Apatosaurus (Invicta)

“All brontosauruses are thin at one end; much, much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end.” – a theory by Anne Elk (Miss)

The Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus) by Invicta provides strong evidence for Miss Anne Elk’s theory; this figure is indeed much thicker in the middle, and thinner at either end.

I like the Invicta set because, despite increasing anatomical (mostly posture related) errors, they are all so finely sculpted and stunningly natural in posture. The Invicta Apatosaurus has its tail dragging along the ground and the head raised high, contrasting with modern reconstructions which portray the tail and neck held roughly horizontally. The nostrils are positioned quite far back, recent evidence suggests that the nostrils in all dinosaurs were positioned more anteriorly in the narial cavity, and the teeth would probably have been visible too.

The back is strongly arched and forms a beautiful natural curve, and the tail has been sculpted with a slight undulation, adding to the naturalistic pose. The details are very fine (see some close up details of the head and rear right foot, pictured below), the shape and distribution of claws is very true to the fossils bones. The figure is posed in mid-stride, so although it is old fashioned in general appearance, it does not appear sluggish, this Apatosaurus is on a mission to find food!

The majority of the Invicta line were produced at a standard scale (1:45) and as such, the sauropod figures are the largest (and most expensive) in the collection. The Apatosaurus is about 45cm long. I have figured the plain colour version here (a pale white gray), but a softer plastic colour version was also produced. Still occasionally available in some British Museums, and sometimes available on Ebay.

Discuss this figure in the Dinosaur Toy Forum

I also recommend this video, the origin for my opening quote:

Announcement – Dinosaur Toy Forum

The Dinosaur Toy Forum- the official forum of The Dinosaur Toy Blog – was launched this month as a place for dinosaur toy collectors and enthusiasts to share and discuss their collections and to talk about dinosaur toys in general. Please feel free to browse the posts and we look forward to you joining in the discussions!

-the Dinosaur Toy Bloggers

Allosaurus (Papo) (new for 2008)

EDIT – October 2008- The Papo Allosaurus is now available here.
And full review of this figure is featured here

The latest in Papo’s line of detailed prehistoric creature figures was unveiled today in their 2008 Catalogue. The new addition is a super-cool Allosaurus and it is remarkable for plenty of reasons.

The new Allosaurus is similar to the existing Papo sculpts in a number of aspects: the detail is immense, the colouring is vivid but natural, the pose is fluid and dynamic, and the lower jaw is poseable. However, the Allosaurus also stands out from all of the other dinosaurs in the series because it is not been based on the dinosaurs portrayed in the Jurassic Park movies. This figure on the other hand, represents a dinosaur not even portrayed in Jurassic Park and is a original sculpt strongly reminiscent of the work of palaeoartist Todd Marshall.

There are some speculative details in this sculpt, notable are the protruding scales (not feathers) on the top of the neck and on parts of the back. I personally like this sort of detail, dinosaur figures are always open to a degree of artistic licence but this touches are usually beneficial in terms of the aesthetics of the model and in this case add a realistic feel to the animal; many dinosaur figures are often quite conservative in this regard.

The legs and arms are muscular (perhaps a little too strongly developed in the feet) and the animal is taking a long stride, the tail is long and held high so that the figure balances perfectly on two feet. I do not yet know the length of the figure and will update this blog when I find out – I believe it is around 25cm long or so. The claws are black and the teeth are white, while the skinn is covered in a mottled pattern of greys and greens with some orange highlights. The eye ridges are typical of this genus. In all honesty, this is probably the best mass-produced dinosaur figure currently available (possibly ever) and redeems Papo for all of the erroneous details in some of their other figures. Papo is raising the standard in museum quality dinosaur toys, lets hope that the other companies such as Schleich, Bullyland and Safari will keep up…

Available here.

The full review or this figure is here

Image from Papo Catalogue, 2008

Hydrotherosaurus (Procon)

The long-necked elasmosaurs are one of the most unusual of all prehistoric animals. Most elasmosaurid toys and figures are allocated to the genus Elasmosaurus, the most famous of the very long-necked plesiosaurs, however, in reality Elasmosaurus platyurus is quite a poorly known species, and much of the original skeleton has been lost. Therefore much of the anatomy of Elasmosaurus remains speculative. Toy companies are basically ‘playing it safe’.

