Welcome Home!

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.

A Freaking Dream Come True

Plushie Tiktaalik

I finally get a huggable Tiktaalik.

For those you may be unfamiliar with this sweet, lovable face, I posted about Tiktaalik before on my blog back in 2015, which you can check out here. Since there's a whole post dedicated to why I love Tiktaalik so much, I won't eat up this post about how great he is.

I just tested the links on that post, and everything is still there and working, which is awesome. 

According to the email I got from Palaeo Plushies, my order should be at my door step between 5-7 business days, which is impressive considering he's coming from Scotland.

I'm also highly considering recording myself opening it, because I'm just too damn excited, but know that no one is going to super care.

BUT IMMA DO IT ANYWAY.

There might be a video uploaded later of me being a rabid fan girl about a stuffed, ancient fish. So, you know....be on the look out for that.

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

Importantly cute!

Cute and Precious

     I'm a sucker for cute things. A real over the top, squealing idiot when it comes to adorable animals, especially baby ones, and even MORE especially baby dinosaurs.
     I'm the type of sappy mess that "OOOs" and "SQUEEEs" at the cute things that strike me as particularly adorable, and will often slap my husband's arm repeatedly in excitement when I see a puppy.

     When I get the very rare and beautiful opportunity to see amazing baby dinosaur art, or the even more rare specimens, I'm a puddle of girly baby talk and scientific inquiries.

     Naturally, when Rebor started their baby dinosaur figurine collection, I was immediately demanding to own them all to anyone who would listen. These sweet little babies are detailed, small and have cute names like "hazelnut".

     THE BABY TRICERATOPS IS NAMED HAZELNUT, GUYS.

     LOOK AT HER FACE. LOOK AT IT.

     I don't expect you to believe me, but there's actually another reason why I think these cutey faces are so amazing to me, and that's their detail to scientific accuracy. Well, as close as you can be with the rarity of baby dinosaur specimens and keeping them cute and interesting enough to purchase.

     Understanding the growth pattern of dinosaurs is really fascinating. Did Triceratops hatch with horns? How big are baby t-rex? Did baby raptors have those killer claws? How fast did these guys grow? What features did they have to grow into?

     Baby dinosaur fossils are extremely rare, but they are treasures of understanding the growth development of dinosaurs. It is an unfortunate truth that the paleontology record of dinosaur species is riddled with controversies over whether or not certain species are their own actual stand along species, or just younger versions of others.

     Misclassifications do happen. It's the sad truth of any science.

     Jack Horner did a TED Talk on baby dinosaurs which is worth checking out. He talks about these crazy misclassifcations and the new discoveries of understanding and identifying baby and teenage dinosaurs. By cutting open fossilized bones, Dr. Horner's team is able to identify more juvenile bones by how "spongy" they are, meaning that the bone is still growing and is malleable.

     This is a great step for making strides in paleontology, but it does mean that some of our favorite species might not actually exist. 

     Sorry, Dracorex, you awesome nerdy dinosaur. 

     Dr. Horner is hilarious, and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading any of his books or hearing a lecture, I'd recommend it highly.

     I think I might start my collection with Hazelnut, because she's just too damn cute not to. I've recently vowed not to get anymore dinosaurs until I have a better place to put them, so I may have to hold off a little while before I add this cute little thing to my collection. 

     You can get these dinosaurs at everythingdinosaur.com, and are featured on Jurassic Collectibles on YouTube. I think all of the babies are like $10 plus shipping, which is really not bad at all. Rebor makes some good stuff.

     Also, please look at how cute Breeze is, sitting on his wittle butt. :3

• Hazelnut

• Melon

• Stan

• Breeze 

I must have it -- "Banjo"

Banjoooooo!

      Since part of my fandom for dinosaurs and ancient life is steeped in collecting toys, figures, coins, hats, stickers, what have you, I figured it was very necessary to make rambling about collections a staple in my blog.

      I have a embarrassing amount of dinosaur stuff on multiple wish lists that span most forms of online shopping known to man, ranging from the cute and ridiculous to the monstrous and amazing. I'll pick out my favorites and share them with you, because why the hell not?

