Review and photos by Gwangi
If you were purchasing dinosaur toys two decades ago there is one family you wouldn’t have seen represented at all, the Therizinosauridae. Though known to science since 1954 it is a family that was very poorly known only until recently.
Type: Figurine
Review: Apatosaurus (Antediluvia Collection)(David Krentz)
4.8 (9 votes)
Apatosaurus has come a long way over the years. What was once a sluggish swamp-dwelling behemoth is now more tightly built, with muscular columns of legs supporting a powerful body, graceful neck, and elegant whip-like tail. As the rest of the world struggles to keep pace with the latest paleontological research, David Krentz is always perched on the cutting edge.
Review: Leaellynasaura (Walking with Dinosaurs by Toyway)
Review: Hyaenodon (AAA)
3.5 (8 votes)
Review and photos by Mihnea (Wildheart)
Existing for approximately 26 million years, Hyaenodonts were some of the largest predators of the Late Eocene and Early Miocene epochs. Their name comes from the sharp hyena-like teeth used to tear apart possible prey. The skulls of these animals were huge and well equipped for hunting, but their brains were quite small, something typical in primitive carnivorous mammals.
Existing for approximately 26 million years, Hyaenodonts were some of the largest predators of the Late Eocene and Early Miocene epochs. Their name comes from the sharp hyena-like teeth used to tear apart possible prey. The skulls of these animals were huge and well equipped for hunting, but their brains were quite small, something typical in primitive carnivorous mammals.
Review: Woolly rhinoceros (AAA)
2.9 (11 votes)
Everyone familiar with Pleistocene fauna is familiar with the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), a large shaggy rhino that lived in Eurasia and died out at the end of the Ice Age. It is often reproduced in toy form, only less so that the more popular mammoths and Smilodon.
Review: Rhoetosaurus (CollectA)
3.4 (8 votes)
Review by Nathan, edited by Plesiosauria.
Rhoetosaurus brownei was an Australian sauropod that lived around the mid-Jurassic Period and is one of the oldest known sauropods. Little evidence has been found for this dinosaur, only a partial hind leg, some vertebrae, ribs, and pelvic elements are known, yet CollectA decided to release one as part of their standard collection back in 2009.
Rhoetosaurus brownei was an Australian sauropod that lived around the mid-Jurassic Period and is one of the oldest known sauropods. Little evidence has been found for this dinosaur, only a partial hind leg, some vertebrae, ribs, and pelvic elements are known, yet CollectA decided to release one as part of their standard collection back in 2009.
Review: Entelodont (AAA)
4 (9 votes)
Admittedly, there were lovelier animals to have walked the earth in prehistoric times than entelodonts, omnivorous beasts that were two metres tall and four metres long. Entelodonts were especially abundant in what are now Mongolia, China and Northern America and strolled through the landscape searching for any kind of food in the Eocene epoch – mainly probably carrion.
Review: Styracosaurus (Prehistoric Masterpiece Collection by X-Plus)
4.7 (9 votes)
Review and photos by Patrick Bate. Edited by Plesiosauria.
Styracosaurus was a centrosaurine ceratopsian from Cretaceous North America. Its unique and formidable horn arrangement have made it perhaps the second-most popular toy ceratopsian, behind Triceratops. This effort by X-Plus is one of two dinosaurs from their (retired) Prehistoric Masterpiece collection.
Styracosaurus was a centrosaurine ceratopsian from Cretaceous North America. Its unique and formidable horn arrangement have made it perhaps the second-most popular toy ceratopsian, behind Triceratops. This effort by X-Plus is one of two dinosaurs from their (retired) Prehistoric Masterpiece collection.
Review: Carnotaurus (2011 Version)(Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (29 votes)
The year was 1985. When the world was first introduced to Carnotaurus sastrei, the stock market went wild, the streets were flooded with panicked mobs, and the skies became saturated with an eerie purple tinge.
Alright, maybe that isn’t entirely true. The first big break for our brow-horned friend probably came in Crichton’s bestselling sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World, where Carnotaurus prowled the darkness with chameleonic camouflage (speculative, naturally).
Review: Styracosaurus (Antediluvia Collection)
3.8 (9 votes)
I really do like Styracosaurus very much. So much, in fact, that I decided to break my long absence from writing reviews with yet another rendition of this lovely spiked ceratopsid. Today we will be looking at David Krentz’s sculpt from his Antediluvia line.
Review: Torosaurus (Collecta)
3.8 (19 votes)
I know I’ve said it before, but Collecta really have upped their game this year, spurred on by what seems like a genuine urge to please us geeks. It’s much appreciated, as it’d be easy for a company to not give a stuff about accuracy/aesthetics as long as the products were selling (they ARE toys, after all).
Review: Ankylosaurus (Soft model by Favorite Co. Ltd.)
3.8 (8 votes)
This Ankylosaurus from Favorite is one of the best plastic ankylosaurs out there. It’s just not Ankylosaurus…
A little background: in 2004, a paper by Ken Carpenter was published that redescribed Ankylosaurus and finally gave it a definitive modern ‘look’.