“Greetings and salutations once again, fellow dinosaur lovers! It is I, the one and only Dr. Bella Bricking, along with my trusty and ever-faithful companion, Beth Buildit! And today is a truly momentous occasion, is it not?”
“Yup, sure is, Doc. Exactly 30 years ago, a certain little movie called Jurassic Park opened in theatres worldwide and basically blew up right from the get-go.
For almost every Tyrannosaurus toy on the market, there’s a Triceratops toy to face off with – as it should be, considering the rich history of fossils and iconic paleo media depicting these legendary Cretaceous contemporaries. Triceratops was more than just a prime steak to fill a theropod’s belly, of course; this colossal herbivore would have been a spectacular animal in its own right, and a powerful presence roaming the forests and hills of Western North America.
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.
Protoceratops is a staple of classic dinosaur multimedia. What the “first horned face” lacks in size and ornamentation when compared to later ceratopsian relatives, it makes up for with excellent preservation in the fossil record, its discovery dating back to the Central Asiatic Expeditions of the early 1900s.
Nothing has brought me more joy in recent years than David Silva’s Beasts of the Mesozoic figures. Some may call me a material boy, and that’s ok. We are humans, and we thrive on material culture. Part of that culture is our toys and figures which enrich our lives in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
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 game which never materialised (toys based on characters from the sequel were also produced).
Japan has a prolific industry for collectibles and merchandise, although it is a fairly insular market that western collectors might find tricky to break into. There are always new surprises to uncover from riches of new releases each year. One such item which caught my attention in 2022 was a set of minifigures produced by The Access, a company dedicated to planning, manufacturing, and wholesaling a variety of in-house products for multiple age ranges.
It’s time for our annual review of a large Mattel ceratopsian. Every year since 2018 Mattel has released one of these and they always end up being among my favorite toys from Mattel. This year it’s a Diabloceratops, part of Mattel’s Dino Trackers line.
This modestly-sized (and priced) action figure is a fine representative of the detailed and stylish designs featured in David Silva’s spectacular Ceratopsian series.
I first heard of Zuniceratops a good 20 years ago, when Discovery Channel’s documentary special When Dinosaurs Roamed America aired on television.
“Ho, ho, ho there, fellow dinosaur lovers! Yes, it is I, Dr. Bella Claus, at your service once again! And where would I be without my loyal and trusty steed, Bethdolf?”
“I told you not to call me that, Doc!”
“Oh, come along, Beth, you were the one who refused to wear the elf hat again.
The thundering sounds of stampeding animals shatter the tranquil morning air. A herd of Torosaurus has just walked into an ambush on their way to the forest edge and are now running for their lives towards the safety of the open plains.
Since they first started producing tube sets back in 2015, CollectA has covered a pretty decent variety of prehistoric life, wild animals, sea creatures, and farm stock. In 2021, they went back to the beginning with a third dinosaur (mostly) set consisting of ten figures, all based on previously released toys.
