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: Dunkleosteus (Paleozoic Pals)

Genus: Dunkleosteus Brand: Paleozoic Pals Classification: Fish Age: Devonian Type: Plush

5 (8 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.

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Review: Einiosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Einiosaurus Brand: Safari Ltd, Wild Safari Classification: Centrosaur, Ceratopsian Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

5 (26 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.

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Review: Velociraptor (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Velociraptor Brand: Safari Ltd, Wild Safari Classification: Dromaeosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.7 (59 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.

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

Genus: Stegosaurus Brand: Mold-A-Rama Classification: Stegosaur, Thyreophoran Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine, Monochrome

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.

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

Genus: Tyrannosaurus Brand: Mold-A-Rama Classification: Theropod, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine, Monochrome

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

Genus: Triceratops Brand: Mold-A-Rama Classification: Ceratopsian, Chasmosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine, Monochrome

4.3 (4 votes)

We’re about to step back in time again kids, and no, not to the Mesozoic but to the 1964 World’s Fair. Although this figure was “made” quite recently it has its roots as a souvenir produced by the once popular Mold-A-Rama machines that used to be present at various tourist destinations and at least in this case are still available at Chicago’s Field Museum.

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

Genus: Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus Brand: Mold-A-Rama Classification: Diplodocoid, Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine, Monochrome

3.2 (5 votes)

Although I’m not old enough to have witnessed the Sinclair Motor Oil “Dinoland” exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair this has always been an era in American history that has fascinated me. The representations of dinosaurs at that time are now heavily outdated but they stand as symbols of just how popular these animals became in the wake of their discovery.

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Review: Velociraptor (Jurassic Park by Dakin)

Genus: Velociraptor Brand: Dakin, Jurassic Park Classification: Dromaeosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

2.2 (6 votes)

Today we (or I should say, I) celebrate a small milestone in my personal “career” here on the DTB. For on this day we’re looking at the very last figure in the Dakin line of “Jurassic Park” toys issued in 1992.

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Review: Brontosaurus (Tyco)

Genus: Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus Brand: Tyco Classification: Diplodocoid, Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Action Figure

3.9 (8 votes)

This review marks my 100th review for the Dinosaur Toy Blog and with having reached this milestone I think I need to reflect a bit. My first review was posted on July 16th, 2011. That’s just over 5 years of collecting and writing about dinosaur toys.

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Review: Brachiosaurus (Jurassic Park by Dakin)

Genus: Brachiosaurus, Giraffatitan Brand: Dakin, Jurassic Park Classification: Macronaria (basal), Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

2.7 (7 votes)

It’s a shame that despite four movies spanning the last 25 years we’ve never gotten a good sauropod toy in conjunction with the “Jurassic Park” franchise. No doubt this is because it would have to be an enormous toy, especially if it were in scale with the various Kenner Tyrannosaurus toys released over the years.

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Review: Gallimimus (Jurassic Park by Dakin)

Genus: Gallimimus Brand: Dakin, Jurassic Park Classification: Ornithomimosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

3 (4 votes)

We’re finally past the halfway point in our effort to review all the little “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs put out by Dakin back in 1992, with today’s review concerning one of their better efforts; the Gallimimus. The Dakin line of “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs consist of 6 dinosaurs in total, representing the dinosaurs of the original film.

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Review: Acrocanthosaurus Skeleton (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 3)

Genus: Acrocanthosaurus Brand: Kaiyodo Classification: Allosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine, Skeletal

4.5 (10 votes)

While most of us prefer to collect dinosaur figures representing living animals there is something to be said about skeletal reconstructions as well. After all, we don’t really know what most dinosaurs looked like, almost everything we know about them comes from the ancient bones we’ve dug up and reassembled.

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