Review and photos by Bernie Brontosaurus, edited by Suspsy Hello, my DTB handle is Bernie Brontosaurus and although I have been a fan of the site for years, this is the first time I have ever submitted a review. There are so many awesome regular reviewers for this site, I didn’t think I would be needed! But I finally found...
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy Can there ever be too many Tyrannosaurus toys? Chap Mei didn’t think so, and made several versions, that, while they differed in colouration and other details, all seem to have taken most of their anatomical cues from the way this genus was portrayed in the Jurassic Park franchise. The subject of this...
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy While many companies that produce dinosaur toys strive to make their figures scientifically accurate (though often failing), some completely disregard science, preferring instead to use dinosaurs as simple pop culture monsters. This is true for Chap Mei, whose Dino Valley line toys are often imitations of dinosaurs appearing in pop culture rather...
The Chap Mei Elasmosaurus no doubt has to be the antithesis of what the real Elasmosaurus looked like. While the actual animal would have no doubt been smooth and elegant the action figure we’re reviewing today is none of those things. With its ragged teeth, twisted and misshapen head, and body covered in wrinkles and bumps this toy is an...
As we’ve seen here in the past, Chap Mei’s prehistoric figures generally lean more towards the preposterous than the precise. Joining their larger brother in the sky are these freaky little flyers. First, take a gander at this pair. Their toothy, keel-tipped bills might suggest members of the family Ornithocheiridae were it not for their long tails ending in leaf-shaped...
In the past few years we’ve seen an explosion of Dunkleosteus figures from all kinds of companies, from masterpieces like Favorite Co’s rendition to worthy-but-flawed efforts like CollectA’s to fairly bad ones like the subject of today’s review. It’s the most popular prehistoric fish in plastic, eclipsing the huge but otherwise utterly boring C. megalodon. Today’s review concerns this newly...
North America during the Late Jurassic was terrorized by a number of large and lethal theropods such as Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Torvosaurus. But there were also much some smaller meat eaters roaming around such as Ornitholestes. A mainstay of many of the dinosaur books I read as a child during the 1980s’, it was usually depicted preying on Archaeopteryx—despite the...
Ophthalmosaurus is one of the more recognizable ichthyosaurs thanks to its enormous eyes, which, at approximately 23 cm in diameter, rivalled those of the much larger Temnodontosaurus. Such peepers would have ideal for hunting squid in the depths of the Jurassic seas, or spotting dangerous predators such as Liopleurodon. Despite featuring prominently in an episode of the BBC’s famous Walking ...
The various Ankylosaurus toys that have been reviewed here on the DTB over the years range from the truly superb to the decidedly subpar. But the one I’ve got to review today may well be the most hideous of them all. This here is the Mini Ankylosaurus from Chap Mei. It measures about 10.5 cm long and is 6.5 cm...
As its name suggests, Plesiosaurus was the very first plesiosaur ever to be discovered, in England back in 1823 by the legendary fossil hunter Mary Anning. At around 3.5 metres in length, it was a relatively small sea reptile, a far cry from later relatives such as Elasmosaurus and Thalassomedon. This Mini Plesiosaurus from Chap Mei measures just under 15...
In addition to their Standard and Electronic Deluxe figures, Chap Mei also produces miniature-sized prehistoric beasts of highly dubious accuracy. Let’s take a closer look at what is billed as a baby Triceratops. From nose to tail tip, this toy measures about 10.5 cm long. The main colour is pinkish brown with dark grey markings on the head and back,...
Pentaceratops was a very large chasmosaurine ceratopsian that ranged from Canada to the southern United States during the Late Cretaceous. One specimen described in 1998 was even said to possess the largest skull of any land animal. But in 2011, it was renamed as a separate genus, Titanoceratops, on the basis that it shared more characteristics with Triceratops than Pentaceratops....
