Author: Gwangi

My name is Arthur but I go by Gwangi on the blogs and forums, as homage to the old dinosaur and monster movies I love so much. In addition to writing about and collecting toy animals (extinct and extant) I also share my home with a variety of living animals, mostly reptiles but a little bit of everything. I have a lifelong interest in all things nature and natural history and most of my hobbies can be linked to those things in some way. I currently live in Maryland with my wife and daughters. In addition to writing on here I also write magazine articles, typically about local wildlife and aquarium fishes.

All reviews by this author

Review: Gallimimus (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Attack Pack by Mattel)

2.8 (9 votes)

Flocking this way and back into our hearts, here comes the Gallimimus, not only is it featured again in the Jurassic Park franchise’s 5th installment but it’s back on the toy shelves as well. Gallimimus has featured in all but one Jurassic Park movies to date.

Review: Dilophosaurus (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Attack Pack by Mattel)

2.8 (13 votes)

Despite its many inaccuracies the Dilophosaurus in the original Jurassic Park was one of my favorite dinosaurs in the entire franchise. Fanciful yes, Spielberg deliberately altered the Dilophosaurus for his film for an added punch, and being the master movie director that he is, it worked.

Review: Stegosaurus (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Action Attack by Mattel)

3.6 (14 votes)

As you all know by now, The Jurassic World toys by Hasbro were a bust. Speaking personally, I didn’t buy a single Hasbro Jurassic World toy. I wanted to, but they utterly failed to impress. That’s all ancient history now that Mattel holds the Jurassic World license.

Review: Anzu (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.9 (31 votes)

Oviraptorosauria, a group of well known dinosaurs that everyone’s aware of but few people count among their favorites. Personally I’ve been in love with the group since childhood, when I first gazed upon an Oviraptor in “Dougal Dixon’s Dinosaurs”. That illustration left quite an impression; here you had this menacing, scaly, lithe predator stealing an egg under the cover of darkness.

Review: Ichthyosaur (Playful Home)

4 (5 votes)

Most kids love dinosaurs, this is a fact. Other prehistoric creatures too but as we know many non-dinosaurs are still called dinosaurs, so the umbrella term here is dinosaurs. Kids love dinosaurs. Most adults however end up losing this interest, it’s a shame really. Who decided that dinosaurs were kid stuff anyway?

Review: Dimetrodon (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.9 (20 votes)

Among the 2018 lineup for Safari Ltd. is everyone’s favorite sphenacodontid, Dimetrodon. This famous not-a-dinosaur was the T. rex of the Permian period and has been a pop-culture darling since its discovery. Even now it seems we’re treated to one of these flamboyant synapsids every couple years or so with Papo, Schleich, Favorite, and Recur all producing one within the last five years.

Review: Allosaurus (Kaiyodo Dinotales 1:20 Collection)

4.6 (5 votes)

A couple years back I put together a poll on the Dinosaur Toy Forum with the goal of compiling a top ten list of the best Allosaurus toys ever produced. It was no small task, up until the 1990’s the Allosaurus only played second fiddle to Tyrannosaurus in the popularity contest.

Review: Tyrannosaurus (Dor Mei)

3.1 (7 votes)

Here’s a toy that many of you will no doubt recognize. It probably doesn’t stand on too many collectors’ shelves today but certainly helped fill a lot of toy boxes in the 80’s and 90’s. Yes, you could call this a Chinasaur but you could also call it retro, vintage, and nostalgic.

Review: Gigantspinosaurus (Prehistoric World by CollectA)

4.5 (17 votes)

It’s no secret that the stegosauria were an odd bunch of dinosaurs, one that we perhaps take for granted given the popularity of one genus in particular; Stegosaurus. But Stegosaurus is but one of many, and for whatever reason the other genera of this unique clade have never gained in popularity like the admittedly charismatic Stegosaurus.

Review: Ammonoid (Paleozoic Pals)

4.8 (5 votes)

First off, just to get it out of the way, this is not an ammonite. This is an ammonoid, the broader group to which ammonites belong. While ammonites lived through the Jurassic and Cretaceous the group ammonoidea first appeared 400 million years ago in the Devonian. Thus, here we have a plush ammonoid, not an ammonite which would have no place in a line of toys representing Paleozoic fauna.

Review: Dunkleosteus (Paleozoic Pals)

5 (7 votes)

Armored placoderm fishes have never been so cuddly! Manufactured by Jaag Plush and commissioned by the Paleontological Research Institute (PRI) comes this 16” long most famous of prehistoric fishes, Dunkleosteus. Ol’ Dunk is a popular fish, about as popular as a prehistoric fish can get anyway.

Review: Einiosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

5 (22 votes)

Described in 1995 by Scott Sampson the Einiosaurus has been known to science for over 20 years but has never really caught on in popularity. Although not as iconic as Triceratops, or as flashy as Styracosaurus, the Einiosaurus has to be among the most bizarre looking ceratopsians.

Review: Velociraptor (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.6 (43 votes)

For a long time now, too long in fact, various collectable dinosaur companies have tried and failed to make a properly feathered and accurate representation of one of the world’s most popular dinosaurs; Velociraptor and its kin the stem-birds we call dromaeosaurs or “raptors.” When I first started collecting dinosaur toys the best representations included those by Bullyland and CollectA and while we commend their efforts to popularize feathered dinosaurs they ultimately failed to make convincing looking animals.

Review: Stegosaurus (Field Museum Mold-A-Rama)

3.7 (3 votes)

Finishing off our reviews of the Field Museum Mold-A-Rama collection is the Stegosaurus. Older original Mold-A-Rama dinosaurs exist as well but they aren’t currently being produced at the Field Museum and the only way to really obtain them is through eBay. It has come to my attention that the Stegosaurus machine was recently removed from the Field Museum so if you don’t already have the Stegosaurus then try to find one on eBay before they become scarce.

Review: Tyrannosaurus (Field Museum Mold-A-Rama)

3.6 (5 votes)

Having technically already been reviewed there really isn’t much new to say about this one. DTF member “Foxilized” reviewed the original back in 2010. For the sake of consistency though I feel compelled to share my thoughts too, I’ve been reviewing all of the current Field Museum Mold-A-Rama figures and it would feel strange not including this one.

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