David Silva's Beasts of the Mesozoic Tyrannosaur Series

[terrorchicken]

Since my favorite of the first wave(bistah) is too pricey for me(I have  a 55 dollar limit) I have no idea what to get right now....I do like the guanlong but I want to wait and see what the other figures look like when their prototypes are completed and revealed.

[Flaffy]

@Flaffy Which specimen is that? Is that a cast of the holotype specimen's skull material? The only skull material I'm aware of currently appear to be from either the holotype (BYU 8120/9396, BYU 8120/9397, BYU 826/9402, BYU 9398, BYU 13719) described in 2011, or the subadult UMNH VP 16690 specimen described in this 2013 paper? Both appear to have partial or fragmentary skull material to work from, with the subadult UMNH VP 16690 specimen appearing to have a bit more to work from, despite being a subadult. Apparently there was also a specimen discovered in 2017 at the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, but I don't know if that specimen has been fully confirmed to belong to Teratophoneus or another genus by now, assuming it has been described at all yet, but it appears to have the skull, and most of the body. I'm also not sure if the skull in this 2021 paper is the one discovered in 2017, or is a different one, but it appears to belong to an adult specimen.


Scott Hartman's skeletal seems to be largely based upon specimen UMNH VP 16690 as well (though also the holotype), and I wonder if that skeletal was used as a starting point, other then the papers possibly?

https://www.deviantart.com/drscotthartman/art/Teratophoneus-the-monster-killer-268423426

Yes, "Boris" is the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument specimen, and is currently assigned to the genus Teratophoneus. It basically is a complete and relatively uncompressed skull of a mature specimen, with a distinct lack of a dramatically down-turned snout seen on Hartman's skeletal.

"I left the reference for this up to Jake for this head so I can't comment on which specimens he used- you'd have to ask him. But I trust his judgement."
- David, regarding why Boris wasn't used.

So it's really puzzling why Jacob Baardse chose to base his sculpt off both a subadult, and a decade old skeletal. (I believe Hartman made this skeletal in 2011, and did some minor updates to the silhouette in 2013. So that would mean Hartman's skeletal does not reflect new information presented by the 2017 Teratophoneus specimen)

More pics of Boris cus it's a beautiful specimen:




Compared to the commonly circulated, but deformed skull reconstruction.

[Faelrin]

@Flaffy Thanks for the information on that! Glad to see that's the skull from it after all. The "Boris" skull also looks a lot more like a traditional tyrannosaur skull, then the older subadult material did. Glad it is relatively complete and not damaged either.

In any case that would be a shame if the final figure isn't as up to date, but perhaps that material was easily overlooked without there being a formal description on it yet (at least not one I've come across yet)? I guess I need to do more digging on this, as while this isn't particularly relevant to the thread here per se, I've been trying to compile together a list of known material for named and valid genera.

I'm also thinking of asking tomorrow in regards to Dryptosaurus, and Alectrosaurus, in particular in regards to their skull material. Both are fragmentary. I would think perhaps Dryptosaurus skull is based on material from Appalachiosaurus (holotype specimen RMM 6670) as a start, but I'm wondering if Alectrosaurus is still using material that was formerly referred to it (specimen AMNH 6556 and IGM 100/51), which would be incorrect? This website here has some more information, as does the theropod database. It appears those specimens have not since been given a new taxon, or assigned elsewhere (though I haven't searched much on it)?

[Brontozaurus]

Am I the only own who doesn't like the WWD colour scheme? It's not bad by any sense of the term, but I find it very bland compared to the other two.

I actually came here to post about this very thing, because I recently changed my pledge from the WWD rex to the standard colour scheme. I love WWD, I really do, and the call of the limited edition piece is strong, but I just don't like the colours all that much. Particularly compared to the standard version, it looks more vibrant and those piercing blue eyes are going to look incredible if the final toy is like that. Also I'm lucky enough to have the original WWD rex toy, so I'm not lacking for that colour scheme in my collection.

[suspsy]

Just under $4K needed to unlock Qianzhousaurus!

