Tyrannosaurus: Popularity despite mediocraty

[Trisdino]

Tyrannosaurus rex, a name that is instantly recognizable. Even people who know next to nothing of dinosaurs, who view them as little more than ancient, swamp dwelling, lizards, or think they are a mere work of fiction, still recognize that name. Why is that? What has made this dinosaur so famous? The answer to this, is more complex than one may think at first glance. There are perhaps more factors than most people take into account.

For several decades after it was first dug up, T.rex was the largest theropod ever discovered. To this day, many still believe it to be one of, if not the, largest dinosaur of all time. Of course, this is wrong, and has been for quite a while, but the general public do not know this. For a laymen, dinosaurs are but a long gone peculiarity, their fossils remnants from a murky age of giant lizards and volcano's, about which little is known. They care not to research it, for such creatures, long dead as they are, garner little interest. Yet even then, secluded from all knowledge on the subject, some things cannot be avoided, and a discovery as large as the first tyrannosaurus surely must have been great news. For ages it was trumpeted around as the largest carnivore ever, and this gave it a distinct PR advantage over other dinosaurs, namely that of being a childhood superstar. This animal was everywhere in children's cartoons, books, toys, and even songs, becoming ingrained in the popular culture. At this point it is so deeply rooted into the common psyche, that it has almost become synonymous with "large predatory scaly thing", a term so incredibly vague, yet still united under the one image of a prehistoric monstrosity roaring off the top of its lungs. This mighty beast, known by most as the Tyrannosaur, was the epidomy of childhood awe and fear, two things that both cement themselves very well into our memories. Of course, the creature described here never existed. In real life, tyrannosaurus was a fairly mediocrity, albeit relatively large, Tyrannosaurid, which just so happened to be discovered at a time where no other larger carnivores had been found. It was not a particularly special animal, in the grand scheme of things, sharing many traits with most other tyrannosaurids, and even creatures of several other groups, yet common knowledge, and more importantly, nostalgia, cares not for this fact. To them, tyrannosaurus is not a real animal, it is a fantasy beast, a creature of such great power that it, if set loose today, would surely wreck havok upon our fragile world. And so, ingrained in our memories, a fantastic creature, a dragon, which just happens to go by the name of Tyrannosaurus rex, has followed us, and spread throughout many generations. It has reached the point where even today, where more unique, deadly, and larger dinosaurs have been discovered, it is still trumpeted around as the most awesomest thing since cake.

But here is the prospect that I am trying to bring up, and the one that I would hope you have picked up on by now. T.rex is not a real animal, not the one most people know anyway. It never has been, never will be, and probably never was even thought to be. The creature that pops to mind when people think of T.rex is not the one first described in the notes from the dig-site, it is not the lumbering tripod behemoth of the 50's, not the gangly shrink wrapped zombie of the 80's, and not the feathered dinosaur of today, rather, it was an extrapolation of them all, a creature whose origin is very similar in nature to that of dragons. People hear of great beasts, but lack an understanding of them. Despite this fact, they spread the word concerning the "giant huge lizard beast", and their children do the same. Eventually, over several generations, we end up with a beast which has never been portrayed in the media, never been described by science, and first and foremost, never actually existed. Yet it is the most well known dinosaur of them all. This here, if anything, is in practice an excellent social experiment, showing how information can be miss interpreted, extrapolated, and over generations, eventually portrayed as fact, a method which probably also spawned most religions today. The social hive mind, while not a physical phenomenon, still exists in a sort of information collective, and it is here that this creature has thrived. Today, we face two creatures, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Tyrannosaurus rex, so different, and yet of the same origin.

[Gwangi]

I think I understand the point you're trying to make here but it also seems like you're deliberately being contrary. Sure, Tyrannosaurus the animal was probably a lot different than Tyrannosaurus the pop-culture icon but the same can be said about every other dinosaur described up till now and we all know this (us here, maybe not the "normals"). I don't know why you feel compelled to pick on T. rex except that it's a popular dinosaur and you're attempting to grab attention. As for Tyrannosaurus being mediocre, I respectfully disagree, and not just because I'm a fan boy. We know a lot about Tyrannosaurus compared to other dinosaurs, it is easily among the most studied. While other larger theropods did exist most of them are known only from scant material. By comparison we know considerably more about T. rex and that among its own unique attributes among the other dinosaurs make Tyrannosaurus something special. I agree that Tyrannosaurus is not that unique compared to the other tyrannosaurs like Tarbosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Albertosaurus etc. but it is still the most well known, the largest in size that we're aware of and one of the very last non-avian dinosaurs. All that counts for something I suppose.

