Vol. 54 Dinosaurs at Home
Well, things have taken a turn for the worse.
I'm self-isolating at home too, or rather, all my work at the live music venues has been cancelled due to self-isolation measures. Since I'm a day laborer, my only income is my pension and this writing fee, so I have no choice but to stay cooped up at home. As a result, I'm forced to "enjoy dinosaurs at home." What came to mind was to assemble the dinosaur models I've accumulated over many years for my retirement enjoyment. This time, I put together eight (or ten, including sets) prehistoric garage kits that I bought at a Wonder Festival about 20 years ago and had kept in storage. Working with resin kits again after a long time proved to be a difficult task, requiring a lot of time and effort.
This time, I'd like to show you the results of that hard work, and also include some related figures. But before that...
I found this article about current events related to COVID-19.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/973dbc6285f7734b144e7eadb26a659fc9d62a09
The unfair treatment of the English word DINOSAUR, which I mentioned in "Shin Hihokan Vol.47," appears here again! I was indignant once more.
I sincerely hope that in the near future, the generation raised on feathered dinosaurs in encyclopedias will remove the dictionary entry for dinosaur = "something too big to be useful" or "an outdated person."
But the final punchline, "Many Republicans don't believe in evolution," was quite good!
Now, to the main topic. Many of the kits I made this time are subsequent works by the garage kit manufacturer I introduced in Hihokan Vol.64. Please also refer to Vol.64.
(Image 1) Shows the kits lined up before starting, to get me motivated. The color of the resin on the garage kits brings back some nostalgia. The Sauropelta had been assembled over 10 years ago and left untouched. The Ouranosaurus and shark are molded as one piece.
(Image 2) Completed Sauropelta and its kin.
The Sauropelta is by Alcard, 1/20 scale. It's about 30cm long, making it the largest model in this batch. I bought it at Wonder Festival in 2002. Although I had assembled it, the molds were quite rough due to its bumpy texture, and filling in with putty was quite a chore.
Actually, figures of nodosaurids have only become available relatively recently; before that, almost all armored dinosaur models were Ankylosaurus. Here are some nodosaurid figures that have finally become available. From the bottom left:
Borealopelta (CollectA) / Edmontonia (Boston Museum of Science) / Polacanthus (Papo) / Animantarx (Schleich) / Polacanthus (Walking with Dinosaurs) / Sauropelta (Happinet Great Dinosaur Era) / Pawpawsaurus (Sega Toys Dinosaur King)
Other figures include Sauropelta (Safari) / Polacanthus (CollectA) / Hylaeosaurus (CollectA). There are also Sauropelta and Borealopelta in Kaiyodo's gashapon and candy toys.
(Image 3) Alcard's 1/48 Ouranosaurus (approx. 18cm) and SHINZEN Zoological Institute's Allosaurus (2001 Wonder Festival).
The Ouranosaurus was relatively straightforward, only requiring me to erase the parting lines and paint it. However, the eyes on Alcard's dinosaurs, whether Ouranosaurus or Sauropelta, are so tiny that they're hard to paint. Furthermore, the Allosaurus is minuscule, about 8cm (1/100 scale?), and even with a Hazuki Loupe, I couldn't manage to paint the eyes or teeth. I mostly winged it, and the enlarged photos show a regrettable result... I used to make the Diplodocus from the same mini-series (which was about the same length but even more intricate) successfully, and this really made me feel my age.
(Image 4) Garjainia Skull (8cm)
The creator is Yoshiaki Murase. Murase worked on a series of skulls in the 90s, and besides the Tyrannosaurus and Nanotyrannus introduced in Hihokan Vol.64, I also completed Triceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Aliormus, and Monolophosaurus. This Garjainia was the last one remaining.
Garjainia was an early archosauromorph belonging to the family Erythrosuchidae, with the scientific name Garjania prima, which came from Russia to the "Last Dinosaur Kingdom" exhibition held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in 1992.
https://twitter.com/rex_toyo/status/1070818522614292481
http://www.reptileevolution.com/garjainia.htm
And it was a huge struggle to research this far. The kit bag only had "Garjainia" written in katakana, and searching for "Garjainia" online yielded nothing. I deduced it was a pseudosuchian from its shape and searched through every pseudosuchian I could think of, finally arriving at the answer.
Figures of such minor animals are not even included in Safari's "Ancient Crocs Tube," which collects obscure ancient crocodiles. So, instead, I've displayed Postosuchus, which has become surprisingly popular recently among pseudosuchian relatives, Ornithosuchus, which used to be a regular in educational encyclopedias as a dinosaur ancestor, and the Saurosuchus figure from the 2010 "Earth's Oldest Dinosaurs" exhibition.
* The "Earth's Oldest Dinosaurs" exhibition was a deep dive into Triassic archosauromorphs and early dinosaurs from Argentina. Rare items like small Saurosuchus and skeletons of another pseudosuchian, Fasolasuchus, were sold as limited-edition gachapon at the venue.
