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

Review: Protoceratops (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

3.7 (6 votes)

One of the more unusual early Carnegie releases (© 1988), this Protoceratops is less dinosaur toy, more cheap-‘n’-cheerful diorama. The inspiration’s pretty obvious for anyone who’s read a dinosaur book or two (a classic case of mistaken identity – nobody tell this guy!), but it made for an odd early entry among the chunky theropods with painted-on teeth.

Review: Kentrosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

3.8 (17 votes)

What’s that coming over the hill? Why, it’s the Wild Safari Kentrosaurus, new for 2010. A special mention should go out to the magnanimous and quite probably very handsome Dan Liebman, he of Dan’s Dinosaurs, who was generous enough to airmail me this little guy for a reviewing.

Review: Hypacrosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.4 (15 votes)

Guest review by forumite Rugops
Safari has done a wonderful job of bringing us this obscure dinosaur. This is probably one of their best hadrosaur models.

The body of this hadrosaur is well designed, and is very accurate except on a few details. Starting at the base of the neck the back has a large arc in it that stops at the legs.

Review: Pachycephalosaurus (The Lost World: Jurassic Park by Kenner)

3.3 (12 votes)

Time – the ever-flowing river. Come with us now to a time before Walking With Dinosaurs, when the river flowed through a world easily impressed by CGI and when Spielberg ruled the Earth. Welcome…to the Jurassic Park action figure line, circa 1997.
Fine, I dropped the ball at the end there.

Review: Oviraptor (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

4.5 (18 votes)

Following on from the recent review of the Papo Oviraptor by a fellow blogger, let us look now at a radically different interpretation of the same dinosaur from the good folk at Safari. This is actually the second Oviraptor released as part of the Carnegie line; the original, released in 2005, featured less elaborate plumage with a simpler colour scheme and no tail fan.

Review: Apatosaurus (Soft model by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4.5 (6 votes)

As promised, we present today the second of the sauropods in Favorite’s ‘soft model’ collection – Apatosaurus, a real dinosaur toy staple. (For more Apatosaurus, see here (Schleich Replica-Saurus), here (the old Wild Safari), here (Great Dinos Collection) and here (Invicta).) Insert a line about “Brontosaurus” here as is obligatory.

Review: Brachiosaurus (Soft model by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4.8 (5 votes)

“Brachiosaurus” brancai comes to the Dino Toy Blog yet again. Of course, it isn’t really “Brachiosaurus” brancai, but rather Giraffatitan brancai, the big old brachiosaur from Africa having recently acquired a genus of its very own, albeit unfortunately a genus coined by Greg Paul on one of his off days (heresy!).

Review: Deinonychus (Soft model by Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4 (7 votes)

In spite of not having a name ending in ‘raptor’, Deinonychus remains a high-profile dromaeosaur in the public imagination, and rightly so for an animal that revolutionised our understanding of dinosaurs. This fairly small and affordable toy is manufactured by Favorite, and is clearly modelled on their larger (and somewhat more expensive) resin ‘Desktop’ model.

Review: Triceratops (Papo)

3.8 (19 votes)

In my previous review of Papo’s Parasaurolophus, I pointed out that not all Papo’s pre-Allosaurus dinosaur figures were necessarily Jurassic Park copies – but this Triceratops definitely is. It will therefore be more appealing to JP fans than anyone else, but like all Papo figures it’s quite a nice piece in its own right.

Review: Parasaurolophus (Papo)

3.5 (21 votes)

Until the release of their Allosaurus, Papo’s prehistorics garnered attention mainly for being remarkable facsimiles of their Jurassic Park counterparts. However, even before Papo’s own Big Al hit the scene the company had released a sculpt not obviously based on a JP creature – this often-overlooked Parasaurolophus (dated 2005) at about 1:35 scale.

Review: Allosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

3.2 (20 votes)

This little Allosaurus comes from Safari’s ‘Wild Safari’ line which, although not intended as a museum-quality line (and not set to a certain scale), has seen a huge leap in the quality of its prehistoric creature toys in recent years. Models like this one, the Stegosaurus, Dunkleosteus and Postosuchus have become very popular with collectors as they feature excellent detailing at a very low price.

Review: Stegosaurus (Favorite Co. Ltd.)

4.7 (12 votes)

Review by Marc Vincent (‘Horridus’)
Stegosaurus is one of the dinosaurs most frequently seen in toy form – although often cursed with any number of anatomical errors. Kinto have made a very decent stab at it with this model from their Favorite collection, which is quite possibly the best Stegosaurus toy currently available.

Review: Apatosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd)

4 (11 votes)

Review and photos by Marc Vincent aka Horridus
Since Safari are soon to replace their classic sculpt of this most well-known of sauropods, it seems only fitting to take a closer look at this ‘retired’ figure before it disappears into bargain bins and onto eBay for the next several years.

Review: Muttaburrasaurus (Invicta)

4.9 (18 votes)

Review and photos by Marc Vincent aka Horridus
One of the more recent of Invicta’s dinosaurs, this Muttaburrasaurus dates from 1989. This model is often overlooked when compared with others in the range, especially the younger Lambeosaurus, but it demonstrates perfectly how far Invicta’s dinosaur designs had progressed, making their untimely demise all the more unfortunate.

Review: Brachiosaurus (Invicta)

4.8 (20 votes)

For many collectors of plastic dinosaur merchandise Invicta’s green behemoth has long been a firm favourite, often taking pride of place among their sauropod assemblages. It remains an impressive and imposing figure well worth seeking out, as much as time has detracted from its scientific accuracy. (It should probably be also referred to as Giraffatitan, but we’ll let that slide for this review…)

Dating from 1984, this Brachiosaurus is less archaic in appearance than Invicta’s older models of Diplodocus and Apatosaurus with their dragging tails, and has managed to stand the test of time better than their 1988 Mamenchisaurus, with its implausibly erect neck.

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