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: Styracosaurus (CollectA)
Review: Entelodon (Mojö Fun)
4.8 (6 votes)
Despite their appearance and popular designation as “Hell” or “terminator” pigs the group scientifically knows as the entelodontidae are now thought to have been more closely related to whales and hippopotamuses. Regardless of their taxonomic affinity there is no denying the superficial resemblance the entelodonts have to pigs, and one has to wonder if they had a similar temperament to pigs and hippopotamuses as well.
Review: Tyrannosaurus (Dinotales Series 1 by Kaiyodo)
4.1 (9 votes)
While Kaiyodo is probably most beloved for their production of more obscure prehistoric critters they made sure not to neglect the classic fan favorites too. In their 7 series run the Dinotales line produced no less than three distinct models of Tyrannosaurus, not counting the Tyrannosaurus skeleton and the slew of repaints produced for each one.
Review: Troodon (Jurassic Hunters by Geoworld)
3.4 (9 votes)
Troodon is an animal that everyone with more than a passing interest in dinosaurs knows about but few people count among their favorites. It’s featured prominently in books and documentaries due mostly for its large brain to body ratio but is otherwise typically regarded as a small, underwhelming dinosaur; similar to dromaeosaurs but not quite as cool and too small to be scary.
Review: Ceratopsian Collection (Capsule Q Museum by Kaiyodo)
3.9 (7 votes)
The last several years have laid witness to the discovery of an ever more bizarre catalog of those charismatic and intriguing dinosaurs known as the ceratopsians. With outlandish head gear and eccentric names like Diabloceratops, Mojoceratops, Kosmoceratops and Medusaceratops it’s no wonder this group of dinosaurs is among the most popular.
Review: Allosaurus (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)
4.2 (14 votes)
If you like your dinosaurs well detailed, accurately sculpted, and shrink wrapped in true 1990’s fashion than look no further than Favorite’s latest take on some of our favorite classic dinosaurs. Favorite Co. Ltd. is a Japanese company formally known as Kinto. Their first series of dinosaurs consisted of a line of well-made and mostly accurate dinosaurs, all popular classics, none of them obscure.
Review: Megatherium (Prehistoric Life Collection by Safari Ltd.)
4.8 (13 votes)
Back in the mid-2000’s Safari Ltd. released a series of mammals for what they dubbed the “Prehistoric Life Collection.” The series included popular animals like Smilodon and the woolly mammoth but also included some more obscure creatures like the Andrewsarchus, Arsinoitherium, Ambelodon, Doedicurus, and the giant sloth.
Review: Masiakasaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (17 votes)
Since its description in 2001, fans of the Madagascan abelisauroid known as Masiakasaurus have longed for an affordable yet accurate model of this obscure beast but no one would deliver, not even CollectA despite all their obscure critters. Now, 15 years later, we finally have one and who better to sculpt it than Paleo-artist Doug Watson for the Wild Safari collection.
Review: Tupuxuara (Papo)
4.4 (12 votes)
Last year saw the release of CollectA’s Guidraco, a towering 1:4 scale model that stands nearly a foot tall. But CollectA was not the only company to release a pterosaur in 2015; Papo also released a pterosaur that was perhaps overshadowed by the Guidraco.
Review: Copepteryx (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 3)
5 (6 votes)
The Japanese toy company Kaiyodo isn’t afraid to tackle the obscure and one of the best examples of this would have to be the Kaiyodo Copepteryx. While other companies make and re-make the same tired old prehistoric favorites here we have Kaiyodo making a very obscure extinct bird that you’ve probably never heard of and who’s name I can never remember (maybe writing this review will fix that).
Review: Australopithecus (Paranthropus) boisei (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 2)
3.9 (8 votes)
Toys and figurines representing early hominins and human evolution in general are rare in this hobby. The few that do exist by the likes of Safari, Bullyland, and CollectA are usually poorly sculpted and poorly researched, either looking like caveman stereotypes or generic upright monkeys.