Callovosaurus (Thunder-Beasts by Sky Kids)

On a recent trip to one of my local antique/junk stores I came across this rather curious fellow. Initially mistaking it for an Iguanodon, it was large, vibrantly painted, and rather unique looking. Despite this, I left it behind. I had my eye on other things that day. Upon researching it once I came home, I found out that it was the Thunder-Beasts Callovosaurus, and I knew I had to go back for it. A few weeks later, I did, and it was still there!

 Thunder-Beasts is a largely forgotten (this is the blog’s third review of one) line of dinosaur toys from the 1990’s that were notable for including “genuine dinosaur bone” fragments with the toy. Although I don’t collect the brand and didn’t have any Thunder-Beasts as a kid, I was a child of the 90’s and enjoy reviewing vintage toys, so for a few bucks this toy was worth bringing home. I almost missed out on this one, so I’ll have to train myself to recognize the brand when I see it again. I don’t know why Thunder-Beasts don’t have more of a following, but I suspect it’s because they’re rather homely looking. Still, they have a certain vintage charm to them. The line included some rather unique taxa too, including Ornithosuchus, Saurolophus, and Coelurus. Callovosaurus is certainly a unique pick as well. As far as I can tell, this is the first of only two toys representing the genus. The other is the more recently made Jurassic World toy, by Mattel.

The dearth of Callovosaurus toys is not an oversight worth lamenting. This genus of mid-Jurassic iguanodontian (within the Dryosauridae family) from England is only known from a single left thigh bone, and not even a complete one at that! So really, it’s amazing that any toys of it exist at all, although it’s perhaps not too weird of a pick for Mattel, who seems to enjoy fragmentary genera.

The Thunder-Beasts Callovosaurus stands 10.5” (26.67 cm) tall and measures 17” (43.18 cm) long, a truly enormous toy of what was estimated to be a modestly sized animal. The recovered femur measured 11.02” (28 cm) and based on that the animal’s length is estimated to have been 8.2’ (2.5 meters). Scaling down both the length of the toy and its femur puts the toy at about 1/5.5 in scale.

I’m going to be more forgiving of this toy than I was with the last Thunder-Beasts I reviewed. For an early-iguanodontian toy from 1992, it’s really not that bad. And while we don’t really know what Callovosaurus looked like we have related species to draw inference from. It has a smallish, generalized iguanodontian head with what could either be interpreted as teeth or a grooved beak. The body has a basic, no-frills build. The short forearms have thumb spikes with the pinky finger fancily sticking out, away from the other fingers. The legs are long and lean, adapted for running, and the tail is stiff and proportionally long. It looks like a slender Iguanodon, which is what I initially mistook it for.

Even the detail work is decent here. The body is mostly covered in wrinkles but is also liberally covered with large feature scales that give a toad-like look and feel. The thighs have a grid-like arrangement of rectangular scales, and the lower portion of the legs are covered in wrinkles. The underside is bare, save for wrinkles running across it, and there are thick, sagging skin folds along the lower torso and around the limb joints. A thick, fleshy dewlap runs along the throat, and its addition adds some personality to the toy.

This Callovosaurus is vibrantly painted in shades of deep purple with a yellow underside. Some yellow airbrushing is also evident on the inside surface of the limbs. There’s some orange airbrushing along the sides of the neck and the dewlap is edged in bright blue. The inside of the mouth is pink, and the teeth (or beak?) is edged in pale yellow. The orbits are highlighted in pink, and eyes are white with black pupils. The eyes are painted at an odd, semi-slanted angle that gives the dinosaur a sad, dopey, Eeyore-like expression. Overall though, I think this is a fun and eye-catching paintjob that definitely made this toy standout amongst the other, mostly generic, dinosaur toys it was piled in with at the shop.

There is a bit of articulation here but nothing to get too excited about. The arms, legs, and tail can all rotate around. The toy is also hollow and on my copy one of the hindlimbs is warped so it’s not terribly stable.

Although the Thunder-Beasts toy are hard pressed to match the appeal of the Tyco, Kenner, and Playskool dinosaur toys of that era I think they have a unique charm that should have granted them some longer lasting appeal, and I think toys like this Callovosaurus illustrates that well. I’m glad I went back for it! The Callovosaurus and other Thunder-Beasts can be found online and appear to sell for about $30-40.