Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurs).  We hope to see these figures arrive soon though an estimated shipping date has not yet been provided.

New figures from Mojö Fun

Papo's Polacanthus is supposed to arrive at the US distributors location next week, and so we hope to have it here at DeJankins about the same time as the CollectA and Mojö figures arrive.  We have asked Papo for new expected availability dates for the remaining 2017 figures and we'll update the Papo store with that information when we receive it.

There are new items which Kinto Favorite has released which have not yet been imported into the United States.  My last update from the importer was that they hoped to place their order later in the spring.  I will strongly urge that they bring in the brand new figures (swimming Spinosaurus and new Archaeopteryx) along with those from last year (Dimetrodon, Archelon, and Megalodon) but we will have to see what they actually get.  The DeJankins Kinto Favorite Collection store will be updated just as soon as we know what items will be available.

Kinto Favorite Collection soft models for 2017

July is when the two 2017 Bullyland figures are expected to be available.  They are their new sculpts of Triceratops and Archaeopteryx.  Also in July, the remainder of the 2017 Schleich and CollectA dinosaurs should begin shipping.  The GeoWorld "Pre-Dino" figures (Deinosuchus, Postosuchus, Dimetrodon, Diplocaulus, Moschops, and Scutosaurus) are not expected until sometime in late summer or fall.

Lastly, the folks at Recur have recently had a change in policy, presumably to increase their market presence in the west.  When I contacted them (at the recommendation of a customer) last year, their minimum order quantity per item was 480 pieces!  That immediately removed them from the list of potential DeJankins offerings.  They have since relaxed their order requirements and have approved us to order a "sampling" quantity of figures.  Within the next couple of weeks, we should have available here a number of each of the prehistoric figures which they produce, currently about 40 different figures.  We will be setting up a new "Recur Store" on this site shortly.  Please communicate to us your thoughts about their figures and if you had intended to get some of their products, please consider doing so from DeJankins.  Whether or not we continue with their product line will be directly related to the movement we see in their products from our inventory.  Thanks for your understanding and help with this.

Recur Carcharodontosaurus, Majungatholus, Dimetrodon, Mosasaurus, Sterrholophus, and Mammuthus primigenius

New products in the DeJankins store . . .

From the faraway land of New South Wales in Australia come the two newest additions to DeJankins inventory of prehistoric collectibles - the Thylacine and Thylacoleo, both from Southland Replicas.

These items are expected to be in stock here by the end of February.  Each will be priced at $8.25.  Both items are new, not only to DeJankins, but also to Southlands Replicas as they were their first prehistoric replicas, both introduced just last year.

You can order yours today and we'll send them to you just as soon as we can once they arrive.

Three updates - GeoWorld "Before Dinos" figures, 2017 Safari items, and PNSO models

A quick update for customers interested in the "Before Dinos" figures from the Dr. Steve Hunters "Early Animals Collection" from GeoWorld . . . next year!    I spoke with their folks in Tucson today and learned from them that response to these six new animals (Deinosuchus, Postosuchus, Dimetrodon, Diplocaulus, Moschops, and Scutosaurus) have been surprisingly low.  Partly because of this lack of enthusiasm among GeoWorld followers, they have pushed the release of these six pieces out to the second or third quarter of 2017.  According to the sales person, production has not even started on these items yet.  So, look for these to show up in eight to ten months.

Safari Ltd. has announced their new 2017 prehistoric figures, and almost all of them are scheduled for release in October of this year!  DeJankins has already placed a sizable order and hopes to have the new items in stock within the next few weeks.  The "Wild Safari" store will be updated soon with information and images for this bakers dozen of newbies from Safari.

And finally, PNSO.  After posting the previous blog entry on September 8th, it was mentioned to us by a couple of friends/customers that Amazon was selling the PNSO figures.  And sure enough, they are out there, and at pretty good prices too.  As things currently stand, DeJankins will be able to have comparable prices to those on Amazon, but they have a real winner with their free shipping options.  For many DeJankins customers, it may be a better deal for you to get the larger PNSO figures via Amazon.com.  However, the "Little Dinos" will most likely be a better deal from DeJankins.  PNSO is waiting for additional information (about shipping costs) so that a clear and rock bottom price for PNSO products can be determined.  Hopefully the DeJankins PNSO "store" will be up shortly with information and images.  Thanks for your patience as we wait for additional information from the company.

Thank you for your interest in and support of DeJankins.  We want to provide you with quality prehistoric animal figures for a good price and great customer service.  Check with us often to see what's new with DeJankins!

"Excuse me, would you have any PNSO dinosaurs?"

Sampling of PNSO Dinosaurs and models

DeJankins has received requests from several customers to investigate the possibility of adding the PNSO dinosaurs to our inventory of prehistoric collectibles.  We have determined that the possibility is quite good!  But before we can proceed on with this endeavor, we must assess the level of support we can expect from our DeJankins customer base.

The current listing of PNSO items that we are considering includes the following:

- Vinyl models of Basilosaurus, Chungkingosaurus, Megalodon, Huayangosaurus, Mamenchisaurus, and Tsintaosaurus

- Vinyl figures of Euhelopus, Shantungosaurus, Lufengosaurus, Mandschurosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Huanghetitan

- "Little Dinosaurs" set of six with book and additional 18 new "Little Dinosaurs"

In the past when we have polled for interest about new items (for example, Rebor), we had very little response.  If we have less than a dozen responses to these PNSO pieces, we will not be able to carry them in our store.  We'll wait for a couple of weeks to see what happens.

I have not mentioned price as I am still waiting on information from the company.  There is already a source for these figures in the United States, and our prices would almost certainly be less than those at the other retailer.  But the margin is not a great one in most cases.  But the number of available unique items would be more than they currently list.  Please email us  to let us know of your interest in the PNSO line of prehistorics.  Thanks!

Well, finally some good news . . . (we hope!)

With no North American source for the 2016 CollectA figures, DeJankins went overseas to find a willing seller to get these desirable figures for our customers.  We were successful.  The money has been wired to the agent in the UK, and hopefully, all twelve new 2016 pieces will be on their way to North Carolina in the next few weeks.  Another relatively good piece of news is that the item prices are very close to what the former USA distributor was charging for the items.

The bit of bad news is that there will be a shipping charge, and it is, um . . . noticeable.  The USA distributor would ship free for orders over a certain amount, that is of course not the case for international shipping.  It looks as though the shipping cost will bump the expected price of these collectibles by about 20%.  The respective CollectA "stores" on our website have been updated with the new prices.

So, stay tuned, keep watching the "stores" to see when these items are in stock, and be sure to order yours quickly.  Because of requirements from this new supplier, we were not able to order in the exact quantities we wanted.  Rather we had to order full case lots.  This means that for some animals (the Thylacine and Mercuriceratops) we will have more than we had planned to get.  For others (such as the Deinocheirus and all four Deluxe figures) we will have less than what we would have wanted.  Don't wait too long as I suspect we will soon be very low in stock on some of these figures.

Thank you for your time and for your support.