Paleo Confessions

[Fembrogon]

I only been to one museum in my lifetime, maybe 2, I'm not sure

Hey, there's no shame in that. Even if one really wants to, (natural history)museums aren't super-abundant, so it can be hard to visit many when time and money are in short supply (to say nothing of occasional crazy world circumstances that make travel even harder).
I've probably visited only a handful or more of different museums/centers in my own lifetime. It's absolutely worth it when I can manage it - but like so many things, it's not always easy.

I dislike Prehistoric Planet for its vast amount of rather boring and short scenes. It was enjoyable, but unless they are releasing another season, I am disappointed by the lack of runtime of most creatures.

I sympathize with this, even though I love the show. I often found myself thinking each episode could have stood to be 10-20 minutes longer, to cover certain genera and habitats more thoroughly. Planet Earth was typically an hour long  per episode, iirc.

Despite all the scientific inaccuracies and improbabilities, I still like to watch awesomebro-style prehistoric battles. In fact, I'll probably include some in my book.

I prefer the awesomebro-style battles FAR more than realistic ones, I dunno, I find them more fun to watch despite being inaccurate like others have stated.

I guess my confession would be that I still like dinosaurs-as-monsters, as presented in the media. My username should already indicate that. I love dinosaur science, paleontology, and natural history, and reality is always more interesting than fiction which is why I love dinosaurs more than made-up monsters, like dragons. But I will always have a love for old stop-motion, guy in costume, tail dragging and living aside cavemen kind of stuff. I suppose that's what allows me to enjoy Jurassic World movies and Primal alongside something like Prehistoric Planet. Anyway, not a huge confession but in these parts an interest in pop culture or historically inaccurate dinosaurs is often frowned upon.

I strongly sympathize or agree with these. As much as our scientific understanding has advanced, I don't think we'll ever divorce dinosaurs entirely from a certain level of fantasy aura; and that's okay in my book. There's a sense of mystery and wonder which comes with prehistory, so naturally we want to romanticize, dramaticize, and generally stylize it for our own entertainment. As long as we can recognize the difference from the real science, there's no reason we can't enjoy the crazy stuff.
...And dare I say, of course the monsterized action scenes are more entertaining than realistic fights - they're supposed to be! The "awesomebro" battles are designed to be as big and exciting as possible, while more "accurate" fights are meant to be somewhat objective and maybe informative, at least in the context of a documentary. The intents are fundamentally different, and once again I think that's okay, as long as the difference is properly recognized.
Frankly, as much as Jurassic World frustrates me, the moment Blue and Rexy start tag-teaming the Indominus is when I start having the most fun with the film.
 

[Faelrin]

@Fembrogon I think you nailed why I enjoy Ark as much as I do, lol, and also the whole design and approach with the Cyberzoic lore. As much as these absolutely were real animals, there's still an element of fantasy and mystery for many of us, including myself, such as in how we imagine them, and that does carry into the collecting hobby as well, especially short of incredibly well preserved remains (like with skin, etc). A lot of it could be from cultural biases or our upbringing as well in how we see them, or want to see them, and with it a bit of attachment as well. Honestly this probably carries over with extant animals as well, and why some species are so incredibly popular (toy market for one such example, but cartoons, pets, etc).

And I do think some of it is stranger then fiction. The extinct fauna, much of what is long gone and unlike anything around today (like Anomalocaris and Opabinia, etc), are good examples of this. Or things like the Tully Monster. Or the absolute giants that some of the sauropods were, and nothing on land has since gotten as large as they were. I can only wonder how wondrous and strange life on other planets out there may be or have been like, if the (incomplete) records of our own planet have had so many interesting and diverse things in it, and it's just a mere taste of potential.

[Duna]

I must confess I'm more interested in vintage dinosaur figures than actual ones. They represent the paleoart of the time (which I also love, and of all my favourite is Zdenek Burian). Vintage figures get day by day more valuable and nostalgic and are like a frozen time capsule. It's not very probable than for example, that a PNSO iguanodon would become much more different and updated than it is now in 20 years time than for example a figure from the 80s did.

I won't say that I don't like some companies, lines, toys, etc because that is not true. I appreciate everything dinosaur in all ways. For example, I don't collect Dinoriders or JP (without a few exceptions) but I don't say I don't like them, because I do, in some way.

I must confess I watched all Jurassic Park-World movies in the cinema, all of them. But only one deserves all the glory. I watched Jurassic Park over a hundred times (if not more) in VHS, when I was 10-12. I just loved the dialogues, the plot ... (yes, you see very few dinos in that film). The Lost World wasn't as bad, Jurassic Park III was ... but nothing like JW.
I watched Jurassic World two times; I wanted to give it a second chance, but I didn't commit that error again with Fallen Kingdom and Dominion (the only movie in which I thought the director was intentionally mocking the viewers). Only one is enough. And I'll keep going to the cinema to watch any more movie related to the franchise.
I must add that I think Camp Cretaceous is ... meh. It's graphics and animation are as poor than I just can think of it more than a children cartoon series. And it's a pity because the plot is very good, quite dark and the characters are amazing and so is the soundtrack, too.

