During the Late Cretaceous, the region currently known as the harsh Gobi Desert of Mongolia was a rich expanse of floodplains, mudflats, and shallow lakes. Here one would find abundant titanosaurs, hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and pachycephalosaurs, although no known ceratopsids to date.
Type: Figurine
Review: Monolophosaurus (Schleich)(2023)
2.8 (53 votes)
To start, I want to extend my thanks to Happy Hen Toys for generously offering this review sample for the Blog. Happy Hen Toys has rapidly been establishing themselves as one of the most reliable shops for prehistoric animal collectibles in the United States, and I encourage readers to check out their website for purchasing this and other related items.
Review: Fukuiraptor (Favorite Co. Ltd.)
3.3 (43 votes)
Fukuiraptor isn’t a dinosaur name one hears too often – at least outside of Japan. First discovered in the 1990s, the “thief of Fukui Prefecture” is only known from fragmentary remains between a few specimens, consisting mostly of arm and leg bones. Like its relative Megaraptor from South America, Fukuiraptor was initially described as a dromaeosaur, only for later studies to reveal that the large fossil claw discovered among the remains belonged on the predator’s thumb, not its toe.
Review: Shastasaurus (CollectA)
4.8 (99 votes)
Review and images by Kikimalou, edited by Suspsy
This is the very first time I’ve submitted a review for DTB and I thought that the new 2023 CollectA Shastasaurus would do the trick. What attracted me to this new ichthyosaur is the black and white interpretation.
Review: Anomalocaris (CollectA)
4.7 (124 votes)
Review and images by bmathison1972; edited by Suspsy
In 2023, CollectA added Anomalocaris canadensis to its growing collection of Paleozoic invertebrates, following fellow arthropod Redlichia and mollusks Passaloteuthis, Pleuroceras, Orthoceras, Cooperoceras, and Pravitoceras (not to mention an extant nautilus and horseshoe crab).
Review: Zuul (Dino Dana by Safari Ltd.)
4.7 (129 votes)
It’s yet another scorching summer day, but Murmillo is finding relief by wading placidly in the murky shallows of a lake. A slight ripple in the surface catches her eye, but no matter, it’s probably just a fish or a turtle or—a gargantuan alligatoroid that explodes from the water and engulfs her entire head and neck in its murderous jaws!
Review: Edmontosaurus (Schleich)(2023)
2.3 (113 votes)
Before starting this review, I want to extend my thanks to Happy Hen Toys for generously offering this review sample for the Blog. Happy Hen Toys has, in my experience, become on of the most reliable sources for extinct & extant animal brands alike in the United States.
Review: Gastonia (Schleich)
3.9 (76 votes)
Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Happy Hen Toys is a U.S. distributor of figures by Safari, Papo, CollectA, Schleich, and other similar companies. In the case of CollectA they’re often the only place that sells their products at a reasonable price within the United States.
Review: 3D Dinosaur Pictorial Book (The Access)
3.4 (48 votes)
Japan has a prolific industry for collectibles and merchandise, although it is a fairly insular market that western collectors might find tricky to break into. There are always new surprises to uncover from riches of new releases each year. One such item which caught my attention in 2022 was a set of minifigures produced by The Access, a company dedicated to planning, manufacturing, and wholesaling a variety of in-house products for multiple age ranges.
Review: Macrauchenia (MPC)
4 (53 votes)
“If MPC Ran the Zoo”…
Macrauchenia looked like it could have inspired some of the creatures in a Dr. Seuss book, if its history of paleoart is anything to go by. First described in 1838, the “long-necked llama” hasn’t achieved the same level of fame as some of its mammalian contemporaries from the Miocene and Pleistocene; however, its lanky legs, long neck, and peculiar trunk make for a very distinct image, and have earned the genus at least a few toys over the decades.
Review: Iguanodon (Marolin / VEB Plaho)
3.8 (43 votes)
Can you detect the tiny ear conches?
A firm from the German Democratic Republic, VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb) Plaho, released a series of highly collectable die casting plastic dinosaur figures in 1967. They were sold in the Museum of Sena in Thuringia, Germany, until the mid-1980s.
Review: Albertosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.7 (129 votes)
Seventy-one million years ago what is now Alberta, Canada, would have been located next to the Western Interior Seaway with various coastal habitats including swamps, marshes, tidal flats, lagoons, and estuaries. Familiar faces would have swum the aquatic ecosystems, including gar, bowfin, and sturgeon that are all present in North America’s freshwater habitats today.
Review: Brighstoneus (CollectA)
4.8 (80 votes)
In 1978 (the same year I was born), the fossil remains of a hadrosauriform dinosaur were discovered at Brighstone Bay on the Isle of Wight. The remains were sent to the British Museum of Natural History (now the Natural History Museum) in London and declared to be those of the famous Iguanodon.
Review: Suchomimus (Prehistoric Animal Models by PNSO)
4.8 (65 votes)
PNSO delivered one last surprise for collectors at the very end of 2022, delivering their 67th entry into the Prehistoric Animal lineup with a highly anticipated, superb new rendition of the most complete spinosaurid to date.
The 1990s and 2000s were a boon for paleontology in the southern hemisphere.
Review: Majungasaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.7 (68 votes)
Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous, Madagascar had already been an island for about 20 million years. And just as today, the island would have boasted a unique assortment of organisms isolated from most of the outside world. Thanks to fossils preserved in the Maevarano Formation we know the region was home to Beelzebufo, the world’s largest known frog, the theropod Masiakasaurus with it’s strange, forward projecting teeth, the herbivorous crocodylomorph, Siamosuchus, and the 8-meter sauropod, Rapetosaurus.