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.
Age: Cretaceous
Review: Kronosaurus (‘daddy’/Kronos)(Dinosaurs and Friends by De Agostini)
4.1 (17 votes)
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.
Review: Megaraptor (Haolonggood)
5 (39 votes)
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.
Review: Irritator (Jurassic World Dino Trackers Wild Roar by Mattel)
4.3 (22 votes)
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!
Review: Becklespinax (Altispinax) (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Captivz Build N’ Battle Dinos by ToyMonster)
4.6 (12 votes)
Before we begin the review, I would like to thank the generous folks over at ToyMonster, for sending me a large selection of Captivz figures to share with the blog.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a case of déjà vu, I am indeed reviewing back-to-back Becklespinax figures.
Review: Becklespinax (Altispinax) (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Battle Roarin’ by Mattel)
4.5 (32 votes)
Leave it to the Jurassic World franchise to once again thrust an exceptionally fragmentary dinosaur into the limelight and give it the wrong name in the process. Becklespinax is one of many synonyms for the early Cretaceous English theropod now known as Altispinax.
Review: Sinosauropteryx (Dinotales Series 1, ver. B by Kaiyodo)
4.8 (27 votes)
It’s been over ten years since fellow reviewer Gwangi covered a figurine of Sinosauropteryx, a small compsognathid theropod, produced by Kaiyodo under their renowned Dinotales series. Since that time, a grand total of… two, maybe three more figurines… have been produced of this seminal genus.
Review: Nasutoceratops (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Captivz Build N’ Battle Dinos by ToyMonster)
4.6 (23 votes)
Before we begin the review, I would like to thank the generous folks over at ToyMonster, for sending me a large selection of Captivz figures for me to share with the blog.
I love how quickly Nasutoceratops has risen in popularity.
Review: Daspletosaurus (Haolonggood)
4.1 (39 votes)
As Waylay bursts out from concealment, the big male champsosaur that was basking placidly on a sandbank immediately slides into the water.* But the pools in these marshlands are half a metre deep at most and Waylay simply wades in and seizes the fleeing reptile’s tail in her jaws.
Review: Edmontosaurus (Haolonggood)
4.6 (40 votes)
Edmontosaurus has been a staple in dinosaur toy lines since the very beginning of dinosaur toy production with Marx in the 1950’s. It’s a quintessential dinosaur, right up there with Triceratops, T. rex, and Stegosaurus, even if it was historically regarded as nothing more than theropod fodder.
Review: Albertaceratops nesmoi by Beasts of the Mesozoic from Creative Beast Studios
4.9 (23 votes)
At this point in my life, my reviews are all going to be somewhat personal. As collectors, we tend to form serious attachments to our toys or figures, as they often serve as memory capsules. They remind us of things such as a fun event that led to their discovery, a trip where a collector bought a figure at a gift shop, a gift given to a collector for their birthday, or by a special someone that may or may not be with them anymore, etc.
Review: Utahraptor (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
3.9 (42 votes)
Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy.
In 2016, I moved from the hot and humid deciduous forests of Georgia to the hot and dry high deserts of Utah. It wasn’t a stark change for me, though, as I grew up in the hotter and drier Sonoran Desert of Arizona.