The Dinosaur Toy Blog

Papo made an Oviraptor. And they made it well. Great fuss has been made around this figure, because again a Papo figure takes that typical “love it or hate it” – attitude as a basis, which I personally highly adore.
Albeit Papo´s interpretation of this late Cretaceaous Mongolian theropod turned out to be very old school, if not obsolete, many people now regard it as another Papo masterpiece.
The Papo Oviraptor stands 8 cm tall and is 12 cm long. Its concept didn´t include feathers and an agile pose. Contrariwise the overall look is quite reptilian, although the arms and legs have been sculpted very delicately. The hands are probably not in the correct position; one even holds an egg, due to an age-old assumption that Oviraptor stole eggs. Later it had been proofed the fossil animal lay on its own nest, breeding. Yet Papo said yes to the idea and made it basal for their Oviraptor.

Attaching an item to a figure can easily look goofy and is not that common in dinosaur figure business. A single fish had been added to Bullyland Pteranodon sternbergi, Invicta´s Baryonyx had yet another fish being attached to its front claws. Luckily – except for the overall wrong idea of Oviraptor stealing eggs – this undertaking has been successful at all these three dinosaur figures.
Papo again have been loyal to their very unique style – theropods are, except for the Tyrannosaurus, always in the vertebra – parallel – to – ground – position. Unfortunately Papos loyalty again includes their boring colour concept, even for the new figure. It reveals a brownish green, sometimes tan colouring, of course with the very detailed worked out scales.

The only colourful body part is the red crest on the head. In real life it was probably useful for both intimidation and awing rivals.
Actually, the highlight of this figure definitely is its head. Each and every detail of the fossil skull has been considered here – the beak, the crest, the position of the skull bones, and the position of nostrils – everything really delectable for dinosaur enthusiasts. The two teeth, probably proper for cracking molluscs, snail shells or even seeds, and the tongue are the highlights within the highlight.
In short I want to state that this figure certainly is not suited to become everybody´s darling, due to the obsolete conception. It´s the same as with Papo´s Velociraptor here: If you don´t cling to your point of view or scientific correctness stubbornly, this figure can be a lot of fun. You let a cool statement slip by if you decide to only collect “correct” figures in this case.

The Oviraptor is commonly available everywhere on the web, here on Amazon for example, or in your local toy store.

Review by Brandon (edited by Plesiosauria), photos by Brandon

The demise of the dodo bird is probably the most famous extinction event in recent history. This ancient Columbiform bird was a flightless species endemic to the small island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa near Madagascar, and occupied the island since at least the Holocene era. The Family Columbidae also includes the closest relatives of the dodo, modern pigeons & doves. At three-feet tall and weighing almost fifty pounds, the dodo was one of the largest birds of its kind. It was a herbivore and with no natural predators, had no knowledge of danger on its lonely island. This fearlessness became detrimental when human settlers arrived on the island in the fifteenth century, bringing with them many kinds of carnivorous animals.  The dodo was hunted aggressively and without remorse, nests were ravaged, and the forests the birds inhabited were felled.  By as soon as the middle of the next century, the dodo was extinct, the species didn’t survive a single century since its discovery, a saddening historical tragedy.

The Dodo is one of my favorite theropod dinosaur decedents and I can’t help but think from time to time about how horrible the extinction of the dodo was. When I found out that Safari was making a dodo replica as part of their great Wings of the World Collection, I had to get it immediately and the figure does not disappoint. This dodo bird is one of their greatest creations ever, bar none!

The sculpting of this figure is just incredible, it is the most realistic replicas I have seen to date. From the top of the head to the end of the short tail, it is covered in feathers and the body is plump or obese. The feathers have a lot of texturing and they look ruffled, fluffy and soft. The wings are very short and folded on the sides the rib cage. The tail is short with longer but curly tufts and fluffy feathers over it and hanging down slightly from it. The feathers on the ends of the little wings and those on the end of the tail are the most distinctive of all of the feathers on the bird’s body, as well as being the longest and thickest.

The bird’s head is absolutely gorgeous. From the front of the cranium to the lower jaws consists of bare skin and beak. The entire bill is large and very thick with a rough skin region of the upper bill. The lower and upper beak or bill has a hooked point at both ends. The sculpted nostrils are accurately positioned on the sides of the beak and the inner ears or ear holes are sculpted below the eyes. The fantastic, large eyes face forwards, almost providing binocular vision. The legs are very scaly and the anisodactyl beast feet are accurate. The feet are turned in or pigeon toed, but the figure does stand up fine on a level surface.

On the stomach there is some sculpted words that read: “Dodo Bird © Safari Ltd. Miami Florida Made in China C6″. I really like it when a company sculpts the information on a figure and I like how Safari sculpts the name of the figure, it’s a nice touch. The sculpting is just completely extraordinary and is so life-like!

The painting is also very good. The overall color of the figure is gray, with light gray on the body and dark gray for the head. The dodo’s eyes are absolutely perfect, yellow on the outside and black pupils. The upper beak has a brief black part at the base, but the bill and hooks are mostly dark orange. The nose and ear holes are a somewhat dark purple color. Dark yellow for the wing feathers and tail and a medium tinted orange for the legs and black for the talons or claws. There are only a few tiny black spots of paint that got on to areas it shouldn’t have, such as the tail.

