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My Tiktaalik Made It!

He's even more adorable than I could have thought. 

I had such a long day at work yesterday. I just started a new shift and adjusting to it has been very rough. I went from working 3PM-11PM Monday-Friday, to 7AM-3PM Thursday-Monday. 

Yeah.

Needless to say, I worked a long stretch from when my new shift started after the old one ended, and had to completely redo my sleeping habits. I've also been training someone at work, which has been trying but he's getting better, but it adds to be already exhausted state. I ended up having to stay 4 extra hours at work yesterday, having been up since 4:30AM and on the edge of sanity I was a touch grumpy.

Meeting my Tiktaalik definitely made my day all worth it.

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

Book Review: Age of Reptiles

'This story is about a samurai'

The cover is simple and powerful. I love it.

     Age of Reptiles by Ricardo Delgado is one of the best graphic novels I've read in the long time. I know, I know...of course it is. It has dinosaurs! It's not just because it's a graphic novel about dinosaurs, but the art, pacing of the story and how the story itself was delivered is what made me enjoy this book as much as I did.

     Any yeah, the dinosaurs in it are really awesome.

     It's always strange to me when a story about animals has dialog, as in the animals themselves are talking. Language as we know it is a human thing; laced with emotion, deception and hidden messages, never straight forward and honest like how animals communicate. 

     But how else could a story teller express a story if their characters don't speak? If they don't have human language?

     A good example of this is Raptor Red by Robert Bakker. The story stars a raptor going through her life in the cretaceous trying to survive. She has inner dialog, thoughts, concerns, etc. It's not more complex then "red stripe on his muzzle means he's good, one of my clan", but it's still speech, dialog, and hard for me to really get into. Because...well...animals don't talk.

     Delgado's story has no dialog. No speech bubbles, no thought bubbles...just scenes, a story unfolding frame by frame. Never once was I confused about what was trying to be expressed, the emotions of the creatures clearly expressed on their faces, in their eyes, through their actions. Coupled with amazing art in the dinosaurs and background, sticking very close to the science, this story was rich and beautiful.

     The star of the story is a male Spinosaurus living his life as a lone warrior in what would later be named Egypt by humans millions of years later. During this time Egypt wasn't a dessert but a lush, swampy area with tall trees and teaming with prehistoric life. It was the land of huge apex predators, crocodiles and Titanosaurs.

     Life during this time was brutal, and Delado doesn't hold any punches when it comes to that fact. Death happens, in graphic detail, almost Game of Thrones style. I remember thinking more than once, "Oh, damn. Didn't see that coming." 

     This is not a comic for kids, unless your kids are used to seeing animals getting stomped to death by Titanosaurs or eaten alive by Carcharodontosaurs.

     Age of Reptiles originally came out as single issue comics, but if you buy the graphic novel that has all of them together, you get a collection Delgado's essays talking about the inspiration behind the story, as well as a collection of the single issue cover art.

     Apparently Delgado is a huge fan of samurai movies, specifically Seven Samurai, and wanted to make a story reflecting that feeling of a lone warrior. 

     So, Spinosaurus in this story is a samurai, surrounded by death and fighting. 

     Spinosaurus is definitely not a good guy by any stretch, as he's still an animal surviving in a ruthless world with death at every turn. But he's still a character you want to see succeed, live, and try not take as much damage as he does.

     You can order it at any local comic shop, which I would suggest if you're able to support local business. Otherwise, I snagged mine on Amazon for about $12.
     Delgado has another graphic novel, Age of Reptiles: Omnibus, which has a collection of dinosaur stories, that I'll order probably in the near future.    

     Over all, the graphic novel is amazing, and I think anyone can really appreciate how well done it is. You don't have to be a dinosaur fan to really love it, but I think dinosaur nerds will really enjoy it the most.

Book Review: Top 10 Dinosaurs of 2015

Top 10 Dinosaurs of 2015

Cute, fun, refreshing

I heard about this book because the author co-hosts my favorite podcast I Know Dino. So, naturally, I wanted to support them as much as I can, since I'm a cheap jerk who doesn't fund them through their Patreon.

I have purchased their other book Keep Your Dinosaurs Here, which was more like a journal than a book, and thought it was pretty cute. Definitely aimed for kids, the journal is very lighthearted and promotes creative writing with dinosaurs, so I of course loved it.

I really wanted to spread the word about their latest release because there was only 2 reviews on Amazon, and some jerk gave them one star, knocking their average down quite a bit. The review wasn't fair and was very snarky, so I jumped in head first to put in my two cents.

