Dino riders is a much cherished series by many, who eagerly looked to get all the figures of the line. The first two lines are large, full of various dinosaurs, while the latter two lines are smaller and often rarer than the first two.
Review: Dromornis (Yowies Lost Kingdom)
4.7 (7 votes)
Travelling through the wonderful world of Oz (as the Aussies tend to call their country) one sure plans some things before starting. I deceided to cramp a few toy figures into a box to take on the chance to shoot some of them in their “natural environment” – at least kind of, Australia sure changed a fair bit since most of the represented animals went extinct.
Review: Callovosaurus (Jurassic World: Primal Attack by Mattel)
4 (20 votes)
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy
There’s been a trend in Mattel’s Jurassic World line to not only include the various species from the films, but also ones that have only appeared in the books. This explains the inclusion of the obscure Callovosaurus, a dryosaurid known from fragmentary remains found in England.
Review: Ornitholestes (Jurassic World: Primal Attack by Mattel)
Review: Mussaurus (Jurassic World: Attack Pack by Mattel)
3.7 (12 votes)
Review and photographs by Loon, edited by Suspsy.
The first fossils of the Late Triassic sauropodomorph Mussaurus were discovered in the ’70s by an expedition led by the late Jose Bonaparte in Argentina. These consisted of eggs and juveniles small enough to fit in your hands; hence the name, meaning “Mouse Lizard.” However, this name isn’t particularly fitting given that in 2013, the first adult specimens of Mussaurus were described and estimated to reach up 20 feet in length.
Review: Shringasaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.9 (19 votes)
The Jurassic and Cretaceous periods featured tetrapod lineages exploring minor evolutionary variations on a handful of themes. But during the Triassic period, tetrapods evolved into all kinds of strange forms, some of which looked like slightly wrong versions of later animals. One of these is Shringasaurus, which has some features of a sauropod, a ceratopsian, and an iguana, without being particularly closely related to any of them.
Review: Pterygotus (Dinotales series 7 by Kaiyodo)
5 (8 votes)
Kaiyodo has to be one of the best prehistoric animal lines out there. At a small size, they gave us a wide spread of species from across earth history in glorious detail and beautiful paint schemes. Today’s review shows just this: Pterygotus, a Silurian Sea Scorpion, one of the largest arthropods ever known, reaching a body length of 5.7 ft.
Review: Deinonychus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)
4.8 (34 votes)
Review and photos by Patrx, edited by Suspsy
Deinonychus is kind of a big deal. Its inescapably bird-like skeleton is part of what led paleontologists of the early 1970s to re-examine old ideas about the origin of birds, and the nature of dinosaurs as a group.
Review: Anatosaurus AKA Edmontosaurus (Wendy’s Exclusive from Definitely Dinosaurs by Playskool)
4 (37 votes)
Review and photographs by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
Before we get into talking about this toy, I think it’s worthwhile to discuss the history of the genus that we’re calling Anatosaurus, especially since this is the first review of a toy labeled with that genus on this website.
Review: Hyneria (Paleo-Creatures)
4.7 (9 votes)
Ancient fish, with the exception of sharks, are a rarity in toy lines. Perhaps most believe they are all small and aren’t noteworthy. This is far from the case, as many ancient fish were large and bizarre enough to contend with dinosaurs. Fortunately, our own Jetoar has been able to prove they are worth making with figures like this: Hyneria, a Devonian Sarcopterygian from Pennsylvania, a 12 ft fish that would have terrorised all creatures smaller than it.
Review: Tylosaurus (Recur)
4.1 (30 votes)
Goodness, but it’s been quite awhile since the last time I did a Recur review. The company still appears to be struggling to break out of the Asian market, as their products are not available at any of the most popular online stores like EverythingDinosaur or MiniZoo or Dan’s Dinosaurs.
Review: Mastodonsaurus (Starlux)
3.8 (11 votes)
In spite of the discoveries since Starlux closed down, I feel that the old line could be fantastically varied in comparison to some modern line, producing vast numbers of species, not just familiar dinosaurs, but those that existed alongside them. Here, for example, the giant amphibian Mastodonsaurus from the late Triassic, which reached lengths of 13-20 feet long.