Takara Tomy is a millennial industry giant of toy production, whose products have probably found their way into everyone’s homes at least once. Naturally, my introduction to the brand came through their ANIA “Animal Adventure” line of palm-sized action figures featuring extant and extinct animal life.
Author: Fembrogon
An aspiring artist, Fembrogon (who goes by Eric in real life) has been drawing dinosaurs and strange creatures since he was capable of walking and talking, and probably will be for a long time to come. Although energetic and admittedly absent-minded at times, prehistoric life is one of a few subjects which has never failed to engross him wholly. Dinosaurs – theropods in particular – are unsurprising favorites (special shout-outs to the remarkable Dilophosaurus, the massive Giganotosaurus, and the bizarre Deinocheirus); but he admires a wide range of prehistoric life from Cambrian invertebrates to pterosaurs. Fembrogon first discovered the Toy Blog (and Forum) around the year 2012, and found it an indispensable reference for the expanding world of dino collectibles. Since joining the review team, he’s enjoyed covering a varied assortment of figures, from classic to modern and mainstream to obscure. When he isn’t absorbed in prehistory, Fembrogon also enjoys modern wildlife (birds & reptiles are favorites), nature walks, special effects films, and traditional animation.All reviews by this author
Review: Diabloceratops (Beasts of the Mesozoic by Creative Beast Studios)
5 (7 votes)
Diabloceratops is a dinosaur in a curious position. Despite relatively little fame or pop culture presence, the “devil-horned face” has been a popular choice of genus for toy companies; Safari ltd., Collecta, Schleich, Mattel, and recently Haolonggood, among still others, have all taken a crack at the animal, with surprisingly good results in general.
Review: Allosaurus (Haolonggood)
Review: Sinosauropteryx (Dinotales Series 1, ver. B by Kaiyodo)
4.8 (27 votes)
It’s been over ten years since fellow reviewer Gwangi covered a figurine of Sinosauropteryx, a small compsognathid theropod, produced by Kaiyodo under their renowned Dinotales series. Since that time, a grand total of… two, maybe three more figurines… have been produced of this seminal genus.
Review: Dilophosaurus (Haolonggood)
Review: Dryptosaurus (Beasts of the Mesozoic by Creative Beast Studio)
4.6 (38 votes)
Leapin’ lizards – that ain’t no ordinary lizard!!
If you had to choose just one of Charles R. Knight’s influential and iconic paleoart pieces as his very greatest work, which one would you pick? Out of all Knight’s incredible paintings, the one I personally find most captivating is the 1897 “Leaping Laelaps“, a vivid illustration of two large theropods pouncing upon each other in what could be either play-fighting or serious combat.
Review: Megalosaurus (painted version by Invicta)
4.4 (41 votes)
It is a gray winter day in Jurassic England as the great reptile patrols the forest’s edge. The hunter’s stride seems sluggish at a glance – indeed, the weather is unusually cold this year, and most normal reptiles would have succumbed to the dismal temperatures already.
Review: Stegosaurus (Boley by Gosnell)
2.8 (32 votes)
Venturing the sea of unlicensed “3rd-party” dinosaur toys can bring interesting results. Sometimes one can find hidden gold; other times one finds something like this Stegosaurus figure, which is certainly among the more unusual takes I’ve seen of the famous roofed reptile (albeit probably not intentionally so).
Review: Kannemeyeria (3D Print by Mike Eischen)
3.8 (18 votes)
Dinosaurs weren’t the first giant plant-eaters to roam the Earth; that frontier was pioneered first among vertebrates by the dicynodonts, a group of tusked therapsids (the clade which includes modern mammals) which survived the Permian Mass Extinction and lasted to the end of the Triassic period.
Review: Protoceratops (Beasts of the Mesozoic: Ceratopsian Series 1/6 by Creative Beast Studio)
4.5 (42 votes)
A famous story, an ancient tragedy, a spectacular discovery. Two dinosaurs, locked in lethal combat, suddenly perished from external forces, their bodies preserved almost perfectly in their last moments of action. What was cause of the combat and demise? Paleontologists have speculated long and hard since the year 1971, when an expedition to the Gobi Desert led to the discovery of the fossil now renowned as “The Fighting Dinosaurs” – a Protoceratops with its sharp beak grasping the arm of a Velociraptor, whose sickle claw is embedded in the herbivore’s neck.
Review: Dilophosaurus & Dracovenator (Dinosaurs &Co. by De Agostini)
2.8 (24 votes)
Would you like a side of miniatures with your rubber monsters?
Not every dinosaur toy is equal. Not every absence of inaccuracy means inaccuracies are absent. Dilophosaurus is frequently plagued by imaginary features ingrained into pop culture due to a certain Universal/Spielberg blockbuster; but just because a toy of the two-crested reptile eschews the frills doesn’t mean the rest of the design gets a free pass.