      To kick this off with the bang, we'll go with a cool collectible toy exclusively from Australia's own Age of the Dinosaurs Museum in Winston Australia, the awesome Australovenator "Banjo".

What I assume the toy was modeled after.

      If you don't already know about this awesome dinosaur, it's one of the therapods of the Aussie outback, recently discovered and probably Australia's favorite dinosaur. This awesome predator has vicious hand claws and stands about 6 feet tall, 20 feet long.

      Despite how he looks, Banjo is actually a tyrannosaurid, not a raptor, and lives during the early Cretaceous about 95 MYO. Because of it's light frame, it's known as the "cheetah of it's time" according to it's Wiki page.

      I'll have to do a more detailed post about it later, because he's really neat.

BANJOOO!

      Because I'm a dork with a dinosaur toy obsession, I follow a dinosaur toy reviewer on YouTube called Jurassic Collectibles. He's a cool dude who gets to unbox new and not-yet-released dinosaur toys on his channel, which is something I would sell my soul for.

      I don't know if it's the combination of the fact that I love how it looks, painted, or if it's just the exclusiveness of Banjo that makes me want the toy so bad.

Also the name. It's probably the name.

   
 I do have a stegosaurus named Banjo, and my raptor in World of Warcraft was named Banjo, and Space Ghost's giant sea horse monster was named Banjo.

      It's a great name!!

      This figure goes for about $30 on the museum's website, and the shipping is a staggering $45. There is a CollectA figure of this dinosaur for about $10, but it doesn't nearly come close to how cool this model looks.

CollectaA version. Sad, right?

      I do have a friend with some Australian connections, but I don't know if there's a way to make that shipping less gag inducing.  The figure is awesome, but not $80 awesome.

      This is the first figure I've run into that has limitations on obtaining it. This is the age of the Internet, nothing is impossible to find! I'm sure I'll figure out some way of getting this beautiful creature at some point in my life.

      And no, I'm not going to Australia. That place has nightmare bugs.

      I think I'm going to make these posts normal set days of the week. Just different dinosaur/ancient life themed stuff I either have or want really, really bad.

      If you're thinking, "Oh, great. Thanks for showing me this. Now I want it and it's $80."
Then I love you and we should be friends.

      Also, you're welcome.

Things I simply *must* have.

They will be Mine. Oh yes...

I have a very real problem of falling down the rabbit hole of dinosaur themed shopping. It always starts so innocent...a seemingly harmless visit to a paleontology Facebook page or stopping in to visit r/dinosaurs on Reddit. I see something mildly interesting so I click....then follow that link...then another...and another...

Then suddenly I have an entire catalog of shit I must have in my life.

I decided the best way to cope with the fact that I have a crazy obsession with dinosaur themed anything, is to share and possibly infect others with this adorable virus. 

Since my list is very long, I've picked out some of my top favorites to share. It goes without saying that literally any Papo or Shielch dinosaur toy that's out there must be mine, so I'll skip posting a long list of all those that exist.

Instead, this is the more fun or truly amazing items I've come across during my late night Etsy and collector site binge-fests.

Sorry in advance for the expensive crap you're about to want. 

PS: I've saved the best one for last.

The List

1.) Inflatable T-rex costume ---- $100

How is this not the best one, you ask? Because this one is something that will eventually be mine in the future. I have a goal of owning this wondrous creation in 2016, either for A-Kon or for Halloween.

These awesome suits have become something of an Internet sensation, and I have yet to get sick of seeing them. People don these amazing costumes and do the most insane things, from ice skating, to pole dancing to competing in American Ninja Warrior. 

They're so incredibly doofy and cute that it's hard not to just adore the hell out of them. 

Plus, not only are they license from Jurassic World, they're WAY cheaper than the realistic Walking with Dinosaur style suits that cost well into the thousands.

It's the best of both worlds: silly and you get to be a dinosaur. This is kind of a life goal of mine, and what I've wanted to grow up as since I was five.

2.) DinoStoreus Skulls, Skeletons and Full Flesh Models ---- $44 - $350

I wanted to start with the basics: awesome collectible statues. I think these are something every dinosaur fan would want/need, and they are as pretty as they are reasonable in price. 

