From atop a hill, the view of the dry wind-swept plains below is obscured by what at first looks like a dust storm. Soon, it becomes clear that the dust that has engulfed the plain is not from a storm. Here, in what would be known today as Argentina, an epic battle between two of the largest animals that have ever walked the earth is about to reach its conclusion.
Classification: Theropod
Review: Mapusaurus (CollectA)
2.8 (17 votes)
Despite being one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs, and despite featuring prominently in an episode of the BBC’s Planet Dinosaur series, Mapusaurus seems to be far less popular than its close relatives Carcharodontosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Perhaps that’s due in part to its rather unassuming name: ‘earth lizard.’ Just doesn’t have the right bite to it!
Review: Mapusaurus (Deluxe by CollectA)
4.3 (18 votes)
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
I have to admit to being a bit of a lapsed amateur paleontologist; I know the basics about a core group of the more well-known dinosaurs, so when CollectA released this one, I had to hit the reference books and online sources to find out what I was looking at.
I have to admit to being a bit of a lapsed amateur paleontologist; I know the basics about a core group of the more well-known dinosaurs, so when CollectA released this one, I had to hit the reference books and online sources to find out what I was looking at.
Review: Mapusaurus (Prehistoric Animal Models by PNSO)
4.4 (76 votes)
My sincere thanks to Happy Hen Toys for furnishing this review sample.
Several other companies have made Mapusaurus figures before, including Bandai, Playmates, and CollectA. So far, however, we’ve only reviewed CollectA’s four (!!!) versions on the blog. A brief re-introduction might be useful, then: Mapusaurus hails from the Huincul Formation (English approximation: “ween-COOL”) in Argentina, just like its recently described relative Meraxes and the famous Argentinosaurus.
Review: Masiakasaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (17 votes)
Since its description in 2001, fans of the Madagascan abelisauroid known as Masiakasaurus have longed for an affordable yet accurate model of this obscure beast but no one would deliver, not even CollectA despite all their obscure critters. Now, 15 years later, we finally have one and who better to sculpt it than Paleo-artist Doug Watson for the Wild Safari collection.
Review: Megalosaurus (2021)(CollectA)
4.6 (41 votes)
No one knows when precisely humans first discovered the fossilized remains of dinosaurs. Indigenous North Americans probably came across them in places now called Alberta or South Dakota or Utah. In China, “dragon bones” were recorded as being discovered all the way back during the Western Jin Dynasty between 265 and 316 AD.
Review: Megalosaurus (Edward) (Prehistoric Animal Models by PNSO)
Review: Megalosaurus (Invicta)
4.8 (18 votes)
Review and photos by Takama, edited by Suspsy
When I first discovered the Dinosaur Toy Blog back in 2010, I was amazed at the number of different dinosaur toy lines that have been made over the decades which I never heard of until that point. The most noteworthy of these lines were Papo and CollectA.
When I first discovered the Dinosaur Toy Blog back in 2010, I was amazed at the number of different dinosaur toy lines that have been made over the decades which I never heard of until that point. The most noteworthy of these lines were Papo and CollectA.
Review: Megalosaurus (Natural History Museum by Toyway)
2.6 (9 votes)
History: 166 million years ago during the middle Jurassic a predator named Megalosaurus prowled England. In 1824 it became the first non-avian dinosaur to have a validly named genus. From there its popularity grew and became a widely known dinosaur celebrity. It received top billing at Crystal Palace Park where it was one of the three mascot dinosaurs.Â
Review: Megalosaurus (painted version by Invicta)
4.4 (38 votes)
It is a gray winter day in Jurassic England as the great reptile patrols the forest’s edge. The hunter’s stride seems sluggish at a glance – indeed, the weather is unusually cold this year, and most normal reptiles would have succumbed to the dismal temperatures already. The great hunter is no normal reptile, however.
Review: Megaraptor (Haolonggood)
5 (37 votes)
Unlike most other prehistoric toy companies, the vast majority of Haolonggood’s dinosaurs have been herbivorous ones thus far. And the carnivores that they have tackled are mostly genera that have already been done by many of those same other companies: Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Daspletosaurus, Dilophosaurus, etc.
Review: Megaraptor (Jurassic World: Roar Strikers by Mattel)
3.5 (68 votes)
Megaraptorans are an unusual clade of theropods that are all presently known from incomplete fossil remains, yet are generally characterized by powerful arms terminating in frightfully huge claws. Just where precisely they fit into the greater theropod family tree has been an ongoing debate for years, but there is a growing consensus that they are either nested within Tyrannosauroidea, or represent a sister taxon to it.