Review and photographs of Proganochelys quenstedti (Vitor Silva) by stemturtle, edited by Suspsy
More than twenty years ago, I saw a wonderful reconstruction of Proganochelys at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Ever since then, I have searched for a realistic model of that species for my collection.
Lophostropheus is a coelophysoid theropod known from the boundary between the late Triassic and early Jurassic. It is known from a single tooth, a handful of vertebrae from the neck, back, and tail, some pelvic material, and an unidentified fragment. Such scant remains practically guaranteed a toy of Lophostropheus from Mattel, and here we are.
Although I’ve reviewed a number of these Yowie figures there’s one above all others that I’ve been wanting to obtain, the Atopodentatus, and I guess the 12th times the charm! Although listed as “common” on the Yowie rarity chart it had frustratingly eluded me for two months.
Recently, Mattel has started dabbling with small-figure two packs, first with an Eoraptor vs. Stegouros pairing and then with the set we’re looking at today, Guanlong vs. Lystrosaurus. I think these two packs are a fantastic idea and hope that Mattel will produce more of them in the future.
Rauisuchus is a genus of pseudosuchian that lived in the late Triassic of what is now Brazil. It is also the latest pseudosuchian and Triassic taxa offered from Mattel, who has miraculously produced more of these animals than any other toy company I can think of.
I’m fascinated by how depictions of prehistoric animals change over time in the face of new evidence. This is the theme of my recent children’s book, The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers, which focusses on T. rex as a case study for this ‘make-over’ phenomenon.
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. Happy Hen Toys is a U.S. distributor of animal figures and one of the only places in the country where you can get CollectA figures at a reasonable price.
Now here’s a new one for the blog, and another dinosaur I had never heard of until Mattel made a toy of one… Guaibasaurus. Guaibasaurus is a genus of basal saurischian from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation, in southern Brazil.
“How do you do, fellow dinosaur lovers? Dr. Bella Bricking and Beth Buildit here once again, wishing you all both a happy National Dinosaur Day and a happy Pride Month! Are you ready for yet another dive deep into the exciting world of prehistoric LEGO sets?”
*sigh* “Why are we wearing these getups, Doc?
Cynognathus is not a very common choice for toy producers. This Cynognathus was part of Marx’ first wave, produced from 1955 onwards, so it may be not surprising that it is a comparably weak representative of the real animal, even with its outdated history in mind.
Dinosaurs weren’t the first giant plant-eaters to roam the Earth; that frontier was pioneered first among vertebrates by the dicynodonts, a group of tusked therapsids (the clade which includes modern mammals) which survived the Permian Mass Extinction and lasted to the end of the Triassic period.
Mattel loves Pseudosuchians, or so it would seem. Just this year they released five of these crocodile-line archosaurs. Not since Bullyland’s heyday have we seen so many representatives of the group made by a single company, and I think Mattel must surely win the award for most Pseudosuchians ever produced.