[SpittersForEver]

I don't understand this.

[Trisdino]

I think I understand the point you're trying to make here but it also seems like you're deliberately being contrary. Sure, Tyrannosaurus the animal was probably a lot different than Tyrannosaurus the pop-culture icon but the same can be said about every other dinosaur described up till now and we all know this (us here, maybe not the "normals"). I don't know why you feel compelled to pick on T. rex except that it's a popular dinosaur and you're attempting to grab attention. As for Tyrannosaurus being mediocre, I respectfully disagree, and not just because I'm a fan boy. We know a lot about Tyrannosaurus compared to other dinosaurs, it is easily among the most studied. While other larger theropods did exist most of them are known only from scant material. By comparison we know considerably more about T. rex and that among its own unique attributes among the other dinosaurs make Tyrannosaurus something special. I agree that Tyrannosaurus is not that unique compared to the other tyrannosaurs like Tarbosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Albertosaurus etc. but it is still the most well known, the largest in size that we're aware of and one of the very last non-avian dinosaurs. All that counts for something I suppose.

You are completely correct in the regard that I picked T.rex because it was popular, though I thought that was rather evident, considering the entire post was about why it was so popular...


When I said it was mediocre, perhaps that was the wrong word. Rather, it is rather Generic. T.rex is the largest Tyrannosaurid, and one of the last dinosaur generas, but it was not in and of itself a particularly special species. My point was essentially two things:

1. The public media's perception of dinosaurs as a whole do not represent the actual creatures. In this case, T.rex was just an example.

2. That had T.rex been discovered today, with, say, allosaurus at the time it was, it would probably be the one ingrained in popular culture, with T.rex being yet another large theropod.

T.rex is by no means a boring animal, it is just not as interesting as people make it out to be. As you yourself pointed out, compared to say tarbosaurus, the differences are rather minimal. I was essentially trying to discuss both how it became famous, and how the media warped it. I simply picked the most obvious example, by virtue of it being the most well known, and thus most suitable to the subject at hand.

[Gwangi]

I think I understand the point you're trying to make here but it also seems like you're deliberately being contrary. Sure, Tyrannosaurus the animal was probably a lot different than Tyrannosaurus the pop-culture icon but the same can be said about every other dinosaur described up till now and we all know this (us here, maybe not the "normals"). I don't know why you feel compelled to pick on T. rex except that it's a popular dinosaur and you're attempting to grab attention. As for Tyrannosaurus being mediocre, I respectfully disagree, and not just because I'm a fan boy. We know a lot about Tyrannosaurus compared to other dinosaurs, it is easily among the most studied. While other larger theropods did exist most of them are known only from scant material. By comparison we know considerably more about T. rex and that among its own unique attributes among the other dinosaurs make Tyrannosaurus something special. I agree that Tyrannosaurus is not that unique compared to the other tyrannosaurs like Tarbosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Albertosaurus etc. but it is still the most well known, the largest in size that we're aware of and one of the very last non-avian dinosaurs. All that counts for something I suppose.

You are completely correct in the regard that I picked T.rex because it was popular, though I thought that was rather evident, considering the entire post was about why it was so popular...


When I said it was mediocre, perhaps that was the wrong word. Rather, it is rather Generic. T.rex is the largest Tyrannosaurid, and one of the last dinosaur generas, but it was not in and of itself a particularly special species. My point was essentially two things:

1. The public media's perception of dinosaurs as a whole do not represent the actual creatures. In this case, T.rex was just an example.

2. That had T.rex been discovered today, with, say, allosaurus at the time it was, it would probably be the one ingrained in popular culture, with T.rex being yet another large theropod.

T.rex is by no means a boring animal, it is just not as interesting as people make it out to be. As you yourself pointed out, compared to say tarbosaurus, the differences are rather minimal. I was essentially trying to discuss both how it became famous, and how the media warped it. I simply picked the most obvious example, by virtue of it being the most well known, and thus most suitable to the subject at hand.

Gottcha and thanks for the clarification. I agree with you. Tyrannosaurus is one of my favorite dinosaurs but it has as much to do with nostalgia and exposure as it does with the animal itself. While it was no doubt an interesting and awe inspiring animal had it been discovered more recently in the place of a different large theropod it wouldn't be the pop-culture icon it is today. A lot of my favorite dinosaurs are the classics I grew up with just because that is what I came to know when I was growing up, other fantastic and interesting dinosaurs have been discovered since but they don't have the exposure that the classics had. On the flip side of that, some of the more bizarre dinosaurs like Stegosaurus I feel are actually taken for granted because we've known about them so long. IMO Stegosaurus is still one of the strangest dinosaurs we're aware of but it seems to make very few "favorite lists". That phenomenon would make for an interesting write up too I would think.

