Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy
In my last review, I mentioned how Palaeozoic creatures are rarely produced in toy form. There is, however, a group that is even rarer: prehistoric invertebrates. Outside of toob sets and the Bullyland figures, they are incredibly hard to find immortalized in plastic.
Brand: Kaiyodo
Review: Rutiodon (Kaiyodo)
4.7 (9 votes)
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
Phytosaurs unfortunately suffer from their superficial resemblance to crocodiles in that they rarely get the level of representation that their more “charismatic” archosaur cousins enjoy. When they do show up, they are usually represented by the late Jurassic Rutiodon, the subject of this review.
Review: Saber-toothed Squirrel ( Mattel, Inc.)
4.4 (17 votes)
Photos and review by Bokisaurus
Hello Dinofans! This review marks my 40th review for the blog! It took years to get to this number. So I wanted to celebrate the occasion by doing something different, fun and really silly, but also relevant to the blog.Choosing a subject for the occasion was hard, but I ultimately decided to highlight our little furry friend.
Review: Saichania (Dinomania Series 1, by Kaiyodo)
4.1 (8 votes)
Kaiyodo is known for making excellent dinosaur sculpts with awesome coloring, for but many a fan’s grief, they’re sold only in Japan. from 2004 onward, some of these could be found in specialty stores across America, but the quantity was minimal and they were always gone very quickly.
Review: Shantungosaurus (Dinotales Series 4 by Kaiyodo)
4.6 (11 votes)
Trust Kaiyodo to turn such a monstrously huge dinosaur into a miniature masterpiece of a figure. It might have had nothing on the largest sauropods, but this animal was named Shantungosaurus giganteus for a reason (it is the biggest non-sauropod dinosaur yet known).
Review: Siamotyrannus (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 1)
4.8 (6 votes)
Obscure dinosaur species only known from fragmentary remains are generally not made into toy form, but there are exceptions to every rule. Today we will look at Kaiyodo’s representation of Siamotyrannus isanensis, a poorly-known theropod from early Cretaceous Thailand.
Not much can be said as to the accuracy of this figure.
Review: Sinosauropteryx (Dinotales Series 1 by Kaiyodo)
4.6 (7 votes)
Over two decades after paleontologist John Ostrom described Deinonychus and subsequently launched the “Dinosaur Renaissance” yet a new genus would be found that would change the public perception of dinosaurs and finally bring forth the last piece of evidence needed to connect dinosaurs to birds.
Review: Sinosauropteryx (Dinotales Series 1, ver. B by Kaiyodo)
4.8 (27 votes)
It’s been over ten years since fellow reviewer Gwangi covered a figurine of Sinosauropteryx, a small compsognathid theropod, produced by Kaiyodo under their renowned Dinotales series. Since that time, a grand total of… two, maybe three more figurines… have been produced of this seminal genus.
Review: Stegosaurus (Dinotales Series 2 by Kaiyodo)
4.8 (9 votes)
After the Lion of the Jurassic, allow me to introduce you one of its coevals, potential prey and contender in popularity: Stegosaurus.
Ever since it’s discovery by Othniel Charles Marsh during the infamous Bone Wars, Stegosaurus gained a lot of attention and became one of the most popular dinosaur world wide.
Review: Styracosaurus (Dinotales Series 3 by Kaiyodo)
2.5 (10 votes)
Styracosaurus was a centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Late Cretaceous in what is now North America. It is well known and popular amongst dinosaur fans because of its unique and menacing horn style. Despite the fact that many other ceratopsian dinosaurs with what seems to be increasingly bizarre horn adornments have since been unearthed, Styracosaurus still remains one of the most striking.
Review: Suchomimus (Dinotales by Kaiyodo)
4.6 (12 votes)
Suchomimus was a large theropod dinosaur that lived a few million years before one of it’s famous cousins, Spinosaurus. Considering how it’s closely related to such a famous dinosaur, I’m surprised more replicas of this really cool dinosaur haven’t been produced.
Review: Tarbosaurus (Kaiyodo Dinotales Series 4)
5 (11 votes)
The “Asian Tyrant”, Tarbosaurus, is unfortunately looked over in favor of it’s more famous American cousin, Tyrannosaurus, by toy companies most of the time. Kaiyodo has produced many obscure genera before, so making a Tarbosaurus doesn’t come as a surprise to me.