Cryolophosaurus by Battat!

I have been waiting 10 years or so for this moment! New Battat dinos! This new batch is sculpted by Dan LoRusso, and are sold only in US Target stores under the name Terra. It's a small dino, around 6in long or so. The packaging is made of recycled materials and boy am I impressed with the packaging.



Sorry for the bad picture, but the back of the packaging gives a description of the dinosaur.



The interior of the packaging features a fold up diorama depicting some sort of arid terrain, so you can display your dinos in the packaging. Fancy!



Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. For the time being, four of these are being offered: Cryolophosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, Nanshiungosaurus, and Dacentrurus. Elvis here features a neural walking and looking to the side pose. Surprisingly he can balance on his own two feet with the tail lifted off the ground. This is a sharp contrast with most other "Tripod" stance theropods. The colors are amazing. This figure is incredibly detailed. The pictures simply don't do it justice. I know some think that Battat dinos are overrated, but I have always held them in high esteem and prefer them over Carnegie dinosaurs. Back in '98 when I first found Battats, I was very impressed at their level of detail. Dan LoRusso really did a good job on these.



"I'm lookin atchoo!"



Here Cryolophosaurus is compared to Dilophosaurus (the second version) from the original Battat line. Final thoughts: GET THEM NOW! A review will never do it justice. This awesome dinosaur figure belongs in every true believer's collection!

Transformers Beast Wars Mutants Razorclaw!

It's not what it looks like. This "wolverine" actually transforms into a raptor! But let's just look at the wolverine mode first. It's nicely articulated, totally doesn't look like a wolverine, but those big clawed arms turn into his raptor legs...



According to his tech specs, he's a Maximal aka the good guys. Shame on me because all this time I thought he was a Predacon! Time to put him with the good Dinobots I suppose.



Transformation is straightforward and easy to remember. Now I'm not sure if he classifies as a Transformer, but Mutant Beasts are totally organic Transformers with no mechanical parts. Ew. Can you imagine that translated into one of Bay's films? Yuck. Guts and stuff. I really like the raptor mode though. That's why I bought it in the first place. I lucked out, too because when I purchased him in 2001 he had already been extinct for a couple of years. I found him at a Rite-Aid in North Seattle that was full of older toys. These days, Razorclaw is very hard to find cheap.



"I'mma tear you up!"



Now I must really apologize for the quality of the pictures. My camera is very fidgety, I barely know how to use it, and this was done at night when it's dark. I will try to do better next time. I promise. Final thoughts: I've always loved this toy and I highly recommend it to any Beast Wars fan.

Zoids Gatordus

What a fun little toy! For those of you who don't know, this is a Zoid, which was a line of model kits that rose to prominence in the 80's, but became popular again between 1998-2005 in Japan and the US. They had a cartoon anime and everything. Now, Gatordus here is a rehash for the 80's Gatordus which I believe was red. This one works for the Guylos Empire. I don't quite remember the battle story but whatever. Once it's built, it works as a wind up toy!



He's one of the smallest Zoids in my collection, so he goes anywhere. I'd post pics of my Zoids collection but it's sort of in shambles at the moment. Once they're fixed up you'll see that this guy is not alone! He's pretty fast for a wind up toy, too! Most other zoids are battery powered and do a whole bunch of neat things too. This is as simple as it gets.



My camera doesn't take good close up pics of tiny things. Guylos Empire and Neo Zenebas Empire Zoid Pilots are blue while the Helic Republic Zoids came with grey pilots. (I think it's the Helic republic, yes?I should look it up)...



I would highly recommend Gatordus if he wasn't so expensive nowdays. I got mine for 4.99 back in 2004, now it costs 7-8 times that amount in the box. It's a shame Zoids have become overpriced, but they really are spectacular toys, even the simple ones like Gatordus are lovely, fun to build and fun to rev up and let go!