Review and photos by Patrx
It pains me to admit this, friends, but the truth is that Allosaurus never made much of an impact on me when I was younger. I had many books on the subject of dinosaurs, (and other prehistoric animals™) but most of those seemed unsure of what to do with this particular beast.
One issue that will always plague any creative outlet is this: plagiarism. Many will copy the best for a quick and easy way to get sales or attention. When it’s mentioned here, usually this is in referenced to Geoworld, and they are certainly guilty of this. However, they aren’t the only ones though.
It was almost exactly a year ago when I reviewed the Safari 2020 Pachycephalosaurus, a much-needed modern rendition of the most popular of the bone-headed dinosaurs. In that review I declared the Safari Pachycephalosaurus the definitive figure of that genus, but now I’m back again with another Pachycephalosaurus, this time by PNSO.
The Mesozoic saw the rise of the dinosaurs to dominance, as they were the largest and most successful animals around. But naturally, they weren’t the only creatures around, as this era saw the rise of birds and mammals. They were often small, especially during the Jurassic period, but they set the stage for their eventual take over once the dinosaurs bit the dust.
Famous for their long necks, even longer tails, and being one of the largest land animals ever to walk the earth, Sauropods are some of the most famous dinosaurs of all time. It is no surprise that some of these giants reached iconic status and are perennial favorites among toy figure companies.
Like its close relative Alioramus, Qianzhousaurus was relatively small for a tyrannosaurid, measuring only around six metres long and weighing an estimated 757 kg. It is also one of the strangest-looking members of its family due to its very narrow, elongated snout.
Marginocephalia is a clade full of interesting species that are largely hard to define by their body, with their only real definition being their heads. There are two groups, the ceratopsians (for which the number of models are near innumerable) and the less popular pachycephalosaurs. There are many figures of them, though far from the numbers of their ceratopsian counter parts.
Although we are all familiar with the dinosaur family hadrosauridae it seems that the dinosaur that gave the family its name has been largely forgotten, despite being a historically important dinosaur. Hadrosaurus foulkii was first described by Joseph Leidy in 1858, from remains found in New Jersey’s Woodbury Formation.
After the frustration surrounding this toy’s original release, Mattel has provided collectors their best chance yet to add the Jurassic Park super-predator to their collection.
I think we can all agree that Mattel has been doing a solid job with the Jurassic World brand. Since picking up the IP from Hasbro in the buildup to Fallen Kingdom, Mattel has been pumping out a wide range of species with generally strong sculpts and fun gimmicks.
Australia has a wide array of species throughout the different periods and epochs. This has resulted in many different genus’ being constructed from the many pieces that had been found. Some have been erected from only a few pieces. Here, we see one such example, Rapator, a Mid-Cretaceous theropod known from a single metacarpal.
Review and photos by Zim, edited by Suspsy
Otodus megalodon is probably one of the most well-recognized prehistoric animals of all time due to our fascination of giant versions of animals, in this case, sharks. Though it is frequently depicted as an oversized great white shark due to the resemblance between their teeth, many experts now agree that this is due to convergent evolution rather than a close relation.
Spring 2021 saw the arrival of the second wave of ceratopsians from the Beasts of the Mesozoic series. Fans of Dave Silva’s crowdfunded line of articulated figures will already be familiar with the basic elements that define this series. These strikingly colorful figures have a tremendous range of poseability thanks to their intricately engineered design (which may have the added benefit of making them more difficult for bootleggers to imitate).
