We now return to our series of pliosaur reviews. We have already looked in detail at the popular Chap Mei Liopleurodon here and more recently the Kronosaurus by Schleich. Let’s now take a look at Safari Ltd’s offering, another popular figure, the Carnegie Collection Kronosaurus.
There’s no real debate about it. The Mattel Jurassic World Mosasaurus is still one of the line’s best toys. Pushing 30” in length and covered in rubbery “real feel” material, it has also been released and re-released consistently over the last 5 years. A testament to its quality.
The titans of Greek myth were beings of great strength and power, so it is no surprise that prehistoric creatures of great size and strength were named after them. The leader of this group during their golden age, according to legend, was Kronos, the father of Zeus, and a mighty marine monster was named after him: Kronosaurus, a 30 ft Pliosaur from the early Cretaceous of Queensland.
My great thanks to Happy Hen Toys for their generosity in providing this figure for review, which is now available for sale at their website happyhentoys.com.
Two whole years after rumors of its existence first began circulating among dino collectors, Papo’s figurine of the Australian apex predator, Kronosaurus queenslandicus, has finally emerged from the realm of myth and begun landing on the shores of retail shops worldwide.
Kronosaurus could easily be called the comeback kid, having the distinction of being one of the first marine reptiles to ever be featured in toy form way back in the Marx sets only to be lost to obscurity for many decades after, then just recently came roaring back into the spotlight.Having fought (or swam) its way back into the top ten, this impressive giant surely is determined to edge out the mighty Mosasaurus.
There was a time when Kronossaurus was the most famous marine reptile. It was part of the elite group of dinosaurs (and other prehistoric animals), sort of like the Mesozoic version of the Justice League. These assortments would be the core group to be featured in the 1950’s Marx set, the first real toy set to focus on prehistoric animals, This Mesozoic superhero group would feature icons: we see Tyrannosaurus rex, Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Triceratops, Anklyosaurus, Hadrosaur (iguanodon?), Pteranodon, and of course Kronosaurus (representing the marine reptiles).
Available from Amazon.com for under $20
When their vaunted Carnegie Collection was discontinued in early 2015, Safari Ltd evidently got to work pretty quickly to take up the slack elsewhere, because in a mere two years they more than doubled the output of figures from their standard dinosaur line.
My first experience with Liopleurodon came in 1999 while watching the original telecast of Walking with Dinosaurs. I remember sitting in my dorm room with a box of thin mint cookies eagerly awaiting the next episode to begin.
This is the second plesiosaur produced by Procon, the first one being the elasmosaurid Hydrotherosaurus (reviewed here), but this is their first pliosaur. Procon are tending to divide collectors with their new lines.
Review and photos by Torvosaurus, edited by Suspsy
Howdy from wonderful, windy Wyoming! Today we’ll take a look at the DeeZee (DZ) Liopleurodon. DeeZee figures were incorporated with the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit figures and sold as one line, as additions to HLBS’s Saurian Safari game.
Although these figures might fall short of Dinotales’ best, they are still delightful and unique representations of the famous Jurassic pliosaur.
Dinotales (in Chocolosaurs) were something of a hidden gem for me; despite an extensive production series, the Japanese capsule toys haven’t ever been marketed much at all overseas, at least that I know of.
