David Silvas New Kickstarter: Articulated Dinosaur TOYS

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Still somewhat unsettled but if correct the claims for Titanoceratops would make it larger even at around five tons if substantiated

[Halichoeres]

I think Blade's onto something. I think the whole concept of lots of shared parts will make it really difficult to actually make these all precisely to scale. Whereas all the dromaeosaurids he chose for the first series are similar in size, if not necessarily proportions, he decided to do basically the entire Ceratopsidae plus a few more distant relatives. That might be incompatible with the goal of making them all to scale if they're to share parts and also have accurate proportions.

On the other hand, I agree that making suggestions on things like wrist orientation isn't beyond the pale, but tone matters and it's hard to imagine that some of the more relentless criticism doesn't start to nettle after awhile. David has been nothing but gracious and cordial in my own interactions with him, and I don't think his response to that comment on facebook was as dismissive as initially painted.

If he doesn't want criticism (which I don't think is even the case, because he responded favorably to other critique comments), he shouldn't be marketing these as scientifically accurate. This is no different than the kind of criticism we regularly throw towards CollectA, Safari, etc.

I think the Machairasaurus size issue was just a goof. It's perfectly the right size if he thought the scale bar in the paper/Wikipedia was 1m instead of 50cm, because it's skull is about 2m long when it should be 1m. The hand issue is not common knowledge and almost all reconstructions get it wrong, so searching Google Images will create that mistake.

I'm not saying don't criticize. I'm just saying there's a reasonable way to do it and an obnoxious one. I'm not claiming that fb commenter specifically was obnoxious, either, but in general I have a low opinion of smugness and snark, which it's hard to deny pervade dinosaur enthusiast communities.

On the hands, do you mean the posture suggested by Paul & Christiansen?

[Simon]

What is the largest ceratopsian? Triceratops?

I believe Eotriceratops is the largest.

I believe (based on skull size alone, which is not definitive due to different body types of different animals) that its a tie between Eotriceratops and Triceratops Horridus.  You must remember that 8+ foot long T. Horridus skull ("Triceratops Maximus" was its nickname for years) at the Brigham Young University Museum that was dug up in the 1960s.  I think that it matches the Eotriceratops' skull in length....in life both animals likely had heads 9 feet long, and could have weighed 10-15 tons.

[Simon]

Picture 1 is the skull of "Eotriceratops"; Picture 2 is the ultra-large T Horridus skull (Triceratops Maximus) a the BYU Museum.  Both are about 8.5' long:

[Derek.McManus]

Well there is s saying about a picture conveying a thousand words! 😀

[AcroSauroTaurus]

What is the largest ceratopsian? Triceratops?

I believe Eotriceratops is the largest.

I believe (based on skull size alone, which is not definitive due to different body types of different animals) that its a tie between Eotriceratops and Triceratops Horridus.  You must remember that 8+ foot long T. Horridus skull ("Triceratops Maximus" was its nickname for years) at the Brigham Young University Museum that was dug up in the 1960s.  I think that it matches the Eotriceratops' skull in length....in life both animals likely had heads 9 feet long, and could have weighed 10-15 tons.

I've never heard of that specimen. However, I believe Tanystropheus meant "which is larger going by their average sizes". In that case I always thought it was either Eotriceratops or Titanoceratops.

[Simon]

What is the largest ceratopsian? Triceratops?

I believe Eotriceratops is the largest.

I believe (based on skull size alone, which is not definitive due to different body types of different animals) that its a tie between Eotriceratops and Triceratops Horridus.  You must remember that 8+ foot long T. Horridus skull ("Triceratops Maximus" was its nickname for years) at the Brigham Young University Museum that was dug up in the 1960s.  I think that it matches the Eotriceratops' skull in length....in life both animals likely had heads 9 feet long, and could have weighed 10-15 tons.

I've never heard of that specimen. However, I believe Tanystropheus meant "which is larger going by their average sizes". In that case I always thought it was either Eotriceratops or Titanoceratops.

Are there enough specimens of the latter two to even get a handle on average sizes?  If we have many, many T Horridus specimens (trending towards average because few animals get to "trophy" size), but only one or two chance discoveries of specimens of "trophy bulls" of the latter ("Eo" & "Titano"), it doesn't establish an average baseline for the latter to compare to T Horridus.

[Sim]

From the Creative Beast Studio Facebook page:

Current progress on the Beasts of the Mesozoic Xenoceratops sculpt. Having blast working on this guy.

[Roselaar]

Wow, that looks awesome! Can't wait to see it all finished and coloured.

[CityRaptor]

Looks good so far.
Hmm, I wonder if there will be a "Build a Ceratopsian set", too.  You know, for a science fiction double feature, building yourself a creature!

[Faelrin]

Wow it looks big. I can't wait to see how this one is finished and the others to come.

[Dinoguy2]

Picture 1 is the skull of "Eotriceratops"; Picture 2 is the ultra-large T Horridus skull (Triceratops Maximus) a the BYU Museum.  Both are about 8.5' long:

That second one is actually T. prorsus. Check out the characteristic forward nasal horn. IIRC it has been included as T. prorsus in a few recent papers too.

And yeah you can't compare the average size of Triceratops which is known from hundreds of specimens of all shapes and sizes to Eotriceratops and Titanoceratops which are only known from one each. That's just rigging the statistics. The average size of all three would likely be about the same, we're just comparing slight differences in maximumus size is small statistical samples, which is just as meaningless as when people do this to compare T. rex vs. Giganotosaurus etc. They're all around the same size and their differences are not significant.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Looks good so far.
Hmm, I wonder if there will be a "Build a Ceratopsian set", too.  You know, for a science fiction double feature, building yourself a creature!

Oh Rocky!

I dropped a couple exclusive ideas on David myself,  A Dino-Riders-like accessory set , and an Agathaumas of course.. include those options in a build a kit set and we could get some really fun critters.

[ZoPteryx]

Look'n nice so far!  I do hope the feet get fixed, though.  Perhaps he could just include a separate set of front feet in the accurate posture, like how the raptors got extra toes.

Hmm, I wonder if there will be a "Build a Ceratopsian set", too.  You know, for a science fiction double feature, building yourself a creature!

Hmm, now you've got me thinking about putting the ceratopsian heads on the raptor bodies! 

[Faelrin]

New update with video on the kickstarter campaign showing the test figures. Also it must be mentioned, there will be a delay for the shipping date (not likely going to happen in May). Honestly I'd rather production take its time for the best possible figures. This could also mean more time to get more figures from this line, as well.

[DakotaDinos]

From the Creative Beast Studio Facebook page:

Current progress on the Beasts of the Mesozoic Xenoceratops sculpt. Having blast working on this guy.

WOW, looks so great!

[Shadowknight1]

New update with video on the kickstarter campaign showing the test figures. Also it must be mentioned, there will be a delay for the shipping date (not likely going to happen in May). Honestly I'd rather production take its time for the best possible figures. This could also mean more time to get more figures from this line, as well.

The delay didn't surprise me.  I've yet to back a Kickstarter that shipped "on time" lol.  I'd rather they take their time to get great product than rush out something that ends up bad.

[ItsTwentyBelow]

Agreed, it is definitely to be expected that any project might experience delays. It will be well worth the wait, since we'll receive a better finished product in the end.

At least things are in motion. I wonder when they're hoping to have them ready to ship at this point.

[CrypticPrism]

Haha, my mom went to art school with the guy so I get a velociraptor

[ImADinosaurRARR]

NEW IMAGES!!!!!



Articulation looks wonderful! Front legs are nicely splayed as well ;P