Rexys Reviews

Hi Andrew, welcome to NE, can you introduce yourself to our readers? Hi, so I’m Andrew, I’m a 37 year old big kid who loves dinosaurs, especially Jurassic Park. Originally from Durham but now living in South Shields, where I drive my Wife and 12 year old Daughter mad with all things Jurassic.

You are the man behind Rexys Reviews, but what exactly is Rexys Reviews? So Rexys Reviews started as a YouTube channel (hence the name) in 2019 during the Covid lockdown. I would make videos reviewing some of my Jurassic Park toys and merchandise just to fill in some of the time when we were all stuck indoors. This continued until my collection of all things Jurassic expanded slightly out of my loft and onto my driveway when we added “Rexy”, the tribute Jurassic Park Tour Car to household. From there, following an off the cuff email about attending a local comic con event to share the car with other fans, the idea to sell some of my “spare” collection came to be. After a few events with amazing feedback we decided to open a web shop selling dinosaur product which combined with the events and a constantly growing collection, we were rapidly running out of space at home.

You also recently opened the Dino Den in South Shields, can you tell us a bit more about that? That’s right, in January this year my wife stumbled upon a post on Facebook for a former pub looking for a new lease of life and messaged me saying “look, space for a shop and your collection”, so we decided to go and have a look. No harm in looking right? Well 6 weeks later and a lot of very late nights and even more hard work from a great bunch of friends, The Dino Den was born. The plan was to create a one stop dinosaur shop that catered to the needs of dino fans of any age.

As a parent and collector I knew first hand how difficult it can be to search around trying to find certain dinosaur things so having never been able to find somewhere to go and find everything in one place, I decided to create the shop I have always wanted to walk into as a customer myself and give parents the reassurance that no matter what your budget may be, enjoying dinosaurs doesn’t have to cost you the earth which is why we stock big and small, new and preloved items to enable everyone to leave with a smile on their face. Stocked with as many dinosaur products as we can possibly find and then a whole host of games consoles, all with dinosaur themed games of course, for visitors to play and then the collection and other displays that include replica icon movie props from the Jurassic franchise and loads of photo opportunities, I want The Dino Den to be a destination, not just a shopping experience.

What has the response been like so far for the Dino Den? The feedback so far has been unbelievable, seeing peoples faces light up and jaws drop as they walk through the door, I don’t think I will ever get tired of that. We have had so many kind words

and feedback such as “I never knew there were so many dinosaur things” to “it’s beautiful, it’s almost making me cry” from one lady.

For anyone that hasn’t been to the Dino Den yet, you have a section that houses some of your personal Jurassic Park collection, which is some collection, but that isn’t it all though, as not only do you have more but you are currently looking to achieve a Guinness World Record, can you tell us more about your collection and the record attempt? That’s right, I decided that these things deserved to be on show to fans rather than tucked away in a loft where only I would enjoy them. It all started around 4 years ago when I was emptying a cupboard at my childhood home and found my original Jurassic Park toys I had kept from 1993 and 1997. I then decided, I would have a look on the likes of eBay etc and see if I could find any other items that I never had as a child and that was it, I was hooked. From there the collection grew and moved way beyond just toys. Books, sticker albums, watches, promotional items, the list goes on. I had been talking to a friend about my collection and they joking said “I bet you have the biggest collection in the world” and click, a lightbulb went on in my head, “I wonder if there is actually a world record?” So after some investigation, for a world record attempt you have to have over 1000 unique licensed pieces, so once things have settled down, we will undertake the task of recording an official count and see if, fingers crossed, it will be the largest single collection in the world, so watch this space!! Where do we start!! Well the next major step in the process is the opening of our dinosaur themed café within the Dino Den which

we plan to have open by the summer. We recently welcomed a local Author/ illustrator with her beautiful book, “The Scoliosaurus” where she did readings, book signings and answered all your question about the main character Sonny and about living with Scoliosis. We look forward to finding other events and activities to host at the den and with Jurassic World: Dominion launching in June it would be rude of us not to mark the occasion some how wouldn’t it and then who knows what will be next. All I can say is that as long as we have the support of our customers, I will keep doing my very best to make Rexys Reviews and The Dino Den the best it can possibly be.

Would you say your love is Jurassic Park, or is it all things Dinosaurs? First and foremost it has to be Jurassic Park for the majority of it but I would be telling fibs if I didn’t admit that all things dinosaur fill my heart. It doesn’t matter where I go in the world, I always find something dinosaur related to see or do. From watching the ordeals of Littlefoot and his friends in “The Land before Time” in 1988 to cartoons like Moschops and Denver the last dinosaur, through to seeing those iconic gates open to Jurassic Park on the big screen, dinosaurs have always been a part of my life. I often recall how as a small child, I would make my parents read me dinosaur books and tell me facts about rocks and fossils for a bedtime story, no fairly tales for me. It’s just something about the fact that these magnificent creatures once walked where we do now that captivated me.

I have to ask, what’s your favourite Dinosaur? It very cliché but it has always been the T Rex, I know there are bigger, faster and more impressive dinosaurs but there is just something about how they have been the “poster” image and the go to for people as soon as you mention the word dinosaur and then to top it off when Rexy/Roberta (the T Rex in Jurassic Park) hit our screens it cemented it’s place in my heart forever, a super predator turned saviour at the end.

When you are not running the Dino Den or attending conventions, what do you get up to in your free time…if you even have any free time that is haha? It feels like I don’t have a huge amount at the moment but when we are not in the den or at a convention I like nothing more than doing something with my wife and daughter. We love going to

the cinema or visiting theme parks and other attractions like that, it’s all about making those family memories. My wife and I are both huge fans of travelling, be that in the UK or further afield, it’s not uncommon for us to just jump in the car and head off somewhere just to enjoy the scenery and live by the motto, “there is no such thing as getting lost, it’s just discovering somewhere you haven’t been before”

Tell us three random facts about yourself? Oh wow that’s hard haha erm well I was previously the manager of a farm park for 11 years which saw me doing everything from building new attractions, hosting birthday parties to helping birth new born lambs. In my early 20’s I owned/ ran a pet shop and animal wholesale business supplying shops across the whole of the North East. I’m also a volunteer responder for 4x4 Response North East, a non profit organisation that provides logistical support to the emergency services and local authorities during extreme weather.

Jurassic World Dominion comes out in June, will you be doing anything to celebrate its release? Oh definitely, I mean I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched the trailer for it already. We have some very exciting things in store to commemorate the release of Dominion but we don’t want to let too much out the bay just yet so all I can say is make sure you stay tuned to our social media for more information closer to the time.

Where can people follow you and keep up with all things Rexy and Dino related? You can find us all over, a bit like dinosaurs haha be sure to follow us on all social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube with the name @RexysReviews and then of course our website and web store www.RexysReviews. com