On the other hand, there are plenty of better known elasmosaurid species, which due to their general unfamiliarity with the general public, have slipped by or been ignored by toy companies. For this reason, I was delighted to see Procon produce the first ever replica of Hydrotherosaurus, an elasmosaurid from the Cretaceous of California.

At 19cm long (9cm of that neck), the Hydrotherosaurus replica is quite small (compared with length of the Elasmosaurus by Schleich [31cm] Carnegie [29cm] and Bullyland [28cm]) but it retains plenty of detail. The neck and head are outstretched directly in front of the body, and slightly bent to the right, so no impossible swan or snake-like pose as seen in other plesiosaur toys. The neck is notable in that it is flat underneath so that it is ‘D’ shaped in cross section and almost snake-like; the necks of other plesiosaurs are sculpted as circular tubes. The detail of the head is limited by its small size, but it is obvious that the cranium has been based on actual fossils or accurate illustrations of Hydrotherosaurus – the snout has a distinctive squared-off tip. The needle-like teeth are highlighted in white and the eyes are evil orange, but they are in the correct position and face outwards and upwards as they should. Many heads of many plesiosaur toys are complete monstrosities, the Procon Hydrotherosaurus makes a nice change.

The body is barrel-shaped, a little too deep and too rounded on the tummy, it should be wider than tall but the figure is opposite. The limbs are quite nicely shaped, however they are not robust enough where they meet the body (this region was full of muscle in life for propelling the animal forwards) and the expanded portion near the base of the flippers should be facing backwards rather than forwards, the limbs therefore almost look like they are on backwards. The tail is short and stubby.

The figure is textured with coarse scaley skin on top and is smooth below (it is not known whether plesiosaurs had scales or not), the colour very nice, stippled green and black on top with a lighter grey tone below. The figure is printed with the company name, but not with the genus name.

Acrocanthosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari)

I bought this Acro gladly because it’s actually my favourite dinosaur and Carnegie has a great reputation. To my surprise, all this wasn’t enough, it displays great, it’s a durable, non-expensive toy but not exactly what one would expect from a famous company. Many pieces of the Carnegie line are not precisely about the details, they’re rough, but many are accurate in their simplicity. Nonetheless in this case they didn’t concentrate on interpreting the fossil evidence correctly, which is inexcusable; if Battat was able to make an exceptional Acrocanthosaurus more than 10 years ago, why not Carnegie?

The head is the first thing I find problematic. The real Acrocanthosaurus had long jaws, but this replica’s are just too short. On top of that, there’s an inexplicable lump on the snout. The result is a bland, generic looking theropod head.

There is another bothersome problem. Symmetry is absent in several parts: nostrils, legs, eyes, even belly.

They didn’t interpret the vertebral spines according to the most accepted theory (a hump covered with muscle instead of a sail) but the sail is not raised enough. The spines may not have been as high as the Spinosaurus, but they were quite pronounced, starting just where the skull ends. None of this is reflected on the end product. Even if it does stand on its own (I know at least mine does) the tail is just too close to the ground.

Carnegie dinosaurs often have strange limbs that aren’t naturally attached to the torso. This is no exception. The extremities are not massive enough; the hips are flattened (even sunken). This is specially frustrating, because there should be plenty of muscle. Mind you, this lack of muscle detail is generalized, except for the tail.

Nonetheless, it’s an eye-pleaser, I won’t deny that. Teeth and tongue look great, the fingers are finely sculpted, there’s a huge amount of skin detail, the colours and blending are nice as always (in this case, mostly grey and black, while the mouth is pink), the paint itself is quite resistent. I just hope in the future these guys will be more careful.

Styracosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari)

I’m not a big fan of ceratopsians and yet this fellow won my heart. The Carnegie line has produced a number of horned dinosaurs and most of them are more or less clumsy attempts (the Triceratops comes to my mind as an example) The Styracosaurus on the contrary is a fine looking replica.

The colouring is very particular: the classic Carnegie shade of grey is to be found but this time it blends perfectly with a purple tone (which deepens and forms a stripe along the back). The horns and the spikes are delineated with black, but the frill itself has an exotic (if a little bit sloppy) pattern (mainly pink, red, grey and pale orange) The golden eyes show some alarm.

