Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy
UKRD is a rather mysterious company that produced mostly John Sibbick inspired dinosaur figures from 1987 to 1993. In fact a lot of the inspirations for UKRD’s toy figures can be found in one single book, “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs” (1985), written by Dr.
Feathered or scaly? Upright or vertical? Predator or scavenger? The king of the tyrant lizards has gone through a lot of changes over the last century, and I dare say will continue to alter as more discoveries are made. As a result, there are hundreds of figures, representing all the variations it could possibly have.
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
To many in the general population (for want of a better description) and particularly in popular culture, the appearance of Apatosaurus, though in these terms usually known as Brontosaurus, is almost synonymous with the word ‘dinosaur.’ So many comics, cartoons, and iconic graphics in a variety of applications need only to use a silhouette of this animal to signify dinosaurs, no caption needed.
Since their discovery in the Antarctic and other parts of the southern hemisphere, penguins are seen as rather adorable creatures. In the past, there were many large examples of this family, with even a subfamily featuring these giant examples. Here, we see a figure of one such species, Anthropornis.
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
Dinosaur figures come in all sizes but there’s one animal that, more often than not, will get you a pretty decent-sized, if not quite often oversized piece of plastic in its representation, and that is Brachiosaurus.
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
Nothosaurus was a widely distributed Triassic marine reptile with about a gazillion assigned species. Though it lends its name to the wider group Nothosauridae, it is probably fair to say the genus is obscure to most people.
Edited by Plesiosauria.
Today’s review is a 2020 Schleich figure that I knew about since 2016. The animal is Plesiosaurus, a long-necked predator that lends its name to a whole Order of marine reptiles that lived from the Early Jurassic all the way up to the Late Cretaceous.
There aren’t many animals in the world known by their scientific name as opposed to a common name, yet the palaeo world seems to only use them, unless they are particularly well known, like the Woolly Mammoth or T. rex. That’s why I love this particular model, of an animal named Yalkaparidon (from the Aboriginal word for boomerang, based on the animals molar shape), but referred to in the common lexicon as Cohen’s Thingadonta, which is a brilliant name.
Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy
Woolly mammoths are among the most majestic mammalian megafauna of the past. Being such iconic prehistoric animals, plenty of toys have been made by various companies, from the fantastic and anatomically accurate figures by Favorite Co. Ltd. and Wild Safari to the imposing beasts by Schleich and Safari’s Missing Links.
Niger, Africa back in the Early Cretaceous was a land full of weird and unusual dinosaurs. Unlike the desert-like environment of today, back then it was lusher with many rivers that crisscrossed the land. Here lives one of the most distinctive basal hadrosaur, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis (meaning Brave lizard).
Interpreting fossils is never an easy task. Unless the animal was complete when found, or very well preserved, it can be hard to tell what an animal looked like. Prehistoric animals can be revised over and over as new information comes in about them. One animal that has been altered several times is Palorchestes, which was thought to be a kangaroo relative, then more tapir based as a result of the rostrum, and more recently, similar to a giant ground sloth.
