Photos by Stemturtle, edited by Dinotoyblog
Ahhh, the Play Visions prehistoric amphibian set. Originally released in 1998, this rare set of miniature prehistoric wibbly-wobbly critters is one of the most sought after in the world of prehistoric figure collecting. The one (one!?) time it sold on Ebay I think it went for over $350!
Author: Cordylus
Cordylus is mostly interested in theropod dinosaur figures (although all dinosaur figures will do), along with shark figures. He likes to review well-known prehistoric animals as opposed to more obscure ones. He also likes to make dioramas with his figures; he even arranged the First Official DTF Diorama contest. Along with dioramas, he very much enjoys drawing several species of dinosaurs. His forum name came from the scientific name of one of his pet lizards, Java, who is a forest armadillo lizard Cordylus Tropidosternum.All reviews by this author
Afrovenator (CollectA) (New for 2010)
2.5 (8 votes)
Afrovenator – that’s one most people haven’t (and won’t) heard of. It almost makes me surprised that CollectA did one (but I guess if any of the mainstream dinosaur companies were to do one, it would be them).
Afrovenator itself was a megalosaur (or allosaur or spinosaur, does anybody even know?) from mid-jurassic Africa, who was about thirty feet long, and was presumably a pretty nasty fellow.
Prehistoric Sea Life Toob (Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (7 votes)
Review by Cordylus, photos and figure captions by Plesiosauria
This is truely a marine reptile lover’s dream come true. For years, Nothosaurus, Metriorhynchus, Basilosaurus and the like were all hard to find and expensive (if there were any to even be found) – until now.
Last september the dinosaur collecting community was stunned by the toys safari ltd was going to release the next year; now, most safari dinosaurs so far this year have been released.
This is truely a marine reptile lover’s dream come true. For years, Nothosaurus, Metriorhynchus, Basilosaurus and the like were all hard to find and expensive (if there were any to even be found) – until now.
Last september the dinosaur collecting community was stunned by the toys safari ltd was going to release the next year; now, most safari dinosaurs so far this year have been released.
Tyrannosaurus rex (Jurassic Park 2009 toyline)
4.9 (48 votes)
For Jurassic Park fans, the news of a new toy line back in May of ’09 made many excited, and others indifferent. Hasbro was going to release another line of Jurassic Park toys that was only made out of repaints. Or so we all thought……
JP fans had come across a list of the toys in the line and their prices.
Pachyrhinosaurus (Papo) (New for 2010)
3.9 (8 votes)
The Pachyrhinosaurus by Papo is easily one of the most (if not the most) anticipated figures of 2010. This is one of the first times where papo has released one of their figures so early in the year; I’m glad I got mine so soon!
Pachyrhinosaurus, despite being a very funky ceratopsian, is very obscure, and has been largely looked over by toy companies.
Velociraptor (Papo)
2.8 (9 votes)
Up for review is yet another Papo dinosaur – Velociraptor. This figure is largely praised in the dinosaur toy collecting community, as is the real Velociraptor itself!
Unfortunately, most aspects of this Velociraptor are wrong. The tail is too short and curved, the arms are awkwardly pronated, the tibias seem a little too long, and there’s no feathers – all very un-dromeosaurid like features.
Stegosaurus (Papo)
3.4 (17 votes)
Stegosaurus has always been a staple dinosaur. It’s featured prominently in museums, the media, museum toylines, chinasaur bins, and it’s been heavily researched. Many renditions of this animal have been done in toy form (just about every dinosaur toy collection has one!) so we’ll look at the attempt by Papo for now.
Acrocanthosaurus (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 3)
4.7 (7 votes)
Acrocanthosaurus, in my opinion, is one of the coolest theropods ever. Many companies have tried and failed at creating a replica of this peculiar dinosaur, so it’s nice to see a respectable replica of one. This review will be focusing on kaiyodos attempt.
As for Acrocanthosaurus itself, it lived in the early Cretaceous of North America, alongside some other well-known dinosaurs like Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and Tenontosaurus.
Tarbosaurus (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 4)
5 (5 votes)
The “Asian Tyrant”, Tarbosaurus, is unfortunately looked over in favor of it’s more famous American cousin, Tyrannosaurus, by toy companies most of the time. Kaiyodo has produced many obscure genera before, so making a Tarbosaurus doesn’t come as a surprise to me.
Most aspects of this sculpt are good.
Mosasaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)
3.3 (9 votes)
If you like retro marine reptiles, this one’s for you. The Carnegie Collection Mosasaurus is clearly based on some archaic paleoart, so it really shouldn’t be taken too seriously – if you try to focus on every wrong aspect with this figure surely you will give yourself a headache!
Liopleurodon (Invicta)
5 (10 votes)
Review by Cordylus, edited by Dinotoyblog, photos by Dinotoyblog
Ever since Walking with Dinosaurs came out a decade ago, Liopleurodon has been famous. However, this Liopleurodon figure by Invicta was made a good ten years before Walking with Dinosaurs, so, luckily for us collectors, it wasn’t ‘inspired’ by the WWD version like every other Liopleurodon on the market today (I’m looking at you, Procon and Safari Ltd…).
Ever since Walking with Dinosaurs came out a decade ago, Liopleurodon has been famous. However, this Liopleurodon figure by Invicta was made a good ten years before Walking with Dinosaurs, so, luckily for us collectors, it wasn’t ‘inspired’ by the WWD version like every other Liopleurodon on the market today (I’m looking at you, Procon and Safari Ltd…).
Suchomimus (Dinotales by Kaiyodo)
4.5 (6 votes)
Suchomimus was a large theropod dinosaur that lived a few million years before one of it’s famous cousins, Spinosaurus. Considering how it’s closely related to such a famous dinosaur, I’m surprised more replicas of this really cool dinosaur haven’t been produced.
This Suchomimus by kaiyodo is easily the best on currently available.
Tyrannosaurus rex (kinto favorite collection)
4.4 (5 votes)
Ah, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex! One of the coolest dinosaurs ever. However, most replicas of this guy are rather crude and don’t do the dinosaur justice – But this one by kinto surely does!
Let’s start off with the sculpt. Quite simply, it’s very good. The detail is insane, it rivals that of the Papo Tyrannosaurus!
Suchomimus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd)
1.6 (9 votes)
Suchomimus is believed to have been a large piscivorous theropod, related to the extremely large Spinosaurus. Despite Suchomimus being relatively well known to dinosaur enthusiasts, it is usually not made in PVC form, in favor of Baryonyx. So, even though this toy has some flaws, it is still nice to see one in plastic.
Yangchuanosaurus (Dinosaurs of China by Safari Ltd)
3.9 (7 votes)
Yangchuanosaurus is sorely underrepresented as a dinosaur toy so I’m glad Safari Ltd decided to make one as part of their Dinosaurs of China line (and moreover, make it good!) Yangchuanosaurus was a large theropod from the Late Jurassic of China – the T. rex of it’s time – and lived alongside other contemporary Chinese dinosaurs such as Sinraptor and the behemoth sauropod Mamenchisaurus.