The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Acrocanthosaurus, in my opinion, is one of the coolest theropods ever. Many companies have tried and failed at creating a replica of this peculiar dinosaur, so it’s nice to see a respectable replica of one. This review will be focusing on kaiyodos attempt.

As for Acrocanthosaurus itself, it lived in the early Cretaceous of North America, alongside some other well-known dinosaurs like Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and Tenontosaurus. I suppose it could be called the T-rex of its day; it was probably at the top of the food chain and it could probably hunt and eat whatever it desired.

This figurine of good ‘ol Acro is very true to the real thing. The arms are held in a neutral position with the “thumb” differentiated from the rest with a large claw just like real Acrocanthosaurus had millions of years ago. The neural spines are tall (but not overly so) and it forms a nice, although thin, ridge with lovely scales and ornamental spikes sculpted on it. The ribcage and rippling muscles can be seen underneath the figures wrinkly skin, maybe this guy hasn’t eaten in a while? The fenestrae of the skull are all correctly placed and sculpted, although the end of the snout curves up too much.

The pose of this figure is a very active one. It’s kind of in an “S” shape, with its head and jaws swinging down to the ground to presumably snatch up a snack. The jaws are held open very widely , like the real Acrocanthosaurus was capable of.

The color scheme is largely an unusual one. The sail is red and black with yellow highlights on the scales, which isn’t exactly uncommon — but the body is all purple! You really could call this figure barney and get away with it. It starts out as a light greyish-pinkish color on the belly and toes that gradually fades into a darker greyish purple. The inside of the mouth and the teeth are — that’s right — purple too. Despite being almost (almost!) valentines’ day colors, Kaiyodo managed to pull it off well. The end result is a naturalistic color scheme that does look good. The only problem I have with the coloration is the coloration of the base- it’s vibrant yellow and contrasts way too much with the purple of the dinosaur. In my opinion it would have looked better either plain white or plain black.

If you are a fan of Acrocanthosaurus like I am, you will really be pleased with this figure and it’s definitely worth owning. To my knowledge there are 3 different color variations of this figure, so you can really choose the one that suits you best! This figure can be commonly had for under $5 over the internet and in some museums (but if you do find it in a museum somewhere it will probably be under “Dinomania” instead of “Dinotales”).

Sometimes available on Ebay here

The “Asian Tyrant”, Tarbosaurus, is unfortunately looked over in favor of it’s more famous American cousin, Tyrannosaurus, by toy companies most of the time. Kaiyodo has produced many obscure genera before, so making a Tarbosaurus doesn’t come as a surprise to me.

Most aspects of this sculpt are good. It’s finely sculpted for such a small size (only about 3 inches), with many wrinkles here and there. Tarbosaurus had the smallest arms compared to its body size out of all the Tyrannosaurids, and this is reflected well here — the arms are small and tucked away under the body, and they are very unobtrusive, while still being very detailed (kaiyodo even made an effort to put scales on its fingers). The body is full of details such as bulging muscles and tightening tendons. There’s one problem that I see, though; the back of the head is too wide, and the eyes are facing too forwards. Unlike it’s American cousin, Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus had a relatively thin rear skull and it’s eyes didn’t face far forwards.

The pose on this figure isn’t seen often in dinosaur figurines. The tail is raised high in the air to counterbalance the heavy front portion of the body, and one leg is firmly placed on the carcass of the dinosaur it’s eating (more on that later), similar to how many birds today eat their meals.

On of the cooler aspects of this figure is the base it is on — a carcass of a dinosaur, specifically Saurolophus. It looks like the body of this carcass is half buried in mud or silt, maybe there was a recent flash flood that it was recently half-buried in? There are nice details on it like the correct number of claws and tyrannosaur tooth marks in it’s neck. This is surely one of the most unique bases for a dinosaur figure ever done.

Now, onto the coloration. This is probably the most striking tyrannosaurid ever done. It’s white and light orange with beautifully done black patterns adorning it’s body which makes it very similar to some extant butterflies. There are intricately painted brown scales on the fingers and toes of this beast. The eyes are a fiery red with black dot pupils. Its mouth is very bloody, it’s obviously been tugging at this Saurolophus carcass for a while! The duckbill itself is done in dull purples and browns; after all, the attention is supposed to be going towards the Tarbosaurus, not its base! However, it still has some nice purple stripes on it’s head, and eyes with painted pupils. There’s also a good amount of blood on it’s tearing neck- this figure isn’t PG-13!

To my knowledge, there are two versions of this figure; this is a special edition version. The other version has more natural colors, but I say if you’re going for one of these, spend a little extra $ and get this absolutely amazing version, which can still be had for less then $10 if you’re careful. All in all, if you like obscure Tyrannosaur genera or striking dinosaur figures altogether, this is a figure for you!

Usually available on Ebay here

Review and photos by Griffin

Ever since it was discovered in the late 1800s, Triceratops has remained one of the most well known and iconic dinosaurs of all time.  By this I mean it’s actually one of those dinosaur names that an average person with no interest in paleontology taken off of the street would know (A true honor only a select few kinds of dinosaurs have ever been able to claim).  It was one of the last dinosaurs ever to be alive during the Maastrichtian at the tail end of the Cretaceous as well as being the largest of the Ceratopsian dinosaurs, measuring 26 to 30 feet from beak to tail.  This model by Carnegie was part of its original lineup in 1988 but has been released over a few times since then.  The one you see here is the latest from 2007.

