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.