Man, Dinosaurs are awesome. They are all like “ROAR!!!” and badass, stomping around and not taking any crap from anyone. Heh, but Dinosaurs have a strong place in my heart. From Definitely Dinosaurs, Dino Riders, Jurassic Park, and so on and so forth. As a kid I was inundated with Dinosaurs and hey – I wasn’t complaining.
This Dinosaurs Tub (With Playmat & Accessories) was a humorous component I received from my older brother recently. It’s also sort of a “burying the hatchet” gesture. See – legend has it that one day as kids one of our aunts brought us gifts. My bro got a set of dinosaurs and I got a set of dinkies. Now I had nothing against dinkies, but come on – Dinosaurs, man!
I’m not going to go too deeply into details but as a kid you envy what your brother has. That’s just the way it is, no matter how unappreciative it may seem. Kids are kids, really. Thing is, this is one of my earliest memories and one that has become infamous. So this was more of a “There, are you happy now?” gesture. And the only thing for me to do now is to review them in-depth because – hey, Dinosaurs!
THE PLAYMAT
The Playmat is the core of any good game of Dinosaurs. After all, where else will the dinosaurs have their adventures? Come on now.
The playmat has plenty of places for the dinosaurs to adventure, but look – some of the dinosaurs are in the sky! That’s not right, they aren’t pterosaurs! If the playmat was purely from a bird’s eye view then it would make more sense for the dinosaurs to stand on it and look more natural. We don’t need a sky when we have one above us in real life!
Apatosaurus
The apatosaurus is well done, actually. It’s a colour that would be natural for an herbivore and there are no egregious flaws with the sculpt. Face has a stern but kind countenance. I figure it’s an apatosurus because of the angle at which the neck is held. Seems too high for a diplodocus and too low for a brachiosaurus.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a decent sculpt. Its mouth seems a little broader than it should be, and its plates are a little understated. But its thagomizer seems accurate if a little blunt. All in all a middle of the road entry into this series.
Parasaurolophus
The parasaurolophus may actually be one of the nicest entries in the series. Certainly the most accurate herbivore. The colours are very nice and it has this calm face that holds more character than much of this group. But really, was there a parasaurolophus Power Ranger? No? I thought as much. They did have a decent presence in E.V.O. The Search for Eden though, I guess. Eh, I guess they’re pretty cool!
Allosaurus
Actually this guy is probably a Tyrannosaurus, but where there is another larger theropod in this set I think I’ll just give this guy a smaller designation. This guy is actually the nicest looking dino in the bunch. It’s a solid toy, looks cool, an stands well.
Tyrannosaurus
This guy is larger than the last theropod, so I’ll designate it as the Tyrannosaurus. The colour is really good here, actually. And the size in comparison to the other dinosaurs isn’t extreme but it is appreciable. The downside is that its feet don’t rest completely flat and there is no effort to paint the eyes differently. It also looks really happy, but that’s fine, maybe he ate a really delicious meat burger or something?
Pachycephalosaurus
This guy is crazy! My favourite of the batch! I think he’s a pachycephalosaurus or some relative due to the shape of its head and the faint suggestion of a skull cap. Also, the teeth are blunt so I don’t think it’s predatory? This guy is just a delightful mystery I guess. I like it because its mouth is open like “RAWR” and its hollow inside so you can hide cool stuff in it like M&Ms or Smarties. It’s probably the least accurate and cheapest sculpt of the bunch but that’s why I love it.
- Head shape is more visible here… this is the only evidence I have that it is some form of pachycephalosaurus…
& ACCESSORIES
What is a dinosaur funtime adventure without accessories? So here they are!
Conclusion
Okay, so this was a pretty sarcastic entry. But the truth is, I do earnestly appreciate this gesture and see the humour in it. See – the thing is – I still really like dinosaurs. They’re cool and remind me of my childhood. So something like this is a nostalgia trip any way I slice it.
Dinosaurs, man. Dinosaurs.
Ha!
I had so many dinkies as a kid and I think most are still stored in the garage’s attic. Never had any dinosaur toys, though I had Jurassic Park on VHS.
Those toys are pretty nice. The one with the mouth opened is also my favorite of the bunch.
Whoops, late reply here. Heh, dinkies _were_ cool honestly. And I had a number of them myself. I think what were really cool car toys were these hot wheels monsters series. They were like cars but also dragons and beasts such. I loved those!
The toys are nice, yeah. They’re a joke gift but I still love dinos so it’s still fantastic :).
LMAO, Pachycephalosaurus still makes me chuckle. He’s definitely got that “Kothlis barrel” look down pat 😀 Those Hot Wheels monster dinkies you mention were dope as fuck. I remember a shark one, and a lizard/dragon? I must do some research on those 🙂