Continuing on the dinosaur summer events of this year, as scheduled, I participated in the "Shokawa Fossil Forum" held in Shokawa-cho, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, at the beginning of August. I was invited by a friend from the Dinosaur Club, and I'm really glad I took the plunge and went.

As I wrote previously, Shokawa is a place of dream-like memories. About 20 years ago, with my Dinosaur Club friends, I was led by Masatoshi Okura, the legendary fossil hunter who sadly passed away last year and who discovered the first Tyrannosaurus tooth in Japan, and Shizuo Shimojima, a local fossil hunter (both of whom discovered dinosaur eggshell fossils in Shokawa), to explore the outcrops of the Tetori Group.

 

The forum featured lectures by Dr. Makoto Manabe, Dr. Shinji Isaji from Chiba University, and Rina Uematsu, a graduate student from Tsukuba University who researches eggshell fossils. The content included research reports on eggshell fossils discovered in Shokawa (similar to the information here), the history of dinosaur fossil research in Gifu, and a look back at the achievements of the late Masatoshi Okura. The venue also displayed fossils discovered in Shokawa, along with excavation tools favored by Mr. Okura, which brought back images of him tapping at stones. (Photos are available on this blog.)

However, the real fun was actually the get-together held the day before at the Uotaka restaurant in Takayama City. It was a private drinking party with about 14 people, including the three lecturers. Six members from the Dinosaur Club attended, and the manga artist Tokushige Sho and one of the lecturers, Dr. Isaji, are also members of the Dinosaur Club. I was also delighted to see Mr. Shimojima, who still looks sun-tanned from excavations, and Mr. Shigeki Hayashi, the master of "Kissa Ivy," a legendary cafe in Nagoya that used to be a gathering place for dinosaur fans (Dr. Manabe, Dr. Holtz, Dr. Don C. M. as well as researchers from Japan and abroad are said to have visited), and who is deeply involved in Shokawa. It was a wonderful night to be able to drink and talk about dinosaurs with such people.

On my way back, I was able to visit Mr. Okura's grave near Nagoya. It was only an overnight trip, but it was very fulfilling.

 

The dinosaur event "Minato Mirai Dinosaur World" held at Landmark Plaza and MARK IS, shopping malls in Minato Mirai, Yokohama, primarily featured attractions and quiz rallies for children, and dinosaur-themed gourmet food (there was even a Hard Rock Cafe special kids' dinosaur T-shirt). I personally didn't want anything at all, so I only bought a discounted dinosaur toy at Toys "R" Us out of frustration and managed to avoid spending much, but I was surprised to see how much the dinosaur robots on display had evolved.

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The molding was good (though the raptor had an unsettling hair growth pattern) and the movements were smooth. The Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor had nearly a minute of programmed movements, which kept me engaged. (The Stegosaurus didn't move as much as I expected, and the Triceratops didn't move at all.)

In particular, the way the Velociraptor shook its head was cute, and I watched it many times. I also got a sticker designed by "Dinosaur-kun" (a popular dinosaur character) that was distributed at the venue.

 

The "Jimbocho Wunderkammer" didn't have anything related to paleontology, but I immediately bought a "Phylogenetic Tree Mandala [Crocodilian Edition]" that was created through crowdfunding. Also, like last year, there was a "Bone Gacha" for 500 yen per try, so I got transparent skulls of a hippopotamus, a Cuvier's beaked whale, and a human (which I personally considered a bust).

 

And in the end, I went back to the "Fossil Hunter Exhibition" and bought a replica skull of a Tibetan rhinoceros for 9900 yen. It's a small object, about 10 cm tall (labeled as 10/79 scale! Why not 1/8...), and I grumbled about how expensive it was, but when I held it while reading the book "I'll Restore Your Fossils," which describes the hardships of restoring rhinoceroses, I thought, well, it can't be helped...

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Here are the hippopotamus and Cuvier's beaked whale from the bone gacha, along with the Tibetan rhinoceros.

