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

Review: Archaeopteryx (version 1 by Bullyland)

4.1 (11 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.

Review: Carnotaurus (Disney’s Dinosaur by Thinkway)

2.6 (9 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.

Review: Psittacosaurus (Funrise)

2 (3 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.

Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Timpo)

1.6 (14 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.

Review: Lambeosaurus (Wenno)

1.8 (4 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.

Review: Quetzalcoatlus (The Dinosaurs Gallery, Vol. 2, by Bandai)

1.8 (6 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.

Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Boneyard Pets)

1.3 (3 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.

Review: Triceratops (Boneyard Pets)

1.5 (4 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.

Review: Confuciusornis (Age of the Dinosaurs by PNSO)

4.4 (14 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.

Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Tyrannosaurus ‘Wilson’ statue by PNSO)

3.5 (62 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.

Review: Triceratops (Age of the Dinosaurs by PNSO)

3.9 (18 votes)

Review and photographs by Triceratops83 and Plesiosauria
Available from Amazon.co.uk here.
The PNSO brand has taken the dinosaur collecting world by storm, releasing within a year a respectable range of impressive figures and high end models. PNSO dinosaurs have become known for their realistic sculpts and the recently released Triceratops is no exception.

Review: Glyphoderma (Age of the Dinosaurs by PNSO)

4.7 (15 votes)

Who here loves basal sauropterygians!? The Sauropterygia is a group of marine reptiles that include the well-known plesiosaurs and several other smaller-bodied groups, including nothosaurs and placodonts, which tend to receive far less attention. This is especially the case in toy form, which is unjust because these are fascinatingly weird creatures, well-deserving of a figure or two.

Review: Pachycephalosaurus (Recur)

4 (25 votes)

Thanks to Recur for the review sample.
Earlier this year I filmed myself unboxing a delivery of Recur figures on Youtube. The video received a whopping 5,000 views in two months demonstrating that unboxing videos really are popular, aren’t they! Suspsy has already reviewed some of these Recur figures on the Dinotoyblog, and he has more in the pipeline, so watch this space for more.

Review: Six little dinosaurs (Tyrannosaurus, Mamenchisaurus, Amargasaurus, Ankylosaurus, Spinosaurus, Triceratops) (PNSO)

3.8 (16 votes)

Enter the PNSO! I first became aware of The Peking Natural Science-Art Organisation in March 2016, when I visited their offices and workshop in Beijing on a work-related business trip. It was with great excitement that I discovered this blossoming company has its sights set not only on literature and 2D palaeoart (my expectation going in), but also on commercially available 3D art as well: dinosaur toys.

Review: Bothriolepis (Paleozoo)

4.2 (5 votes)

The Dinosaur Toy Blog is more active than it has ever been. This year, to date, we’re averaging a review every day – January 2016 was our most prolific month ever with 30 reviews in as many days. For this I can take no credit but must instead extend my sincerest gratitude to the many blog authors and guest reviewers who have kept the blog full of life, as events in my own life (work and more work) make it increasingly difficult to find the time to contribute reviews myself.

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