[Sim]

The Raptor series was also only available in US and Canada which limits the amount of backers compared to this one.

The raptor series was available all over the world I believe, I backed it from the UK.

[Faelrin]

Still relatively on target with unlocking one per day so far. Other then one relatively slow day this has been progressing so good so far. Over 20 days left and 9 stretch goals left to unlock (after Qianzhousaurus gets unlocked). Still a lot of time to sail through these!

[Psittacoraptor]

Love the look of the Proceratosaurus sculpt so far. This is one of the figures I'm considering for my pledge.

I'm curious about how the neck joints work on these small therapods. I don't have any of the BotM raptors, so can anyone tell me if they're capable of looking up or down? My ceratopsians all have a neck joint right behind their frills that lets them swivel their heads down (and up, to some extent, though the range of motion there is more limited), but the position of the top neck joint on the Proceratosaurus looks like it would only let the head swivel left or right.

Up and down movement of the heads is rather limited, here are two quick snaps that show the maximum articulation:




You can make them look further down/up by moving the other parts of the body. Horizontal articulation of the head/neck is much better.

[Faelrin]

Not sure when this update went up, but here's our first look at the Qianzhousaurus sculpt:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativebeast/beasts-of-the-mesozoic-tyrannosaur-series-action-figures/posts/3316637













Almost $2,000 away from getting it unlocked (well there was a brief amount of time it was under that amount, but seems like someone or some folks decreased pledge...  ). Today's been another slow one. Better luck tomorrow?

[Carnoking]

Alright, that's enough to get me on board.

[Concavenator]

Alright, so I have finally made my contribution to the campaign. I have just pledged for the Guanlong, and I'm very hyped because this is going to be my first Beasts of the Mesozoic figure ever!

However, I would like to ask something. The Kickstarter page says "Rewards are not guaranteed". But in this case, since the campaign is already funded, rewards are guaranteed, aren't they?

There's something that annoys me, though, but I think there's nothing that can be done. In order to select the Guanlong, I selected the Base Shipping for Add-Ons Only (INT), which costs 10 $. However, on top of that I will be charged 15 $ for shipping to my country (Spain). This double shipping cost is irritating, I will be paying 25 $ in shipping costs, almost the same as the Guanlong itself... (sigh)

[Over9K]

Alright, so I have finally made my contribution to the campaign. I have just pledged for the Guanlong, and I'm very hyped because this is going to be my first Beasts of the Mesozoic figure ever!

However, I would like to ask something. The Kickstarter page says "Rewards are not guaranteed". But in this case, since the campaign is already funded, rewards are guaranteed, aren't they?

There's something that annoys me, though, but I think there's nothing that can be done. In order to select the Guanlong, I selected the Base Shipping for Add-Ons Only (INT), which costs 10 $. However, on top of that I will be charged 15 $ for shipping to my country (Spain). This double shipping cost is irritating, I will be paying 25 $ in shipping costs, almost the same as the Guanlong itself... (sigh)

"Rewards Not Guaranteed" is legalese for "That's between you and the creators, Kickstarter in no way guarantees you'll get what the creator is saying you'll get."

That's just part of the deal when you back a project.

[Concavenator]

Alright, so I have finally made my contribution to the campaign. I have just pledged for the Guanlong, and I'm very hyped because this is going to be my first Beasts of the Mesozoic figure ever!

However, I would like to ask something. The Kickstarter page says "Rewards are not guaranteed". But in this case, since the campaign is already funded, rewards are guaranteed, aren't they?

There's something that annoys me, though, but I think there's nothing that can be done. In order to select the Guanlong, I selected the Base Shipping for Add-Ons Only (INT), which costs 10 $. However, on top of that I will be charged 15 $ for shipping to my country (Spain). This double shipping cost is irritating, I will be paying 25 $ in shipping costs, almost the same as the Guanlong itself... (sigh)

"Rewards Not Guaranteed" is legalese for "That's between you and the creators, Kickstarter in no way guarantees you'll get what the creator is saying you'll get."

