David Silvas New Kickstarter: Articulated Dinosaur TOYS

[Dinoguy2]

Regarding Balaur, where is the line drawn between Dinosaur and bird? The skeletal remains and at least artist impressions of the animal, certainly make it look like other maniraptor or dromeosaurian dinosaurs. So what's the difference? At what point do we stop calling something a dinosaur and start calling it a bird?

Chris

Some people use Archaeopteryx as the dividing line because it's the first feathered fossil ever found. Others suggest only the crown group of modern birds should be called birds, since only they have all the features we associate with birds. I agree with the latter, but a lot of people use the Archaeopteryx cutoff, which is totally arbitrary IMO. Archaeopteryx just happened to be the first feathered fossil by accident of history, nothing particularly special about it anymore.

Of course then there's the older definition of bird, which is anything with feathers (that's why Archaeopteryx was classified as a bird in the first place). If you use that definition, all maniraptorans at least and possibly all ornithodirans at most are birds...

[AcroSauroTaurus]

Ceratopsian series! Thats sounds awesome! I can't wait.

[Flaffy]

I need MORE  

[stargatedalek]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaur_bondoc
The position of Balaur relative to other bird-like dinosaurs and early birds has been difficult to determine. The initial phylogenetic analysis placed Balaur bondoc closest to the Asiatic mainland dromaeosaurid species Velociraptor mongoliensis. A 2013 study by Brusatte and colleagues, using a modified version of the same data, found it in an unresolved close relationship with the dromaeosaurids Deinonychus and Adasaurus, with some possible alternative trees suggesting it branched off before the common ancestor of Deinonychus and Velociraptor, while others maintained it as the closest relative of Velociraptor, with Adasaurus as their next closest relative.[6]

More recent analyses using different sets of anatomical data have since cast doubt on a dromaeosaurid classification for Balaur. In 2013, a larger analysis containing a wide variety of coelurosaurs found that Balaur was not a dromaeosaurid at all, but a basal avialan, more closely related to modern birds than to Jeholornithiformes but more basal than Omnivoropterygiformes.[7] A study published in 2014 found Balaur to be sister to Pygostylia.[8] An independent analysis using an expanded version of the original data set (the one that found Balaur to be a dromaeosaurid) drew a similar conclusion in 2014.[9] In 2015, researchers Andrea Cau, Tom Brougham, and Darren Naish published a study which specifically attempted to clarify which theropods were close relatives of Balaur. While their analysis could not completely rule out the possibility that B. bondoc was a dromaeosaurid, they concluded that this result was less likely than the classification of Balaur as a non-pygostylian avialan based on several important bird-like features. Many of the presumed unique traits would in fact have been normal for a member of the Avialae. Typical bird features included the degree of fusion of the limb bones, the functional first toe, the first toe claw not being smaller than the second claw, a long penultimate phalanx of the third toe, a small fourth toe claw and a long fifth metatarsal.[10]

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Velociraptor osmolskae

[Appalachiosaurus]

Are those colors even possible?

[Papi-Anon]

Are those colors even possible?

Sure, for a bluejay. He's basing the colors on modern-day birds. Atrociraptor was based on some type of parrot, V. Mongoliensis on (I think) a bearded vulture, and some speculate Balaur is from a cassowary.

[LophoLeeVT]

ohhhh!!!! it lookes awesome!!!!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I can't really tell if it's a different sculpt or a repaint only?

[Shadowknight1]

Are those colors even possible?

Sure, for a bluejay. He's basing the colors on modern-day birds. Atrociraptor was based on some type of parrot, V. Mongoliensis on (I think) a bearded vulture, and some speculate Balaur is from a cassowary.

Definitely.

[Nanuqsaurus]

Velociraptor osmolskae

That's what Blue should've looked like in Jurassic World.

[rammleid]

I can't really tell if it's a different sculpt or a repaint only?

As he answered in the kickstarter QA:

Is the Velociraptor osmolskae the same sculpt as the Velociraptor mongoliensis but with a different color scheme? Or they have different features/parts?

yes, it is the same as the Velociraptor mongoliensis figure but with different colors and package art.

[Dobber]

I like it! already upped my donation for it.

Chris

[Dinoguy2]

Are those colors even possible?

http://dinogoss.blogspot.com/2013/09/iridescence-in-simple-feathers-case-of.html

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I can't really tell if it's a different sculpt or a repaint only?

As he answered in the kickstarter QA:

Is the Velociraptor osmolskae the same sculpt as the Velociraptor mongoliensis but with a different color scheme? Or they have different features/parts?

yes, it is the same as the Velociraptor mongoliensis figure but with different colors and package art.

Ah didn't see that.  V. Osmolskae has some small, different features I think from V. Mongoliensis..right?

[rammleid]

Ah didn't see that.  V. Osmolskae has some small, different features I think from V. Mongoliensis..right?

Sure, but every new part needs new molds and requires an important investment. Just a color variant is easier and cheaper to manage (don't forget the blue raptor will be available only during the kickstarter).

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

True, I've already upped my pledge for it. Just would be cool to point out any differences when displayed together. 

I as a general rule, dislike repaints...started way back with the JP stuff.

[Shadowknight1]

I pledged for V. mongoliensis.  I love those colors.

Personally though...wouldn't it have been better to have a 1 raptor tier, 2 raptor tier, 3 raptor tier, etc. and just ask which raptors the backers want with the survey?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Hard to please everyone..you end up answering a lot of questions regardless. David seems to be trying to cover every option, difficult but i applaud him .

[Viking Spawn]

I really like that blue one!