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 book author with 'The Plesiosaur's Neck' (2021) and 'The Tyrannosaur's Feathers' (2023).

All reviews by this author

Review: Utahraptor (Walking With Dinosaurs by Toyway)

Genus: Utahraptor Brand: Toyway, Walking with Dinosaurs Classification: Dromaeosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.4 (21 votes)

The spectacular Utahraptor by Toyway, based on the BBC Walking with Dinosaurs series, is a sleek, slender, rather mean-looking figure. The anatomy is accurate (except for the lack of feathers, but we’ll get to that in a moment), so this is one of the first ‘raptor’ figures to break away from the trendy but erroneous vision put forward by Jurassic Park.

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Review: Amargasaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

Genus: Amargasaurus Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd. Classification: Diplodocoid, Sauropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.4 (31 votes)

Carnegie has to keep up with the dinosaur market, which was gotten really competitive lately, with near-perfect accurate sculpts, and amazing paintjobs, from lines like Kaiyodo, Kinto, and so on. For the last 4 years, Carnegie has been making some nice new molds.

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Review: Dimetrodon (Version 2, Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

Genus: Dimetrodon Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd. Classification: Pelycosaur Age: Permian Type: Figurine

4 (23 votes)

The distinctive sail-back ‘mammal-like reptile’ or basal synapsid, has always been a favorite for dinosaur toy companies, even though its certainly no dino. I wrote a very brief blog on this figure back in July 2007 but I have since managed to acquire a figure for myself and can thus indulge you in some of the details.

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Review: Stegosaurus (‘Great Dinosaurs’ collection by Safari Ltd)

Genus: Stegosaurus Brand: Great Dinosaurs, Safari Ltd. Classification: Stegosaur, Thyreophoran Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

3.8 (19 votes)

The Great Dinosaurs collection is a series of large hollow figures produced by Safari Ltd. They are cheap for their size and overall the sculpting is of a high standard, in fact, most of the figures are superior in terms of posture to their more expensive Carnegie Collection museum range counterparts (also by Safari Ltd), at least the older Carnigie moulds anyway.

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Review: Microraptor (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

Genus: Microraptor Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd. Classification: Dromaeosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.7 (27 votes)

The recently discovered and described Microraptor is known from a number of specimens from China. Not surprisingly, given the short scientific history of this feathered dinosaur, there are very few models or toys of Microraptor. The Carnegie Collection introduced a bunch of feathered dinosaurs in 2005, including this Microraptor, to reflect the recent surge in the number of fossil feathered dinosaurs discovered over the last decade.

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Review: Pteranodon sternbergi (standing version)(Museum Line by Bullyland)

Genus: Pteranodon Brand: Bullyland Classification: Pterosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.7 (17 votes)

Pterosaurs are delicate gangly creatures, so it is unsurprising that toy companies have tended to create simple ‘in flight’ postures for their pterosaur figures. Pterosaurs with the wings outstretched are easier to make. Bullyland broke the mold when they produced a pair of pterosaurs, a typical flying version (I will call this version 1, it also has a fish in its mouth), and a standing version (I’ll call this version 2), with wings partially folded up.

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Review: Liopleurodon (DinoValley Series 2 by Chap Mei)

Genus: Liopleurodon Brand: Chap Mei, DinoValley Classification: Plesiosaur, Pliosaur Age: Jurassic Type: Action Figure

3.2 (18 votes)

As recently featured on the Plesiosaur Directory toys page, there is a new Liopleurodon toy on the scene. Considering the rarity of Liopleurodon toys, coupled with the huge popularity of this pliosaur, this Liopleurodon figure is sure to be a collector’s item.

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Review: Suchomimus (Chap Mei)

Genus: Suchomimus Brand: Chap Mei Classification: Spinosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Action Figure

2.3 (24 votes)

Cheap and cheerful. I think these two words pretty much sum up the dinosaur figures produced by Chap Mei. They are quite unusual, like a cross between Hasbro’s Jurassic Park action figures and, umm, I’m not sure – something else. Barney the Dinosaur?

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Review: Apatosaurus (Invicta)

Genus: Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus Brand: Invicta Classification: Diplodocoid, Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine, Monochrome

4.5 (29 votes)

“All brontosauruses are thin at one end; much, much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end.” – a theory by Anne Elk (Miss)
The Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus) by Invicta provides strong evidence for Miss Anne Elk’s theory; this figure is indeed much thicker in the middle, and thinner at both ends.

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Review: Hydrotherosaurus (Procon)

Genus: Hydrotherosaurus Brand: CollectA, Procon Classification: Plesiosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

3.8 (14 votes)

The long-necked elasmosaurs are one of the most unusual of all prehistoric animals. Most elasmosaurid toys and figures are allocated to the genus Elasmosaurus, the most famous of the very long-necked plesiosaurs, however, in reality Elasmosaurus platyurus is quite a poorly known species, and much of the original skeleton has been lost.

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Review: Ankylosaurus (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)

Genus: Ankylosaurus Brand: Toyway, Walking with Dinosaurs Classification: Ankylosaur, Ankylosaurid, Thyreophoran Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

ankylosaurus walking with dinosaurs toyway

4.2 (17 votes)

The Walking with Dinosaurs collection by Toyway includes some of the most detailed and scientifically accurate dinosaur figures out there. The figures tie directly into the TV series ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ and represent some of the major dinosaurs seen in the show. They are therefore identical to the on screen portrayals.

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Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Kaiyodo) (Dinomania Series 1)

Genus: Tyrannosaurus Brand: Dinomania, Kaiyodo Classification: Theropod, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.4 (20 votes)

The Dinomania series by Kaiyodo contains small but very detailed and accurate snap-together figures. The Dinomania series is a rerelease – all the figure in this line were originally released as the UHA Chocolasaur DinoTales Series 3. These Kaiyodo figures in their Dinomania guise came packaged in a box so that the species you got was a surprise.

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