Review and photographs by K. Bela, edited by Suspsy
“We’re living through the golden age of dinosaur discoveries.”
That was the first sentence spoken by the late and great John Hurt in the well-known 2011 BBC series Planet Dinosaur. The line haven’t lost its meaning since.
Playmobil’s 1.2.3 line is the equivalent of Lego’s Duplo line: simpler, safer versions of their main products aimed at toddlers. When I saw that there was a dinosaur-themed set among the 2018 releases, I knew that I had to get it for my son. As I write this, he’s still far too little to understand the first thing about prehistory, but he certainly enjoys banging the toys together or sucking on them.
Review and photographs by Brontozaurus, edited by Suspsy
I recently visited the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (FPDM) while on a trip in Japan. The museum is located near the Kitadani Formation, where many of Japan’s dinosaur species have been found and described. It was well worth it, but even before I got to the FPDM, I was encountering Japanese dinosaurs in toy stores.
Fukuiraptor isn’t a dinosaur name one hears too often – at least outside of Japan. First discovered in the 1990s, the “thief of Fukui Prefecture” is only known from fragmentary remains between a few specimens, consisting mostly of arm and leg bones. Like its relative Megaraptor from South America, Fukuiraptor was initially described as a dromaeosaur, only for later studies to reveal that the large fossil claw discovered among the remains belonged on the predator’s thumb, not its toe.
Japan isn’t usually the first country to come to mind when we think of dinosaurs; we all know the famous fossil bone beds and the dinosaurs they contain from western North America, China, or Argentina, but most people, even dinosaur enthusiasts, would be hard pressed to name a single Japanese dinosaur.
Photos by Niroot ‘Himmapaan’ Puttapipat
Ornithomimids are a horribly under-represented family of dinosaurs when it comes to dinosaur toys. For such fascinating animals, this really is a shame. Fortunately, the few ornithomimid figures out there are usually quite well-made. The Battat Gallimimus is one of these.
Made in 1994 (a year after the dinosaur’s appearance in Jurassic Park I should add), this Gallimimus is part of the now revered and rare Battat line, made for the Boston Museum of Science.
