Toyway produced eleven figures (and an elusive twelfth) to accompany the BBC TV series ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’. I recall my eyes bulging out of their sockets when I first came across these gems in a toy shop in Bath. I was visiting the town with a group of fellow palaeontology students so the shop owners were understandably baffled when their entire stock of Utahraptors were wiped out in within five minutes by a bunch of excited, grinning young adults. I later completed* my collection in the Natural History Museum, London, where I got my hands on the rarer Liopleurodon (reviewed here). (*minus that elusive twelfth figure – an Ornithocheirus that was never sold commercially).
The species in this toy line represent some of the major players in the TV series and are based on the actual models that were laser-scanned for the series. This makes them completely identical to the on-screen versions and means criticism of the toy is a criticism of the depiction of the species in the show. It also explains why the poses are uninspired, stiff and wooden. Here I’m going to take a look at the Tyrannosaurus rex.
These are great figures with plenty of colour and character. Well, maybe not colour in the case of the T. rex, which is basically black and white, although it does have a spiffing red throat and evil red eyes. I believe there’s a different colour variant of the T.rex with red blood around its chops. At least, I’ve seen this in several photos of apparently different figures. I’m presuming it’s not just a customisation.
I always thought the Walking with Dinosaurs Tyrannosaurus was a little leggy and this is also true in the Toyway figure. The animal is standing only on its distal tarsals, so it looks almost like the animal has been endowed with an extra joint in its lower leg/foot. This also causes the figure to lean backwards so the spine slopes downwards towards the tail.
Probably as a consequence of the unusually articulated pes, its right foot has a ‘rock’ moulded onto it for support. The Tyrannosaurus is the only figure in the line to have this addition. However, it doesn’t really work so they needn’t have bothered – it still doesn’t stand without support for more than a few seconds. This makes taking photographs of it a challenge, but the plastic is pliable enough that it can be bent into the correct shape briefly, before it slowly reverts back to its original distorted form. This problem with balance is present in all the bipedal dinos in this line.
The legs and arms are positioned side by side, the tail is straight, and the head faces straight forward. Nothing too exciting or adventurous here, but we’ve discussed the reason why.
All in all, this is an accurate representation of the Walking with Dinosaurs Tyrannosaurus. At 25 cm long it’s a reasonable size and looks good on a shelf… if you can get it to stand.
The Walking With Dinosaurs figures are no longer in production so they can difficult to find. They were predominantly released in the UK so they are most frequently found on Ebay UK, and sometimes on Ebay US.
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Számomra is zavaró egy kicsit,hogy statikus pózuk elvesz a figurákból.Enek,mint tudjuk ennek oka van.Nekem sajnos csak egy darab Toyway figura van és az sem WwD,eu a figura
a Triceratops a British Natural Museum kollekcióból.Ennek valamivel több fantázia van a pózában.A kedvenc Triceratops figurám.
I’ve only just seen this site, so my comment is very late! I was involved in the production of the WWD TV series, and I thought you might like to know that the Toyways WWD models were taken from the paleo-sculptors’ maquettes that were originally made to be scanned by the CGI animators. The rather stilted, symmetrical poses with the feet, digits and claws in unnatural positions were a requirement of the scanning process. I remember thinking at the time that it was a shame that the Toyways people were unable to change the shapes to make more lifelike poses, but I guess it was a question of expense.
Hi Mike and thanks for the interesting comment. A noticeable example of unusual feet in this Toyway line is the Iguanodon, which has anatomically unusual toes, see: https://dinotoyblog.com/2009/04/25/iguanodon-walking-with-dinosaurs-by-toyway/
Do take a look at that review as I’d be interested to hear your opinion on that as well!
Despite their stilted poses this line remains one of my favourite of all time. Overall they are superb, especially for their time.
On this Day, a legend of plastic dinosaurs and dino resin kits was born.
[…] There is a red color patch under that starts at the jaw that runs all the way down the neck terminating as it reaches the arms. Overall, this is a forgettable figure, but unfortunately it is also the most commonly seen, perhaps due to it being the one that was produced the most. Tyrannosaurus is also featured in the Toyway official line. […]
[…] comes a time in almost all dinosaur toy lines when three species must be immortalized in plastic: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, them being the most popular and well-known dinosaur species. With […]
Esta figura a mi sincero entender es quizás la peor de toda a serie. Hay otras que estan hechas de forma perfecta, en esta colección, pero en cuanto a esta… da mucho que desear. De hecho en España se siguen vendiendo en algunas tiendas, esta figura, las otras están por supuesto agotadas. debido a que no gustó a la gente. Además no se sostiene de pie.
That isn’t a good deal at all andy. 🙂
I don’t really like this figure, it ‘ugly’s up’ my Rex collection, I would trade my WwD Trex, Raptor & Allo for a Battat Diplo or Acro, Any takers?
Hey,i have it!
These figures came out here in Italy along with the “Walking with…” documentary series,too bad i managed to buy only the T.rex and the Allosaurus!