Toys, comics and dinosaur stuff

But first, lets talk about feathers

I wish all dinosaurs had feathers...
This is just too glorious.

     I love feathers on my dinosaurs. Not only because it makes them look fabulous, but it's also scientifically accurate and that needs to be more widely embraced.

     Alright, side-stepping the original reason why I started this post, which is to talk about awesome raptor toys and a trex comic that looks amazing, lets talk about feathers on dinosaurs. What's the deal? Why all of a sudden to raptors actually look like "a 6 foot turkey"?

     HERE'S SOME PALEONTOLOGY, MY FRIENDS.

     Let's start with the raptors, since that's a lot of people's favorite dinosaur, with good reason. They're fast, sleek, smart, and have sick as hell hook claws on their feet. They're like the deadly ninjas of the dinosaur kingdom, and who the hell doesn't like ninjas?

     Pirates, I guess.

     Anyway, one of the best evidence we have for certain dinosaurs, namely theropod dinosaurs, having feathers is this amazing fossil of Microraptor. The feather imprints are so perfect and clear, down to the tiny little fluffy feathers on it's face! How amazing is that? The fossilization of some feathers has been so fantastic, that a team from Yale discovered fossilized Melanosomes in the feathers which basically is what determines the pigment of the feathers. WHAAT.

Art by Jonathan Kuo

     So far they have been able to lock down darker colors, like browns and blacks, and the unique one for red. It's a growing theory that the feathered raptors were probably vibrant like that of modern birds, which just makes me very happy.

     As far as Tyrannosaurs go, let me introduce you to Yutryannus huali, an amazing feathered tyrannosaurus with an amazing fossil with feather imprints. I don't think it's widely accepted that they had long, luscious feathers like raptors did, but more fluffy, downy feathers. It's because of this find that the iconic T .rex is now suspected to have had feathers as well.

     Since feathers are evident in the fossil record with theropod dinosaurs, there's been some speculation that dinosaurs probably used them in the same ways as modern birds, or at least similar. Most likely these feathers were used for insulation, protection from the sun and probably mating and defense.
     Think about it. If you were a strapping tyrannosaur and needed to entice the ladies, don't you think a bright, vibrant coat of amazing, shiny feathers would show off how healthy and handsome you were? On the same note, if you came up to another fellow buck who needed to be put in his place, you could roar and fluff up to look bigger and scarier.

     Yeah, that sent the mouth breather running, huh?

     Now on to my original crap I wanted to post about....toys and comics!!

• What the post is actually about

     HOLD ON A DAMN SECOND
     Ok, before I get into the comic and toyline, I just did a search for "Feathered Raptors" to add more pictures into the blog post when I found this:

     Yeah, it's a fucking fully movable, feathered raptor mask. OH MY GOD. I can't find how to buy, but if it's anything like the other amazing masks I've seen like this on Etsy, it's probably like $600.
     BUT LOOK AT IT. HOLY SHIT.

     Ahem....anyway....

     Touching back on the topic of brightly colored raptors, the Beasts of the Mesozoic line from Creative Beast Studios is all about embracing the multicolored feather spectrum of their raptors. In a recent Facebook post, one of the lead designers talked about how they pulled inspiriting for the raptor's many different pallets from birds living today. I'll post that picture they put up, because it's amazing:

     Creative Beast Studios had an awesomely successful kickstarter back in May, and they were able to get fully funded! They're posable and painfully scientifically accurate, which makes me warm and tingly inside. These badboys are about $35-40 a piece, and are available for pre-order.
     I seriously don't know which one I like the best. They're all freaking amazing. I think they go up for grabs in...November? Someone give Alex a hint for me, please. XD

     Next up is a cool comic I found on the Twitter machine by Rextooth Studios. You can read the first part of the comic online at their site, and it looks like the first comic is available to get online for $16.95. The art is very good, but a little cartoony in it's style. The trex has feathers, which is awesome, and I love how Cobalt's eyes shine in the darkness when he hunts at night. While really cool, I'm not a huge fan of the style. I'm not really big into the aesthetics of American style comics, so I'm not jumping to get this one as much as I was Age of Reptiles.
     Still looks cool for any dinosaur fan. Not sure how bloody it gets, so maybe not for kids?

     I think I'm going to go crawl back into bed since I feel like crap today. Until then!

      - M

Troodons and general dinosaur fun times.

Art by Paperiapina

    I can't remember if I've posted about how interesting I think Troodons are, so I'm going to start fresh with this post.

    Lets start with what they are, yeah? Troodons are these neat raptor like dinosaurs with feathers, ranging in size between a small turkey to upwards into the Deinoychus size, which are pretty damn big. Those are the raptors the Jurassic Park raptors were modeled after, for those who don't know random movie trivia. (I'm pretty sure everyone knows this)
    They lived during the late Cretaceous in Alaska, parts of North America, and some really awesome specimens found in China. They were most likely little carnivores with sharp teeth, probably eating insects, smaller dinosaurs, and probably our tiny furry ancestors.

