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.
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: Plesiosaurus (Mini Dinosaurs I by Bullyland)
3.5 (17 votes)
This small Plesiosaurus toy belongs to the first line of dinosaur figures produced by Bullyland beginning in 1980, a few years after the German toy company was founded in 1973. The line of seven miniature dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures) is informally known as Mini Dinosaurs I, to separate it from a later line of mini dinosaurs released by Bullyland in 1993 (Mini Dinosaurs II), and other separate Bullyland dinosaur lines.
Review: Stegosaurus (Animal World Dinosaurs by Bullyland)
2.5 (23 votes)
If we were handing out awards for ‘chonkiest Stegosaurus toys’ this one would surely be in the running. When I first embarked on this review I had assumed it would be a simple matter of specifying this as the Bullyland ‘mini’ Stegosaurus, but I quickly realised it isn’t that simple.
Video: Top 10 New Prehistoric Animal Figures of 2023
3.7 (10 votes)
Video of the ‘Top 10 New Prehistoric Animal Figures of 2023’, as voted by the DinoToyForum community. Edited by Sim and DinoToyBlog. Title graphics by Patrx
Review: Spinosaurus (Monster In My Pocket by Matchbox, Series 6)
2.7 (22 votes)
After four series the Monster in my Pocket line began to run out of actual monsters to make, and began to take inspiration from the real world instead. Series five was a line of ‘Super Creepies’, essentially an array of extant bugs and other creepy crawlies, and series six turned its attention to dinosaurs in 1993 – that’s the line we’re all interested in here.
Video: Top 10 New Prehistoric Animal Toys of 2022
4.4 (8 votes)
A compilation of the top 10 new releases in 2022, as voted by the Dinosaur Toy Forum community. Main video content edited by Sim.
Video: DinoToyBlog Channel Trailer
5 (5 votes)
The Dinosaur Toy Blog Channel is now directly here on dinotoyblog.com. We’ll be migrating all our legacy video content from Youtube over here in time, and new video content is being posted here instead of Youtube. View all the DinoToyBlog Channel videos here.
Title graphics by Patrx (check out his own channel on Youtube).
Video: Top 10 New Prehistoric Animal Toys of 2021
3.8 (10 votes)
A compilation of the top 10 new releases in 2021, as voted by the Dinosaur Toy Forum community. Main video content edited by Sim.
Review: Dimetrodon (small version) (AAA)
3.2 (17 votes)
There are at least five different AAA Dimetrodon sculpts so I’m calling this the “small version” to differentiate it from the others. This one is from the 1980s and there are a handful of interesting aspects that make this figure stand out from other similar cheap Dimetrodons.
Review: Struthiomimus (Marx)
4.1 (26 votes)
Review and Photos by BlueKrono and DinoToyBlog.
Struthiomimus, the ‘ostrich mimic’, was named in 1917 for a species (S. altus) originally referred in 1903 to the closely related genus Ornithomimus. Despite the history of ornithomimosaurs spanning back to the late 1800s, they are relatively rarely made as toys.
Video: Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest 2023 – all 34 entries
3.1 (11 votes)
This video showcases all 34 entries in the Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest 2023. You can view all the entries in detail and see the results of the winners’ poll on the DinoToyForum here.
Video: The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers – Book Trailer
0 (0 votes)
Trailer for my children’s picture book, ‘The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers’, co-written with Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Stieven Van der Poorten, and published by UCLan Publishing.
“Tyrannosaurus rex may be the king of the dinosaurs, but that doesn’t stop know-it-all Velociraptor from telling him he looks old-fashioned and needs a makeover.
So, with an improved posture, some restyled body parts and a coat of shaggy feathers, T. rex gets a new look to match the latest evidence.
The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers takes an amusing and informative look at how new discoveries have transformed our understanding of T. rex’s appearance since this giant prehistoric predator was first unearthed over a century ago.”
It will be released on 3rd August 2023 and is now widely available for pre-orders.
I recommend Hive: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Jonathan-Emmett/The-Tyrannosaurs-Feathers/28835219
Trailer composed by Jonathan Emmett, check out his Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanEmmett
#TheTyrannosaursFeathers #dinosaur #Trex