The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Ah, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex! One of the coolest dinosaurs ever. However, most replicas of this guy are rather crude and don’t do the dinosaur justice – But this one by kinto surely does!

Let’s start off with the sculpt. Quite simply, it’s very good. The detail is insane, it rivals that of the Papo Tyrannosaurus! The legs are very nice and thick, not extremely thin like some of the Carnegie Collection theropods. There are even little scales sculpted on the toes of this beast, like many (if not all?) birds have today. The hallux toes are separately sculpted and point backwards, maybe by just a little too much. There are nicely sculpted traces of muscle and tendons in the legs and feet. The tail is very thick with incividually sculpted scales all over it, with the occasional wrinkle here and there (the wrinkles almost make the tail look fat though), and it is somewhat raised into the air. The arms are an appropriate size, and they aren’t pronated! That’s always a plus. There’s a lot of wrinkles around the chest area. The head and neck are turned to the right. The neck is correctly S-shaped and there are many wrinkles on the right side, just like there should be. The head itself is very nice. It has a very short and blunt skull, and it’s very wide. There are no towering pyramidal osteoderms over the eyes, instead there are those little “bumps” that are shown in the Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons. The eyes are appropriately beady, they are yellow with tiny black circular pupils suggesting that this was a diurnal animal. The nostrils are too high up on the snout, however, as it’s now thought that most dinosaurs had their nostrils more towards the end of their snouts. It has just about the right number of cream-colored teeth and a tongue is sculpted in the mouth, although it’s a little crude. The mouth is a purple-ish brown. The connective tissue at the back of the jaws isn’t painted purple or pink or anything, it’s just the same color as the rest of the animal– I find that odd, as most dinosaur reconstructions have them as a different color. The temporal fenestrae are nicely sculpted, but all other fenestrae appear to be missing. This figure stands very well on two feet and the sculpt is in 1/50th scale, making it slightly smaller than most other mass-produced Tyrannosaurus rex figures.

The color scheme on this figure is very nice. It’s mostly a sandy color all over, with darker brown stripes going down the body. The claws are all painted black. The stomach/underside isn’t painted a separate color, I wish it was. There’s at least three other color variations of this figure; two are extremely rare versions found only in japan, and the other is just like this figure but in a greenish color scheme.

Overall, this is an exceptional figure that belongs in every dinosaur lovers’ collection. This has to be my favorite T-rex I own. I give it 5/5. It’s available here: http://www.healthstones.com/

(another note- This is oftentimes advertised as a “soft” model, however this is most certainly NOT the case– It’s only soft compared to resin figures, but the plastic it’s made from is a little harder than the carnegie dinosaur figures but a little more soft than the unpainted invicta figures)

Review and photos by Marc Vincent aka Horridus

Since Safari are soon to replace their classic sculpt of this most well-known of sauropods, it seems only fitting to take a closer look at this ‘retired’ figure before it disappears into bargain bins and onto eBay for the next several years.

Here depicted with one of its earlier and more lurid paint jobs (it can now be seen in more sober browns, which I must admit I prefer the appearance of – but it was cheap on, yes, eBay), this relatively small Apatosaurus is posed in a rearing posture, its hind legs and the base of its tail forming a tripod. This is reminiscent of everyone’s favourite overpriced plastic hulk, the Battat Diplodocus, also known as ‘The Holy Grail of Dinosaur Collecting’ and ‘I’ve Bought a Car for Less Than That’. Fear not, however, as this figure is of course still available on the cheap and brand new – limbs need not be sold off.

With its flailing front limbs this is certainly an unusually dynamic representation of a sauropod. It isn’t implausible either – it seems that diplodocids were the sauropods most likely to be able to rear up in this way. Anatomically this figure is a pleasingly accurate restoration for such a cheap toy, looking like a more robust and muscular Diplodocus as it should and not like a podgy, shapeless ‘brontosaur’. The head is suitably low and tapering, and it has a long, flexible tail. Its skin has the classic ‘wrinkly’ look (no matter, you wouldn’t see the scales at this, er, scale anyway).

There are of course some inaccuracies that are simply a result of the age of the mould (it’s dated 1996) – for example the feet, as is very common with sauropod figures, and it has the old-fashioned placement of the nostrils high on the head. Certain parts of the paint job are a little crude on my (rather old) model, including the teeth and eyes, but I understand these have been tidied up for its repaints. Most unfortunate is that this is another toy that’s prone to the ‘googly-eyes’ effect, ie. it has a very asymmetrical head resulting in eyes that aren’t level (see also the Carnegie anniversary Tyrannosaurus).

Overall, though, it’s a nice little figure, and rearing sauropods remain unusual. It’s also good to see a nicely modelled Apatosaurus that isn’t a bloated ‘brontosaur’. It’s still widely available and is a pleasing little sauropod to have standing around on your desk.

Sometimes available on Ebay here

Well known Lambeosaurus from North America belongs to the classic set of cretaceous dinosaurs being reconstructed as figures.
The 1993 Invicta release is probably the best one currently available. It is the last and probably the best ambassador of the highly esteemed Invicta line. It is 19, 5 cm long and 7, 5 cm tall. This means it is a little smaller in scale than most other Invictas. Looking at the Lambeosaurus, one can hardly believe the original animal was 15 metres long. This figure rather resembles a browsing deer in its overall appearance. It is slender, delicate and of high detail. The chary brown colour accompanies with these details very well, every skin fold becomes well visible, and every muscle is at the right place.

At the head you see the crest and snout worked out caringly. Nostrils, ears and eyelids deserve a second look, too.
The Lambeosaurus is peacefully browsing, slowly walking forward. While other companies still produced bipedal, tail – dragging hadrosaurs, Invicta took the modern choice: Quadrupedal, with a bended spine and an erect tail. Unusual for a hadrosaur figure are the forelimbs:

They look like hooves or paws, representing latest research results.
This gem should get a place of honour in every serious collection. It shows up on ebay now and then.

Muttaburrasaurus was an iguanodontid Ornithopod from the lower cretaceous of Australia. It was 7 metres long and its hallmark was a domed snout. Scientists suggest that Muttaburrasaurus had enlarged nasal caves, some even think that it had inflatable sacs for courtship.

There are not many Muttaburrasaurus figures out there. To be honest, I only know of two: The great Invicta one and this one from Collecta. Both are neat little figures, similar in size, scale and posture.
While the Invicta Muttaburrasaurus looks puggy, the Collecta version is a little smaller and looks hungry. It has been captured in a dynamic pose, like pausing from quick pace, looking to the left. Its colouring is zebra – like with brown and tan stripes, which I think was a traceable choice. The skin pattern is very bubbly, with many skin folds.
As far as Collecta´s look is concerned, there is no in-between. Either their figures are absolutely cool or absolutely ridiculous. This makes Collecta interesting and exciting for the collector.
Muttaburrasaurus is one of their better figures, available at a reasonable price everywhere in the internet.