The pose is not radical, but acceptable. The figure has a nice set of muscles (incluiding a strong back), it’s robust but not fat, the legs are not skinny. The details include some saggy skin folds (most noticeable behind the frill) a tongue and ‘fingers’ (no teeth). Fortunately they had no major symmetry issues. The head segment appears dettaches easily from the body (at least that happens with mine) but it’s amazingly accurate: you’ve got spikes, bone knobs, a short frill with two holes covered with skin, all placed correctly.

All in all, why did they decide to retire this guy?

Spinosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari)

This is a heavy duty toy by Carnegie, perhaps the first Spinosaurus replica, and even though it’s terribly dated and not very accurate, it’s a classic re-released by Safari this year (I suppose this has to do with the huge success the Papo Spinosaurus, a superior replica)

I wonder what the hell were they thinking when they sculpted that blunt skull, because some evidence (although scarce) has been available for more than 50 years. Spinosaurus may have had a mostly piscivorous diet, so it had elongated, narrow jaws, similar to those of Baryonyx and Suchomimus. That’s not the end of it. The eyes of this replica are also unusually big. Carnegie chose to ignore that, so their retro version seems taken out of an old low budget sci-fi film.

Carnegie deserves a lot of credit, since they spotted this curious theropod even before it became (in)famous in Jurassic Park III, but truth be told, this guy cannot stand on its own, as always, the dragging tail serves as a support. The body has tonificated, healthy muscles but the position (leaning forward) is rather awkward. The tail itself seems muscular but when examined more carefully, it turns thin rather abruptly.

The previous version (the one I have) had a tan & dark brown paint scheme, of which the best part is the sail, here the paint seems somewhat marbled (clearly a mixture of tan shades) The new version is greyish with vivid red lines.

Entelodont (AAA)

If we are to be honest, this guy made it to the AAA ranks just because it made an appearance in the BBC special Walking with Prehistoric Creatures. AAA is an anonymous Chinese company; not many retailers in America carry their products, but a group of prehistoric mammals, the best they’ve done so far, has set new standards for high quality replicas of this kind. This set includes the Entelodont, which has not been very popular among toy makers. As far as I remember, the only other Entelodont was made by Tyco for the DinoRiders line, but even that’s arguable, because it was enigmatically called ‘Killer Warthog’.

The Entelodont was a monstrous ancient relative of the pigs (actually an artiodactyl, a mammal with even hooves) whose fossil record ranges from the Eocene to the Oligocene. Perhaps the most notorious feature is the deform skull covered with prominent bony knobs (one pair on each side), a set of varied, giant teeth, tiny eyes and ample forehead. The AAA sculpt did a good job copying the features of the BBC critter. Perhaps the vault of the cranium is too pronounced, but other than that, it’s accurate alright.

The body resembles that of a boar: it was a quadruped with a big hump on the back, but Entelodontids had stronger fore limbs. All in all the AAA Entelodont is not only accurate, but possesses great realistic detail: fur, bulging muscles, very complex skin patterns and excellent colour blending (pink, grey and black). The one I am reviewing is solid, but I have heard that there’s a larger hollow version.

There are rumours that AAA will discontinue their prehistoric mammals, so they’re not that easy to acquire. This guy proves that another toy line should substitute Toyway to produce more BBC creatures.

Ankylosaurus (Walking with Dinosaurs Collection) (Toyway)

The Walking with Dinosaurs collection by Toyway includes some of the most detailed and scientifically accurate dinosaur figures out there. The figures tie directly into the TV series ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ and represent some of the major dinosaurs seen in the show and they therefore appear identical to the on screen portrayals. They were packaged in a plastic bubble attached to a packing card, the figures are solid and the robust ones are therefore heavy. The Ankylosaurus is one of those robust models – the type when you really feel like you are getting value for money.

The colours are true to the onscreen versions, the Ankylosaurus is grey/green in colour with yellow armour. The face has quite a grumpy-looking expression! The only negative aspect of these figures (there are not many!) is their static pose: the head always looks straight forward, the tail straight back, and there is no dynamicity, none of the figures are striding or walking, only standing.