Feathered or scaly? Upright or vertical? Predator or scavenger? The king of the tyrant lizards has gone through a lot of changes over the last century, and I dare say will continue to alter as more discoveries are made. As a result, there are hundreds of figures, representing all the variations it could possibly have.
Review: Irritator (Jurassic World Primal Attack, Sound Strike by Mattel)
2.9 (15 votes)
As it stands there is only one review for Irritator on the blog, Irritator being an early Cretaceous spinosaurid from Brazil. That toy is by CollectA and it’s pushing a decade old and quite clearly “early CollectA” in terms of quality.
Review: Apatosaurus (Nanmu)
4.9 (12 votes)
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
To many in the general population (for want of a better description) and particularly in popular culture, the appearance of Apatosaurus, though in these terms usually known as Brontosaurus, is almost synonymous with the word ‘dinosaur.’ So many comics, cartoons, and iconic graphics in a variety of applications need only to use a silhouette of this animal to signify dinosaurs, no caption needed.
Review: Dino-Mat Habitat (Original American Kazoo Co.)
4 (1 votes)
Review and photographs by Grant Harding, edited by Suspsy
The item I’m reviewing today is not a dinosaur toy per se. Rather, it’s something that (if you’re a kid) makes your dinosaur toys even more fun. It’s the Dino-Mat Habitat, manufactured in 1992 by the Original American Kazoo Company.
Review: Giant Penguin/ Anthropornis (Lost Kingdoms Series A by Yowie)
4.3 (4 votes)
Since their discovery in the Antarctic and other parts of the southern hemisphere, penguins are seen as rather adorable creatures. In the past, there were many large examples of this family, with even a subfamily featuring these giant examples. Here, we see a figure of one such species, Anthropornis.
Review: Giraffatitan (W-Dragon)
4.7 (9 votes)
Review and images by PhilSauria, edited by Suspsy
Dinosaur figures come in all sizes but there’s one animal that, more often than not, will get you a pretty decent-sized, if not quite often oversized piece of plastic in its representation, and that is Brachiosaurus.
Review: Nothosaurus (Imperial)
1.4 (40 votes)
Review and photographs by Funk, edited by Suspsy
Nothosaurus was a widely distributed Triassic marine reptile with about a gazillion assigned species. Though it lends its name to the wider group Nothosauridae, it is probably fair to say the genus is obscure to most people.
Review: Xtractaurs (Mattel)
3.3 (6 votes)
Review and photos by Charles Peckham, edited by Suspsy
I don’t own all the Xtractaurs, and I’m not sure if anyone does, but I feel I’ve been able to amass enough to give a decent overview of the series. Anyone who wants to review an individual Xtractaur for the Dinosaur Toy Blog, included in this review or otherwise, has my blessing.
Review: Plesiosaurus (Schleich)
3.5 (29 votes)
Edited by Plesiosauria.
Today’s review is a 2020 Schleich figure that I knew about since 2016. The animal is Plesiosaurus, a long-necked predator that lends its name to a whole Order of marine reptiles that lived from the Early Jurassic all the way up to the Late Cretaceous.
Review: Anomalocaris (The Great Old Sea by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
4.2 (12 votes)
Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy
Today we are looking at Anomalocaris canadensis from the 2020 Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. set called The Great Old Sea. It is one of three figures in the set; the others being the trilobite Olenoides serratus and a coelacanth (which I presume is extant?).
Review: Pinacosaurus (Protocasts)
4.6 (11 votes)
Some years have passed since the last review of a Protocasts model appeared on this blog. This is certainly not due to a lack of models by the side of the creator, in fact I myself got an Irritator figure laying around since years awaiting a review.
Review: Cohen’s Thingodonta/ Yalkaparidon (Lost Kingdoms Series A by Yowie)
4 (4 votes)
There aren’t many animals in the world known by their scientific name as opposed to a common name, yet the palaeo world seems to only use them, unless they are particularly well known, like the Woolly Mammoth or T. rex. That’s why I love this particular model, of an animal named Yalkaparidon (from the Aboriginal word for boomerang, based on the animals molar shape), but referred to in the common lexicon as Cohen’s Thingadonta, which is a brilliant name.