Review and photos by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
How does Kaiyodo find new animals to make toys of? Much of their Dinotales series consists of strange and obscure animals that even a seasoned paleontologist might not have come across before. Case in point: Pleurocystites, an echinoderm from the Late Ordovician.
The Jurassic period is often called the time of the titans for good reasons; this is the time when dinosaurs really took off and grew to enormous sizes. This is also the time when some of the most famous dinosaurs roamed the planet.
For collectors of prehistoric fishes 2021 has been a banner year, it saw the release of several toy fishes and two of them weren’t an O. megalodon or Dunkleosteus. Astonishing! Of course, we got those too. Papo tackled the meg.
Thanks to its appearance in Jurassic Park, Dilophosaurus is, in the words of one paleontologist, “pretty much the best, worst-known dinosaur.” Even if you’re well aware that it wasn’t small and didn’t spit venom and didn’t have a frill around its neck, you probably grew up reading about how fragile its twin crests were and how relatively weak its bite was.
The models in this set are a nice set of famous or classic prehistoric genera, but they definitely leave a lot to be desired as interesting renditions of said animals.
Welcome to the third entry of the Z-Cardz review series! Z-Cardz were a constructible card game line by California Creations, which predated the more prolific game lines by companies like WizKids, who officially coined the term for this style of toy.
Today I venture into uncharted waters and review a figure by a company I’ve never covered, or bought products by, before. Although I’ve long been aware of Takara Tomy, they’re a Japanese company, making their offerings somewhat difficult to get in the U.S.
The Sinclair Triceratops might look quaint to collectors spoiled modern toy brands, but it’s a very finely-made little figurine that’s quite accurate for its time.
I wasn’t too aware of the history of dinosaur toys and collecting until recently, when I came into the acquisition of a few older figurines from my grandparents’ collection.
Review by GiganotosaurusFan, photos by Dino Scream3232, edited by Suspsy
A long time ago, Edward Drinker Cope found the largest carnivore that ever existed, Tyrannosaurus rex, although he thought it was a ceratopsid, so he named it Manospondylus gigas.
However you look at it, Opabinia was a remarkably odd-looking creature – so it’s a natural choice for a big cuddly plush toy, right?
I’m guessing most people wouldn’t look at a five-eyed worm with a snaggle-toothed trunk and react with, “Aw, how cute!” Granted, most people aren’t paleontology nerds, either, so your mileage may vary in perspective.
I reviewed the original Attack Pack Gallimimus back in 2018, with its sandy brown color tones, it was the first of many Gallimimus toys from Mattel. Indeed, the Attack Pack Gallimimus has received so many re-paints over the last few years that I would be hard pressed to list them all.
This stand was purchased separately and is not included with the model.
270 million years before orcas, 250 million years before megalodon sharks, 170 million years before even the mosasaurs, the largest macropredators in the ocean were probably eugeneodontids, large fishes with bizarre tooth arrangements and cartilaginous skeletons.
Review and photographs by DrWheelieMobile, edited by Suspsy
British manufacturer Ravensden is nowadays best known for making plush toys of various extant animals, as their website states, “for the zoo, aquarium, leisure and promotional markets.” However, there was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s when one would be hard-pressed to enter any zoo or aquarium gift shop and not find a rack containing another of their product ranges: the aptly, if unoriginally, named Inflatable Animals line.
