I have a soft spot for the UKRD figures of the 90s, as they were among the first dinosaur toys I collected as a kid, and I’ve reviewed quite a few of them for this blog. I’ve now reached the Stegosaurus from 1992 and thought it would just be an “also ran” kind of review, as the figure itself is one of the less interesting ones.
Brand: Dor Mei
Review: Woolly Mammoth (Dor Mei)
4 (5 votes)
A few days ago, the first Columbian mammoth figure was reviewed at the blog, which reminded me how much I love mammoths, so I was inspired to review my oldest mammoth toy; the Dor Mei woolly mammoth. I can’t find much info about it online, other than that it’s supposedly from 1983 and part of a line called “Galaxy Fighters Warriors”, but I have no idea what that means or if it’s even correct.
Review: Apatosaurus (1992)(Dor Mei, UKRD)
3.7 (3 votes)
Other reviewers seem to have stopped covering UKRD figures years ago, but there are still a lot of them left to go, so I guess that’s my lot in life. While they may seem like mass-produced dreck to most people, I find them interesting and charming because they often reflect outdated or downright bizarre ideas and vintage palaoart, usually (with some notable exceptions) based on John Sibbick’s paintings from the 1985 book Enyclopaedia of Dinosaurs by David Norman.
Review: Iguanodon (UKRD)
3.2 (5 votes)
This is my first review as an author rather than guest reviewer at this blog, so I’ll start out with a classic figure, the UKRD Iguanodon from 1992. Iguanodon of course has the distinction of being the second named dinosaur genus (after Megalosaurus), and has remained relatively famous for a non-American dinosaur, even being the protagonist of a film, Disney’s Dinosaur.
Review: Tyrannosaurus rex (Bendable by UKRD)
2.2 (22 votes)
Review and photos by Funk, edited by Suspsy
Yet another Tyrannosaurus toy review you say? Well, this one is unlike most others, and is rather baffling in some of its design choices, so there should be enough novel things to say about it.
Review: Parasaurolophus (UKRD)
3.3 (4 votes)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
There are still plenty of UKRD toys from the 1990s left to review, so next in line is the mid-size Parasaurolophus from 1992. Due to its distinctive crest, Parasaurolophus is probably the most familiar hadrosaur, and therefore has a lot of toys to its name.
Review: Brachiosaurus (Dor Mei)
2.1 (8 votes)
Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy
Some of those who are interested in dinosaurs may have kept some as pets at one point. In my case, it was budgerigars which lived at my grandparents’ house when I was a small child.
Review: Pteranodon (UKRD)
1 (7 votes)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
It probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Pteranodon is the most popular of all pterosaurs, and likely the one with most toys to its name. To this day, it remains one of the most recognisable pterosaurs, if not prehistoric animals in general, no doubt due to its very distinct head crest.
Review: Allosaurus (UKRD)
2 (6 votes)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
The UKRD dinosaurs were mass-produced back in the early 1990s’, and don’t seem to be particularly sought after today, but some of them appear to have been inspired by John Sibbick’s palaeoart in David Norman’s 1985 Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs, which I think makes them somewhat interesting.
Review: Ankylosaurus (Dor Mei, UKRD)
2 (3 votes)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
UKRD released a series of dinosaur toys in the early 1990s’, and I remember my kindergarten class had dozens of them. They came in at least three size classes, with the medium ones being most prevalent.
Review: Tyrannosaurus (Dor Mei)
3.4 (9 votes)
Here’s a toy that many of you will no doubt recognize. It probably doesn’t stand on too many collectors’ shelves today but certainly helped fill a lot of toy boxes in the 80’s and 90’s. Yes, you could call this a Chinasaur but you could also call it retro, vintage, and nostalgic.