I didn't like also the lack of continuity in the chapters of Prehistoric Planet (I think they were just showing dinos - which they did very very well). Walking With Dinosaurs was better than in this aspect which I like more.

[Crackington]

I have three confessions:

1) Finding other people's lists of dinosaurs, models etc very dreary, but not lists of my own!

2) My knowledge of anatomy is pretty poor so I often find the threads on them bewildering. Why do other people seem to know so much more than me and why are they prepared to die on a hill over dinosaur lips etc?

3) I nonetheless enjoy rubber-necking when these arguments get heated, though I avoid joining in!

[Halichoeres]

Haha, yeah, I think a list is of most value and interest to its maker.

[Turkeysaurus]

I have emotional invesment on  T.rex being largest land carnivore.

2000's was worst time for it. Every year there was some other theropod found bigger than T.Rex. At one point T REX was out of top 10 largest on internet.

Pretty much all large Carchadontosaurids and Spinosaurus were considered larger. Also some others like Saurophaganax etc.

Basically how i felt experiencing about these "bigger than T.rex" theropods 20 years ago:


Allometry, lack of data and gosssip etc.    were the reasons.

I am aware it's stupid but can't help feelings. I'm also rooting for a prehistoric reptile (land or sea) bigger than Blue Whale.. and a carnivorous sea reptile bigger than Megalodon.

[CityRaptor]

Well, I always thought that it was unfair that the Blue Whale's claim to fame pretty much amounts to being fat....

[crazy8wizard]

not just it being fat, but the most fat.

[Papi-Anon]

Bless me, Patriofelis, for I have sinned...

-I do not have dyslexia, but my short attention span when reading complex names lead me as a small child until I was 15yrs old to mentally and verbally pronounce Arsenoitherium as "Arseniotherium" and for years thought it was...somehow...tangentally related to actor Arsenio Hall.

-In my early high school years I tried making a constructed language based loosely on the JP3 raptors' communication. I have long since lost the original notebook papers of the vocabulary and alphabet. On the upside, that project led to me eventually making a conlang made from Greek, Latin, Russian, Serbian, and Croatian derived words for my WIP paleo-sci-fi book for the names of some characters as well as what the fictional species of humans (Homo dimorphis) spoke 200kya. Ec VerbīMorfa veni'il allosDana!

-I have grown tired of Tyrannosauroids and Spinosauroids, and think that Allosauroids were the best predatory theropods ever.

-Allosauroids and maniraptorans aside, I am burned out on most if not all dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and Mesozoic sea reptiles other than Archelon. I adore Cenozoic stuff more nowadays and even like Paleozoic stuff more than Mesozoic life (except Mesozoic crurotarsans and synapsids). I'll take a Gorgonops over a Gorgosaurus any day.

-I sometimes like to fantasize that Stenonychosaurus was a self-aware, sapient dinosaur with cognitive abilities equal to modern humans but were also wise enough to not dabble in inventing things because they collectively theorized it would lead to pollution, in-fighting, war, etc and happily chose to be 'beasts' to maintain a stable environment that would also keep their numbers in check.

-Speaking of the previous confession, I also still love the original Dinosauroid design.

-I think The Lost World was even better than Jurassic Park (the movies), which is saying something considering JP1 was amazing on its own.

-I ship Indoraptor and Blue.

-I hated what happened to Giganotosaurus in JWD and see Rexy as a has-been movie monster that can't defeat another large theropod without assistance from another theropod.

-I liked Indominus and did not like how Mosasaurus pulled a WWD Cruel Sea opening on her outta nowhere.

-I think Carnotaurus is just a meme-dinosaur beyond how well-preserved its skin was.

-I will gladly eat meat of a cloned mammoth or dodo if I live long enough to see either successfully resurrected.

[EmperorDinobot]

Bless me o Father Time, for I have sinned:

I'm a mediocre anthropologist. I already forgot all of Homo's subspecies names and skulls. Same goes with non-human primates, prehistoric or not. I only graduated to get my family off my back. I don't really care about the Cenozoic and only force myself to pretend that I care about mammals. If you put a paper about the feeding habits of Pan troglodytes, and one about a new dinosaur next to each other, I'm going to read the dinosaur one, and say that I'll read the other one after. I won't.

I would have been a bad paleontologist anyways. I am very bad at math, which means I'm bad at chemistry. I am also an indoor cat. Do you really see me going into the field and telling you what's chert and what isn't? When can we get to the gift shop so I can buy more figures? And if I am an indoor cat, do you see me perusing through dusty assemblages day in and night, not knowing what to do with them and letting my ocd dictate my irresponsibility?

That being said, I do have a passion for cultural and social anthropology, languages, linguistics, ethnography and the like. I guess there are some mammals I like, as putrid and useless as we are.

"We're both a part of the same hypocrisy. But never think it applies to my family."



...I do know my fossil and extant prosimians to a tee, though.

