Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy
With only two weeks left for the Beasts of the Mesozoic ceratopsian series campaign (as of this writing), it’s about time I got to writing perhaps the last of my reviews of these figures. either until I acquire more of the raptors or until I can get my hands on the ceratopsians.
Review and photos by EmperorDinobot, edited by Suspsy
Hello, my fellow dinosaur collectors! Today we shall be looking at the Beasts of the Mesozoic Adasaurus mongoliensis, aka the evil spirit lizard from Mongolia! If you are reading this, you probably already know the whole story behind Creative Beast Studios and the production of this exciting line of figures.
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.
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.
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).
The star of ‘Battle at Big Rock’ is back to bat under Mattel, with a slight makeover in play features and paint job.
Allosaurus was once a king of dinosaur media, second only to Tyrannosaurus in books and film. Featuring in multiple major productions such as The Lost World, One Million Years BC, and (debatably) The Valley of Gwangi, the “other lizard” ended up getting overshadowed during the 90s and 2000s with the advent of the Jurassic Park franchise and its more novel assortment of “villain” theropods like the cunning Velociraptor and the gigantic Spinosaurus.
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy
Back in May 2019, the Dual Attack Allosaurus and Nasutoceratops toys began showing up on shelves at Walmart, which caught people by surprise, as no images of these had been revealed online beforehand. The packaging for these two toys in particular was different from the rest of the Dino Rivals assortment, not only with the purple colors used on the packaging, but also the distinctive “Battle at Big Rock” logo on it, with a note saying “as seen in.” Months went by with speculation on what this “Battle at Big Rock” could be, and what role these two dinosaur species would serve in it, as well as for why the Allosaurus seemed to have such a drastic redesign.
Big Al had a lot of early success in films starring in the lead role of predatory dinosaur. It first appeared in celluloid for the 1925 film, The Lost World. That Allosaurus was based on the artwork of Charles R. Knight, and had an epic battle with Brontosaurus.
Although this DK-inspired poseable figure is alright as a generic theropod toy, it’s a pretty weak depiction of the iconic genus it’s meant to represent.
Dinosaur toy history is a relatively new endeavor of study, be it researching the origins of the hobby in the famous Marx line, or trying to catalogue the onslaught of brand-new models from PNSO.
It was also one of the last toys attached to the LW franchise to be released, making it somewhat rare.
In 2011, prototype images of an Allosaurus, a Carnotaurus, a Pachyrhinosaurus, and a Stegosaurus for the Jurassic Park toy line began floating around the web. Sadly, only the Allosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus would make it to production in the summer of 2013.
When ever I hear the theme from Jurassic Park it send chills down my spine and puts a smile on my face. That is the power of music combined with the nostalgic feelings that I have for the original Jurassic Park movie. Ever since the original movie release, the franchises movies, music, and toys have had there ups and downs.
Review and Photographs By Sketchy, edited by Suspsy
While Jurassic World popularized the idea of genetically modified dinosaur hybrids, Kenner beat them to the idea over 17 years prior with the Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect line, a mix of crazy hybrids and similarly crazy repaints of old figures. Although at the time they were an underselling line, some figures have now been considered classic such as the Alpha Velociraptor.
Confession time. I like ugly sauropods. In fact, my favorite sauropod is widely regarded as one of the ugliest, Camarasaurus. And I’m one of the few collectors that likes the Schleich Barapasaurus, which I reviewed for the blog upon its release. Most folks like their sauropods elegant and graceful, and so do I, but I also like the big ugly bruisers, the kind that know how to throw their bulk around and smash a theropod or two.