Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy
Today we are looking at Anomalocaris canadensis from the 2020 Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. set called The Great Old Sea. It is one of three figures in the set; the others being the trilobite Olenoides serratus and a coelacanth (which I presume is extant?). This is not the first review of Anomalocaris on the Dinosaur Toy Blog, not even the first by me, so I am going to forgo any lengthy discussion about the animal itself.
Brachiosaurus marks the fourth prehistoric animal Takara Tomy produced for their Animal Adventure (ANIA) line, following Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. The figure is a decent – if unremarkable – depiction of the long-necked giant, which I think it’s safe to say has eclipsed Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus as the default iconic sauropod.
Hello, who’s this?
Takara Tomy is a prolific toy manufacturer which has produced a number of dinosaur-related toys in the past. Most of these toys have been released under the ANIA (sometimes “Animal Adventure”) line, but some have received more unique lines of their own. One such line, short-lived as it appears to have been, was the Dinosaur Colosseum, which first released in 2015 as a set of three blind-boxed figurines (almost blind – each box has a unique numbering for identification).
Despite the progress we have made as a species, there is one fact we cannot change: extinction is forever. As a result of our hubris, many spectacular species have been wiped from the face of the earth. Takara have created quite an exquisite set, showing a selection of the species that have been lost of the centuries, each with a stand stating scientific names and year of extinction.
Today I venture into uncharted waters and review a figure by a company I’ve never covered, or bought products by, before. Although I’ve long been aware of Takara Tomy, they’re a Japanese company, making their offerings somewhat difficult to get in the U.S. Also, since their prehistoric figures mostly cover well known genera, or represent Jurassic World animals, they also just weren’t of much interest to me.
Review and photos by Zim, edited by Suspsy
June 12, 2015 was the day the Jurassic Park series was revived with a new film called Jurassic World. It features a revamped park along with many new species, including Dimorphodon, Mosasaurus, and a new hybrid, along with old favourites like Tyrannosaurus.
Review and photos by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
Depictions of Spinosaurus have undergone massive changes since Nizar Ibrahim published his famous 2014 reconstruction. It’s a fairly popular dinosaur and it has many toys available, but almost all of them show a bipedal animal with a half circle-shaped sail on its back.
Tomy (as the company is known in the West) have produced a series of small figures, approximately Dinotales size, that (like Dinotales) require a little self-assembly, although unlike Dinotales the figures slot into ‘museum plinths’ for display.
This model does have some inaccuracies.