 

Then, in September, I watched "JW Dominion" for the second time. The first time, I couldn't keep up with the frenetic pace, and I was also wearing 3D glasses, so I couldn't make out the details, so this was my revenge viewing. This time, I was able to appreciate it calmly. Although my questions increased, I thoroughly enjoyed it a second time. I think it's a well-made movie. However, that ending, including the scenes of mammals getting along, can only be met with a wry smile. It's truly disappointing. I plan to write more detailed thoughts when I introduce the figures.

 

This time, in addition to introducing "Dominion's New Collection," I'm going to try something different: arranging representative action figures of Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor from the past six JP/JW series, made by Kenner, Hasbro, and Mattel.

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First, some new Mattel purchases.

A set with Blue, Owen, and a fox. The fox looks very good, but in the movie, it appears as a carcass, Blue's prey for her offspring. And Beta is captured before she can even get to the food, so the fox dies a meaningless death.

Even so, why do Blue and her offspring deliberately choose to live in such a snowy forest? Blue gained her freedom in Southern California. The hairless raptors must suffer in the cold.

This time, the lake in the Italian dinosaur sanctuary was frozen (I wonder if Owen, who fell into a crack in the ice after being attacked by a Pyroraptor, or Claire, who hid in a pond to escape a Therizinosaurus, caught a cold?), Apatosaurus were being used for labor amidst falling snow, and Mosasaurus appeared in the cold, blustery Okhotsk Sea. Except for Malta, the landscape was continuously cold and desolate. This setting is a huge inconvenience for the dinosaurs.

 

The Iguanodon makes its movie debut and its first appearance as a figure. Surprisingly, Mattel's JW series covers various minor abelisaurids and even the Siamese spinosaurid Siamosaurus from Thailand, but it misses out on famous ones like Diplodocus, Archaeopteryx, and Ornithomimus (only Gallimimus has been released among the ornithomimosaurids). This Iguanodon, at first glance, looks quite like an Iguanodon, but its forelimbs are unusual. It lacks the thumb spike, and for some reason, the fourth toe of its four-toed foot is like a spur. Like the Pteranodon with teeth, is there some hidden reason behind this? Confirming if this is also the case in the movie was one of the reasons for my second viewing. The first time, I didn't even realize that an Iguanodon had appeared. And the result was that the Iguanodon only appeared from the neck up, extending its neck from its cage to eat. That's all there was to it...

 

Dimetrodon also makes its first movie appearance (a model was displayed in the Lockwood Manor in "Fallen Kingdom"). However, figures were released by Kenner during "Jurassic Park" (1993). The green one on the far right of the photo is an example. The one in the center was released by Mattel in 2019 as part of the "Dino Rivals" series and is believed to be modeled after the Lockwood Manor model. The new Dimetrodon, which will be introduced later as part of a set with Dr. Alan Grant, is exceptionally well-made, but its face looks like a Tyrannosaurus.

*A sudden question prompted me to do some online research, and it turns out there were no mosquitoes in the Permian period of the Paleozoic Era. Mosquitoes evolved later, in the Mesozoic Era. At this point, bringing up the whole mosquito-sucking-blood premise is just futile anyway.

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Next up is a "new" product from Sega Prize. These are prizes for crane games, but of course, I bought them online. I like the pose of the T-Rex. The Giganoto is also more realistic than Mattel's version. The Velociraptor is actually Beta, but compared to Mattel's, it lacks childishness. The craftsmanship isn't bad, but Beta is supposed to be cute, so it's a bit disappointing.

In fact, I overheard some girls talking at the movie theater shop saying, "Blue and her baby are so cute!" The fact that the limited edition movie theater dinosaur figures I showed last time were only Blue and her baby is probably a strategy to target that demographic.

In addition to these "new" three types, Sega Prize has also re-released the Mosasaurus, Blue, and T-Rex from JW with different packaging.

