I mostly skipped the various Zuru toys, but I picked up a 5 Surprise Dino Strike Ice Age ball at the grocery store. I turned to my wife and said "I hope I don't get one of the trucks" and she probably was going "well this is certainly the kind of adult I want to spend my life with." I got what I believe is a Caiuajara, a flying dinosaur identified relatively recently. It wasn't known when I was a kid. I wanted to try out one of the realisitc, less-cartoony figures to see what the build quality was like.
When I got 2020 Caiuajara, my thought was "Oh, this is Filmation Caiuajara, just a little big." Putting it side-by-side with Ice Age, you can see the proportions of the 2020 figure are closer to the original action figure (with some Filmation head details) while the 2025 figure is smaller, a little cuter, and feels a smidgen more like the cartoon.
I'm biased against flying dinosaurs - not because I dislike the creatures, but because the toys tend to not stand well. Zuru actually got around this by having a figure that can sit on his tail and legs, propping him up. Kudos to them on that, that's impressive. The figure comes split between two bags - you get a torso, head, legs, and two two-piece wings. The figure mostly assembles nicely, but I found the 2-part wings are a little awkward. They pop apart easily. When you move the head, the legs wiggle a bit - it's not a bad mechanism. The mouth can be posed open if you like.
The anime's sculpting is pretty good, with the paint highlighting its claws and eyes. There is a little paint slop on the head, but it's generally good and kid toys have a little more wiggle-room for this kind of thing. You should see some of the dinosaurs 1980s kids had. Or the 1960s kids, with no paint. Its skin has a lot of leathery detail, which even shows up in the clear plastic. There is also a ton of paint on the wings, which no doubt cost the manufacturer good deal of extra money.
The figure has limited movement due to its design, but you can pose the limbs a little bit - that's better than what I had growing up, but it might not fare well compared to an $8 Mattel dinosaur. Granted, this is only $5, but you can't select the creature you purchase thanks to the blind packaging. This series is cast in a translucent, icy blue plastic that looks like blue glow-in-the-dark, but does not glow. It reminds me a lot of Glyos figures in that way, and also how they seem to have molds they decorate in various colors over the years. It' sensible, kids love dinosaurs and it's a compelling reason to buy another ball without getting stuck with an exact duplicate.
The special accessory is a set of shackles for the legs. Not having the ability to fly, I wonder if this will stop them from taking off. They clip over the legs easily..
From wingtip to wingtip, Caiuajara measures a hair under 8-inches wide. While seated, the crest is about 3-inches off the ground. It's a decent toy for the money, but you also have to be careful to not lose parts of him that could pop off by design. It reminds me a lot of gumball toys when I was a kid - in that I didn't get a dinosaur I wanted, and I feel that it's OK. It's not great, but for a $5 toy dinosaur in 2025 it gets the job done pretty well. There are cheaper toy dinosaurs, and there are many more expensive toy dinosaurs, but this is probably ideal for a parent just looking to get out of the grocery store alive with their kid. Due to the awkwardness of a flyer dinosaur on a shelf or a desk, I'm not sure where it's going to go, and I don't think I'm inspired to try another purchase - but the design work is good with a price that makes sense for the size.
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