I went into it really wanting to like it and did, and I'm willing to admit I may have some bias goggles on, so I encourage others to read it and judge for yourself. 

The book isn't like most informational dinosaur books, because it's not written by a paleontologist or a doctor of geology or anything like that. It's written by a dinosaur fan who wanted to put something fun and informative into the world. I don't think the negative review put that into consideration.

Since I'm a slothlike creature of minimum effort, I'm going to copy/paste my Amazon review for the book here, because I think it properly illustrates how I felt about the book.

Amazon/Goodreads review:

As a dinosaur fan girl and overall paleontology nerd, this book was recommended to me through social media and Amazon and I freaking adore it. 

Top 10 Dinosaurs of 2015 covers the top dinosaur discoveries of that year in a fun and unique way. I spend a lot of time reading scientific articles and papers about dinosaur news, so I really appreciate the creativity that went into this book. Each dinosaur is described in a small story about their life, detailing their physical appearance, habitat and scientifically minded, fictional account of what their attitudes and day-to-day activities would be. 

My favorite so far has been the story about Kunbarrasaurus and how she follows a creature from tree to tree. It's so painfully cute.

I would highly recommend this book for dinosaur fans who enjoy a lighthearted spin on dinosaur facts, and I think kids would really like this too. The only thing I would add would be more illustrations of the dinosaurs being described, but I imagine getting permission and paying licenses for using paleo artists work is probably hefty.
Great job! I look forward to 2016's book!

When I got the book, it was free for Kindle, but otherwise I think it's like $4. Worth picking up for sure. 

You can snag the Kindle version here.

Like I had said in the review, I think there should have been more illustrations in the book to get a better idea of what these guys looked like, so I put together a collection of the dinosaurs in this book for you to enjoy.

Now when you read the book, you'll have some faces to go with the characters, because sadly some of them don't have pictures.

Enjoy!

Dinosaur cast (in order of appearance):

• Chilesaurus "Chile Lizard"

• Dakotaraptor "Plunderer of Dakota"

• Kunbarrasaurus "Shield Lizard"

• Morelladon "Morella Tooth"

• Probrachylophosaurus "Superduck"

• Regaliceratops "Royal Horn Face" or Hellboy

• Sefapanosaurus "Cross Lizard"

• Tototlmimus "Bird Mimic of the Packard Shale"

• Yi qi "Strange Wing"

• Zhenyuanlong "Zheyuan's Dragon" or "The Poodle from Hell"

Book Review: Dinosaurs & A Dirigible

I'm not going to lie to you, I picked this book up on a complete whim while out at Barnes & Noble about...two weeks ago. Along with snagging this book I got myself a new Schielc t-rex toy, which I abosultely adore. The look the toy is giving this book prompted someone to call him "Skeptasaurus", which I think is now going to be his name forever.

I'm going to do a more detailed review about my lovely toy in a little bit. I actually had full intentions of doing one that day, but I got lost in my crazy world of distractions.

This book is actually a collection of short stories mostly starring the same main character in different dinosaur related scienarios. It had a lot of promise, but the stories seemed to kind of feel too familiar or repatative in character design. I ended up only reading 3 our of 5 of them and don't really have a desire to finish the book. While the stories do have some really cool paleontology elements, the characters were too similar between stories and sometimes the plot elements didn't make any damn sense.

The main protaginist of each story is Henry Vickers, a cool, manly-man hunter guy who tracks dinosaurs. In the three stories I read, he had to help rangle a t-rex or tag along with people going back in time.
If they explained how they went back in time, I don't remember it, but I think Vickers was more of the muscle and not the brains. He often dismissed the science behind the magic because he wasn't there to do that job.

In the two time-travel stories, Vickers was there to help either gather paleontology information and observe, or help rich dick-heads do a dinosaur safari. The second one wasn't my favorite, but I will say "Calibration Run", the first of the time-travelly stories, was pretty fun to read. Vickers is tossed back into time to help a lady paleontologist gather priceless information about plants, animals, etc...and they happen to run across a tribe of early hominids. They never really identify which hominds they were supposed to be, but the paleontologist explained that there was no way to really tell and it could be a species they'd never seen before.
Naturally, she wanted to take one back with them to study, but when the creature started to shed tears inside the trap, Vickers lets the thing go, saying that it was too human for them to treat like an animal.
Pretty legit, in my opinion.

Sadly, that is really the only highlight of these stories. 1 out of 3 I read were pretty good, but there was a glaring issue with each of the group of characters Vickers was tossed in with.
Each story had the same two tropes that I couldn't get past: a female who is sleeping with someone she's not supposed to and a over-the-top hot tempered asshole. It was just...distracting. I was even willing to forgive the fact that it was never explained just how they were going back in time (though to be fair they may talk about it in another story I didn't make it to), and the fact that in one of the stories is about safari hunting dinosaurs.
I hate that sport anyway.