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Takara Tomy's Gashapon "Raptor's Collection." This series, featuring raptors from "Dominion," is relatively crude. This Beta also lacks cuteness, or rather, the paint job is poor, making its face unclear. The Pyroraptor's fur looks quite warm, and its pose is good, but the fingers are awkwardly thick. The Atrociraptors all have the exact same shape despite their different colors, which is unacceptable (Ania's were also like this...). Since it was disappointing to display, I used brute force methods like heating them with a hair dryer and making cuts to change the poses of the three Atrociraptors other than the white "Ghost." Since the material is soft, it was easy to do.

I previously wrote that all Atrociraptors were the same, but upon closer inspection, it seems there are individual differences in color shades, even beyond the albino-like "Ghost." However, they moved too fast to discern the patterns. Confirmation will have to wait until I watch the video. These four Atrociraptor sisters must be an homage to the four Velociraptor sisters from JW (only Blue survived).

*Action figures of both Pyroraptor and Atrociraptor have been released by an American manufacturer called Creative Beast Studio. The Pyroraptor has already been introduced in New Treasure House Vol.58, and the Atrociraptor can be found here.

They are feathered dinosaurs that bear little resemblance to the movie versions.

 

And since the series has concluded, gashapon featuring famous scenes from the past have also appeared.

These are the "Classic Park Figure Collection" and "Jurassic World Figure Collection," both released consecutively by Takara Tomy.

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Indeed, they evoke famous scenes, but the quality is low, and ending with these is disheartening. So I came up with my own idea. I've arranged representative action figures of the two mainstays of the Jurassic series, Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, throughout their history.

 

First, the Tyrannosaurs through the ages. I've chosen one 50cm-class action figure from each work.

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The JP and LW figures were released by Kenner. The rubbery skin texture feels good.

For JPⅢ, only smaller figures were released. The star of the movie was Spinosaurus, and even the movie's logo was taken over by Spinosaurus. The manufacturer was Hasbro.

The 50cm-class Tyrannosaurus made a comeback in the next installment, JW, but the highlight figure at that time was the Indominus, which even had a light-up gimmick. I think it even surpassed Tyrannosaurus in terms of the number of figures. Then, when the manufacturer switched to Mattel for "Fallen Kingdom," Tyrannosaurus action figures multiplied rapidly. There was even a giant 1-meter one (New Treasure House Vol.42), and I have another type of 50cm-class figure besides that one. However, collecting them becomes difficult when they have similar designs, sizes, and color schemes, differing only in gimmicks. Furthermore, Tyrannosaurus figures continued to increase in this vein through the "Camp Cretaceous" series up to "Dominion," and it's now impossible to keep track of how many types there are. Nevertheless, since it was the last one, I bought the "Chomp 'N Roar T-Rex" from "Dominion" and compared it to the "Fallen Kingdom" version. They were similar but not identical, with the neck and head becoming thicker, making it rather ungainly and ending the series on a sour note.

However, rest assured. The Hammond Collection series Tyrannosaurus (bottom of photo), released to coincide with the premiere of "Dominion" and aimed at an older audience, was the pinnacle of action figures in the series. It eliminated gimmicks like roaring and head-shaking, and instead incorporated numerous articulation points for various poses, along with meticulous painting and clear parts for the eyes.

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The opening scene of "Jurassic Park" (though unseen) and Blue's farewell scene in "Dominion." Just like the T-Rex, I've selected and arranged the great actor Velociraptor, which graced the beginning and end of the series. Some works include two small ones.

The two on the left are from JP. For some reason, at that time, a Utahraptor with a kick gimmick, over 30cm long, was released.

The action figures for LW were only medium-sized ones with gimmicks. They played a huge role in the movie, though...

