Mattel loves Pseudosuchians, or so it would seem. Just this year they released five of these crocodile-line archosaurs. Not since Bullyland’s heyday have we seen so many representatives of the group made by a single company, and I think Mattel must surely win the award for most Pseudosuchians ever produced. Also, like Bullyland, Mattel has produced a lot of Triassic...
I, Emperor Dinobot, recently posited a question around, and it was the following: Could Mattel be designing dinosaur figures and naming them afterwards? We already have an example: Roarivores Sinoceratops is actually a Pachyrhinosaurus, but it got a name change due to the fact that Universal wanted to market Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to the massive Chinese audience, and Pachyrhinosaurus...
Mattel loves Carnotaurus. Our friends at DinoToyCollector.com have catalogued 22 Carnotaurus figures for Mattel’s Jurassic World line, but that number includes the minis, Snap Squad, and similar toys too, and their various repaints and repackages. Either way, the company has still produced an impressive array of Carnotaurus toys. They’re all really nice too, Mattel does Carnotaurus well and has ever...
We owe a lot of our pop dinosaur knowledge to books such as “The Humongous Book of Dinosaurs” by David Norman (et al.), written in the very late 1980’s and early 90’s, published by various publishers in many formats, like collectible magazines, all which often included a comprehensive list of dinosaurs from a-z, and from all over the world. The...
Most of the known basal tyrannosauroids from Asia are relatively small fry like Dilong, Guanlong, and Xiongguanlong, with the 7.5 metre long Yutyrannus being the most famous exception. But Sinotyrannus was an even bigger beast, estimated to have achieved around 9.1 metres long and 2.8 tons, which would put it in the same size category as Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, and Gorgosaurus....
Back in 2017, one of the best preserved fossils discovered was making the rounds. It was named Borealopelta markmitchelli, “Mark Mitchell’s northern shield”, honoring the man who spent more than 7,000 hours carefully preparing the fossil material, and slowly carving it out from the rock it rested in. It was first discovered in March of 2011 in the oil sands...
Nigersaurus is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod that was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in Niger, Africa. It lived during the middle Cretaceous and is notable for its small size (by sauropod standards), short neck, and bizarrely shaped broad muzzle packed with over 500 teeth. The muzzle would have been wider than the skull with the teeth laterally placed across...
Well, for my next magic tr…I mean 50th review, I will address Mattel’s strange choices when it comes to making figures based on my new favorite group of ancient reptiles: pterosauria. Ornithocheirus is a name that has been in paleo literature since the 1870’s, though the genus had become kind of a wastebasket taxon through the early 1900’s and onward....
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy Being a heavy collector of the Mattel Jurassic World line, it’s not often I give attention to their fantastic line of minis despite having collected a good portion of them ever since the line’s launch in 2018. In fact, this is probably my first review of these particular types of figures. 2023...
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy In 2022, the last of the Jurassic World films was released, ending the trilogy that started back in 2015, for better or worse. While I didn’t enjoy the film overall, I did enjoy some aspects of it, one of those being the batch of new creatures. Among the roster included the first...
Finally! Roughly 6 months after acquiring it I’m getting around to reviewing the Hammond Collection Pachycephalosaurus. In this review you’ll see outdoor pictures that were taken in March, when I originally wanted to review it! They’ve been sitting on my computer, taunting me, reminding me to get around to this toy. So many figure to review, so little time. While...
Triceratops is, as we all know full well, the most familiar and famous of all the ceratopsians by far. Here on the DTB, it is the second most reviewed genus after Tyrannosaurus rex. And, of course, its appearance in the original Jurassic Park film is quite unforgettable. However, all its subsequent appearances in the film franchise have been nothing more than brief cameos, which...