You've got a couple options when it comes to these guys: skull, full skeleton and fully fleshed models. They're perfect desk pieces and I've seen these in paleontologists offices. Honestly, I was trying to pick my favorites, but I'd really love any of these pieces. They're all SO cool.

3.)  Regaliceratops bust from BlueDino ---- $179

I think I've gushed about my love for this Ceratopsian in the past, but it's worth mentioning again how freaking cool it looks.

This bust is really gorgeous. It's hand sculpted and painted by the artist, and I would kill a man to have it in my grubby hands. It does have the option to come unpainted for a little cheaper, but I'm pretty sure I'd botch any type of paint job. I have zero skill in that department. It'd end up looking like a toddler scribbled on  very nice piece of art and I'd probably have to kill myself.

I'm a pro at pining for stunning works of art though. 

I love how detailed it is, especially the frill, and how he kept the red theme from Julius Csotonyi's painting. Simply amazing.

4.) Trilobite Plushie from PaleoGirl Crafts ---- $43

HOW ADORABLE IS THIS GUY??

I cannot get over how fluffy and sweet his little face is. Yes, ok...this isn't a dinosaur but good lord do I love Trilobites. 

As soon as this brilliant woman is taking commissions again, we're having a conversation about a Tiktaalic....

5.) These ridiculous as fuck dinosaur heels  ---- $260

Because I'm a lady with refined taste and class.

Plus, those are totally the same T-rex toys I have and their jaws open and close. That's just fancy.

6.) Custom Baby Raptor Sculpture ---- $70

This is so beyond cute. Not only can this sweet little dude look however you want, but he is all curled up like he's fresh from his egg. I want to snuggle him! 

It's always cool to see dinosaurs in different poses besides roaring, fighting or charging. Don't get me wrong, those are all awesome, but I do love seeing babies and sleeping dinosaurs too.

It makes them feel like real animals, which they were, and not mythical monster-beasts.

Either way, this guy is fantastic and I need an orange one in my life one day.

Side note, I wish they had feathers. :C

7.) Baby Raptor Blind Box by Rebor -- ~$5 for one or ~$40 for the full set

Two baby raptor things!? So neat, right?!

I don't think these guys are available stateside. The only place I could find them is at everythingdinosaur.com, and everything is in Euros. 

They're cute as hell little blind boxes that come in different colors. I really adore all of them and per Rebor style, always pretty and well detailed. I really hope they come across the pond and pop up at something local.

Looking at you, GameStop and ThinkGeek. Don't fail me.

8.)  Dimorphodon Judy and Punch by Rebor ---- ~$45

Yet another amazing find and correct...they're also not dinosaurs.

I KNOW, CALM DOWN.

But c'mon...these come as a pair and they have names. I love them so much, and I love that Judy is in flight while Punch looks up lovingly at her. I'm not usually big on the flying reptiles -- I mean, I do think they're really neat, but they've never been my top favorites. These little dudes are just too cool and they'd look so good in the collection.

I guess I should give pterosaurs more love.

I think most people will recognize those pterosaurs from Jurassic World as the "trex head flying dinosaur hybrid", to which I say, get the fuck off my blog you filthy peasant they're actually real animals and not hybrid.

I had a conversation with a coworker a couple months ago involving this creature, and it amazed me that he thought they were one of the genetic experiments. In looking up the information about it, because I'm not as well depth in pterosaurs, Dimorphodons are commonly searched for as "the trex flying dino from Jurassic World". 

To be fair, I only knew about them because I watch a lot of dinosaur documentaries and I remembered them from one of of the many that were on Netflix (grumble, grumble), so I'm not acting like I'm so snooty jerk.

Well...I kinda am. More people should watch dinosaur stuff, damnit!!

9.) Feathered T-rex toy from Collecta --- $25 (though I've seen it go for like $70)

That's right! Finally a feathered T-rex!! 

This toy just came out and my god I want it. You don't see not naked T-rex toys ever, so when this one hit the market, it started to sell out right away. 

