Review and photos by Rebecca O’Neill, edited by Dinotoyblog.
This group of ten novelty, cartoonish dinosaurs were purchased on Ebay in 2018, and don’t seem to be available anymore. Very much in the style of The Land Before Time or Dinosaurs the television show from the 1990s, they are a variety of well known dinosaurs rendered in a caricature form.
Niger, Africa back in the Early Cretaceous was a land full of weird and unusual dinosaurs. Unlike the desert-like environment of today, back then it was lusher with many rivers that crisscrossed the land. Here lives one of the most distinctive basal hadrosaur, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis (meaning Brave lizard).
With more and more Marx figures dropping in, I want to add something vintage from a German line that also calls for being completed on the blog. The history of Kleinwelka figures has been thoroughly told at least as far as my knowledge goes, so let`s get straight to the figure.
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
In a nutshell, Edmontosaurus could be described as one of the larger species of hadrosaur, with adults ranging from 9 to 12 meters long and weighing in at about 4 metric tons, with a very wide distribution across western Canada and the U.S.
Edmontosaurus (AKA Anatosaurus, Anatotitan, Claosaurus, Thespius, and Trachodon) is the quintessential “duckbilled dinosaur,” the one many of us grew up seeing and reading about in books when we were kids.
Carrying on with our series of Marx reviews next up is that most popular of ornithopods, Parasaurolophus. Like the previously reviewed Styracosaurus this figure is part of the Second Series Mold Group, PL-1083. This mold group was the most recent and last from Marx, produced in 1961.
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
If you’ve ever scoured through dinosaur toy lots on eBay, you’ll probably be familiar with a seemingly ever-present cast of figures. Vintage Carnegies, K&M figures, and Battat Edmontonia bootlegs are numerous enough that they should really be classified as vermin. However, you’ll occasionally find a figure unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
We return to the land apart from time to review the second Dinotopia plush released by Accent International in 1993, “Lil’ Hadro.” This is certainly an odd choice by Accent, as no character named “Lil’ Hadro” appears in any of the books.
Review and photographs by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
Before we get into talking about this toy, I think it’s worthwhile to discuss the history of the genus that we’re calling Anatosaurus, especially since this is the first review of a toy labeled with that genus on this website.
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
Parasaurolophus seems to be the hadrosaur with the most toy representations by far, no doubt due to its charismatic, iconic head crest. It just looks neat, design-wise, compared to, for example, Lambeosaurus with its weird hatchet, Corythosaurus with its dull plate, or Tsintaosaurus and the unfortunate way its crest used to be depicted.
Review and photographs by Sketchy, edited by Suspsy
As many of you know, Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect was a short-lived toy line famous for its hybrids. While most fans remember the Velocirapteryx, there was one other raptor hybrid created: the Paradeinonychus, a cross between a Parasaurolophus and a Deinonychus.
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
While many companies that produce dinosaur toys strive to make their figures scientifically accurate (though often failing), some completely disregard science, preferring instead to use dinosaurs as simple pop culture monsters. This is true for Chap Mei, whose Dino Valley line toys are often imitations of dinosaurs appearing in pop culture rather than what is actually known about them.
