Dinosaur Toy Blog

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)

4.6 (8 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.

Review: Carnotaurus (2011 Version)(Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

4.4 (28 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)

4.1 (7 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.

Accuracy wise this little fellow is pretty much perfect.

Review: Torosaurus (Collecta)

3.6 (17 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’.

Review: Spinosaurus Hunting (Desktop Model by Dinostoreus)

4.7 (3 votes)

In addition to their primary line of single-character maquettes, Dinostoreus produces a number of diorama-style pieces which portray prehistoric animals in their natural environment. One that undoubtedly draws attention is this model, featuring the beloved Spinosaurus snatching a snack from churning Cretaceous waters.

At 13 inches in length, this is a pretty generously sized model, falling roughly within the 1:40 range to make it compatible with the Carnegie Spinosaurus, or Papo if you’re not a stickler for accuracy.

Review: Pteranodon (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

1.5 (10 votes)

Now here’s a figure that’s had a beating with the ugly stick. The Pteranodon was one of 17 models in the original Carnegie collection lineup, way back in 1989. It was retired in 1995 but reissued the following year and is still produced today. It’s one of the smaller toys in the line with a wingspan of 11cm (about 4 inches)

I think the Carnegie Pteranodon is supposed to be in a flying pose, either that or sprawled out on its tummy in the most ungainly manner.

Review: Concavenator (CollectA)

2.9 (15 votes)

Review by Nathan Morris (Takama), photos by Bokisaurus and Simon. Edited by Plesiosauria.
Concavenator corcovatus (meaning hunchback hunter from Cuenca). Was a 6-meter long, and primitive carcharodontosaurian that lived 130 milion years ago during the early Cretaceous Period. It was discovered last year [2010] at the Las Hoyas Plateau, and is notable for a hump that pertruded from its back.

Review: Acrocanthosaurus (Antediluvia Collection)(David Krentz)

3.5 (11 votes)

As more species slip into mainstream consciousness, the ever-popular theropoda sees its previously obscure members slowly becoming household names. Nowhere is this more evident than Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, which has quickly soared to the popularity levels of Dilophosaurus and Spinosaurus. Alright, maybe ol’ Acro isn’t quite that popular – those two examples did have the dubious backing of Hollywood, after all.

Review: Tale of Two Stegosaurs: Carnegie Miragaia and CollectA Dacentrurus

4.3 (10 votes)

This featured article comes from longtime forum member Boki, who shares his thoughts on the two major stegosaur releases of 2011. Thanks, Boki! (-Dan)

In this year’s dinosaur lineup, we are offered two unusual late Jurassic stegosaurs.
In the past, most companies have opted for the familiar stegosaur when choosing a species to add to their line of prehistoric figures.

Review: Attenborosaurus (CollectA)

4 (14 votes)

Unfamiliar British taxa are the order of the day for UK-based company CollectA, and we can now add the relatively obscure plesiosaur Attenborosaurus to their list. Attenborosaurus is one of two plesiosaurs released by CollectA in 2011 (the other one being the Rhomaleosaurus, again, another relatively obscure British genus).

Review: Miragaia (Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd.)

5 (13 votes)

While most of the year’s new prehistoric collectibles have been released by summer, the heavy hitters always seem to arrive fashionably late. This sounds better than any figure being “delayed,” and besides, the wait only serves to heighten our anticipation. The first Carnegie of 2011 struck at the end of May, with the release of the exotic stegosaurid Miragaia longicollum.

Review: Tyrannosaurus (unknown company)

1.5 (25 votes)

Review and photos by Conrad (AKA neovenator08). Edited by Plesiosauria.
Well, I’m no expert in dinosaurs or dinosaur toys compared to most, but I feel obliged as this toy is the pride of my (tiny) collection and there is no review so far. So, from what I can see this is quite a good representation of one of the most well-known dinosaurs out there.

Review: Psittacosaurus (CollectA)

3.9 (14 votes)

Review by Mihnea Nicolae (aka Wildheart). Edited by Plesiosauria.
Psittacosaurus (parrot lizard) was a small ceratopsian that lived during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now Eastern Asia. A number of species have been recognised so far based on the shape of their skulls and the area in which they were discovered.

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