The dodo bird replica is nearly three inches long and high (2.75″ L x 2.75″ H). It does not have any packaging whatsoever but only a plastic bag, however, it does have a small removable plastic stand around the feet. It also comes with a small booklet containing a very brief history of the animal. Overall, this dodo bird figure is marvelous and I feel fortunate to own such a historical piece. While I’ll never see or hold a living, breathing dodo Bird, this replica is as close as I’ll ever get to one. It’s quite a pleasure to look at because I know how it really was and it makes me appreciate the species even more. I strongly recommend this replica to anyone with a passion for the dodo. like I do because it is just such an honor to own!

You can purchase this great Dodo Bird replica from Amazon here, or directly from Safari here.

Review and photos by Brandon

Since theinitial discovery  of this ancient animal  in the 1880s by O. C. Marsh, Triceratops has become one of the most well known of all of the dinosaurs.  Today in the 21st century, it still remains one of the largest of the Ceratopsia. Like the Tyrannosaurus rex, the “Three Horned Face” is quite popular and has countless figurines and statues produced throughout the decades, many are good but few are great. The Triceratops by Kabaya is quite a marvel and is reminiscent in style to Triceratops drawn by dinosaur illustrator David Peters.

The sculpting is quite exciting. The head is great, just great. the head frill has small spikes around it with tendon-like bones coming through the skin. The three horns are a decent length, the nose has sculpted nostrils and the beaked mouth is open with a visible tongue. The texturing of the skin is like the others in the series depicting them as veterans of the Mesozoic. There is small osteoderms present on the back in several rows and these tiny scale plates reach down to the end of his tail. The Triceratops’ legs are short like they should be and has the five-toed front legs and the three-toed hindquarters and the short tail. He also sports a large belly with a midsection that was previously done with the other dinosaurs in the set. Kabaya’s sculpting on the Triceratops is top notch and is one of the most attractive and coolest to date. The stand is similar to the other figures’ stands but its not peggable – there is foot impressions that you place the figure on but he isn’t secure. The stand is of a rocky terrain to match the North American soil of the T-rex stands.

The paint application is actually OK except for some blotches on the claws, other than the eyes and everything else is painted consistently with vibrant colors especially the neck because it is colored as a weathered skin as seen with many species of the Reptilia.

Overall, Kabaya’s Triceratops is a cool entry in the series and is in fine scale with the Tyrannosaurs within the series. This is truly for any Ceratopsian lover because it just looks fantastic on the shelf!

I purchased the Kabaya set of five on eBay and it is sometimes available here but can be scarce.

Review and photos by Griffin.

Struthiomimus isn’t really the first dinosaur that comes to mind upon hearing the word “theropod”.  It has no giant mouth full of killer teeth.  It sports no set of shredding claws.  Instead, this quirky animal bears a striking resemblance to the modern day ostrich complete with long slender legs, swan-like neck and a tiny head with big round eyes and no teeth.  It lived towards the end of the Cretacious in what is now Canada and would have co-existed with such dinosaurs as Albertosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Styracosaurus.

This is one of those models that from a scientific standpoint isn’t so up to date but still manages to be a really awesome figure.  For inaccuracies the most glaring thing about it is the tripod stance.  It’s standing with the aid of its long tail which appears to be dragging on the ground behind it.  This could be due to the fact that its outdated or it could just be because it’s the only way the toy can stand up on its own (like much of Carnegie’s bipeds).  Either way it’s pretty safe to say the real animal would have balanced with the tail up off of the ground.  The other lesser inaccuracy that’s a little more controversial is the lack of feathers.  It is widely thought that the ornithomimids, along with many other related dinosaurs would have sported some kind of plumage on their bodies.  Again, this toy is from a time before the idea of feathered dinosaurs so I don’t hold anything against it.  Even so, no Struthimimus fossil shows any direct evidence of feathers so some could say the figure is fine the way it is in that regard also.

The figure has plenty of good features as well.  It’s beautifully proportioned for one thing. The neck is the right length complete with a head that is nice and small with big round eyes like the actual skull has.  Like all Tyco dinosaurs, the eyes themselves are not part of the sculpt but more like beads placed in which adds to the realism.  The arms and legs are the right lengths complete with the correct number of digits all of which are also the proper sizes.  I really like how the thighs seem to have a lot of muscle.  It gives the impression that despite the placement of the tail, this is a very athletic animal that could bolt off faster than an Olympic sprinter in the blink of an eye.  The figure has virtually no texture to its surface which for any other dinosaur I would consider a bad thing but for an ornithomimid, the smooth sleek feel works quite well.

The figure is a combination of three colors.  The head and the lower legs are a peachy tan color.  The lower part of the body is pale gray while the upper part and select other spots like the hands and feet are brown.  It’s a pretty safe color scheme.

Most of Tyco’s dinosaurs have some sort of action feature.  This one is extremely boring in that department.  The arms swivel.  That’s it.  Despite this I still think it’s a cool piece.  This is due mostly to the fact that ornithomimid figures are just so rare.  Of the few that I can think of off the top of my head, Tyco’s is one of the better ones.  Tyco dinosaurs are not for everyone.  Some people really have a tough time getting past the fact that they are no longer scientifically accurate.  If you aren’t one of those people and like things that are flavorful and in this case unusual, this is a piece for you.  My best recommendation on how to track down one of these would be on Ebay