A TipToi is an orange electronic device by German company Ravensburger that looks like a gigantic pen. With its rays it scans micropatterns on fields triggering certain sound sequences the pencil reveals. Each program has to be loaded directly into the pen via USB link from the internet. There are books and jigsaws which can be played with the TipToi,...
Back in 2010 our own Libraraptor reviewed a little Apatosaurus, part of Bullyland’s Micro Tiere Collection released in 2005. Having found the same little figure in an eBay lot I was very curious about this small but seemly high quality figure. A search yielded his review but further research yielded the rest of the collection and a couple years ago...
Recently a new model has been released by Favorite, formally known as Kinto, and it has caused quite a stir on the dinosaur toy scene, not only for its quality but also because it is a museum exclusive and thus already rare before it was released. So is it worth all the hype? Is it worth tracking down? Well, let’s...
At long last, it’s here – the most anticipated Papo figure of 2012! By ‘here’ I of course mean the blog, as it’s been on sale for quite some time now (everywhere but in the UK at least). It’s certainly an intriguing, not to mention suitably massive, figure, and I think an awful lot of people will find it impossible...
The new Carnegie Brachiosaurus makes for quite a contrast with the original, and there’s a very good reason for that – it’s quite literally a different animal entirely! The original model actually represented the animal now known as Giraffatitan brancai, which was rather different in its proportions to the ‘original’ Brachiosaurus – the type species, Brachiosaurus altithorax from North America....
Review and Photos by ‘Tyrantqueen’. Edited by ‘Plesiosauria’. Continuing with our reviews of the Oldies model series, here we have the 1950s tail-dragging Brachiosaurus sculpted by Kazunari Araki (as is the entire Oldies line). The most well-known species of Brachiosaurus now goes by the name of Giraffatitan brancai (formerly Brachiosaurus brancai). Although Giraffatitan also belongs to the...
No doubt: Invicta Brachiosaurus is a monument, an all-time classic, a monochrome statement, based on the first version of the mounted Brachiosaurus skeleton of the Natural History Museum of Berlin. No Giraffatitan discussion here. Up for review, however, is Kleinwelka Brachiosaurus, a figure from the former German Democratic Republic. It is based upon the life size concrete figure in the...
Schleich have attracted a lot of derision for their often diabolical theropods (knuckle-dragging Spinosaurus, anyone?), but – for whatever reason – tend to fare somewhat better when it comes to herbivorous dinosaurs. This brachiosaur sculpt dates from 2007 and really isn’t too bad at all. If nothing else, it’s certainly an impressively hefty hunk of plastic. This is, of...
I’ve been able to tear myself away from our sparkly new Dinosaur Toy Forum (please do register if you aren’t already a member) to dedicate a little time to our old friend the Dinosaur Toy Blog. It isn’t easy to find a respectable range of dinosaur toys in brick and mortar establishments these days. Even museum shops can disappoint with...
Ah, Dinotales. You either love them, or you’re wrong. Although tiny, their finely-sculpted, pointy and brittle nature ensures that they are inherently unsuitable for use as toys; it also means that they combine the two desirable traits of being attractive and compact (particularly handy for the more fanatical collector who’s running out of space). This one, although labelled “Brachiosaurus“, actually...
The Late Jurassic landscape of North America would not have been complete without its most abundant sauropod resident, Camarasaurus. Meaning “chambered lizard” due to its chambered vertebrae, Camarasaurus was among the earliest sauropod genera to be described in detail, likely due to the fact that its discovery occurred right in the middle of the famous “Bone Wars” between American paleontologists...
More Bullyland – and this time it’s their 2005 resculpt of the giant African brachiosaur Giraffatitan (still known at the time as “Brachiosaurus” brancai. And yes, I am going to refer to it as Giraffatitan throughout the review, to annoy you all and because it’s only correct, so there). All told it’s not too shabby. First impressions are very good...