From the top left: Safari / Papo, / Postosuchus from Walking with Dinosaurs, Ornithosuchus from the Kenner JP series, and Saurosuchus from Earth's Oldest Dinosaurs in the foreground.
The bottom row features a handmade Postosuchus (approx. 20cm) by sansyo88, who has appeared many times, along with two Ornithosuchus in classic styles: the familiar Starlux from France (12cm) and a 90s US toy from Thunder Beasts.
* While researching Postosuchus figures online, I discovered that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the new Jurassic World series from Mattel, which I had feared, had been released. It included Postosuchus and Sauropelta, and unable to resist, I went to Yodobashi.com to break my self-imposed purchase ban. However, Postosuchus was already sold out, even though it was released on April 25th. The Yodobashi Camera Yokohama store was closed at the time of release, so I missed it. The impact of COVID-19 reaches even here... In my frustration, I ended up ordering a Sauropelta and a remarkably cool Edmontosaurus instead.
(Image 5)Tully Monster
This was the most enjoyable one to make this time. This creature, with the difficult-to-pronounce and imposing genus name Tullimonstrum, was the king of unclassifiable, bizarre prehistoric creatures before the Burgess Shale fauna came into the limelight. Even now, in terms of its ridiculousness, it's no less impressive than Opabinia or Hallucigenia. And its true identity is still unknown! (Although a vertebrate theory recently emerged, it seems to be overturned.)
https://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw6105278
I'm not sure when I got this kit, but I think it was in the 80s when dinosaur fossils were hard to come by and I was starved for rare fossils, that I bought the two actual fossils at the bottom (the two on the right are positive/negative specimens) (I think they were a good deal for several thousand yen?). At that time, the Tully Monster's recognition was growing, and the Burgess monsters emerged in the early 90s, so it's likely from somewhere in between.
The model is life-sized, roughly 20cm. The parts (though only the proboscis and eyes) didn't fit well, and there were no teeth, so I had to carve them to look realistic, which was quite a bit of work. However, unlike dinosaurs, I could be more liberal with it, so it was relaxing and enjoyable. There was another, more squiggly proboscis part to choose from, but with no instructions and it not fitting well, I went with the straight one. The base is custom-made, sculpted with putty in a slime toy case (which, of course, contained mini dinosaurs).
(Image 6)Hybodus & Stethacanthus
These are from Nekoworks, a company that is still active and whose products can be purchased online.
http://hlj.co.jp/product/NKWS-17/Rsc
http://hlj.co.jp/product/NKWS-18/Rsc
They were released in 2009, so I must have bought them at Wonder Festival that year. They're small, less than 10cm. I had fun painting them too.
When you think of ancient sharks, Megalodon usually comes to mind first, but Safari's "Ancient Sharks Tube" is limited to the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, so it doesn't include Megalodon. That's a bold move. I've lined them up, but I'm not even sure how to pronounce some of their names. I'll just copy the names from the description. From the top left:
Sarcoprion / Stethacanthus / Cladoselache / Oretoxyrhina / Edestus / Hybodus / Scapanorhynchus / Helicoprion / Xenacanthus / Orthacanthus
I was somewhat familiar with Cladoselache and Helicoprion.
(Image 7)Dimetrodon & Cacops (1/15 scale)
Lastly, these were presented by Hirokazu Tokugawa, now one of Japan's leading paleontological sculptors, as a member of the Kansai garage kit maker "Endorphin" at Wonder Festival in 2002. In his younger days, Tokugawa was a slender person, and perhaps reflecting that, all of his works from that time were sleek and had thin legs, I secretly thought at the time.
Anyway, the Dimetrodon is a superstar in the paleontology world, perhaps second only to the Tyrannosaurus, and if I were to list all its figures, it would be endless, so I'll casually skip over it here. The focus is on the Cacops. As far as I know, it's the only figure of its kind. It's also small, and not something you should build in your old age.
Cacops
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%97%E3%82%B9
is a Permian amphibian, so it's being attacked by a Dimetrodon. Thinking about it, without the Dimetrodon, I wouldn't even know what era the Cacops was from. I was so ignorant and uninterested in extinct amphibians. Since I had a lot of free time, I decided to take this opportunity to learn a bit, so I gathered the figures I have and searched for information about them online.
So, from here, it's suddenly
"Extinct Amphibians at Home."
Extinct Amphibian Figure Encyclopedia
(Image 8) Play Visions (candy toy size), which I introduced in Shin Hihokan Vol.8, features a very comprehensive collection of extinct amphibians. This time, it comes with online explanations.
From top left:
Gerobatrachus
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B2%E3%83%AD%E3%83%90%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9
Diplocaulus
Peltobatrachus
Triadobatrachus
Bottom row from left:
Crassigyrinus
Eogyrinus
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AE%E3%83%AA%E3%83%8C%E3%82%B9
Platyhystrix
Eryops
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AA%E3%83%97%E3%82%B9
(Image 9) The top row features Starlux (7-10cm), which has appeared many times.