I love the color pallet of this dinosaur and the feathers looks so cool. I'm glad to see model companies starting to embrace scientifically accurate dinosaurs these days. 

It warms my heart. 

10.) New Papo dinosaurs: Baryonyx and feathered Velociraptor ---- ~$26/each

MOAR FEATHERS!!

I just recently learned abut Baryonyx, and this dinosaur is so strangely cool looking that he's slowly becoming a new favorite. I'm also just tickled as hell about the raptor having feathers, because I'm yet again being a snobby asshole about things.

I really like the Papo line and I think they're going to stay at the top of my list. All of their toys are so incredibly detailed and often in the coolest poses. Very lifelike in the smallest details, and they pick the coolest dinosaurs to make toys out of. 

I only have the one Papo toy, my beloved Dimetrodon, and I always loved how his skin folds a little where his body is turning. 

It's the little thing that makes this toy company so damn good. That and they're fairly cheap and stateside, which is nice. 

Side note, the raptor isn't out yet, but the Baryonyx is. 

11.) Dinosaur Hair Clips from ThinkGeek --- $15

Because, again, I'm a lady with sophisticated class and taste. 

Cute, colorful, and sticking with the classics. You can't go wrong!

Plus, they'll go great with those freaking heels and the next item too.

12.) Double sided velociraptor necklace --- $22

Cause....cause orange and skeleton. :3

13.) T-rex shower head --- $20

Nothing says shower time quite like a roaring dinosaur skull vomiting steaming hot water at your face.

You can pick the color you want, which means it'll fit any theme for your bathroom and guys let's face it...can you really go back to your normal, not T-rex shower head now that you know this exists?

No. No you can't.

And the grand finale: 

14.) Raptor Body Pillow --- $50

Your wifu got nothing on my raptor. 

I need this guy to live next to my Souji Okita and I need to snuggle with it SO BAD. This is just too ridiculous not to have. I love that he's on the bed sheet background, I love that he's smiling, I love that he has feathers.

I just. Plain. Love it.

- M

A lot of goodness.

The holidays came a little late for me this year, so I'm just now getting my hands on some simply amazing things my family and friends got for me this year. One thing I actually meant to post about in the past was something given to me early in December, but I wanted to wait to post one big post about all the goodness.

But before I dive into my fan-girling, there was a new article posted about a new GIANT, sea-dwelling, ancient crocodile called Machimosaurus rex. This dude was about 30 feet long and lived during the Cretaceous period. There's a great video through the link as well as the article, so I recommend checking it out!


This year was awesome for really unique and cool dinosaur/paleontology swag. My best friend got me the first thing I'm going to gush about as a "silly gift", but it turned out to be one of the most entertaining toy I've had in a long time.
It may look like an ordinary giant green beetle, but it's actually a giant green beetle made of what I assume is compacted saw dust with little bugs encased in acrylic buried inside. The goal of this cute little thing is to "excavate" these little buggers out of the big beetle with the tools provided. It comes with a scraping/digging tool, a magnifying glass and a little brush to knock away the enormous amount of dust that happens when you start scraping away at a sawdust beetle.
While this toy is a blast, I do recommend digging on a solid surface that's easy to clean because you will get this shit everywhere.

The end result are these cute little bugs that I will be keeping in my tiny Zelda chest that makes noise when you open it.

Spider, Scorpion, and Beetle 

I'm a huge coffee drinker, so getting me a coffee mug for xmas is a fantastic idea. I have a really awesome clay coffee mug my best friend got me a couple years back, so finding one equal to my Stegosaurus mug was not an easy feet.

A feet only my partner in science, Jess, could accomplish.

I will never not thing color changing mugs are extremely cool, so this beautiful ridiculous masterpiece is right up my ally. In it's neutrual state, the picture is that of a Brachiosaur, T-rex, and Deinonychus hanging out swamp side, defying space and time. These awesome dudes are from three totally different time periods but that didn't stop them from getting together and having a good time.

You have no excuse for not seeing people now, if these guys can make this magic happen.

