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: Young Tyrannosaurus rex (Jurassic Park by Kenner)

Genus: Tyrannosaurus Brand: Jurassic Park, Kenner Classification: Theropod, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Action Figure

4.8 (48 votes)

Following yesterday’s look at the queen of the Jurassic Park toyline, here we present the pretender to the throne. This ‘young’ Tyrannosaurus rex (also known by the cutesy if nonsensical name of ‘Junior’) is about half the size of its big red sister, but is no less mean-looking for its diminutive stature.

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Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Jurassic Park by Kenner)

Genus: Tyrannosaurus Brand: Jurassic Park, Kenner Classification: Theropod, Tyrannosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Action Figure

4.9 (76 votes)

Much as I feel bad for peddling nostalgia yet again, here’s a real classic – a toy that will be instantly recognised by anyone who grew up during the 1990s and loved dinosaurs. Just as the movie dramatically raised the bar when it came to on-screen dinosaurs, the original Kenner action figure line was, as my fellow reviewer Dan might say, “a slap in the face” for anyone used to small, poorly-detailed dinosaur toys.

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Review: Edmontosaurus (UKRD)

Genus: Edmontosaurus Brand: UKRD Classification: Hadrosaur, Ornithopod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.1 (20 votes)

The blog’s gone all grown-up recently with resin kits and limited-edition statues – leave it to me to lower the tone and introduce a mere toy. What we have here, then, is what is known among collectors as a ‘Chinasaur’ – cheaply made and featuring little more identification than ‘Made in China’.

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Review: Protoceratops (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Protoceratops Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd Classification: Ceratopsian, Ceratopsian (basal) Age: Cretaceous Type: Baby Dino, Figurine

3.7 (7 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.

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Review: Kentrosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Kentrosaurus Brand: Safari Ltd, Wild Safari Classification: Stegosaur, Thyreophoran Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

4.1 (18 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.

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Review: Hypacrosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Hypacrosaurus Brand: Safari Ltd, Wild Safari Classification: Hadrosaur, Ornithopod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.5 (17 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.

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

Genus: Pachycephalosaurus Brand: Jurassic Park, Kenner Classification: Pachycephalosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Action Figure

3.4 (13 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.

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Review: Oviraptor (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

Genus: Oviraptor Brand: Carnegie, Safari Ltd Classification: Oviraptorosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

4.6 (20 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.

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

Genus: Apatosaurus Brand: Favorite Co. Ltd. Classification: Diplodocoid, Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

4.6 (7 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.

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

Genus: Brachiosaurus Brand: Favorite Co. Ltd. Classification: Macronaria (basal), Sauropod Age: Jurassic Type: Figurine

4.8 (6 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!).

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

Genus: Deinonychus Brand: Favorite Co. Ltd. Classification: Dromaeosaur, Theropod Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

3.9 (8 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.

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Review: Triceratops (Papo)

Genus: Triceratops Brand: Papo Classification: Ceratopsian, Chasmosaur Age: Cretaceous Type: Figurine

3.9 (21 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.

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