The North American hadrosaurid Maiasaura is famous for being the “good mother lizard,” the first dinosaur for which there is fossil evidence of parental behaviour in the form of nests containing babies that were clearly being fed and cared for by adults.
Type: Baby Dino
Review: Halfbaby Dinosaur Set (Yantai, distributed by Learnplay Inc.)
Review and photos by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
Trying to find information about either the creator of these toys, a Chinese company named Yantai, or their American distributor, Learnplay Inc., isn’t easy. According to one of the few sources I was able to find, Yantai has been around since 2011 and their Halftoy line is just one of hundreds of designs they have made.
Review: Dinosaur Bath Buddies (Little Hero)
As a young child, I loved splashing around in the tub with my toys. Who didn’t? Most of my bath toys were sharks and whales and other aquatic creatures, but occasionally a plesiosaur would find its way into the mix. My older son, however, enjoys taking his bath with the Classic Big Four: Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus rex.
Review: Maiasaura “Lil’ Hadro” (Dinotopia by Accent International)
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
We return to the land apart from time to review the second Dinotopia plush released by Accent International in 1993, “Lil’ Hadro.” This is certainly an odd choice by Accent, as no character named “Lil’ Hadro” appears in any of the books.
Review: Protoceratops “Bix” (Dinotopia by Accent International)
Review and photos by Loon, edited by Suspsy
Released in 1992, James Gurney’s book Dinotopia follows the shipwrecked scientist Arthur Denison and his son Will as they journey through the titular island, where dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals escaped extinction and coexist with humanity.
Review: Parasaurolophus (Baby)(AAA)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
Parasaurolophus seems to be the hadrosaur with the most toy representations by far, no doubt due to its charismatic, iconic head crest. It just looks neat, design-wise, compared to, for example, Lambeosaurus with its weird hatchet, Corythosaurus with its dull plate, or Tsintaosaurus and the unfortunate way its crest used to be depicted.
Review: Iguanodon (Jurassic Park Junior by Playskool / Hasbro)
Review: Prehistoric Playground Dinosaur Set (Melissa and Doug)
Review: Dinosaur Boxset 2 (Toyway)
We’ve all seen them. The crude dinosaur toys that you get in small museum shops for extremely cheap prices, normally just bought by parents to keep their children quiet for a while. The last thing you’d expect is to put six of these together and sell them as a box set.
Review: Hatchling T. Rex “Rudy” (Club Selection by REBOR)
When Sideshow Collectibles revealed their Brachiosaurus hatchling in 2009, it might have inspired REBOR to create their own take on a hatching dinosaur. The REBOR Club Selection line features only limited edition models numbering about 1000 worldwide.
Review: Beibeilong “Baby Louie” (Dino Discoveries by Safari Ltd)
In yet another museum partnership, Safari Ltd produced a model of the dinosaur embryo known as “Baby Louie” for the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. It’s believed that the dinosaur itself was an oviraptorid, however, not much has been published on it because the fossil was originally smuggled out of China and was in the hands of a private collector.
Review: Deinonychus Hatchling (Johan Scherft)
Following my review about the Styracosaurus hatched from a chocolate surprise egg, I’ll introduce you to a “real” hatchling in this review, just the right thing to put some Mesozoic spice to your upcoming Easter celebrations–the model of hatching Deinonychus by talented Netherlands artist Johan Scherft.