Takara Tomy is a millennial industry giant of toy production, whose products have probably found their way into everyone’s homes at least once. Naturally, my introduction to the brand came through their ANIA “Animal Adventure” line of palm-sized action figures featuring extant and extinct animal life.
Type: Action Figure
Review: Diabloceratops (Beasts of the Mesozoic by Creative Beast Studios)
5 (7 votes)
Diabloceratops is a dinosaur in a curious position. Despite relatively little fame or pop culture presence, the “devil-horned face” has been a popular choice of genus for toy companies; Safari ltd., Collecta, Schleich, Mattel, and recently Haolonggood, among still others, have all taken a crack at the animal, with surprisingly good results in general.
Review: Chasmosaurus (Tyco)
4.8 (6 votes)
So, friends, here I am again. It took a little longer, that’s for sure. I was busy writing and marketing my first book about my own and other people´s fascination for prehistory (The Dinosaur Toy Blog and Forum play a big role in it!) and had the usual private and professional struggles.
Review: Masiakasaurus (Jurassic World Dino Escape Fierce Force by Mattel)
3.2 (5 votes)
My heart jumped in excitement when Mattel announced in 2021 that they were going to make one of my favorite dinosaurs, Masiakasaurus knopfleri! I finally get to talk about it which is an added bonus. This particular reconstruction is based on the 20 or so years old depiction that has dominated all sorts of media this animal was featured in.
Review: Jakapil (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Danger Pack by Mattel)
Review: Lophostropheus (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Danger Pack by Mattel)
3.6 (5 votes)
Lophostropheus is a coelophysoid theropod known from the boundary between the late Triassic and early Jurassic. It is known from a single tooth, a handful of vertebrae from the neck, back, and tail, some pelvic material, and an unidentified fragment. Such scant remains practically guaranteed a toy of Lophostropheus from Mattel, and here we are.
Review: Mapusaurus (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Gigantic Trackers by Mattel)
3.2 (19 votes)
Mapusaurus is a carcharodontosaurid that lived in Argentina during the late Cretaceous and is also one of the largest theropods known. It was only slightly smaller than its close relative, Giganotosaurus, and the skeletal differences between them are minimal.
Review: Xenoceratops foremostensis (Beasts of the Mesozoic Ceratopsian series by Creative Beast Studio)
4.7 (23 votes)
I, EmperorDinobot, have a less than healthy obsession with the Beasts of the Mesozoic. These are the dinosaurs I wanted to own as a kid. Dinosaurs that were articulated beyond what Kenner and later Hasbro’s dinosaurs could do. And here I am, roughly two decades later, sitting in bed with my own personal computer doing what I always did as a kid: browsing the catalogs which sometimes came in the boxes, or just the back of the card for some figures, always plotting what I should get next.
Review: Guanlong vs. Lystrosaurus (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Danger Pack by Mattel)
4.1 (23 votes)
Recently, Mattel has started dabbling with small-figure two packs, first with an Eoraptor vs. Stegouros pairing and then with the set we’re looking at today, Guanlong vs. Lystrosaurus. I think these two packs are a fantastic idea and hope that Mattel will produce more of them in the future.
Review: Rauisuchus (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Danger Pack by Mattel)
4.2 (18 votes)
Rauisuchus is a genus of pseudosuchian that lived in the late Triassic of what is now Brazil. It is also the latest pseudosuchian and Triassic taxa offered from Mattel, who has miraculously produced more of these animals than any other toy company I can think of.
Review: Irritator (Jurassic World Dino Trackers Wild Roar by Mattel)
4.3 (22 votes)
Last year was an exciting year for Irritator! Not only did we get two new figures by Mattel, but we also got a new study looking at the jaw articulation of Professor Challenger’s Irritating creature from Brazil! Join me, Emperor Dinobot, as we look at one of the most interesting figures Mattel has given us thus so far, barring the lack of accuracy and focusing on the artistic license given to this swampy animal!
Review: Becklespinax (Altispinax) (Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Epic Evolution Battle Roarin’ by Mattel)
4.5 (32 votes)
Leave it to the Jurassic World franchise to once again thrust an exceptionally fragmentary dinosaur into the limelight and give it the wrong name in the process. Becklespinax is one of many synonyms for the early Cretaceous English theropod now known as Altispinax.