Story quality aside, one good thing that Jurassic World: Rebirth brought us were some bold and fresh designs for the prehistoric animals previously featured in the franchise. The Tyrannosaurus, Mosasaurus, Spinosaurus, Compsognathus, Velociraptor (briefly featured as they were), and Quetzalcoatlus all got a spiffy makeover. In the case of the Quetzalcoatlus, it was less accurate than the Dominion version but...
Following up on my Hammond Collection Allosaurus review, is with yet another beloved animal from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation, the Stegosaurus. More specifically the Hammond Collection juvenile Stegosaurus based on the one from The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Strangely this is my first time reviewing a figure of this animal, despite it being one of my favorite dinosaurs, and...
If my research is correct, it has been 13 years since Safari Ltd. released a prehistoric animal TOOB. Their last was the Cambrian Life TOOB, released in 2013 and retired from production 4 short years later. And in fact, all of the best Safari prehistoric animal TOOBs were retired in 2017, including the Prehistoric Sharks, Crocodiles, and Sea Life TOOBs....
It’s interesting to think that the last time I reviewed an Allosaurus figure for the blog here was back in 2019, and based on the individual from the short film Battle at Big Rock, released in the same year. Here I am now with the Hammond Collection iteration, yet again based on the design from that short film. Worth noting...
Across the various online Jurassic World collector communities I’ve seen increased talk about a new sort of collectable that appears to have slipped in under the radar, Blokees. A Chinese toy company, Blokees produces buildable action figures under various licensed properties. They appear to be rather popular with the Transformers community, but I had never heard of them until the...
Rounding out my reviews of Mattel’s ’93 Classic Collection we’re looking at what might be the most absurd assortment of figures in any of these sets; the one that includes an airborne mathematician carting around a baby Triceratops as if it were a briefcase. This is the Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack, and it’s the last ’93 Classic set...
Ceoptera (meaning “mist wing”) is a genus of darwinopteran that lived in Scotland during the mid-Jurassic. It is notable in several respects. It’s the only pterosaur known from the Kilmaluag Formation, one of the only pterosaurs known from the middle Jurassic, the second described pterosaur from Scotland (Dearc is the first), and the most complete pterosaur found in the UK...
The China-Canada Dinosaur Project was a series of paleontological expeditions carried out by Chinese and Canadian scientists between 1986 and 1991. In 1993, a travelling exhibition called the Dinosaur Project World Tour was launched to promote all of their findings. I went to see it in Toronto that year, and it was a truly fantastic experience for a young dinosaur...
I have a soft spot for the UKRD figures of the 90s, as they were among the first dinosaur toys I collected as a kid, and I’ve reviewed quite a few of them for this blog. I’ve now reached the Stegosaurus from 1992 and thought it would just be an “also ran” kind of review, as the figure itself is...
Mussaurus is a genus of early Jurassic sauropodomorph that in the old days would have been known as a “prosauropod”. Mussaurus means “mouse lizard” because the first discovered specimens of it were all hatchlings and juveniles. We now have adult specimens as well, indicating that Mussaurus reached a length of 20-26’ (5-8 meters), making its name misleading. Growth stages of...
Since its release in 2018 one of my favorite dinosaurs in the Jurassic World: Evolution video game has been Dryosaurus. Nearly every park I’ve bult in all three Jurassic World: Evolution games has had a large flock of these cute and charming ornithopods mingling with the Morrison Formation giants. Of course, I’m also really into basal dinosaurs; the humble beginnings...
Described in 1994, Cryolophosaurus is notable for being the first named dinosaur and first theropod discovered on Antarctica. Antarctopelta was the first dinosaur discovered on the continent, but Cryolophosaurus was named before it. Cryolophosaurus comes from the Handon formation and unfortunately the dinosaur material recovered from there is very scant. Cryolophosaurus itself is decently well known however, with remains consisting...
