Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy Today we are looking at Anomalocaris canadensis from the 2020 Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. set called The Great Old Sea. It is one of three figures in the set; the others being the trilobite Olenoides serratus and a coelacanth (which I presume is extant?). This is not the first review of Anomalocaris on the Dinosaur Toy Blog, not even...
In spite of their fame and importance to biostratigraphy, trilobites rarely ever get models made of them, outside of toobs and box sets with other Palaeozoic creatures. This year it seems CollectA is tackling the common creatures of the past that rarely get figures. And even better, they actually named their species: Redlichia rex. Redlichia rex is a large member...
Although I’m somewhat of a veteran plush reviewer most of my plush reviews so far have been toys in the Paleozoic Pals line. Those reviews include two trilobites and so I’m excited to review yet another trilobite but this time from a company that has not yet been covered on the DTB, Giant Microbes. Giant Microbes is a unique company...
Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy This is a review of the Anomalocaris figure in the Dino Mecard line by the Korean company Sono Kong, in conjunction with Choirock. Figures in this line appear to be based on a TV show and corresponding card game, similar to Dinosaur King or Pokemon. I must admit, I collected this figure...
Summer melts us here since weeks, so time for another wet review…. Today I want you to introduce you to one of those creatures everybody knows, but knows almost nothing about, a jellyfish. Jellyfish are a very very old group of animals, they date back to the famous Ediacarian, more than 600 mya. Fossils are very rare as jellyfish are...
Colorata has been making boxed sets of dinosaurs for several years now, which occasionally include dinosaur contemporaries like pterosaurs or mosasaurs, but in December of 2017 they released their first boxed set of prehistoric figures featuring exclusively non-dinosaur taxa. Say hello to the Extinct Animals: Paleozoic Creatures set. It features six animals, which span, oh, roughly 70% of the Paleozoic...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy Trilobites. Next to ammonites, they are one of the most well-known fossil groups. Known throughout the world from thousands of species, from the tiny to the giant and from spiny to burrowing, no one can deny their fame. From the Cambrian to the Permian, trilobites radiated across the globe, allowing them to...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy Imagine the weirdest alien you can think of. Give it as many tentacles, eyes, and other appendages as you like, but chances are they still aren’t as strange as anything from the Ediacaran or Cambrian Period, especially the latter. The Cambrian Explosion created some of the weirdest creatures imaginable, including this review’s...
Like many readers of this blog, one of my favorite things to do when visiting a new city is to check out the local natural history or science museum. For getting a sense of the scale and proportions of ancient life, nothing beats seeing specimens, or even reproductions of specimens, up close and personal. And what better souvenir can you...
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy For my first review, I will be reviewing the Yowie Anomalocaris. Anomalocaris was one of the largest creatures of its time, growing up to around 1 meter long (or 3.2 feet), and is one of the many species preserved in the Burgess Shale. It lived during the Cambrian Period, and some of...
Review and photos by Tim Sosa, edited by Suspsy The interval of Earth’s history which shows fossil evidence of animals is known as the Phanerozoic Eon (literally “visible animals”). The Phanerozoic is divided into three Eras. We live in the Cenozoic, which was preceded by the Mesozoic (during which dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals). The Mesozoic began after the...
Review and photographs by Tim Sosa From July-October 2015, the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo hosted an exhibit called “Leaps in Evolution: Tracing the Path of Vertebrate Evolution.” To commemorate the exhibit, Kaiyodo made a set of five vending machine capsule figures, most representing a stage in the evolution of vertebrates. Each of these can be tied...
