Author: Marc Vincent

My name’s Marc Vincent although I go by ‘Horridus’ on the forums. My interests include current affairs, dinosaurs (naturally!) and drinking myself to an early grave. Being a shameless populist my favourite extinct dinosaur is Tyrannosaurus; out of those extant it is surely the European magpie, Pica pica. I collect figures in a vain attempt to fill the awful, aching void in my soul and also because, you know, they’re cool to look at, and I find extinct animals fascinating – dinosaurs in particular

All reviews by this author

Iguanodon (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.1 (14 votes)

The hulking ornithopod Iguanodon bernissartensis is probably the loveliest thing ever to spring from a mine in Belgium. Known from a number of remarkably complete specimens, you’d think it’d be hard to get the big-handed one wrong, and indeed most toys over the years have been decent, if unremarkable.

Baryonyx (Papo)

2.7 (12 votes)

Even for a company who apparently stumble upon scientific fidelity only by accident, Papo have made great strides towards more accurate prehistoric animal figures over the last few years, to the point where they’re even releasing a feathered Velociraptor (which shouldn’t be half as remarkable as it is). However, their Big Beast this year comes in the form of a certain spinosaur, first found in the UK and immortalised in plastic a number of times already.

Tyrannosaurus rex (Hunting) (Collecta)

4.5 (32 votes)

Hot on the heels of last year’s ‘Deluxe’ feathered Tyrannosaurus, Collecta have seen fit to update their smaller scale range with a similarly enfluffened tyrant. And its corpse. Happily – alive or dead – the miniature feathered T. rex has just much charm as its larger, leggier cousin.

As it stands, the toy is about 21cm long.

Velociraptor (2015) (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

4.3 (11 votes)

So this is it – the very end of the Carnegie Collection. At least we got our feathered Velociraptor before the final bow. It’s by no means perfect, but it should at least prove more popular than last year’s bafflingly despised T. rex resculpt. In fact, it might just be the best Velociraptor toy out there at the moment, knocking Schleich’s bingo-winged monstrosity into a cocked hat and even besting Collecta’s comparatively decent effort.

Tyrannosaurus rex (King Rex by Rebor)

3.8 (26 votes)

More than any recent figure, Rebor’s sizeable King Rex seems to embody both the best and worst of the current dinosaur collectible scene. On the one hand, it’s hugely encouraging to see a company produce offerings that bridge the vast gap between the toy and ‘monstro Sideshow wallet-buster’ ends of the market, and produce a line of undeniably high-quality figures to boot.

Tyrannosaurus rex (2014) (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

4.6 (21 votes)

Just as the Carnegie collection’s 10 year milestone was celebrated with the release of an updated Tyrannosaurus sculpt, so this year’s 25th anniversary sees the release of an all-new T. rex figure, one better suited to the line’s current aesthetic. This latest generation T. rex is an obvious improvement still further on the old version, and shows a commendable level of background research, even if it’s still not quite the ‘definitive T.

Triceratops (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4 (4 votes)

Another day, another toy Triceratops. This one’s from Araki’s new range of ‘Soft Models’ for Favorite (which may or may not constitute the second series), and is surely one of the best of the bunch, although there’s no escaping the fact that, like the others, it’d be vastly improved by a better paint job.

Dimetrodon (Papo)

4.5 (8 votes)

Every prehistoric animal toy line has to have a Dimetrodon, so here’s Papo’s – their second new figure in 2013, following the successful Carnotaurus. Dimetrodon, a scaly beast with a vicious set of fangs, would seem to play perfectly to Papo’s strengths and, indeed, this might be one of their best figures so far.

Diabloceratops (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.5 (13 votes)

Safari’s take on the sinisterly horned ceratopsian from Utah is the second Diabloceratops figure of 2013, following Collecta’s pretty decent effort a few months prior. While it can be a bit dull when companies rush to produce figures of the same animal, they’re quite welcome to as long as we get toys of this calibre.

Styracosaurus (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4.2 (9 votes)

Although good Velociraptor toys are hard to come by, it’s easier to get hold of a half-decent Styracosaurus – meaning that Favorite (and Araki) had to try a little harder to impress with their Soft Model resculpt of the famous ceratopsian. Does their punk-rock centrosaur deliver? Well, you’ll have to read the rest of the review to find out.

Velociraptor (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

3 (4 votes)

Feathered dromaeosaurs are always welcome on the toy market, and especially feathered Velociraptor figures. Perhaps rather unsurprisingly – given that a certain 20-year-old film is raking in the cash yet again this year – the biggest dinosaur toy names (in the West, anyway) continue to peddle scandalously nude figures.

Tyrannosaurus rex – Feathered & Unfeathered (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite)

3.8 (5 votes)

Favorite’s ‘soft models’ have had a complete revamp this year, with an all-new series of sculpts by the renowned Kazunari Araki. With the exception of Pachycephalosaurus and Deinonychus (replaced by Velociraptor), every animal in the original series has an Araki counterpart, and the differences are quite striking and very interesting.

Diabloceratops (Collecta)

2.9 (9 votes)

Diabloceratops, thanks no doubt to its distinctive appearance, media exposure and – of course – that irresistible name, is proving to be quite popular with dinosaur toy manufacturers. This year, both Collecta and Safari are releasing a figure (the latter in their Wild Safari range), with Collecta’s being first out of the blocks.

Gastornis (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.9 (11 votes)

Perhaps surprisingly for an animal that was a staple of popular books on prehistoric life for decades (and made an appearance in Walking With Beasts), models of Gastornis are a little thin on the ground. Happily, Safari have stepped forward with this very decent effort – the first toy “Diatryma” in years.

Carnotaurus (Papo)

3.3 (12 votes)

In the past, Papo have tended to make their theropods either too scaly or too monstrous. Fortunately, the real Carnotaurus was both very scaly and rather scary-looking – why, it even had a pair of devilish horns protruding from its very toothy head. If any dinosaur was begging to be turned into a figure by the French toymongers, it was surely this one – and wouldn’t you know it, they’ve pulled it off very nicely.