Lanthanotus goes by the name Dennis in analogue life and lives with his small family in Germany. His serious interest in dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures began in early primary school when he either got a dinosaur book for birthday or found some dinosaur book in the school library – whatever came first. As with a lot of things that caught one’s attention during childhood or youth, the interest slumbered for many years before coming back with force. Lanthanotus joined the Dinosaur Toy Forum in 2015 and ever since enjoyed catching up with recent scientific findings and collecting and reviewing toy figures. Outside the computer Dennis works as an educator and frequently travels the world with his family to contribute to his other passion: herpetology. He published several articles and holds lectures on monitor lizard biology.
Right when it was announced, I was keen to lay my hands on Rebor`s new release, „Kiss“, the lipped Tyrannosaurus. Now, back in the time I grew up a lipped theropod was nothing exotic, it was the standard way a carnivor dinosaur would be depicted, though, admitted, most often had their mouths wide open and …
Diplodocus is without question one of the most famous dinosaur species, not least because its history goes a fair way back in the science of paleontology. In 1877 Samuel Wendell Wilson in company of his mentor Benjamin Franklin Mudge led an expidition for Othniel Charles Marsh (this name may ring a bell with a much …
Paper is usually not the material of choice for collectors of any sort. I anyway want to introduce you to something that may be of interest for a dinosaur collector, though it are probably not the figures…. The introduced cut out model was first released in 1993 under the title “Make these Dinosaurs” and the …
Common legends says, that the first remains of Iguanodon were discovered in the heaps of a road cut by the wife of an English country doctor. Now, this may be true or not, but the doctor, Gideon Mantell, described the species in 1825 on basis of just a few teeth. Not a lot to restore …
A long waiting time ended, but eventually another King joined the collection. According to Rebor, Tyrannosaurus rex figures are the bread and butter for any dinosaur toy producing company. Basically every company has this species in their portfolio (well, with the exception of Eofauna as of yet), ofttimes with multiple figures. The choice of models …
With all the new rexes (to be) released, let`s have a look to the past for a change. Almost 30 years ago, in the year 1992 the Californian company Horizon released a small number of high quality dinosaur models made from vinyl. Two of these models are already covered here on the blog, the Elasmosaurus …
Today I want to introduce you to the most unusual and by far biggest dinosaur figure in my collection. You may be familiar with the great Lego reviews by Bella Bricking and Beth Buildit (powered by Suspy) though the most popular of Lego`s dinosaur offerings are full mold dinosaurs rather than brick build ones. Following …
The family of Baobabs is one of the most distinct and recognizable trees in the world. Eight species exist under the genus Adansonia, they are native to Subsaharaian Africa, Madagascar and Australia. The natural history of Baobabs is somewhat clouded and methods as molecular clocking yield debatable results. Most accepted amongst scientists seems to be …
Okay, there we go, the 250th Tyrannosaurus review on the blog….. Nah, seriously, I made up that number, I could not stand counting them all, but the blog has 13 pages with each 15 entries that are dedicated to the Tyrant King alone or where it is a significant part. For me myself it is …
Leaves rustle softly in the wind, while a young Acrocanthosaurus is snoring in the cool shade of a tree fern. Unnoticed by the sleeping predator the quiet is slowly disturbed. Dried leaves and small twigs crackle in the distance, the sound crawls nearer, slow, but steady. The thick undergrowth hides something massive approaching. Something unyielding …
There are quite a number of fossils that stun the layman aswell as the professionell for their quality of preservation. Finds enclosed in Burmese amber, Chinese or German limestone come to mind, revealing large numbers of numerous species in outstanding quality. In common they have, that most of the species preserved are comparably small…. In …
I guess there`s not much to say about the “Lion of the Jurassic” that hasn`t been covered in one or more of the three dozen reviews to this species before, so let´s get straight to the figure. “Protocasts” is the brand name of our forum member Kayakasaurus, under which he releases figures since 2016. All …
Some years have passed since the last review of a Protocasts model appeared on this blog. This is certainly not due to a lack of models by the side of the creator, in fact I myself got an Irritator figure laying around since years awaiting a review. But well, aside from Allosaurus, theropods are not …
While a lot of dinosaur names are quite a challenge for the laymen to be read and correctly spelled, the ones inspired by Chinese locations and names may even be a serious challenge to the dinosaur expert. Zhejiangosaurus comes as one of the easier names, but maybe one you do not really need to remember….. …
As far as my “knowledge” goes, Horizon was a small model making company of Chinese origin located in California. It ceased production in the late 90`s or early 2000´s and was famous for making high detailed models of movie characters, like Terminator, Robocop, classic monsters or Jurassic Park. Before JP however, they produced a small …