I’ve been meaning to plug some of the gaps in our Marx review series for a long while, so thanks to the other reviewers who have been most patient with me. The Marx Iguanodon toy under review today was part of the Second Series Mold Group, PL-1083, first released in 1961.
Author: DinoToyBlog
Dr Adam S. Smith (aka 'Dinotoyblog' here, and 'Dinotoyforum' on the Dinosaur Toy Forum.) is a curator and palaeontologist at the Nottingham Natural History Museum, Wollaton Hall, UK. Adam launched the Dinosaur Toy Blog in July 2007 and followed it up with the Dinosaur Toy Forum in January 2008, and the Animal Toy Forum in December 2012. He is particularly interested in marine reptile figures, especially plesiosaurs. Adam also runs The Plesiosaur Directory website and has published several popular articles and technical papers on fossil marine reptiles. He is a children's author with 'The Plesiosaur's Neck'All reviews by this author
Prehistoric Animals (Panini, review part 2)
4.5 (4 votes)
In part 1 of this review we looked at 12 dinosaur toys (and one pterosaur) from Panini’s Prehistoric Animals line. In part 2 we pick up where we left off to complete the full set of 24 toys.
Figure numbers 13 to 15 are a trio of marine reptiles, and their dark blue colour works very well for aquatic animals.
Prehistoric Animals (Panini, review part 1)
4.3 (3 votes)
Sticker albums are a staple of many a childhood and they were certainly a part of mine. However, unlike my school contemporaries in the early 1990s, I didn’t deal with stickers of footballers or garbage pail kids, all my swapsies were dinosaur stickers of course! And the toys that came with them…
Panini’s Prehistoric Animals sticker album has been published in several editions over the decades going back to the 1970s.
Guanlong (Wenno)
2.5 (2 votes)
The unusual Chinese tyrannosauroid, Guanlong, was described in 2006, so it is understandably represented by only a few toys. Safari Ltd gave it a half-hearted shot, as did Geoworld and Kaiyodo, but the definitive Guanlong is still lacking. Unfortunately, this Wenno Guanlong is not going to fill that void.
Iguanodon (Jurassic Park Junior by Playskool / Hasbro)
2.3 (3 votes)
This so-called “Li’l Iguanodon” was part of a short-lived ‘Jurassic Park Junior’ toy line released in 2001, presumably prompted by the release of Jurassic Park 3 in cinemas that same year. The line was aimed at young audiences and is made up of cutesy renditions of several dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park film series.
Archaeopteryx (version 1 by Bullyland)
4.3 (9 votes)
Our recent review of the 2017 Bullyland Archaeopteryx prompted me to search through the Dinotoyblog archives to compare the new version with the old…only to discover that we’ve never reviewed the original Bullyland Archaeopteryx. That immediately helped me settle on which figure to review next. The original ‘version 1’ Archaeopteryx was released in two iterations.
Carnotaurus (Disney’s Dinosaur by Thinkway)
2.3 (3 votes)
This might seem like Déjà vu, but it isn’t. We recently reviewed a Disney’s Dinosaur Carnotaurus by Mattel here but savvy Disney didn’t put all their dinosaur eggs into one basket. They licensed ‘Disney’s Dinosaur’ to an array of different manufacturers, which means there are more versions of the Disney Carnotaurus than you can throw a family of lemurs at.
Psittacosaurus (Funrise)
2.5 (2 votes)
This is the third ‘first’ for the Dinosaur Toy Blog this week. Having earlier cast our eye over Wenno and Timpo toys, this next review is prompted by a discussion on the Dinotoyforum about Funrise. Funrise were founded in 1987 and still seem to be going strong today (http://www.funrise.com), although dinosaurs apparently left their repertoire a long time ago.
Tyrannosaurus rex (Timpo)
1.1 (9 votes)
For some reason I’m in a mood for firsts. So, here’s another company that hasn’t been featured on the Dinosaur Toy Blog before – Timpo Toys. And about time, too, this line really deserves some attention. Timpo was founded in England by German refugee Sally Gawrylovitz (also known as Ally Gee, aii) in 1938.
Lambeosaurus (Wenno)
2 (3 votes)
We haven’t talked about Chinese company Wenno (see their website) here before, so, let’s take a look. Wenno seem to sell their figures only in sets, not individually. They produce several modern animal sets representing different geographical regions (continents and oceans); a couple of endangered animal sets; and four prehistoric sets: Jurassic, Cretaceous, Herbivore and Carnivore.
Quetzalcoatlus (The Dinosaurs Gallery, Vol. 2, by Bandai)
2 (4 votes)
The Bandai Quetzalcoatlus is one of eight small toys released in the second instalment (volume 2) of The Dinosaurs Gallery series in 2006. The earlier Volume 1 consisted of five toys, and Bandai have also produced several other series of prehistoric animal models. Yet, somehow we’ve never reviewed a Bandai figure on the Dinosaur Toy Blog before.
Tyrannosaurus rex (Boneyard Pets)
1.5 (2 votes)
We’ve reviewed over 100 Tyrannosaurus toys on the Dinosaur Toy Blog, more than any other dinosaur species. T. rex is the dinosaur that keeps on giving! And so here’s one more for your consideration, the Tyrannosaurus ‘table-top’-sized skeleton by Boneyard Pets.
This puzzle consists of 31 pieces that slot together to form a 35cm (14 inches) tall Tyrannosaurus skeleton.
This puzzle consists of 31 pieces that slot together to form a 35cm (14 inches) tall Tyrannosaurus skeleton.
Triceratops (Boneyard Pets)
1.7 (3 votes)
Earlier this year I unboxed a delivery of Boneyard Pets and subsequently filmed myself building them (see below). Now that I’ve constructed them, let’s take a closer look at one. A couple of years ago Dan previously considered the Tupuxuara in this line, so apologies in advance for belabouring some of his points.
Confuciusornis (Age of the Dinosaurs by PNSO)
4.9 (7 votes)
Confuciusornis is a prehistoric bird from the early Cretaceous of China, named after the famous philosopher. This small toy by PNSO is one of a handful of examples of this species committed to plastic, and the first Confuciusornis model reviewed on the Dinosaur Toy Blog. This one also goes by the nickname of ‘Yoyo’ and is one of the “Little” figures in the PNSO’s Age of the Dinosaurs series.
Tyrannosaurus rex (Tyrannosaurus ‘Wilson’ statue by PNSO)
3.4 (49 votes)
The PNSO produce everything from tiny miniature toys to giant life-sized museum sculptures, but this review is something in between – a sizeable 1:35 scale statue of Tyrannosaurus rex, dubbed ‘Wilson’. We previously unboxed him on our Youtube channel, now it’s time to take a closer look.
With his menacing gait and devilish red eyes, Wilson has a lot of character.