Before we begin the review, I would like to thank the generous folks over at ToyMonster, for sending me this figure to share with the blog.
With the second season of Jurassic World: Chaos Theory having just dropped it seemed like a good time to share one of the show’s starring theropods, the Suchomimus.
Times have been very hard lately, and the smallest gestures are worth living for. I would like to thank Happy Hen Toys for providing me with this interesting specimen, so I could pass the time playing with it, photographing it, and helping me to focus on something less painful.
This small outdated ankylosaur model was sold by the Early Learning Centre in the UK in the 1990s. It doesn’t have any brand markings, but I’m reasonably confident it’s an AAA model based on the style and knowing the strong relationship the Early Learning Centre had with AAA.
A few weeks ago, I posted a review of the Pteranodon from Yowie Group’s latest set of blind-bag figures, Ultimate Dinosaurs. In that review I mentioned that most of the figures were average to below average in execution but that there were a few standout figures.
Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Check out their large selection of animal and dinosaur figures by clicking the banner below.
When Haolonggood announced their Diabloceratops it was one of the few ceratopsians by the company that I didn’t intend to purchase.
Biggest by far of all known maniraptorans, bearer of the longest claws of any known animal, and just downright rocambolesque to the human eye, Therizinosaurus is one truly remarkable dinosaur. It’s been made into a toy by many of the major companies, including Safari Ltd.
I, EmperorDinobot, have a less than healthy obsession with the Beasts of the Mesozoic. These are the dinosaurs I wanted to own as a kid. Dinosaurs that were articulated beyond what Kenner and later Hasbro’s dinosaurs could do. And here I am, roughly two decades later, sitting in bed with my own personal computer doing what I always did as a kid: browsing the catalogs which sometimes came in the boxes, or just the back of the card for some figures, always plotting what I should get next.
Collectors of extant animals are no doubt familiar with Yowie Group, who have been producing animal figurines for U.S. markets since 2014 and for Australia since 2017. Yowie Group is a relaunch of Cadbury Yowie, which produced toy animals and chocolate in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, before Cadbury and Yowie parted ways.
Sometimes in our clamour for the most spectacular, expensive, hot new dinosaur figures, we can forget there’s still plenty of joy to be found in plain, cheap, cool old dinosaur figures. And you can’t get cheaper than free! The German Margarinefiguren, or Margarine Figures, by Wagner, came free with packets of ‘butter’ (and maybe other products, I don’t know) in the 1950s.
The DinoToyBlog has evolved over the years, much like the prehistoric creatures we review. Articles here are more substantial now than ever before. The average word count has increased, the number of photographs has gone up, and the scientific rigour has shot through the roof.
Unlike most other prehistoric toy companies, the vast majority of Haolonggood’s dinosaurs have been herbivorous ones thus far. And the carnivores that they have tackled are mostly genera that have already been done by many of those same other companies: Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Daspletosaurus, Dilophosaurus, etc.
Last year was an exciting year for Irritator! Not only did we get two new figures by Mattel, but we also got a new study looking at the jaw articulation of Professor Challenger’s Irritating creature from Brazil! Join me, Emperor Dinobot, as we look at one of the most interesting figures Mattel has given us thus so far, barring the lack of accuracy and focusing on the artistic license given to this swampy animal!
