Andrewsarchus mongoliensis could be thought of as the mammalian equivalent of Spinosaurus in that it was a gigantic carnivore known only from scant remains. Namely, a single skull discovered in Mongolia by the legendary Roy Chapman Andrews in 1923. Once thought to have been a mesonychid, Andrewsarchus has since been determined to be an artiodactyl, and thus related to entelodonts,...
Before I get on with this review I would just like to mention that a couple days ago, July 16th 2016, was my five year anniversary on the Dinosaur Toy Blog. On that day five years ago my review for the AAA woolly rhinoceros was posted by blog owner Dr. Adam Smith aka Plesiosauria. In those five years I’ve...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy It is amazing to see how far CollectA has come over the years. Nowadays, they make some of the best and most diverse ranges of prehistoric figures out there, using the most up to date research to create figures that are as accurate and dynamic as possible. In the past, however, they...
Struthiomimus is the quintessential ornithomimid, the ostrich dinosaur many of us grew up reading about in dinosaur books. Its top speed is estimated to have been between 50 and 80 km/h, and it would have needed that speed to escape from hungry tyrannosaurs and dromaeosaurs. CollectA’s first Struthiomimus figure came in the form of a T. rex’s unfortunate victim. This...
He was resting comfortably in the shade a second ago, but now the chieftain is charging with his mighty arms raised and his eyes blazing. A young tarbosaur has entered the nesting colony and is now attempting to isolate the chicks from their mothers. With an angry screech and a powerful swipe, the chieftain knocks the tarbosaur to the ground....
One hundred and eleven million years ago in a vast river system in Africa, a dance between predator and prey, similar to what we see today was taking place. Off the main river there is a narrow, deep, and murky tributary. Vegetation is thick along the bank except for a patch of muddy dirt that has been worn...
Review and photos by Bokisaurus, edited by Suspsy Roaming the Early Cretaceous plains of what would one day become China was the giant Beishanlong grandis. A fairly recent addition to the growing flock of feathered dinosaurs, Beishanlong was only discovered in 2006. Beishanlong belonged to the group of dinosaurs called ornithomimosaurs, more commonly known as the ostrich mimic dinosaurs. It...
The English ankylosaurian Hylaeosaurus was one of the very first dinosaurs to be described, in 1832 by the great Gideon Mantell. And along with Iguanodon and Megalosaurus, it enabled Sir Richard Owen to describe the family we all know and love as Dinosauria. That said, Hylaeosaurus remains one of the most poorly known dinosaurs due to very scant fossil remains....
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. Correcting for curly...
Review and photos by Lanthanotus, edited by Suspsy Greens, stems, and leaves, but no teeth, no blood, no gore . . . no wonder plants seldom provide more than background for movies or our dinosaur collections. Day of the Triffids (1962) is the classic plant horror film par excellence, where seemingly harmless plants attack and kill humans and charge to...
Thought I’d take a stab at reviewing a prehistoric plant for the first time. Let’s take a look at Williamsonia, a member of the order of Bennettitales, or cycadeoids. Bennettitales were an order of seed plants that first arose during the Triassic and then flourished all the way until the end of the Cretaceous. Not bad! The CollectA Williamsonia was...
Review and photos by Bokisaurus, edited by Suspsy No matter who or what or how powerful you are, sooner or later, all living things will face the same inevitable end: death. In the long history of toy figures, death is something that you won’t see addressed often. Death is best left out in the shadows, left to our own imagination....