The two raptors in JPⅢ suddenly grew crest-like structures, which was probably an attempt to acknowledge feathered dinosaurs, which were gaining recognition at the time. Even though the raptors in JPⅢ were not as prominent as in the previous two films, two more types of larger-sized figures with gimmicks were released. Hasbro's JPⅢ figures generally became more toy-like.

And in JW, Blue finally appeared. The crest was disregarded, and the feather issue was decisively dismissed by Dr. Wu. (New Treasure House Vol.26)

Arranged here are Blue's sister Echo (?), and Blue with a headgear, though the colors feel off.

In "Fallen Kingdom," Blue figures multiplied uncontrollably (New Treasure House Vol.43 / 44), but perhaps as a reaction to that, only a "damaged" figure set with Owen and others seems to have been released by Mattel for "Dominion," so I've arranged an unidentified raptor at the end. It's uncertain whether it appeared in the movie.

 

Before the release of JP, the sickle-clawed dinosaur of choice was Deinonychus, and figures were exclusively Deinonychus. However, the Jurassic effect was immense, and now, when people think of sickle claws, they think of Velociraptor. The number of figures is overwhelmingly in its favor. Below is the Velociraptor mongoliensis released in 1993, the year the movie came out, which marked a turning point. It's a Safari figure and a realistic-sized skull resin kit by Shigeru Yamazaki of Kaiyodo (Treasure House Vo.26 / 31).

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Finally, the legend Dr. Alan Grant makes an appearance. I generally don't collect human figures, but I ended up accumulating figures of him by buying sets with dinosaurs. On the left are Dr. Grant from the first film and the current one. The figures have become more realistic with age. The two items in the center, which I bought for the Lystrosaurus and raptor, are still in their blister packs. They come with some mysterious device and I don't understand the setting, and Dr. Grant in JPⅢ isn't even wearing a hat, so I can't even tell who it is. On the right is Dr. Ellie Sattler from the first film, who, despite her legendary return this time, didn't get a figure. Isn't that too disrespectful? Even more disrespectful is that there's only this kind of figure for Dr. Wu, the scientist who played the most important role in the series. While Dr. Grant was brushing fossils and scaring children, Dr. Wu was doing Nobel Prize-worthy research. This time, he's become completely feeble and even reformed, but if there were a figure of the mad scientist Dr. Wu in his prime, I'd want it even without dinosaurs. I'm fantasizing about making a spin-off movie, "Jurassic Park Begins," depicting young Dr. Wu's path to dinosaur resurrection.

*Something I noticed on the second viewing: there was a trilobite fossil, which shouldn't have been there, on the table in Dr. Grant's excavation tent. If they discovered a Cretaceous trilobite, they shouldn't be leisurely excavating a T-Rex!

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Books related to "Dominion."

 

"Jurassic World: Dominion" (Novelization, Shogakukan Junior Bunko)

"Jurassic World Close-Up Encyclopedia" (Kodansha)

"Screen September Issue: Jurassic World / Dominion" (Kindai Eiga Sha)

"DVD Video Streaming Data: Jurassic Park Series Concludes!" (Movie Walker)

"Panic Movie Dissection: Special Feature Jurassic Park / World Series" (Sanei)

"Jurassic Park Trilogy Complete Making Book" (James Mottram, Genkosha)

"Jurassic World: Dominion Special Book" (Gakken Plus)

"Televi-kun August Issue: Jurassic World & Shogakukan's NEO Dinosaur Encyclopedia Special!" (Shogakukan)

"Lots of Dinosaurs Stickers" (Shogakukan)

"Jurassic World Big Dinosaur Picture Book" (Kodansha Genki no Ehon)

"Jurassic World Find the Dinosaurs!" (Kodansha Genki no Ehon)

"Latest Visual Dinosaur Encyclopedia: Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Park Series" (Takarajimasha)

Among the largely children's books, Gakken Plus's "Special Book" has rich content. It's filled with dinosaur encyclopedias, series recaps, dinosaur merchandise, etc., and comes with a T-Rex backpack as a bonus. The "JP Making Book" is a making-of only for the three Park series films, but it seems to have deep content, attracting enthusiasts. The three movie magazines also have substantial special features.

