The very first time I laid eyes on the Early Cretaceous ankylosaurian known as Polacanthus was at a birthday party when I was only four or five years old. I can’t rightly recall if it was my own or some other child’s, but I’ll never forget that wrapping paper. Someone had brought a gift done up in dinosaur-themed paper. And...
Most ankylosaurs are classified as either Ankylosauridae or Nodosauridae. Ankylosaurids are easily distinguishable by their wide, blocky heads and tails terminating in solid bone clubs, and include the likes of Ankylosaurus itself, Euoplocephalus, Jinyunpelta, Pinacosaurus, and Zuul. By contrast, nodosaurids like Animantarx, Borealopelta, Edmontonia, Gastonia, and Sauropelta are distinguished by their narrower, more triangular heads and clubless tails. But there’s...
Stegouros (roofed tail) is a genus of late Cretaceous ankylosaur from Chile’s Dorotea Formation. It was described in 2021and has already proven to be a fairly popular dinosaur with three mass produced toys to its name. One from CollectA, another from Mattel, and this one from Safari Ltd. Its popularity can no doubt be attributed to its unique tail weaponry,...
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...
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 images by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy OK, here we are folks. My first review on the Dinosaur Toy Blog that is, well, actually a dinosaur! My previous reviews have consisted of a primate, a tortoise, and a bunch of invertebrates. I have to admit, despite collecting a wide variety of eukaryotic taxa, dinosaurs are the largest group for...
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy Since 2018, when Mattel got the Jurassic World license, I’ve been wanting and waiting to see if they would make a Jurassic Park III Ankylosaurus, which has always been my favorite take on this animal in the franchise. This is due in part to them being a frequent staple in my parks...
It’s yet another scorching summer day, but Murmillo is finding relief by wading placidly in the murky shallows of a lake. A slight ripple in the surface catches her eye, but no matter, it’s probably just a fish or a turtle or—a gargantuan alligatoroid that explodes from the water and engulfs her entire head and neck in its murderous jaws!...
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy The 1994 Atari fighting game Primal Rage featured a roster of stop-motion animated dinosaurs and giant apes that battled it out on a post-apocalyptic Earth (or “Urth”), which seems like an irresistible concept for a toyline, with Playmates jumping to the task in 1996, possibly to coincide with the sequel of the...
Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Happy Hen Toys is a U.S. distributor of figures by Safari, Papo, CollectA, Schleich, and other similar companies. In the case of CollectA they’re often the only place that sells their products at a reasonable...
This fine set of little Battat precursors from Gregory Wenzel has aged impressively well, and any collector who’s found a chance to own the set should find these a delight. Back in the 1990s, Safari ltd. was still a bold newcomer on the collectibles stage; with their success on the Carnegie Collection line, the company began exploring additional means to...
Alas, nodosaurids will probably never be as famous and popular as their cousins the ankylosaurids, undoubtedly due to their narrower, less intimidating heads and their lack of bone-breaking tail clubs. Still, almost all of the major dinosaur toy companies have produced at least one nodosaurid over the years, and these have generally ranged from being pretty good to truly magnificent....
