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: Kronosaurus (Schleich)

2 (23 votes)

Big nasty pliosaurs are the order of the day – and there are plenty more to come – this review represents the first in a series of pliosaur blog entries I’m working on. A compare and contrast deal; battle of the pliosaur toys so to speak! We have already looked in detail at the popular Chap Mei Liopleurodon here so I will continue this series with another popular figure, the Kronosaurus by Schleich.

Review: Pteranodon (Papo)

2.6 (24 votes)

This figure is obviously based on the pterosaurs in Jurassic park 3 and, most egregiously, the creature has teeth. Interestingly, and pertinent to the very nature of this blog, there is an interesting story relevant to this figure…

Many cheap dinosaurs (known as ‘Chinasaurs’ in the dinosaur toy collecting community because they are typically manufactured there) have a habit of adding vicious teeth to each and every species of prehistoric creature, predatory stegosaurs and triceratops abound for example, and Pteranodons; the name means ‘winged and (ironically) toothless’, with a ferocious maw.

Review: Triceratops (‘Great Dinosaurs’ Collection by Safari Ltd)

3.4 (13 votes)

This most famous of ceratopsids has been reincarnated in toy form on many occasions, Triceratops is, after all, a household favourite.

Once again, Safari Ltd’s Great Dinosaurs collection impresses us with a pretty good figure, far exceeding our expectations for a $6 bargain and offering an embarrassing comparison for one of Safari’s other attempts at this dinosaur (the original Carnegie Collection Triceratops is simply appalling, in my opinion).

Review: Giganotosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.6 (36 votes)

At last the Carnegie Collection Giganotosaurus is available to the world. This is one of the finest dinosaur pieces of its generation, due to its high level quality. This is simply one of the best dinosaurs Carnegie has ever released, not because it’s an impressive dinosaur, but because it’s very accurate, and very detailed.

Review: Utahraptor (Walking With Dinosaurs by Toyway)

4.4 (17 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.

Review: Amargasaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.6 (25 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. In 2006, they released a new Amargasaurus sculpt, along with an updated feathered Oviraptor.

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

3.9 (21 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.

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

3.9 (17 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.

Review: Microraptor (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

4.6 (20 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.

Review: Pteranodon sternbergi (Bullyland)

4.7 (14 votes)

Pterosaurs are delicate gangly creatures, so it is unsurprising that, for the most part, 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), and a standing version (version 2), with wings partially folded up.

Review: Liopleurodon (DinoValley Series 2 by Chap Mei)

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.

Review: Suchomimus (Chap Mei)

2.5 (20 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?

Chap Mei dinosaurs come in plenty of different packages – this Suchomimus came in ‘Dinosaur Safari’ packaging as parts of a play set, unique (as far as I’m aware) to the Early Learning Centre in the UK.

Review: Apatosaurus (Invicta)

4.5 (26 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.

Review: Hydrotherosaurus (Procon)

3.6 (15 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.

Review: Ankylosaurus (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)

ankylosaurus walking with dinosaurs toyway

3.9 (16 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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