Sinclair’s Trachodon captures a moment of history in dinosaur pop culture and science which is gradually growing farther and farther away, but its imagery remains pervasively iconic.
There’s always something new to discover in the collecting hobby – even when it’s technically old.
Once more, we take a look at another Yowie model of an ancient creature based on a slim evidence. In this case though, it does have better basis than others. Here, we see Atlascopcosaurus, an animal based on dentary found from early Cretaceous strata of Dinosaur cove, Australia.
Eight short years ago I wrote a glowing review for the CollectA Deluxe Carcharodontosaurus. At the time the praise was deserved, aside from a Safari toy from the 1990’s there weren’t any other options for the “jagged toothed lizard”. CollectA’s model filled a vacant niche, and it was in turn followed by a new model of the genus from Safari in 2016.
Every fall, Safari Ltd announces their releases for the upcoming year. Understandably, probably owing to the pandemic and the attendant slowdown in trade, their announcements for 2021 were pretty limited, only three new items in the core dinosaur range. I confess I was a bit disappointed that all three were theropods, not being a particular fan of the clade (or at least not of the apex predators in the clade).
Review and photos by Zim, edited by Suspsy
Among theropods from the Cretaceous period, Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Spinosaurus instantly come to people’s minds due to their sheer size and ferocity, as well as Velociraptor for its swiftness and intelligence (which is exaggerated by Jurassic Park).
Of all the Hadrosaurs, Parasaurolophus is by far the most commonly produced in toy lines. It’s flashy headpiece is likely the main reason, as the rest of the body is somewhat lacklustre. Sizeable, but not the most interesting. The crest is where it’s at, with the function and skin attachments being a major source of debate.
The carcharodontosaurid family contains some of the very biggest flesh-eating dinosaurs known to science: Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Tyrannotitan, Acrocanthosaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus itself. But it also includes a much smaller and stranger-looking member: the humpbacked and possibly feathered Concavenator.
Today I want to introduce you to the most unusual and by far biggest dinosaur figure in my collection. You may be familiar with the great Lego reviews by Bella Bricking and Beth Buildit (powered by Suspy) though the most popular of Lego`s dinosaur offerings are full mold dinosaurs rather than brick build ones.
North America in the late Cretaceous was home to some of the most famous and iconic dinosaurs. Here, in the vast landscape, huge herd of the most famous ceratopsian, Triceratops, congregated in their annual mating season.Triceratops in huge numbers dominated the landscape as other dinosaur gave way, perhaps overwhelmed by the shear number of the loud and boisterous groups.
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy
Parasaurolophus is easily one of the most recognizable and famous herbivorous dinosaurs, and ornithopods along with Iguanodon and Edmontosaurus. The long, hollow tube like crest is its most distinctive feature, easily recognizable, and setting it apart from most hadrosaurids, except for its close kin Charonosaurus and the newly described Tlatolophus.
Orthocones, conical fossil shells belonging to extinct cephalopods, are among the most popular and easily obtained fossils. So abundant are they that they’re often included in mass produced fossil dig kits for children, made into jewelry, or sold as souvenirs in museum gift shops.
While I do admire the Yowie line for it’s variety, several have given me headaches for being based off species known off bits and pieces, a leg bone or a finger. Fortunately, this isn’t the case for all, and here we have one such case, Woolungasaurus, an elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia.