Many of Carnegie’s older dinosaurs have recently been re-released with new paintjobs (Allosaurus, Iguanodon, Stegosaurus to name a few).  The funny thing about this one, however, is that it was replaced by a completely different sculpt of Triceratops several years ago that was seemingly more up to date.  Then, for some reason the folks at Carnegie decided to bring the old one back for a third time, replacing its replacement (Confusing, I know).  Honestly neither sculpt is completely accurate.

The most impressive thing about this figure in my opinion is the positioning of the limbs and its pose.  For a very long time, ceratopsians were always depicted in a sprawling, lizard-like pose, hinting at the assumption that they were sluggish, clumsy creatures.  Carnegie, however, modeled their Trike in a very upright, active pose, very reminiscent of a large modern mammal.  This is odd since some of their other models from the same time, like their Apatosaurus for instance, remain very old fashioned.  I’m not complaining though.

The head is nicely sculpted with a very sharp and angular look.  When viewed face to face, a clear triangle can be drawn connecting each of the three horns.  Unfortunately the head also seems a tiny bit too small in proportion to the rest of the body when I look at it.  In addition, I also think the frill could afford to be larger.  The last two things about this model I find inaccurate are both due to the age of the piece.  The first is the mouth.  Unlike modern reconstructions of ceratopsians with cheeks, this one clearly has a mouth that opens all the way back like a lizard’s and is made even more visible by the presence of red paint.  It puzzles me that while applying a new paintjob, they chose to make this outdated feature stand out.  The other problem with the figure is its feet.  Not only are they crudely sculpted but they are columnar and elephant-like.  It is now believed that ceratopsian digits were more splayed.

The paint on this figure is very different from all the Carnegie triceratops before it, which sported a base color of gray.  This one, however, is a rich golden brown color accented by chocolaty brown along the back, around the frill and on the face.  The horns and beak are gray and the toenails are black.  The eyes are painted dark, glossy black-brown which I really like.  It looks like the eye of a buffalo or other large herbivorous mammal (which triceratops most likely would have behaved like in its day) rather than the cold yellow eye of a reptile.

All in all I would say this isn’t the best Triceratops model out there, but it’s still not bad, especially considering the sculpt is over 20 years old!  If you are a ceratopsian lover like me, I say go for it.  Like many of Carnegie’s dinosaurs it is 1:40 scale and can easily be obtained at any store or museum that already has Carnegies.

Available from Safari.com (here) and Amazon.com (here)

In my previous review of Papo’s Parasaurolophus, I pointed out that not all Papo’s pre-Allosaurus dinosaur figures were necessarily Jurassic Park copies – but this Triceratops definitely is. It will therefore be more appealing to JP fans than anyone else, but like all Papo figures it’s quite a nice piece in its own right. If we excuse the colour scheme.

The biggest Jurassic Park-giveaway are the horns, which, just as in the movies, are bizarrely covered with spidery cracks to the point where they resemble fossils. The beak has also been rendered this way, and all in a rather unpleasant grey. In life the horns would have had a much smoother appearance, more like the horns on animals alive today and in, well, pretty much every other restoration of Triceratops.

Other than this odd little nod to JP, there’s nothing very wrong with the head, which is of course where the eye is drawn to on a beast like this. The structure of the skull is visible under the skin, there are skin folds around the edge of the beak, and its cheeks look quite hollow, which corresponds well with recent research. The skin darkens to black around the eyes, which are white with brown irises, giving them a peculiarly human appearance.

One thing I’ve always liked about Papo’s dinosaurs (along with Kinto Favorite) is that they’re covered in scales, with no wrinkly or cross-hatching cop-out, so the details hold up on close inspection. This Triceratops is no exception, with scales of varying sizes all over the body, including rows of larger oval scales that stand out over the back and flanks – another feature probably inspired by JP.

Although retaining a characteristically stocky, herbivorous appearance, it’s not all podgy and shapeless by any means – the muscles controlling the powerful forelimbs in particular are very obvious. Another plus is that the feet are not elephantine or like those of sauropods. Ceratopsians did have clearly differentiated digits (by modern accounts) and these are made very obvious on this toy. (I can’t remember if the Jurassic Park version did or not – answers on a postcard! Or in the comment box.)

Of course it’s not completely accurate, but it’s another very good effort for a toy line that, as I’ve said before, purports to do nothing more than appeal to Jurassic Park-loving kids and sell by the truckload, and does not have the endorsement of a museum. However, this toy has one serious letdown – the aforementioned colour scheme, which is pretty nasty for a Papo dino. The entire creature is an almost uniform brown that one might charitably describe as, er, ‘chocolate’. There’s also a little grey on its underside, which clashes rather with details on the head. The overall effect is to make the figure very unattractive to look at, which is a real shame given the care and attention that obviously went into the sculpt, and the fact that Triceratops is a favourite dinosaur among many people, as well as being a dinosaur toy staple. I would urge Papo to consider this figure for a repainted re-release as they have done with their Velociraptor, as it’s crying out for a paintjob that isn’t so plain and ugly. Something more like their stock photo would be grand.

In all, a fine JP-inspired figure let down by an atrocious colour scheme that makes it look far too much like a giant, um, mound of…mud. Here’s hoping the pachyrhinosaur being released later this year sees Papo giving ceratopsians a little more painterly love.

(One final thing: apparently this toy has been painted differently in different countries. I bought mine from a UK stockist operating online; apparently in Spain they have been seen coloured green. Let me know if you have seen it looking more attractive than here!)

Available from Amazon.com (here)