Cartoon Dinosaurs still hold a significant influence in the children’s market. Children aged 3-8 maintain a strong curiosity about dinosaurs and continue to love and enjoy well-known dinosaur cartoons. We previously reviewed 20 popular dinosaur cartoon films and television shows; today, we’ll review 10 of the most successful dinosaur-themed cartoon characters in history.

As a dinosaur-themed maker, we’re here to inform potential clients that we can create these figures as animatronic models or sculptures to enhance your entertainment venues.

QUICK FACTS:

#1. Gertie the Dinosaur
#2. Dino
#3. Dinny
#4. Puppet dinosaurs in Cesta do Praveku / Journey to the Beginning of Time
#5. Dinobot
#6. Megatron from Beast Wars
#7. Denver, the Last Dinosaur
#8. Aladar
#9. Arlo
#10. T-Bone / Stegz / Bullzeye / Spike / Hard Rock

1. Gertie the Dinosaur

Born in 1867, Winsor McCay‌ was already a renowned cartoonist. In 1912, he exchanged ideas with the American Historical Association and subsequently announced an ambitious plan to “showcase the great monsters that once inhabited the earth.” Gertie the Dinosaur was born from this context. The workload of this animated film was unimaginable at the time. This was because the concept of “layering” had not yet emerged in animation production, so every frame of background and foreground characters had to be drawn repeatedly, resulting in over 5,000 frames in the entire film.

Gertie the Dinosaur actually combines live-action performance with animated characters. At the beginning of the film, Gertty the dinosaur, following McCay’s instructions, crawls out of its cave and bows to the audience. During its performance, it mischievously eats nearby trees and does many things against McCay’s wishes, such as bullying the boats on the lake. After being scolded by McCay, Gertie cries loudly, displaying her childlike innocence. The film was a huge success upon its release, making “Gertie” the first “dinosaur” star in animated history.

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2. Dino

The story of The Flintstones is set in the Stone Age 20 million years BC. However, dinosaurs that became extinct 70 million years ago still appeared in the story of The Flintstones. The small sauropod dinosaur “Dino” played the role of the protagonist’s pet dog in the show. He was the pet dinosaur of the series’ main characters, Fred Flintstone and Wilma Flintstone. Dino made his debut in the opening credits of the pilot episode of The Flintstones, but his name was not mentioned until the fourth episode of the first season, “No Help Needed”. The voice actor for Dino was Mel Blank. From 1960 to 1989, and (through archived recordings) in 1994 and 2000.

Dino is a kind of “tyrannosaurus” similar to the primitive sauropod dinosaurs. It is relatively small in size, only slightly larger than the humans of that era, smaller than the mammoths in this series, and much smaller than the numerous sauropods that appeared in this series as working animals (in the opening scene, an adult sauropod dinosaur acts as a crane, and in the end credits, one can see “tyrannosaurus ribs” as large as cars).

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Dinny

While Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck undoubtedly became animal stars in the world of animation during the 1920s and 30s, it’s also worth mentioning a Brachiosaurus named “Dinny” This was created by American cartoonist Hamlin in his 1932 comic strip “Alley Oops“. The comic’s protagonist, of the same name, was a prehistoric Stone Age man, and “Dinny” was his mount. As a comic, “Alley Oops” was a huge success, running for 40 years.

Dumb Dinos: There was a series of educational strips called “Dinny’s Family Album” that went into detail about the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures in the comic. Many of them played this trope straight. In the strips proper, Dinny was friendly but not very smart.

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Puppet dinosaurs in Cesta do Praveku / Journey to the Beginning of Time

Because the real actors in the theatre were very expensive, the shrewd Czechs came up with the idea of using wooden puppets to replace the real actors in the performance. This tradition has continued to the present day, giving rise to the sudden rise of puppet animation. In 1954, Karel Zeman shot the science fiction film “Cesta do Praveku“, which tells the story of four students who enter the river of time and discover ancient animals. In this film, most of the scenes were shot in real life, but only the dinosaur shapes were made with puppet animation. The superb skills of Czech animators made the film so realistic that it was almost on par with today’s computer special effects.

The puppet dinosaurs inside, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, and Brontosaurus, became extremely successful dinosaur characters in Europe in the 1950s. Their appearance made children at that time obsessed with the adventure of the “prehistoric world“, and they also played the role of enlightening children’s knowledge of paleontology at that time. The birth of these puppet dinosaurs and the adventures of the main characters have also influenced the creation of later animations, novels, and films.

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5. Dinobot

The allure of dinosaurs was once again proven in the 1980s animated masterpiece, Transformers. In this 98-episode animated series (commonly known as “G1“), not only did the fantastical setting of “Dinosaur Island” appear, but the robotic dinosaurs that appeared in the first few episodes were also among the most popular characters. This is evident from the fact that they were among the early characters who were still active when G1 ended. Even in later episodes, the robotic dinosaurs increasingly appeared as dinosaurs (Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, Pteranodon) rather than as transforming robots.

The Robotic Dinosaurs, also known as the Dinobot, are a combat team in the science fiction IP “Transformers” series. They are a team of five dinosaur-like Transformers in the Autobots faction, led by Grimlock, with members Slag, Sludge, Snarl, and Swoop.

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6. Megatron from Beast Wars

Megatron (aka Savage, Noble, Gnashteeth, Beast Megatron, Galavar and, um, Joe) began with one goal: restoring glory and power to the Predacon race, with himself at the helm. What distinguishes Megatron from the countless others who share this goal is his chutzpah. This is a guy who named himself after his faith’s equivalent of the Antichrist. He is willing to risk everything—time, space, himself—if need be. He’s willing to commit omnicide if it will further his goals. And there were times he would have won were it not for Optimus Primal.

