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Dinosaurs Attack!

trading card series

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ5278686
Source-derived summary

Dinosaurs Attack! is a trading card series that was produced by Topps and released in 1988, containing 55 base cards and 11 sticker cards. The cards tell the story of dinosaurs transported through time into the present day through a freak accident and wreaking havoc on Earth. The series is notable for its graphic violence and gore, which was intended to evoke memories of the successful 1962 trading card series Mars Attacks.

Overview

The 1988 trading card series Dinosaurs Attack! was created as a follow-up to the successful 1962 trading card series Mars Attacks. Like Mars Attacks, Dinosaurs Attack! was intended to be an homage to, and a parody of, 1950s B movies. While Mars Attacks was a parody of alien invasion films, Dinosaurs Attack! was a parody of monster on the loose films, including the two films that started the genre, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Godzilla (1954).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dinosaurs Attack!” as trading card series. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1988, 1962, 1953, 1954—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1988. The account is most persuasive where Dinosaurs, Attack and trading can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as trading card series. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5278686. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988, 1962, 1953 and 1954.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dinosaurs Attack!”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dinosaurs Attack! primary sources, Dinosaurs Attack! archive and Dinosaurs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dinosaurs Attack!”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Dinosaurs Attack!” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.