Author: DinoToyBlog

Dr Adam Smith aka DinotoyblogDr 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: Nigersaurus (Wild Safari collection by Safari Ltd)

4.8 (20 votes)
As coincidence would have it, two separate companies (Procon and Safari) released a Nigersaurus figure this year. The current review will concentrate on the offering from Safari’s rapidly maturing and increasingly impressive Wild Safari line. I won’t be comparing the two figures directly, but it is worth noting in passing that Procon’s rival pales in comparison to this superior Safari replica.

Review: Deltadromeus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.2 (16 votes)
Fossil remains of this slenderly built and long-legged theropod are known from Late Cretaceous deposits of northern Africa. It is another quite obscure species as far as dinosaur toys go, maybe Safari picked it out to demonstrate that they are keeping up with palaeontological research, Deltadromeus was named and described in detail in 1996; the Carnegie figure was produced the following year.

Review: Sinraptor (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.5 (8 votes)
Sinraptor is a medium-sized theropod from the Late Jurassic of China, named and described in 1994. Despite the name, it is not a member of raptor family (Dromaeosauridae) and it is actually related to the allosaurs, considered to be close to their ancestral form.

A particularly pleasing aspect of this figure is the raised tail – the body is held horizontally and stands on two feet without requiring support from the tail.

Review: Ankylosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.7 (25 votes)
I’m pleased to announce that the Dinosaur Toy Blog recently received a number of review samples representing the entire Carnegie Collection, courtesy of Safari Ltd. So, prepare yourself for a Carnegie Collection bonanza of reviews over the next few weeks! We’ve already reviewed the two exciting 2009 additions to the Carnegie collection, the Spinosaurus and Tylosaurus, so now it’s time to look at some of the other existing models in the line.

Review: Huayangosaurus (Dinotales series 7 by Kaiyodo)

4.4 (8 votes)
This spikey Chinese stegosaur is hugely detailed for such a tiny figure (about 8 cm long). Kaiyodo has this down to an art and their figures are often tiny but very detailed and highly accurate. The Huayangosaurus figure is part of Kayodo’s Dinotales line, specifically from  Series 7, the most recent release.

Review: Iguanodon (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)

4.1 (14 votes)

Although a full review will be added in time, I just had to highlight the hind feet on this figure. As you can see below, they look more like alien feet than dinosaur feet; the four pedestal-like toes seem out of place on an Iguanodon sculpt that is otherwise very accurate.

Review: Plesiosaurus (Dinocrats by Toyway)

4.3 (7 votes)

This review is dated 2009 but that’s not really true at all. Sure, I clicked the publish button back in 2009, but the only content was some photographs and a promise to update the review properly later. A decade passed… no review. Still, the years continued to roll by… no review.

Review: Micromachines dinosaurs (National Geographic Collection/ Micromachines)

3.8 (5 votes)
Micromachines, a brand noted for their wide range of miniature automobiles, stepped outside the box when they produced a series of dinosaurs in association with National Geographic. Obviously they are all tiny, a bit smaller than the figures in Kaiyodo’s dinotales range, but they are quite nice and very collectible.

Review: Liopleurodon (CollectA/Procon)

3.8 (16 votes)
Pliosaurs again! This time we will sample Procon’s offering which is a Liopleurodon.

This is the second plesiosaur produced by Procon, the first one being the elasmosaurid Hydrotherosaurus (reviewed here), but this is their first pliosaur. Procon are tending to divide collectors with their new lines.

Review: Baryonyx (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

3.1 (23 votes)
Baryonyx figures have a tendency to be produced in a quadropedal posture. This is most notable in the Schleich version (reviewed here) and the Invicta version (reviewed here), and is almost the case in this Carnegie Collection version by Safari Ltd. I say “almost” because only one hand contacts the ground, while the other one is marginally lifted.

Review: Apatosaurus (Galaxy/Safari, 'Great Dinos' Collection)

3.5 (17 votes)
We reviewed this figure briefly before (here) but thanks to Atomic Elephant who sent us a review sample, we can now give this hefty figure a little more attention. There are two versions with differing paint schemes, a blue design and the grey/blue design, which we present here (although it look blue in our photos because of the lighting!).

Review: Liopleurodon (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)

4.9 (21 votes)
It’s time to continue our series of pliosaur figure reviews and this time we will look at the Walking with Dinosaurs Liopleurodon toy by Toyway. The WWD line has been out of production for some years and was only available locally for a short period of time, so this rare figure is quickly becoming a ‘holy grail’ for dinosaur collectors.
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