From the left:
Ichthyostega
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%83%81%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%AC
Labyrinthodont
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BF%B7%E6%AD%AF%E4%BA%9C%E7%B6%B1
While Labyrinthodonts now only exist as the name of the subclass Labyrinthodontia, from the 19th to the early 20th century, they were major stars representing ancient amphibians. Two of them stand in Crystal Palace Park (Treasure House Vol. 39), and they also appear in representative sci-fi novels of the time, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar series https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9A%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA
and A. Merritt's "The Moon Pool" http://quarters.jugem.jp/?eid=18.
Diplocaulus
With its distinctive popularity, it is the most frequently made into figures among extinct amphibians. It also appears in Treasure House Vol. 49 / New Treasure House Vol. 43. Of course, it's also included in ChocoZaurus. This might be the only extinct amphibian genus name I can identify at first glance.
Mastodonsaurushttps://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%89%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A6%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9
And the lower row also features a Bullyland Mastodonsaurus. At 1/20 scale (20cm), I wanted to display it alongside Kaiyodo dinosaurs, but unfortunately, no Triassic dinosaurs were released. If Mastodonsaurus competed with crurotarsans and preyed on dinosaurs by the water's edge in the Triassic period, I'd want to cheer them on a little.
(Image 10) The top row features a Kaiyodo resin kit from the 90s, sculpted by Shinobu Matsumura, a Diplocaulus (about 13cm), and a unique item from sansyo88, a Prionosuchus (nearly 30cm with its tail bent, a large model).
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%97%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9
The bottom row features an approximately 10cm artful Eryops by sculptor Takeshi Tokiwa, which also appeared in New Treasure House Vol. 27. And although it's embarrassing to display here, my own original Eryops diorama that I made when I was younger. The base has a diameter of 9cm.
(Image 11) The top of the image shows an Ichthyostega ornament, clearly Chinese-made, which I purchased at a mineral fair quite a while ago. It's a cold-cast model, about 20cm, and the base is also heavy, so it has a substantial weight. The back is inscribed with "鱼石螈," which is the Chinese name for Ichthyostega. (I had forgotten, but it actually appeared in Treasure House Vol. 2.)
The bottom of the image shows the inexplicable upper body of an unnamed giant amphibian from Disney's movie "Dinosaur," a Diplocaulus prize from the retro "Kobito Kyoryu Gum" candy toy, and an Eryops soft vinyl model from the "Buta no Hana" brand, which has a vintage charm and fetches high prices at Mandarake.
I made 8 types of kits this time, but I still have many unassembled garage kits lying around at home. Among them are formidable items such as the giant "Sue" skeleton from Black Hills, ANTS's Allosaurus skeleton (Treasure House Vol. 25), and Kaiyodo's Stegosaurus skeleton (Treasure House Vol. 26), so it seems I won't be bored while living in self-isolation for quite some time.
"Dinosaurs & Sherlock Holmes at Home"
When at home, one tends to watch a lot of TV. I found myself leisurely watching things I wouldn't normally, such as the recently concluded drama "Meteorite Family" (I hoped for a dinosaur cameo given the comet collision plot, but no luck...) and a marathon broadcast of "Nagi's Long Vacation." Amidst this, I made an unexpected discovery while rewatching "Miss Sherlock" (aired on Hulu two years ago) on CS. "Miss Sherlock" stars Yuko Takeuchi as a female Sherlock Holmes, with the setting moved to Tokyo. For instance, Watson is named Wato-san, the apartment has the numbers 221B, and Professor Moriarty is... It was an intricately crafted drama, seemingly filled with details that would delight Sherlockians (though I'm unfortunately not one, so I don't fully grasp them). What I discovered was a dinosaur skeleton model placed on the windowsill of Sherlock's meticulously detailed room. It was never shown in a close-up, so the enlarged photo (Image 12) is blurry, but it looks strikingly similar to the Tarbosaurus previously displayed at the entrance of the National Museum of Nature and Science. The proportions are good, and it appears to be finely crafted. I've never seen such a model commercially available, so it might be handmade by the art staff. If so, bravo! I found myself silently wishing I could have it.
Although from the same author as "The Lost World," dinosaurs do not appear in the original Sherlock Holmes stories (...probably). However, they have made several appearances in films and TV dramas.
●The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
I believe the story was that Nessie was actually a submarine in disguise, but if my memory serves me right, a real Nessie briefly appeared at the end... or maybe not... I might be confusing it with another movie.
●Sherlock Holmes VS. Monsters
A rather ambitious film produced in 2009 by Asylum, a major producer of B-movies, delivering exactly what some enthusiasts expect. Carnivorous dinosaurs rampage alongside dragons and kraken, but it turns out they're all robots... The internet is flooded with angry reviews.
https://filmarks.com/movies/57909
You can also watch the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GycOXcjjh2M
●Elementary Season 2: Holmes & Watson in NY
#14 "The Sleeping Fossil"
A full-fledged dinosaur story about a case revolving around a Nanotyrannus fossil. The Triboro Museum of Natural History appears, but it's unclear if it's a real museum.
https://artworldscenes.tumblr.com/post/81195712124/triboro-museum-of-natural-history-supposedly-but
That's all for this time.
Please stay safe.
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