Japan has a prolific industry for collectibles and merchandise, although it is a fairly insular market that western collectors might find tricky to break into. There are always new surprises to uncover from riches of new releases each year. One such item which caught my attention in 2022 was a set of minifigures produced by The Access, a company dedicated to planning, manufacturing, and wholesaling a variety of in-house products for multiple age ranges.
Classification: Tyrannosaur
Review: Albertosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)
Review: Albertosaurus (Jurassic Hunters by Geoworld)
Here’s another Geoworld figure up for review. Albertosaurus is a tyrannosaurid found in Alberta, Canada, which has been the subject of many toys over the past ten years. In 2013, Geoworld released their own version of Albertosaurus as part of the Jurassic Hunters line of collectible dinosaur figurines.
Review: Albertosaurus (Jurassic World, Battle Damage by Mattel)
As much as we all love Tyrannosaurus rex I think even the most diehard tyrant lizard fans among us will admit it, T. rex is overdone. Even if you don’t agree, you must surely acknowledge that Rexy’s popularity comes at the expense of other large theropods, especially other tyrannosaurids.
Review: Albertosaurus (Jurassic World: Massive Biters by Mattel)
Repaints have been a mainstay of every single Jurassic Park and Jurassic World toyline since the very beginning, but retools are much less common. Probably the most famous and popular retool is the 2009 Tyrannosaurus rex by Hasbro that was created using Kenner’s Lost World Bull from more than a decade earlier.
Review: Albertosaurus (Prehistoric Masterpiece Collection by X-plus)
Review: Albertosaurus (Replica-Saurus by Schleich)
Review: Albertosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
Seventy-one million years ago what is now Alberta, Canada, would have been located next to the Western Interior Seaway with various coastal habitats including swamps, marshes, tidal flats, lagoons, and estuaries. Familiar faces would have swum the aquatic ecosystems, including gar, bowfin, and sturgeon that are all present in North America’s freshwater habitats today.
Review: Alioramus (Age of the Dinosaurs by PNSO)
Alioramus was one of the smaller tyrannosaurids to have arisen and thrived during the Late Cretaceous period. Mind you, the only known specimens thus far are juveniles and subadults, so just how big an adult could grow to be is unknown. Along with Qianzhousaurus, it appears to be part of a distinct branch of the tyrannosaur family.
Review: Alioramus (CollectA)
Review: Alioramus (Jurassic World: Wild Pack by Mattel)
By now, I think it truly is safe and reasonable to say that Mattel has done better with the Jurassic Park license than any other company. Granted, outshining Hasbro was hardly difficult given what a substandard job they did, but what about Kenner? They may no longer around, but back in the glory days of the 1990s, they bestowed on us collectors a slew of awesome dinosaur toys, plus humans and vehicles if you were into that sort of thing (I never was).
Review: Ancient Fossils (Toob by Safari Ltd)
Of all the product lines offered by stalwart manufacturer Safari Ltd, the “Toob®” line gives them the freest rein to explore unusual taxa. I’m personally fondest of the Toobs that furnish small versions of small animals that might scale well with Safari’s full-size figurines. We’ve reviewed some of their most interesting Toobs featuring “alive” animals here, here, here, here, and here.
Review: Bendable Dinosaur Playset (Dorda)
Review and photos by Emperor Dinobot, edited by Suspsy
Hello everyone! Welcome to yet another EmperorDinobot(TM) dinosaur review! Today we are going to give a look at these quirky bendable dinosaurs from Dorda! Made in 1987 (I think I would have to lift up their skirts to make sure it was ’87 or ’88), these dinosaurs look a wee bit like the Playskool Definitely Dinosaur figures from the late 80s, but definitely have their own aesthetic and gimmick in order to keep kids and strange adult dinosaur toy collectors entertained for hours!
Review: Bistahieversor (CollectA)
In stark contrast to 2013’s lethargic Daspletosaurus, the 2014 CollectA Bistahieversor is sculpted in a dynamic action pose.
Review: Black Tyrannosaurus (Dinosaur King by Sega)
The idea of genetically altering creatures for ulterior motives is a common thing in various stories, usually resulting in some big bad creature that our heroes must defeat. Dino media is no exception to this, and here we look at a model of one Tyrannosaurus that ended up bigger and stronger than others in it’s series: the Black T.Rex from Dinosaur King.