Dinosaur Toy Blog

Review: Nasutoceratops (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.9 (17 votes)

Although I’m sure most of you reading this blog keep up to date with the latest in dinosaur discoveries, the ceratopsian our review tackles today was only recently discovered and so it seems prudent to give a brief overview of that animal itself. Dinosaur lovers have been blessed with an abundance of new ceratopsians out of North America lately and among them is the increasingly popular Nasutoceratops or “large-nosed horn face” and while the nose is indeed large, the pair of “Texas long-horns” on the head also helps make this a unique looking dinosaur.

Review: Velociraptor (2015) (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

4.5 (17 votes)

So this is it – the very end of the Carnegie Collection. At least we got our feathered Velociraptor before the final bow. It’s by no means perfect, but it should at least prove more popular than last year’s bafflingly despised T. rex resculpt.

Review: Velociraptor “Cyclops” (Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs by Kenner)

3.4 (15 votes)

The various Jurassic Park lines have given us many Velociraptor toys over the years (and more still to come). One of the more interesting ones is the battle-hardened “Cyclops.”

Cyclops first appeared in the 1997 Lost World line, but like many of the smaller JP toys, it was re-released in subsequent years.

Review: Pteranodon (The Lost World: Jurassic Park by Kenner)

4.3 (12 votes)

While it was by no means the largest pterosaur, Pteranodon, with its distinctive blade-shaped crest, remains the most recognizable. It was heavily featured in Jurassic Park 3 and also made a dramatic (and more accurate) cameo at the end of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Review: Saurophaganax (CollectA)

3.5 (15 votes)

History: Saurophaganax is not a well known theropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic, even though it was originally found in the early 1930’s. Considering how large this dinosaur was, which has been estimated to be around 43 feet long, you would think it would get a little more press.

Review: Tanystropheus (Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs by Kenner)

3.1 (10 votes)

Tanystropheus was one of evolution’s more bizarre concoctions: a carnivorous reptile from the Middle Triassic with a spindly neck longer than its body and tail combined. Like the Dimetrodon, it appeared several times in various JP lines. This particular version is from the 1999 JP: Dinosaurs line.

Review: Yutyrannus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

4.6 (25 votes)

Review and photographs by Tallin, edited by Plesiosauria.
Approximately 125 million years ago, Northern China had a similar temperature to today – it was cold – at least by Mesozoic standards. Indeed, the Yixian Formation of China shows that the climate of this part of early Cretaceous China would have had an average temperature of only 10°C.

Review: Dimetrodon (Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs by Kenner)

3.7 (9 votes)

And now let’s tackle some Jurassic Park toys. First up is Dimetrodon. The famous finned ferocity first appeared in the original 1993 JP line. The humble toy must have been very popular indeed, as it would go on to be recoloured and re-released several times over the course of a decade.

Review: Amargasaurus (Deluxe version by CollectA)

2.9 (17 votes)

Review and photographs by Tallin, edited by Plesiosauria.
One of the most recognisable of the sauropods, Amargasaurus cazaui has been well represented in toy form, with examples from most of the major brands. This is the second Amargasaurus that CollectA have released, this model dating back to 2012 and part of their 1:40 scale line – four years since their first attempt at recreating this beastie.

Review: Alamosaurus (CollectA)

3.2 (23 votes)

Review and photographs by Tallin, edited by Plesiosauria.
One of the last and most massive of the sauropods, Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, was a colossal titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. Its reign lasted right up until the K-T extinction and it lived in the same environments as Tyrannosaurus rex – it has been found all over North America.

Review: Placerias (Tyco)

4 (9 votes)

Although the Dino-Riders line consisted mostly of familiar faces like Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Diplodocus, and, of course, Tyrannosaurus rex, there were a few obscure animals tossed into the mix. I had never heard of Placerias until I came across it on the shelf at Toys R Us.

Review: Camarasaurus (Tip Toi by Ravensburger)

3.8 (4 votes)

A TipToi is an orange electronic device by German company Ravensburger that looks like a gigantic pen. With its rays it scans micropatterns on fields triggering certain sound sequences the pencil reveals. Each program has to be loaded directly into the pen via USB link from the internet.

Review: Ankylosaurus (Tyco)

2.6 (10 votes)

Time now to jump into the WABAC Machine and take a trip to 1988. It was a good time to be a kid or a collector. GI Joe and Transformers were still going strong, Barbie and Lego were around as always, and TMNT was taking its first steps towards iconic status.

Review: Woolly Mammoth (Prehistoric life collection by Safari Ltd)

4.6 (11 votes)

Many years ago when I was a small child, I thought all of the ancient mammoths where the Woolly Mammoth. I later learned that it was a diverse branch with many different members. The first mammoth bones I had ever seen in person were at the Mammoth Site in South Dakota, where a majority of the mammoth remains are of the Columbian variety, but there are also a few remains of the Woolly Mammoth as well.

Review: Therizinosaurus (World of History by Schleich)

2.7 (19 votes)

Review and photos by Tallin, edited by Plesiosauria.
As one of the strangest looking dinosaurs discovered it is unsurprising that Therizinosaurus and its kin have been represented in toy form by most of the major companies, sometimes more than once or in different scales. CollectA and Safari Ltd have several examples of this strange therapod family in their ranges, and we have thus come to expect a similar shape for members of the therizinosaur clade: a pot-belly, small head and stumpy legs (reflecting fossil evidence from a variety of finds over the years).

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