So, would I reccomend this book? No, I wouldn't. I wasn't fun and I didn't enjoy the characters at all. The second story is pretty cool, but the rest of it fell short. I think if you want a good dinosaur book, there are others you can dabble in.

I think the next dinosaur book I'm going to try out is Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall by Thomas P. Hopp. It's dinosaurs...from spaaaaace!

That'll probably come next month as I'm going to finish up a nerdy book about vampires before I start that one. I'll keep you updated for sure.

Next week is Darwin Day, so I'm going to work on getting something prepared. I posted about the weird computer issues Ive been having, so bear with me while I get that mess sorted out.
Unfortunately, typing these posts through the Blogspot app on the phone isn't the best format wise....and spellcheck wise.
So, sorry for that too.

Anyway, I'll try and post more often than I have been. I actually have a lot of stuff I can gush about, so I just gotta wittle out the time.

Until then!

- M

Book Review: The Dinosaur Four

This is actually from the author's page. Cute!!

I'm an extremely niche reader, and I hate myself for it. I try not to put myself in such a small bubble, but I rarely get into book series unless it really hooks me, and 9/10 times it's a fantasy book of some kind. I mean like with elves and dragons and stuff.
There are some exceptions, like I'm a massive fan of the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger, of course the Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (but who isn't, right? -_- ), and a total dork about The King Killer Trilogy (Name of the Wind) by Patrick Rothfuss.
I dabble in other things, picking up suggestions here and there, but none of them are ever dinosaur related...much to my dismay. So you can imagine the joy I felt when The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones was on sale for $0.99, a book I had never even heard about until that moment.
And it turned out to be good!!

It's not a long read at all, only about 291 pages. It's an action/adventure book with some killer death scenes and amazing detail about the dinosaurs. He really makes these creatures seem gross and brutal, which is exactly how they would be. The t-rex has feathers, the hardosaurs are territorial, and the humans characters are pretty alright too. Haha! No, really, they're awesome. You love some, hate others, people get stomped to death and you have a good time.

The basic synopsis of the story is a bunch of random strangers get transported to the Cretaceous while sitting in a coffee diner one afternoon. They have to figure out what the hell happened and how to get back to their time while surviving in that time period.
The pacing is great, the action doesn't really lull at all, and again...the book is kinda brutal. No one is safe and it's awesome.
I will admit that the ending kinda made my brain hurt, because it delve into time travel paradoxes that will make you have to stop and think for a second. Maybe it was just me, but I kinda got lost for a bit.
Very possible I just don't grasp the concept well.

TL;DR
It's good. Buy it, support the author, have a good time. Cool dinos, people die, it's fun.

Book Review: dino smut

I'm not even sure where to start with this. Do I start with the reason I snagged the $0.99 Kindle download with terrible box art? Or how hysterical the reviews were on Amazon?
Or just go right to the scene of a t-rex uh...mating...with a cave woman?

I originally heard about this book from a friend a while ago via Vaginal Fantasy, but I didn't end up snagging it until I fucking love science brought it up again recently.
This is not the first time I've got myself into something a little ridiculous when it comes to romance and dinosaurs. A couple of years ago, I read Eternal Pleasures, another Vaginal Fantasy pick. In this book, unlike this current uh..."story"...the dinosaurs were shape-shifters, not *actual* dinosaurs.
Meaning the sexy times were between two humans.
Not the case in this one.

Taken is only about 17 pages long, and is about essentially cave people trying to live with dinosaurs. Of course, since they're humans and not equipped at all to deal with giant pre-historic beasts, the t-rex kills everyone in the village, causing the heroine to want to kill it.
Thus causing her to set up traps to kill it, this gets her super turned on for some odd reason. When the rex uh...notices she's having a grand time with trying to kill him, he allows himself to mistake her for a suitable mate and captures her.
I won't go into detail, but let's just say at one point I was wincing noticably, wondering what "death by dino dick" would possibly feel like.

Also, fun fact, I think that's the first actual piece of Beastiality I've ever read! Woo-hoo! (?)

I have read one awesome work of dinosar fiction recently that I really liked, so I'll do a seperate review post for it. It's not erotica, don't worry. It's action/adventure and I loved it.

So, should you read Taken by the T-Rex?
For a good story? No. For a laugh and to support someone writing weird erotica for fun? Absolutely.

Now excuse me while I go scrub my eyeballs.