    What's really interesting about these guys is their brain cases. They have one of the largest brain to body ratio in dinosaurs, with huge eyes and small graspy hands. They were most likely very smart for small little creatures. What makes them really unique is not just the big brain they make have rocked, but the fossils found have some preservation of the inner ear, which is really fasenating.

Best picture I could find to show a good ratio of brain size.

    There haven't been a lot of fossils found, and unfortunately the Troodon classification have been somewhat muddy. This is one of those odd clades that end up being a "trash bin" or "catch all" for small dinosaurs they don't know how to really fit into other classifications. It's frustrating because I feel like these dinosaurs are truly unique and had the potential to have evolved into more intelligently complex beings.

    Yeah, yeah. Sci-fi stuff. But think how how cool they would have been if they got to evolve like humans did?? We could be dinosaur people, guys!!
    There's some models of what Troodons would have looked like if they evolved into more human like creatures. It's scary and so I'm not gonna post a picture. It made me uncomfortable.

    What got me really delving into Troodons lately was the latest episode of I Know Dino, where they interview a Troodon master and an expert in Dinosaur Reproduction. Dr. Dave Varricchio from Montana State University talks in length about different dinosaur nests and even a burrowing dinosaur, Oryctodromeus. I thought that this was a Troodon, but it doesn't look like it. Seems it's a similar type of dinosaur, but different clade.
    Anyway, the burrowing dinosaur was really interesting, since burrowing under the ground is a very mammal habit, and probably what saved our mousy ancestors from going extinct. Trace fossils have been found of the burrowing dinosaur, along with a fossilized mommy and two babies inside a burrow. How cool is that?
    As far as Troodons go, Dr. Varricchio explains that Troodons may have grown pretty fast, getting to full size at about 3 years old. Granted, these aren't the massive giants that roamed around them so they didn't have to get terribly big, but knowing they were able to get mature fast is still interesting.

    Considering that eggs and breeding habits of dinosaurs in the fossil record are so incredibly rare, finding any information about how dinosaurs may have raised their young or mated is always an amazing find. I really hope some strapping up and coming paleontologist finds out more information about this stuff. Curious minds want to know.

    I haven't been reading a lot of dinosaur books lately, mostly just keeping up with I Know Dino and science articles online. I did start The Tyrannosaur Chronicles by David Hone, and it's really good, but I've been distracted by other non-dinosaur related fluffy books. Perhaps when I get pull my head out of the clouds I'll dig back into it and finish, so I can post a review about it.

    There's some dinosaur related awesome stuff happening close to my neck of the woods, which pointed me in the direction of a company who makes life-size, theme park grade dinosaurs for events and educational things! October 1st, Grapevine Mills is having a Fossil Fest out at a park with giant dinosaur attractions and educational digs for kids. I plan on going to check it out, though I'm painfully aware I'm not a kid and don't have one I could use as an excuse to go.
    The company that is bringing the big dinosaur models is The Dinosaur Company, which apparently is based out of Allen, Texas. I had no idea they even existed until I saw this ad for the Fossil Fest. It looks like they do some amazing work, and I even reached out to them for employment. Cause why not, right? If I'm able to do stuff dinosaur related as my means of making money, then that's what I want to do!
    I'm going to go check it out that Saturday, so I'll take pictures and report back.

The Dinosaur Company's Pachyrhinosaurus

    Sorry it's been quiet lately on the blog. I could blame this on a thousand things, but really it's been me being distracted by my own tiny attention span. I've been neck deep in other fandoms that I'm obessing over that I haven't been cracking out about dinosaurs in blog form. In my head I have, but not putting digital pen to paper.
    I'll make an effort to try and geek out more here so I can spam my Facebook feed demanding my friends read my blog.

    Until then!

     - M

Sumikko Gurashi: my new obession

    My best friend recently went to Japan, a place I've been wanting to go to since I first discovered Dragon Ball Z around the age of 13. Along with the muscly badasses I grew up wanting to be like, I also fell in love with their ability to make anything in the world be adorable and cutesy. Even the most mundane things in their culture have a cute slant to them, making them more enjoyable and sweet.

    Shen brought back a lot of cool stuff from Japan, along with various pictures and amazing stories, but the crowning achievement was her discovery of Sumikko Gurashi. This band of cute misfits with anxiety issues, yes I'm totally serious, comprises of a bear who needs his blanket and tea to feel safe, a snail who lies, a cat who has an obsession with sharpening his her claws, a fried pork cutlet who is "1% meat and 99% ambition" and two dinosaur buddies among others. These guys also like to dress up and dinosaurs, which makes me want to curl up and die from a cute overload.

    I love that dinosaurs are weaseling back into main stream culture, not just in Japan. Don't get me wrong, I love the scientifically accurate dinosaurs, but the cute ones make them more approachable to people.

    I needed to get this post up so I could start on a more substantial post about some science stuff. I listened to a podcast recently talking about Troodons and I think I wanna do a full post about them so I need to start gathering information.

    Anyway, you're welcome for the new cute thing you're going to want to obsesses about and buy tons of stuff for. :D