Bonjour all, and welcome to another review of the classic line from Starlux. I always admire this old line for the variety it provides. Long before CollectA and Safari ltd., Starlux produced a wide range of species, many of which have not been made by a major company since. Here, we see one such example, Palaeotherium, which means “Old Beast”....
Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy A lot of people feel a special connection to their local extinct Pleistocene megafauna, those mysterious beasts that once roamed where we stand along with the animals we see today. The majestic Irish elk among fallow deer, the American cheetah hunting pronghorns, the mighty giant wombat grazing alongside kangaroos, or the mega...
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy I know what you’re all thinking: “Another Protoceratops review by Loon? It must be a day that ends in ‘y’!” This time it’s the one from Starlux, which is around 40 years old. Being made in the 1970s, it’d be incredibly unfair to judge this figure by modern scientific standards; what kind of idiot...
In spite of the discoveries since Starlux closed down, I feel that the old line could be fantastically varied in comparison to some modern line, producing vast numbers of species, not just familiar dinosaurs, but those that existed alongside them. Here, for example, the giant amphibian Mastodonsaurus from the late Triassic, which reached lengths of 13-20 feet long. Ancient amphibians...
The air was hot and humid as the midday sun radiated down from a clear blue sky. An old Euoplocephalus was feeling the heat on her back from the glaring sun. While she was drinking at the edge of a small, shallow creek, she was surrounded by a group Edmontosaurus. By growing up in tyrannosaurid country she knew there is...
The 70’s Glyptodon by Starlux is an interesting reproduction of an animal that had a curved and armored carapace which would have made nodosaurids and ankylosaurids proud. It is a strange toy. It has no articulation but it is able to be played with. It has some nice details but lacks finish. And what is going on with that color?...
If someone came up to you and said the word dinosaur, chances are good that the first mental image you would have is of Tyrannosaurus rex. This would not be a surprise as it is an icon and the favorite dinosaur of many children and adults. But how would you picture it? Would it be full of feathers, full of...
Review and Photographs by Amargasaurus cazaui, edited by Gwangi Starlux began in France, in 1945, producing small miniatures of soldiers and animals. In the late sixties and early seventies several launches were done of various prehistoric mammals, dinosaurs, and other animals, as well as prehistoric man. The set is composed of 85 prehistoric animals and 13 prehistoric humans. They are...
The earliest vertebrates didn’t have jaws, but once true jaws evolved the animals that had them quickly became more numerous and diverse. These days, the only jawless fishes left are a few dozen species of lampreys and hagfishes, but in the Early Devonian most fishes lacked jaws. One of those Early Devonian beasts was Cephalaspis, which despite its lack of...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy It is amazing to think of the giants that once walked our own Earth. Not just the dinosaurs, but also their successors, the mammals. One such mammal has sparked my interest in palaeontology more than others: Paraceratherium. But when I first learnt of it, it was going under the name Indricotherium. Go...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Plesiosauria Once more, I find myself going through the Starlux repertoire of hominids. In this case, another nomen dubium, Pithecanthropus, the Java man. Now known as Homo erectus erectus (a subspecies of H. erectus), it is an example of the early expansion of hominids, spreading throughout Africa and Asia. Here, we have the...
Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy Time and new discoveries are incredible for changing ideas and concepts in every field of science and nature. Such is the way with the genus Homo, of which we humans are now the only living members. Our closest cousins, the Neanderthals, are an example of this change. The old views of them...
