You’ll be hard-pressed to find a “shark-toothed” theropod model as decked-out and detailed as this one, although a couple of design flaws might have one hesitating at the retail price.
Carcharodontosaurs have ranked among my favorite dinosaurs since early childhood – the notion of meat-eaters even bigger than the mighty Tyrannosaurus was simply too irresistible to my 5-year-old self, and that initial shock and awe has remained embedded in my psyche to this day.
Tolerance and understanding mean little to the bitty brain of a belligerent brawler like Donnybrook. So naturally, when he happened upon a nesting group of edmontosaurs, he thought nothing of blundering directly through their midst instead of diverting around them. The females sitting next to their nests honked in anger and alarm, yet he merely bellowed back at them and waved his menacing head.
Review and images by GiganotosaurusFan, edited by Suspsy
The year was 1969 and everyone was talking about the new show-stopping dinosaur movie made by Ray Harryhausen. It was The Valley of Gwangi, an epic tale of how the last living Allosaurus was found, captured, and eventually met a grandiose, spectacular, and tragic end after a cathedral crashed down on top of it with a bang. Naturally, the film was a success, and that iconic, menacing Allosaurus would remain in many people’s hearts for years to come.
Sauropods are well known group of dinosaurs for good reasons: they are the largest land animals to roam the planet and their long necks and tails make them easily recognizable. But not all sauropods are created equal, some are small and don’t have the long necks that have defined the group.
Here’s an interesting rendition of what is probably the world’s most famous sauropod (judging from Brachiosaurus’ appearances in the JP franchise and the number of toys it boasts to its name on the blog) that I came across at Mastermind Toys here in Ontario.
This classic little sauropod is best viewed today as a relic, a curious piece of memorabilia nestled between more interesting figures which came before and after it.
If you were to ask a veteran toy collector about vintage dinosaurs, you’d probably hear Marx cited first. Marx was a pioneer in the 1950s, producing the first-ever widespread plastic dinosaurs for kids (and maybe their parents).
When companies have been around for a long time, the opportunity for remaking it arises. In prehistoric species, the better for it, as new information can completely change the look of an animal. And with the announcement of a new model of Paraceratherium, many were thrilled.
Review and images by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy
Opabinia regalis is an enigmatic arthropod (or arthropod-like animal) from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of present-day British Columbia. It was a benthic predator, scouring the bottom of the Cambrian Seas for soft-bodied prey nearly 505 million years ago.
Although we aren’t short on good-quality Giganotosaurus toys these days, Favorite’s new take is a worthwhile rendition with a few unique traits of its own.
Giganotosaurus (Giant Southern Lizard) might not stand within the most famous ring of dinosaur genera, but I’d say it’s hardly obscure by this point in history.
In this review, I wanted to give you something different. Today, I wanted to share with you not only the figure I got but also the entire experience of how I ended up chasing after a mystery egg! Before we start, I want to give a bit of a background on who the artist is.
I love picking up rare species on the toy market, especially where they are part of groups that are rarely made. As mentioned previously, snakes are incredibly rare on the toy shelves, likely because they don’t vary too much so don’t sell well. Thankfully, Yowie comes in to the rescue, giving us the Giant Wonambi, a constrictor from the Pleistocene of Australia, the first fossil snake found in Australia.
Fashion and dinosaur, what an odd thing to try and weave together in a toy review. If you grew up in the 90’s like me, or is interested in fashion, I’m sure you are familiar with the reign of the supermodels in that decade. In the fashion world the 90’s is often referred to as the era of supermodels for good reasons: models were everywhere.
It’s been a long and frustrating morning for Burton. It began with him failing to catch a pterosaur sitting on its nest. Next he snagged a large shark only for it to bite him painfully on the snout and escape. After that, he managed to come across a fresh nodosaur carcass, but was then chased away by an allosaur pack—and received another bite on his tail to boot!
Review and photos by Zim, edited by Suspsy
Allosaurus (meaning “different lizard”) is probably the most well known large predator of the Late Jurassic period some 155-145 million years ago, similar to how Tyrannosaurus was in the Late Cretaceous period. It reaches sizes of 8 to 9.6 metres long, but could possibly reach up to 13 metres (more on that later).
This set of reissued figurines offers an updated, good-quality variety of animals for collectors who might have missed earlier releases.
Kaiyodo’s miniature dinosaur lines might be among the very best in the market, even with more and more high-end companies entering the scene in recent years. It’s a shame that acquiring Kaiyodo’s figurines hasn’t gotten any easier for collectors outside of Japan – especially in the wake of the 2020 pandemic, and the ensuing shipping bottlenecks which have only made imported goods all the more expensive.
