AAA is a toy company that produced a wide array of toy animals throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Some of their toys are among the very best of the species they represent but I must admit AAA is largely a mystery to me. When they began and when they ended, who sculpted their toys, I couldn’t answer those questions.
Author: Gwangi
My name is Arthur but I go by Gwangi on the blogs and forums, as homage to the old dinosaur and monster movies I love so much. In addition to writing about and collecting toy animals (extinct and extant) I also share my home with a variety of living animals, mostly reptiles but a little bit of everything. I have a lifelong interest in all things pertaining to nature and natural history and most of my hobbies can be linked to those things in some way. I currently live in Maryland with my wife and daughter. In addition to writing on here I also write magazine articles, typically about local wildlife and aquarium fishes.All reviews by this author
Vaquita Porpoise (Wild Safari Sea Life by Safari Ltd)
5 (5 votes)
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) has the distinction of being the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world. In the last 22 years the population of vaquita has dropped from 567 to roughly 10 individuals. The vaquita, like so many marine species, is not targeted specifically but ends up as bycatch in gill nets set for other species, in this case the similarly sized totoaba fish (Totoaba macdonaldi) which is itself also critically endangered.
Shortfin Mako Shark, 1997 (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
4.4 (5 votes)
Although the great white shark is without dispute the most popular of sharks it’s the closely related shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) that might be the most quintessential of all shark species. It’s as streamlined and graceful as they come, an efficiently evolved animal that might just be, the perfect shark.
Spotted Hyena (Wild Life by Schleich)
3.8 (10 votes)
It’s no secret that hyenas don’t have a great public image, they’re often vilified and anthropomorphized with less desirable human traits; cowardice, gluttony, maliciousness, just to name a few. Their portrayal in pop culture, even before The Lion King, has never been a positive one. But like other often vilified animals; snakes, sharks, vultures, bats, spiders, etc.
Shark Ray (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
5 (6 votes)
It’s a shark! No, wait, it’s a ray! It’s a shark-ray! Although all ray in the front and all shark in the back the shark ray (Rhina ancylostoma) really is a species of ray, but in appearance it looks like some kind of transitional form, making it easy to see the close relationship between sharks and rays.
Horseshoe Crab (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd)
4.7 (6 votes)
Horseshoe crabs of the order Xiphosura have been swimming the Earth’s oceans for the last 445 million years, and as a veteran writer for the Dinosaur Toy Blog, it only seemed appropriate that my first review for the ATB be on something as old (or older than) the subjects I’m used to writing about.
Thylacine (Wildlife by Mojö Fun)
5 (7 votes)
Mojö is a company renowned for their abysmal dinosaur toys but fairly proficient when it comes to sculpting mammals both extinct and extant. They’re also the only company I’m aware of to tackle this important and fascinating animal although CollectA will have their version out later this year.
For those unfamiliar with Thylacinus cynocephalus, it was a large marsupial predator that died out on mainland Australia 2,000 years ago but continued to survive in Tasmania until the 1930’s.