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: Huayangosaurus (Dinotales series 7 by Kaiyodo)
4.5 (11 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: Pteranodon longiceps (Bullyland)
Review: Iguanodon (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)
Review: Plesiosaurus (Dinocrats by Toyway)
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)
3.9 (18 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 (28 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)
3.6 (18 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 (24 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.