Megatron is skillful at orchestrating vast schemes by manipulating others into doing them for him—an idle suggestion here, a conspicuously planted object of interest there. He knows his enemies, and these include some minions, inside and out and exactly how to provoke them. He has no friends, only pawns, or occasionally, pawns that are too reliable to risk losing. Because of this attitude, this superiority complex, he despises working with the very troops he needs to carry out his plans. His hubris does not make him very popular, and so he must rely on power and fear to rule them. In fact, he prefers mindless drones.

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7. Denver, the Last Dinosaur

The protagonist, Denver, is a blue Corythosaurus, smart, cute, humorous and full of curiosity. He loves rock music and is a secret friend discovered by children. The main human characters are teenagers Jeremy, Wally, Shades and Mario who live in California. They enjoy skateboarding, mountain biking and the sunshine in California, and are Denver’s protectors and companions. The main villain is the greedy adult Morton Fizzback, who is always plotting to catch Denver for profit.

Denver first met Wally, Shades, Jeremy, and Mario when he hatched from his egg when the boys hid behind a fence in the tar pit from Nick and his friends. He surprisingly understands English. Denver got his name when the boys spotted an advertisement for the city of Denver on the side of a bus. He is a rock ‘n roll music fan and likes to play electric guitar, ride skateboard and eat potato chips.

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8. Aladar

The film (Dinosaur) tells the story of a young Iguanodon named Aladar, raised by a lemur, who sets out to find a new home with his lemur friend after a meteor shower and encounters other dinosaurs along the way.

The story goes back to the late Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, when Aladar was an Iguanodon living on a paradisiacal small island. Having never seen its own kind, it was raised by a group of lemurs. A sudden meteor shower destroyed the island, and Aladar, along with a few lemur companions, narrowly escaped the disaster and reached the mainland. They joined a group of dinosaurs searching for a safe refuge. Scarcity of water and food, along with relentless attacks from bloodthirsty carnivorous dinosaurs, constantly threatened their survival.

Aladar, who possessed innovative ideas and showed sympathy for the weaker companions, inevitably clashed with the cold and stubborn leader Kron and his loyal subordinate Bruton. Aladar challenged tradition and proved that adapting to the environment and uniting with others were the best ways to survive.

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9. Arlo

Arlo is the protagonist of the 2015 Disney·Pixar animated feature film, The Good Dinosaur. He is a young Apatosaurus living at a farm with his widowed mother and older siblings.

The last to hatch among his siblings and the smallest, 11-year old Arlo has yet to make his mark on his family’s farm. Though he is eager to help out with chores, this sheltered Apatosaurus just can’t seem to get past his fear of everything. So when Arlo falls into a river and finds himself swept hundreds of miles away from home, he’s forced to face his fear for the first time in his life, braving the harsh, untamed wilderness and a long, arduous journey home. Along the way, Arlo develops an unlikely friendship with a human boy named Spot, who helps him realize he is capable of much more than he ever thought.

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10. T-Bone / Stegz / Bullzeye / Spike / Hard Rock

Sixty-five million years ago, in the ancient times, dinosaurs of all sizes roamed the then lush and humid Earth. Suddenly, a tremendous roar ripped through the sky, accompanied by an exceptionally bright beam of light, which then formed a rift leading to another dimension. A massive, complex interdimensional spaceship appeared, radiating intense light and sucking four small dinosaurs into a laboratory.

They are Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pteranodon, and Triceratops. Imprisoned by Yager’s high-tech methods, they can only demonstrate their silent anger towards him. Why did Yager choose dinosaurs? Because his intention is to conquer the space he inhabits. Now that he has successfully completed the reconstruction of his terrifying arsenal, which was once nearly half destroyed, he is traversing all spaces in search of something that can transform them into powerful slaves.

Extreme Dinosaurs

• T-Bone – A Tyrannosaurus and the team’s leader who is usually attentive to the primary objective even where the others are distracted. T-Bone is light yellow and wears black boots (wherein one of his claws protrudes through both boots), dark green pants, and shoulder pads. His signature move, which he can perform alone or with any in the group, is the “Saurian Stomp” which shakes the local ground.
• Spike – A Triceratops with one broken horn who is the Extreme Dinosaurs’ martial arts expert and the residential chef. Spike is iceberg blue with a dark purple under his tail and wears brown shorts, brown leg bands, a yellow belt, and is always barefoot. Despite his eagerness to fight, he tends a garden in his free time.
• Stegz – A Stegosaurus who is the team’s technological specialist and the most contemplative of the four. Stegz is apple green and wears purple shorts and black boots. He can curl his body into a destructive saw blade, using the plates on his back as its cutting edge.
• Bullzeye – A wise-cracking Pteranodon whose chief weapon is a shriek of ear-splitting frequency. Bullzeye is maroon red and wears yellow pants, black boots (which his claws protrude through), and a gold necklace. Bullzeye is lazy and given to impulse buying.
• Hard Rock – An Ankylosaurus from an alternate reality inhabited by mutated dinosaurs. Hard Rock is tan and wears red pants with grey boots. After helping them against the Raptors, Hard Rock joined the Extreme Dinosaurs. He is the principal pacifist.

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Conclusion

These 10 most successful dinosaur-themed / cartoon characters or images have brought countless childhood memories and joy to audiences worldwide. Like the most famous dinosaur stars in the long river of childhood, they periodically evoke memories for adult audiences and form a foundation for passing on these stories to the next generation of childhood viewers.

Cartoon Animatronics Dinosaurs or Dinosaur Statues we made as your options