Review and photos by Kikimalou, edited by Suspsy
An emblematic figure of prehistory, almost as much as the Tyrannosaurus rex, the woolly mammoth has survived many extinctions in the toy world. The first versions are probably those cast in lead by CBG Mignot and in composition by Chilau. These two rarities are now so rare that they are snapped up at exorbitant prices in auction rooms.
My sincere thanks to Happy Hen Toys for furnishing this review sample.
Several other companies have made Mapusaurus figures before, including Bandai, Playmates, and CollectA. So far, however, we’ve only reviewed CollectA’s four (!!!) versions on the blog. A brief re-introduction might be useful, then: Mapusaurus hails from the Huincul Formation (English approximation: “ween-COOL”) in Argentina, just like its recently described relative Meraxes and the famous Argentinosaurus.
Relative newcomer Haolonggood has been on something of a role these last two months, unveiling a series of highly impressive prehistoric figures, each one available in two different colour schemes, that easily rival anything from the other companies. Here’s hoping that this happy trend continues, and that Haolonggood gets wider distribution!
It’s Wilson again! No, wait, that’s not Wilson, it’s Cameron! Yes, it’s a brand new sovereign striding on the stage, and he looks to be PNSO’s best Tyrannosaurus rex to date! Even comes with what appears to be a replica of the skull of Sue!
For almost every Tyrannosaurus toy on the market, there’s a Triceratops toy to face off with – as it should be, considering the rich history of fossils and iconic paleo media depicting these legendary Cretaceous contemporaries. Triceratops was more than just a prime steak to fill a theropod’s belly, of course; this colossal herbivore would have been a spectacular animal in its own right, and a powerful presence roaming the forests and hills of Western North America.
There’s no real debate about it. The Mattel Jurassic World Mosasaurus is still one of the line’s best toys. Pushing 30” in length and covered in rubbery “real feel” material, it has also been released and re-released consistently over the last 5 years. A testament to its quality. As such, I felt little need to get any of Mattel’s other visually similar marine reptiles.
Gallimimus from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia is the largest known ornithomimid at around 6 metres/20 feet in length and 450 kg/1000 lbs in mass. It is also arguably the most famous thanks to its appearances in the Jurassic Park franchise. But there really haven’t been very many toys of it, just as there haven’t been very many ornithomimid toys, period.
Mattel has serious distribution problems going as far back as 2004. I collect Batman figures, and I am also a completist, if you haven’t noticed. The final few waves of the Comic Book style Batman series, as well as some figures from The Batman were only released on Europe, and sometimes in Latin America.
Hello, who’s this?
Takara Tomy is a prolific toy manufacturer which has produced a number of dinosaur-related toys in the past. Most of these toys have been released under the ANIA (sometimes “Animal Adventure”) line, but some have received more unique lines of their own. One such line, short-lived as it appears to have been, was the Dinosaur Colosseum, which first released in 2015 as a set of three blind-boxed figurines (almost blind – each box has a unique numbering for identification).
I first learned about Stygimoloch back in the late 1980s when I came across a painting of it by the late paleoartist Ely Kish in a dinosaur book, and I distinctly recall being rather excited at the prospect of another North American pachycephalosaur besides Pachycephalosaurus itself and Stegoceras. So it was something of a disappointment years later when it was announced that both Stygimloch and Dracorex were probably younger specimens of Pachycephalosaurus.
I told you I would return to pterosaurs soon enough. I, EmperorDinobot, got this Jurassic Park Hammond Collection Geosternbergia early on, and to be honest, there is not much I can say about it, as it is a re-tool of the Amber Collection Pteranodon, which has been reviewed here.
It has been 27 years since the release of the undisputed best figure of Ouranosaurus ever made, the Battat Ouranosaurus, produced in 1996 for the Boston Museum of Science. And although other Ouranosaurus figures have come along over those 27 years none of them came close to matching the craftsmanship, accuracy, and paintwork of that figure.
Sauropods are typically famous for their immense size and shape; genera like Mamenchisaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Patagotitan were among the very longest, most massive animals ever to walk the Earth. Every rule has its exception, though. One group of sauropods, the dicraeosaurids, have garnered attention from scientists for being almost the exact opposite of their more famous relatives.
With the announcement of the Hammond Collection Concavenator late last year it became apparent that Mattel had no intention of limiting their premium collector’s line to creatures with significant screen time in the Jurassic franchise. This revelation left many collectors feeling frustrated, hoping that the Hammond Collection line would at least tackle more important prehistoric animals first.
Although Quetzalcoatlus finally made its onscreen debut in 2022 courtesy of Jurassic World: Dominion, longtime collectors know full well that Kenner released a toy of the colossal azdharchid all the way back in 1994, which has still not yet been reviewed for the blog (although you can get a fairly good idea of what it was like from my review of the Lost World Pteranodon).