[Turkeysaurus]

I don't like paying a lot more for prehistoric animals that look just like modern animal versions but only larger.

I am also not good at classifying anything before & after dinosaurs.

Also not good at enviroment, formations  in general.

[EmperorDinobot]

I must recant my confession. I do care about mammals, it's just that I need to pay more attention and read more about them.

I must also confess that I know very little about plants. I hiked around with my mom all summer, went to some cool places and stuff, but wouldn't it be a little bit better if I knew more about the plants in the forests we visited? Are there any good books on this? "Plants for Fools who know nothing about anything"?

Adding to the mediocre anthropologist thing: I know next to nothing about First Nations people. This was a class that was available, and I couldn't take it because it was right around the last bus to my town was to depart. I don't know why they offer such important courses at night. Aside from knowing what NAGPRA is and other laws, I just...don't know. I'm sure there must be a book in the library where I can learn more, because I feel that my lack of knowledge about the subject is an insult, as we try to make anthropology more inclusive, especially for FN peoples.

...maybe I should go back to school, just to get out of the house and see more people. To learn more. To remember.
 

[Halichoeres]

I don't like paying a lot more for prehistoric animals that look just like modern animal versions but only larger.

I definitely feel this way about megalodon. Figures of it feel very pointless to me.

[CarnotaurusKing]

megalodon is a very cool concept. And that's basically all it is currently, a concept.

[fgh46]

I have to admit that my preferences are more unusual than others:
I love Primeval or Legendary Monsterverse more than Jurassic Park, of which I only like the first Park or the first World!
I am sure that almost any superspecies or titans of the Legendary Monsterverse or creature from Primeval will tear apart any theropod villain of the Jurassic franchise 100 percent!
I do not love the teacher Laura Dern in the Jurassic franchise, but Brie Larson in Skull Island or Juliet Aubrey in Primeval, than this icon of cinematic paleoscience! Why don't they invite female scientists like Angelina Jolie to play them - after all, James Cameron invited Sigourney Weaver in his Avatar and hit the mark!
I prefer Godzilla 2014 to most modern Dinosaur films!
I find the megalodon from Walking with Sea Monsters more frightening than all the Meg films with Janeson Statham!
I do NOT like Tyrannosaurus and Dimetrodon and I think they are boring!
I HATE when words like Eden, Ark, Eve and other words from the Bible appear in scientific papers - with such words we only undermine the authority of science, and creationists see in such articles confirmation of their words!
I love when toys have bloody wounds, knocked out eyes and horns, traces of alien claws and teeth - and you understand that the world of the past is not a Fairytale Wonderland, but a dangerous and harsh place!
I love women whose profile is similar to Neanderthal!
I like trash comics of the 60s in their hilarious madness - better the predatory Parasaurolophus of Bakshi than the herbivorous Tyrannosaurus of Kent Howard!
I love mating scenes in films about prehistoric life - after all, love is what nourishes and creates our world and the prehistoric world is no exception!
I don't like when Protavis is put in the place of the ancestor of birds - it looks like Archaeopteryx was chosen for this place at random, which is what creationists take advantage of! I think ancient cetaceans are undeservedly deprived of attention in popular culture, and Mosasaurus has too much of it!

[Libraraptor]

I'm a purist when it comes the JP and JW movies. I honestly only love the first movie from 1993.

[EmperorDinobot]

I agree with the Megalodon sentiment. Overrated and cryptid.

Creationists need to be put in their place once and for all. I am sick of their (redacted).

[Libraraptor]

I agree with the Megalodon sentiment. Overrated and cryptid.

Creationists need to be put in their place once and for all. I am sick of their (redacted).

Do not want to start a discussion on that now, but it´s their kind of solace against the loss of control and the truth of finality. I do not like creationists either, but I fear they will never completely disappear. So I simply ignore what hurts me more than them - their dumbness and their incorrigibility.

[crazy8wizard]

If creationists can ignore evolution then I can ignore creationists.

[EmperorDinobot]

@Libraraptor I've been conditioned to be a believer, and I am, but that's really for another day. Thing is, they go 100% into their belief, whereas I can separate it, as can most of my family, and I have a large family. My late sister could, too.

My problem with them is that they continue to debate even though they already know that they're gonna say "no". Their mind is made up, but yet they continue pressing the issue, much like I'm doing now.

Another paleoconfession:
My least favorite dinosaur is Allosaurus, but this whole thing about Saurophaganax material being something else, and BOTM's Allosaurus fragilis has made me not dislike the animal so much. I disliked it for the same reason people dislike Tyrannosaurus. For every Tyrannosaurus drawing, there's an Allosaurus drawing, and speaking of drawing, I was never able to convey Allosaurus properly, except for the one in my abandoned deviantart gallery.
My least favorite dinosaur now is the crow. There's too many of them, their waste is more disgusting than the waste of other birds, they're mean to other animals, and they're smart like cats. I dislike cats for the same reasons. They're also always looming over me, waiting for me to die. Allosaurus already died out, so they're not going to pursue me!

Allosaurus, you're saved. Crow, ya burnt!