That's just part of the deal when you back a project.

Thanks! Makes sense. So now, all that's left is to fulfill the BackerKit Survey once the campaign is over, right?

[Dinoxels]

Alright, so I have finally made my contribution to the campaign. I have just pledged for the Guanlong, and I'm very hyped because this is going to be my first Beasts of the Mesozoic figure ever!

However, I would like to ask something. The Kickstarter page says "Rewards are not guaranteed". But in this case, since the campaign is already funded, rewards are guaranteed, aren't they?

There's something that annoys me, though, but I think there's nothing that can be done. In order to select the Guanlong, I selected the Base Shipping for Add-Ons Only (INT), which costs 10 $. However, on top of that I will be charged 15 $ for shipping to my country (Spain). This double shipping cost is irritating, I will be paying 25 $ in shipping costs, almost the same as the Guanlong itself... (sigh)

"Rewards Not Guaranteed" is legalese for "That's between you and the creators, Kickstarter in no way guarantees you'll get what the creator is saying you'll get."

That's just part of the deal when you back a project.

Thanks! Makes sense. So now, all that's left is to fulfill the BackerKit Survey once the campaign is over, right?

Exactly

[Dusty Wren]

Up and down movement of the heads is rather limited, here are two quick snaps that show the maximum articulation:

Thanks, the photos are very helpful! I'm guessing that the tyrannosaurs will have a similar range. It's a shame they can't flex their heads more, but there are always going to be limits to articulation.

Also, I'm always amazed by how pretty the BotM raptors are. I really need to get one.

[Faelrin]

Less then $300 to go now for unlocking the Qianzhousaurus. Sooner this gets unlocked we can head to getting Lythronax and everything after funded.

[Bread]

Probably the most anticipated figure out of the line for me, the Lythronax! I just love the colors.

[Over9K]

Qianzhousaurus unlocked!

Next stop Lythronax!

I have a feeling that once people see the beautiful Gorgosaurus prototype, we'll see a decent surge, swelling through the Body 4 figures to the end...

[Duck]

The BotM barns never really appealed to me, but for the people that like it, I'm very happy for them. I just placed my pledge for the Gaunlong, which will probably be my first and only BotM figure. But you never know. 

[Faelrin]

@Over9K I'm hoping that will be the case as well. I'm sure there's also probably more folks interested in the larger genera like Gorgosaurus, Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, and Tarbosaurus.


In case this is of any use to anyone, I'm copying my comment I just posted on the kickstarter for here as well:

He did some comparisons with a few of the Mattel JW figures during the ceratopsians campaign. I agree this would be pretty helpful to visualize.
I did take some measurements of my 2020 Epic Roarin' T. rex (one of the larger scale T. rex figures, which also includes the 2018 Thrash and Throw, 2019 Bite N Fight, and the newly released Stomp 'N Escape one), which came out to be about 7 - 7.5 inches/17.78 - 19.05 cm tall (from the feet to hip), and about 21.5 inches/54.61 cm long from tip of the tail to snout (taken with a metal long ruler, so take these measurements with a grain of salt). The head is about 4 inches/10.16 cm long, 2.5 inches/6.35 cm tall, and 2 inches/5.08 cm wide.
I also took measurements of the smaller Extreme Chompin' sculpt (such as the recently released Legacy Collection Tyrannosaurus Rex Escape Pack/Ford Explorer set, and many others) the body (from feet to hip) is roughly 6.5 inches/16.51 cm tall, and 19 inches/48.26 cm long from tip of the tail to snout. The head is roughly 3.25 inches/8.255 cm long, by 1.5 inches/3.81 cm wide, and a little over 2 inches/5.08 cm tall. You might find more accurate measurements in some youtube reivews of these however.
Much further down in the comments, David had said to another backer:
"I can give you a height range- the 1/18 T. rex comes in between 9"- 11.5" tall and the 1/35 T. rex stands at around 5"-6" tall." The adult T. rex is also stated to be 27"/69 cm in length on the campaign tab pics.

@Duck Barns?