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: Woolly Mammoth (Invicta)

Genus: Mammuthus, Woolly mammoth Brand: Invicta Classification: Elephant, Mammal Age: Pleistocene Type: Figurine, Monochrome

4.9 (14 votes)

Mammuthus primigenius, the one Cenozoic animal that’s been done to death. Every company has tackled this classic Ice Age proboscid. It’s not a particularly strange animal; in size and general appearance it matches closely with extant elephant species and it’s not nearly as bizarre as other genera such as Platybelodon.

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Review: Glyptodon (Invicta)

Genus: Glyptodon Brand: Invicta Classification: Mammal Age: Pleistocene Type: Figurine, Monochrome

4.8 (14 votes)

For my last review I tackled the Schleich Glyptodon with a pretty obvious hint regarding what I would be reviewing next. Well here we are, reviewing another Glyptodon and transitioning back into my Invicta reviews. There aren’t a lot of models in this classic line left to review.

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Review: Glyptodon (Prehistoric Mammal Series by Schleich)

Genus: Glyptodon Brand: Schleich Classification: Mammal Age: Pleistocene Type: Figurine

4.9 (8 votes)

I want you to close your eyes, close your eyes and travel back, back to a distant era. It’s 2002; Spider-Man is #1 in the box office, the X-Files broadcasts its two hour finale, the UK is declared free of foot-and-mouth disease and Schleich, a company now notorious for its abominable depictions of prehistoric life was actually a competent company worth collecting.

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Review: Tanystropheus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Tanystropheus Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd Classification: Reptile (other) Age: Triassic Type: Figurine

4.3 (14 votes)

One of my favorite critters from the Triassic period has to be Tanystropheus. In a period renowned for its strange non-dinosaur Archosauromorphs the Tanystropheus is certainly among the strangest. Superficially similar to a plesiosaur this animal appears to have been semi-aquatic, with webbed feet instead of flippers.

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Review: Plesiosaur (Invicta)

Genus: Elasmosaurus, Plesiosaurus Brand: Invicta Classification: Plesiosaur Age: Cretaceous, Jurassic Type: Figurine, Monochrome

5 (14 votes)

It is with much trepidation that I attempt to review my next figure. It’s actually one I’ve intended on reviewing for years but when you write for a blog owned by a plesiosaur expert you’re naturally a bit hesitant to review a plesiosaur model, especially based on accuracy.

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Review: Scelidosaurus (Invicta)

Genus: Scelidosaurus Brand: Invicta Classification: Thyreophora (basal), Thyreophoran Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

4.7 (16 votes)

Back in April of 2009 the creator of this dear blog posted two pictures of the Invicta Scelidosaurus model with the promise that “a full review of this figure will be added at a later date”. Well that later date is here folks, probably a bit later than originally anticipated but better late than never eh?

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Review: Iguanodon (Invicta)

Genus: Iguanodon Brand: Invicta Classification: Iguanodont (basal), Ornithopod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine, Monochrome

4.8 (20 votes)

The Invicta line of prehistoric models is an interesting one. Spanning the years between the early 1970’s and early 1990’s it is a company that was producing dinosaur figures right on the cusp of the “Dinosaur Renaissance”. As a result we have some models from the company that are downright retro in appearance, along with some that in terms of accuracy stand up reasonably well, even today.

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Review: Nasutoceratops (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

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

4.9 (19 votes)

Dinosaur lovers have been blessed with an abundance of new ceratopsians out of North America lately and among them is the increasingly popular Nasutoceratops or “large-nosed horn face”. While the nose is indeed large, the pair of “Texas long-horns” on the head also helps make this a unique looking dinosaur.

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Review: Euoplocephalus (Galileo Hernandez)

Genus: Euoplocephalus Brand: No company Classification: Ankylosaur, Ankylosaurid, Thyreophoran Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

5 (6 votes)

Alright, it’s confession time. I really have a thing for ankylosaurs. Or at least, toys and models of them. Generally speaking, I’ve never really been a big fan of the group, not that I had anything against them, I think they’re an underrated group of dinosaurs overall.

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Review: Tyrannosaurus (Jurassic Park by Dakin)

Genus: Tyrannosaurus Brand: Dakin, Jurassic Park Classification: Theropod, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

2.9 (9 votes)

Another Dakin review! I know you’ve all been salivating for my next review on the Dakin “Jurassic Park” toys and I didn’t want to keep ya’ll waiting too long. Do I still need to give a back story about these things?

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Review: Micro Tiere Collection (Bullyland)

Genus: Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Mammuthus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Woolly mammoth Brand: Bullyland Classification: Ceratopsian, Chasmosaur, Diplodocoid, Elephant, Macronaria (basal), Mammal, Sauropod, Stegosaur, Theropod, Thyreophoran, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous, Jurassic, Pleistocene Type: Figurine, Set

2.9 (7 votes)

Back in 2010 our own Libraraptor reviewed a little Apatosaurus, part of Bullyland’s Micro Tiere Collection released in 2005. Having found the same little figure in an eBay lot I was very curious about this small but seemly high quality figure.

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Review: Phorusrhacos (X-Plus)

Genus: Phorusrhacos Brand: X-plus Classification: Bird, Theropod Age: Miocene Type: Figurine

5 (5 votes)

After the death of the non-avian dinosaurs some of the remaining descendants tried to re-claim their former glory and put mammals back in their place. These of course were the terror birds or Phorusrhacidae which carried on the legacy of Tyrannosaurus and its kin between 62-2 million years ago.

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