[Trisdino]

Well, it seems that we are getting a steady stream of weird dinosaurs, and I doubt we will ever run out.

Today we have the therizinosaurids, deinocherius, and of course, the constantly changing images of old animals. I am willing to bet that in the next 20 years, we will find feathers preserved on individuals within almost every group of dinosaurs known, and yes, that includes, although probably in the form of quills, sauropods.

[Patrx]

I guess I'm not sure what you actually want to say here. Just that people's perceptions of prehistoric animals are not the same as the animals themselves? That's true, of course; but I'm not sure if you're trying to say that it's also somehow negative?

[Trisdino]

Negative? No, I am just analyzing the way and reasons the media have adopted tyrannosaurus rex.

[Patrx]

I see! Well, it is interesting to see how a fairly average theropod became a genuinely legendary monster due to circumstance and imagination Similarly, look at how Archaeopteryx has gotten its reputation as a bizarre, puzzling half-bird despite being a pretty ordinary little deinonychosaur. I do often wonder what our thoughts on dinosaurs would be like if certain finds had simply been made in a different order.

[Trisdino]

As I dedicated a fairly large portion of my OP to discussing, most of the animals that the media covert never actually existed. The plucky "bird with reptile face and claws" acheopteryx never actually existed, the naked super intelligent raptors never existed, the firebreathing, armored, tyrannosaurus rex's never existed.

But as I also tried to explain, one of the most interesting things is that the superduper armored tyrannosaur was never actually portrayed in the media. Up until the 50's it was shown as a bumbling tripod, up until the late 90's it was as shrinkwrapped zombie, and now it is a feathered graceful beast, but there has never been an era where the "armored volcano dwelling superbeast" rex was the norm, yet that is how people remember them. To get a perspective on just how far away from the real animal this is, consider that this is nostalgia enhancing an enhanced version of a warped description of a misunderstood animal.

[CityRaptor]

the firebreathing, armored, tyrannosaurus rex's never existed.

Yeah, that came to my mind open reading this.
And how can we expect Dinosaurs being portrayed properly if they can't even get modern day animals right?

[Patrx]

Fact or fiction, that Dinobot is a thing of beauty.

[Gwangi]

Fact or fiction, that Dinobot is a thing of beauty.

That may be so, but not enough to compel me to sit through a Transformers movie for nearly 3 hours!

[Patrx]

You know, a friend of mine went to see it yesterday, and he says it's comparatively palatable. At least it seems the Dinobots get plenty of screentime!

[Gwangi]

You know, a friend of mine went to see it yesterday, and he says it's comparatively palatable. At least it seems the Dinobots get plenty of screentime!

I've only seen the first and I didn't like it, it's also regarded as the best of the franchise so I doubt I would like the others. A 17% rating on Rotton Tomatoes is all I need to know. Not even the Dinobots can convince me! That's fine if you're a fan of the movies, they just aren't my kind of thing. If I ever do watch it though, it'll only be for those Dinobots.

[Ultimatedinoking]

the firebreathing, armored, tyrannosaurus rex's never existed.

Yeah, that came to my mind open reading this.
And how can we expect Dinosaurs being portrayed properly if they can't even get modern day animals right?

Grimlock!

Modern day animals? I can think of some examples:

Brutish gorillas who take women

The made up "monkey" you see almost everywhere. Bald  hands, feet and face. Brown hair.

Hiper deadly harvestmen

Man hunting sharks

The list gos on and on...

[stargatedalek]

You know, a friend of mine went to see it yesterday, and he says it's comparatively palatable. At least it seems the Dinobots get plenty of screentime!

you. are. insane.
they got 20 minutes out of 3 hour movie, and 20 minutes is pushing it

[Ultimatedinoking]

You know, a friend of mine went to see it yesterday, and he says it's comparatively palatable. At least it seems the Dinobots get plenty of screentime!

you. are. insane.
they got 20 minutes out of 3 hour movie, and 20 minutes is pushing it

I wanted an hour and a half of dinobot, ah well, at least there wasn't a ton of human moments.

[Patrx]

they got 20 minutes out of 3 hour movie, and 20 minutes is pushing it

Really; is that it? How disappointing. On the other hand, it means I don't feel obligated to give this film any money.

[stargatedalek]

personally I think its my favorite Bayformers movie, but sadly the dinobots have nothing to do with that