 

*Here is a list of previous Treasure House/New Treasure House issues that featured Jurassic series dinosaurs. Please check them out as well.

Treasure House: Vol. 9 / Vol. 33 / Vol. 65

New Treasure House: Vol.20／Vol.24／Vol.25／Vol.26／Vol.27／Vol.41／Vol.42／Vol.43／Vol.44／Vol.45／Vol.47／Vol.57／Vol.66／Vol.67

 

 

Just the other day, on October 1st, I went to the annual "Hakubutsu Festival 2022." I was really looking forward to it this time, as it was the first time in a while that "Hasamic World" and "Takao Kiln" were exhibiting. My haul was even better than I expected. Take a look.

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From "Hasamic World," two large framed pieces.

"Pterodactylus"... superb.

"Rhamphorhynchus + Aspidorhynchus"

This artwork is based on an actual fossil discovery. Please see the "ecology" here: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9

 

I just had to buy this!

 

I couldn't stop myself and also bought this reasonably priced "Apatosaurus."

 

Our collection of works by Takao Ito from "Takao Kiln" has grown quite a bit. Takao Ito, a ceramic artist living in Aichi, is a fellow member of the Dinosaur Club. Since we hadn't seen each other for four years, we ended up chatting for a while in front of his booth. It was a pleasant time. This time, I acquired a wonderfully fired Diablo Ceratops in a beautiful color and a topical Therizinosaurus. According to Mr. Ito, this color can only be achieved by chance. And the new addition to the sake cup series is a Halszkaraptor, perched in water (sake?). When I got the aquatic Spinosaurus last time (New Treasure House Vol.49), I requested that the next aquatic dinosaur be this one. I'm very happy to finally have it.

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Mr. Ito has opened a shop in his hometown. Here's a report I found online.

The interior of the shop looks really fun. He also holds "Dinosaur Pottery Classes." If you live nearby, please do go and visit.

 

"Takao Kiln"

6-134 Sakaecho, Tokoname City

Tel: 080-6685-9183

Email: pottery4taka@icloud.com　

 

And this is what I found at a booth selling antique biological illustrations.

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This is an 1898 English lithograph. It's a work by an artist named Joseph Smit, and it seems to be an illustration from a book written by H.N. Hutchinson, but I don't know the details.

The special exhibition at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, "Dinosaur Illustrated Book - Imagination/Creation of a Lost World," which I reported in New Treasure House Vol.65, and which displays dinosaur paintings from the 19th century to modern dinosaur art all in one place, has finally started. As I mentioned before, I will be exhibiting several pieces in a corner that serves as a bit of a break, but to my honor, I was even asked to contribute to the catalog. The content will likely be a historical introduction to dinosaur illustrations from Japanese literature from the Meiji period to the early Showa period, which I have often reported on in this very treasure house.

Once I finish writing this manuscript, I'll have to start on that right away...

 

《Notice》

Hideko Kimura, a fellow member of the Dinosaur Club and jazz pianist, who accompanied me for a piano duo dinosaur live performance in April, has released a CD featuring dinosaurs (and jellyfish) as its theme with her own trio.

 

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It contains 7 original songs named after dinosaurs and 2 jellyfish songs. The booklet, which explains the dinosaurs that inspired the song titles, is like a mini dinosaur encyclopedia, and Dinosaur-kun provided the illustrations (including the jacket).

The performances also reflect the image of each dinosaur. For example, the unexpected Laquintasaura has a Latin music feel from its home country, Venezuela. (Dinosaur-kun's illustration is also extremely rare.)

The melody of Spinosaurus is said to be inspired by its dorsal sail.

 

In any case, it's an album full of dinosaur love, and highly recommended.

https://diskunion.net/jazz/ct/detail/1008559471 and other places.