I’m delighted to officially announce the results of the The Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest 2013, sponsored by Safari Ltd. The year was our biggest contest to date, with a total of 38 entries and 100 dinotoyforum members taking part in the voting process. There were many excellent dioramas in all sorts of styles.
Review: Triceratops (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)
4 (6 votes)
Another day, another toy Triceratops. This one’s from Araki’s new range of ‘Soft Models’ for Favorite (which may or may not constitute the second series), and is surely one of the best of the bunch, although there’s no escaping the fact that, like the others, it’d be vastly improved by a better paint job.
Review: Triceratops (Version 2, Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)
3.4 (11 votes)
Guest review by John Hall.
Let’s face it – if you’re reading this blog you have known since your age could be measured in single digits that Triceratops was a late Cretaceous ceratopsian from North America whose name means “three horned face”… etc., etc., etc.
Let’s face it – if you’re reading this blog you have known since your age could be measured in single digits that Triceratops was a late Cretaceous ceratopsian from North America whose name means “three horned face”… etc., etc., etc.
Review: Parasaurolophus (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)
4.8 (5 votes)
Here I am again with another review for another Favorite dinosaur. No, I don’t mean it is my favorite but rather made by the Favorite Company who it seems feel so confident in their models that they changed their name from Kinto to Favorite. It still feels weird to say the word favorite not as an adjective but as the name of a company.
Review: Stegosaurus (Soft Model Series 2 by Favorite Co. Ltd.)
4.8 (11 votes)
Stegosaurus has for some reason become a recent favorite of mine among the dinosaurs. It is such a bizarre dinosaur and I feel it is taken for granted due to its large presence in pop culture, that, and we’ve known about it since 1877. As a stegosaur alone it is quite bizarre, the only one with such exaggerated plates, but as a dinosaur it is one of the original show stoppers.
Review: Plateosaurus (CollectA)
4.3 (18 votes)
Having recently reviewed the Bullyland Liliensternus, I thought it fitting to do another Triassic dinosaur that lived with and was possibly preyed upon by Liliensternus. I’m talking of course about everyone’s favorite basal sauropodomorph, Plateosaurus. This one was put out by CollectA in 2011.
Review: Liliensternus (Bullyland)
4 (8 votes)
The earlier dinosaurs of the Triassic are often overshadowed by their larger and more glamorous decedents. Though less flashy than later genera these were important animals in their time that paved the way and gave rise to the later dinosaurs we all know and love. That is why when a genus of dinosaur from the Triassic pops up, collectors should take notice.
Review: Dimetrodon (Papo)
4.4 (17 votes)
Every prehistoric animal toy line has to have a Dimetrodon, so here’s Papo’s – their second new figure in 2013, following the successful Carnotaurus. Dimetrodon, a scaly beast with a vicious set of fangs, would seem to play perfectly to Papo’s strengths and, indeed, this might be one of their best figures so far.
Review: Dracorex (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (18 votes)
Where reviews of new toys are concerned this 2012 release has somehow gone neglected. Now, amidst the flurry of reviews for newer models I’m writing one for this little guy. I’m writing of course about the Safari 2012 Dracorex, one of a stellar lineup of toys released last year and the only one from that lineup that has yet to be reviewed.
Review: Dilophosaurus (Sideshow Dinosauria)
4 (5 votes)
On November 8, 2012, Sideshow offered the first preview image of the Dilophosaurus statue. This choice of species does not come as a great surprise to many of us, as we all know that this creature was featured prominently in a rather successful film in 1993. Sideshow’s Dinosauria line first set out to demonstrate the great profitability of dinosaurs without a major franchise backing them, perhaps making Dilophosaurus all the more an expected choice.
Review: Diabloceratops (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.6 (25 votes)
Safari’s take on the sinisterly horned ceratopsian from Utah is the second Diabloceratops figure of 2013, following Collecta’s pretty decent effort a few months prior. While it can be a bit dull when companies rush to produce figures of the same animal, they’re quite welcome to as long as we get toys of this calibre.
Review: Elasmosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd)
4.5 (16 votes)
Here we have another new release from Safari Ltd for 2013, the long-necked Elasmosaurus. I lent a small helping hand with the design of this figure, as I had done previously with Safari Ltd’s other recent plesiosaurian offering (Liopleurodon). As such, I was pleased to finally see the figure ‘in the flesh’ and I’m delighted how it has come out.