What's so cool about this, is not only do they slowly turn into skeletons when my favorite hot beverage is being poured into it, but little name plates appear at their feet like a museum display. I freaking love this thing!

Before coffee

After coffee

Before coffee

After coffee

I made a video on Instagram if you want to go check it out. XD

My father-in-law is a mastermind of giving cute gifts for xmas. Me and my husband have gotten some awesome things over the past years, but the Indominous Rex Chia Pet has got to take the cake.

The moment I put this picture up on Instagram, my feed blew up with likes (for me anyway, I'm not followed by a lot of people). 

I've never had one of these things before, so I'm looking forward to seeing how its uh...coat...grows? It's the perfect amount of ridiculous and I'm very excited. I'm actually soaking the planter now so I get plant the seeds today. I'll absolutely post progress pictures.

Last but certainly not least is something that I believe has sparked a whole new collectors need in my soul. I had heard about Canada's amazing dinosaur coins before, and was always so incredibly jealous at the country's open acceptance of science in their culture. I would love to see something like this in America's mint, but I think we still have a long way to go. These beautiful works of art are stunning, and many of them are still around to purchase. One of my favorite coins they have ever produced isn't a dinosaur, but is our fishy ancestor Tiktaalic, which I think I've talked about before. 

I adore this creature and everything it means for understanding the history of life and evolution, so having this amazing coin given to me last night was breath-taking.

Small side note, my dad was a huge coin collector when he was a kid, and had an impressive collection still when I was growing up. Sadly, that collection has since been lost or sold, so I always have a bit of a fondness to coin collecting, even if it wasn't something I personally got into. It was something he really enjoyed, and I'm sad the collection is no longer around.

I recently had heard on the latest I Know Dino podcast that the Canadian mint had put out another t-rex coin. I think I'm going to try and start buying these things and making my own, incredibly niche, coin collection. These things aren't in circulation of course, but they're beautiful and definitely collectors items. 

I love my new coin so much!!

I'm glad to finally be able to share these fantastic things on my blog. I'm going to hopefully get more studying done today for my Coursera class and finish up some housework, so maybe I'll post again soonish.

Until then!

-M

Toy Review: Terra Pachyrhinosaurus!

Battat Terra Dinosaurs: Under $20 and pretty great!

Battat Terra collection

I'm trying on a new hat today, the reviewing dinosaur toy hat. I don't know if it fits super well, and there are many who wear the hat much more fashionably than myself, but I'm going to do my best. Plus, this is all just for fun, so take everything with a grain of salt. ;3

After learning about the Terra dinosaur toys from my previous post, I rushed out this afternoon and snagged one! It was a tough choice between the dinos available, but I went with the Pachyrhinosaurus, because I don't currently own any ceratopsians in my collection yet.
I know, weird, right?

Like previously mentioned, this line is about $13 at Target, and is a pretty decent little toy. The detail on the skin is pretty impressive, having a lot of texture and cool paint designs. They did a great job on the weirdness of pachyrhino's odd head, and he even has little painted eyes. It's in a cool gallop pose that looks like he is circling a hungry predator getting ready to thrown down. It's not pictured, but one of his back legs is off the ground in mid-step, so the toy is balanced really well. It's made a sturdy plastic that can withstand a beating.  

Honestly for the price, this a cute little toy, great for kids who want to have something to play with.

The cons are given with how cheap it is. The paint, while good, does look a bit sloppy in areas. The back side of this pachyrhino's right hip is a big smudged, and he's missing paint on one of his feet. Unlike the upper scale toys from Papo or Schleich, the jaw does not move but is still in a cool roar pose.

But honestly, it's not a deal breaker. It's a really good toy, and one I'm happy to have as part of my collection. He's adorable and a great first addition to my ceratopsian horde. I probably won't get another Terra myself, I think I'll stick with Papo or Schleich, but I'd recommend it for fans for sure!

I'm glad to see more variety of dinosaur toys out there, with not so common species as their baseline. If you have a dinosaur fan in your life, it's a great gift. I would have loved to get one as a gift of any of the dinosaurs they had out there today. 

I'm glad this guy is part of the family now! :D

My dinosaur family. <3

- M