"Dinosaur Encyclopedia: Imagination/Creation of a Lost World" Exhibition

 

Initially, I had planned to go after arriving in Ueno, but as I saw the reviews online, I couldn't bear to wait and made a day trip to Kobe in mid-March. It took about 30 minutes from Shin-Kobe by subway, and I arrived at the museum close to 2 PM, but since it closed at 6 PM, I thought I had plenty of time to view everything... but I was wrong.

 

The curator, Okamoto-san, who planned this exhibition and invited me, lent me a PRESS armband, giving me the privilege of taking as many photos as I wanted. I was greeted by an enlarged copy of Favorite's Crystal Palace Iguanodon, and then I headed into the exhibition room. First up was the 19th-century room.

 

*This HP's "Discover" section also has a report on this art exhibition, where the venue is introduced with more beautiful photos. Okamoto-san also appears alongside the Iguanodon. Please take a look at that as well. In the Treasure House, I will try not to duplicate content too much and will introduce the atmosphere of the venue and things that caught my eye.

 

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The "Birth of Dinosaurs - Strange Monsters of the Dawn" room. From "Ancient Dorset," a poster of which hangs in my house, to various works by Benjamin Hawkins, authentic 19th-century dinosaurs are there. Many visitors must have been seeing them for the first time. Everyone was engrossed in them with a sense of novelty. Besides the paintings, the illustrations from books of that era displayed in glass cases were personally very interesting to me. And to my surprise, I even got to see a genuine rarity: an actual invitation to the famous Iguanodon dinner hosted by Owen! There was a T-shirt with this printed on it at the shop, so I bought it without hesitation. I might even buy another one for preservation.

 

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Next was the room "Establishment and Popularization of Classic Dinosaur Images." Charles Knight's and Zdeněk Burian's works, which I most wanted to see, awaited me. Their paintings are familiar to dinosaur fans of my generation, but the actual pieces were completely different from their printed versions. I was simply moved. In particular, the brushstrokes of the oil paintings, viewed up close, gave me goosebumps. I can't quite convey this feeling. Please go and see it with your own eyes.

I wanted to stay longer, but I vowed to reunite with them in Ueno, and so, while appreciating the nostalgic and profound works of Neave Parker, I moved on to the next room.

 

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The "History of Dinosaur Acceptance in Japan" room. Finally, it was my turn, and what was displayed first upon entering the room were three dinosaur figures, comrades of the dinosaur doll I had previously introduced in Treasure House Vol. 50 as a wartime dinosaur statue stored at the Katsuyama City Hall, and which also appeared with a photo in the chronology of my book "Tondemo Kyoryu Daizen." These were from the Kanazawa University Museum collection. Thanks to Okamoto-san, their origin was also revealed. Please see the photo of the explanatory panel. It surprisingly stated that they were commercially available. This made my collector's heart pound, thinking there might still be some sleeping in a warehouse somewhere.

 

Upon closer inspection of the carnivorous dinosaur's pedestal, it was Laelaps! Coincidentally, Knight's very famous painting is also displayed this time. Since there are other topics regarding Laelaps, I'll address them in a separate section.

*For some reason, this Laelaps has been made into merchandise, appearing as trendy acrylic stands (AcuSta for short) and tote bags.

 

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This is what my collection display looked like. The "Hiroshi Tamura Collection" panel filled me with pride, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was too extravagant to use such a large space.

I've arranged valuable books from the Meiji era to pre-war, as introduced in the Treasure House, and books that show the flow to the post-war renaissance. The newly acquired Lost World Sugoroku (a board game) was also hung on the wall. The three-dimensional displays included a few Showa-era dinosaur figures, Araki-san's Ceratops, which was also introduced in the previous issue, three plaster dinosaurs that were souvenirs from the National Museum of Nature and Science in the 1950s, a Triceratops and Dimetrodon provided by Toshiyuki Honda, and my Tyranno. The bottom right image is unclear, but it's a corner where original drawings from Tokoro Juzo's "Dino Dino" are displayed.

 

By the time I realized it, it was already 5 PM. I had only one hour left to see the remaining exhibits and the gift shop.

 

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The "Reconstruction of Images Based on Scientific Knowledge" room. This room displayed works by famous artists from after the Dinosaur Renaissance, such as Kish, Hallett, Doug Henderson, and Stout. The back room in the right photo featured works by Takashi Oda and Hirokazu Tokugawa. However, I decided to save those for a closer look in Ueno and rushed to the shop.

 

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Near the exit, models of the three Iguanodon transformations, which were the prototypes for the exhibition's original character, the "Iguanodon Three Siblings," were displayed. The one on the left is by Tokugawa-san, and the others are Favorite Oldies models based on Araki-san's prototypes. Below them are the Iguanodon Three Siblings and their merchandise.

*If you have time, please also check out New Dinosaur Treasure House Vol. 38.

And quietly perched above the exit gate was none other than Igu-don, Okamoto-san's secret character. He navigates children through the exhibition with a Kansai dialect in the "Dinosaur Picture Book: Exploration Notebook" distributed at the venue.

 

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Finally, I arrived at the shop. Goods featuring the Iguanodon Three Siblings were lined up, and there was also a Favorite corner in the back. The catalog, with its luxurious hardcover binding and wonderfully beautiful print quality of the illustrations, was such good value for money that I almost felt apologetic for contributing to it, and it's a must-have. The selection of postcards and A4-sized framed pictures was also quite good. Beyond them, I could see the dinner party T-shirts.

And rather abruptly, among the original goods alongside the three siblings, was a collaboration between dinosaurs (lithographs from chocolate premiums from the early 20th century, which I've introduced several times in the Treasure House and which were also displayed together at the venue—I wrote 19th century in the Treasure House, but that seems to have been a mistake) and the popular French picture book characters Lisa and Gaspard. How this collaboration came about is unknown. I wasn't particularly tempted, so I bought a relatively inexpensive clear file and postcards. The Lisa and Gaspard series did have an episode where they went to a museum, but I don't know if that's related to this collaboration.

*The picture book in the photo is from my collection and is not sold at the museum.

 

The "Do Not Touch" sign was something I found at the venue and is not for sale, but these are the kinds of things I wish they would sell as can badges or magnets.

 

Now, about Laelaps, also known as Dryptosaurus.

 

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Charles Knight's famous scene spawned various variations. Next to the "real thing," which would turn you to stone if you looked at it directly, is one of the aforementioned chocolate premium lithographs. This one is from my home, and for some reason, its title differs from the one at the venue. Could it be a different version from a different publication year?

And the drawing below it is the astonishing piece I encountered on my trip to Kobe this time.

It's an illustration from "German Military Aircraft Equipment Photo Album" (Army Air Department), a collection of photos of German military aircraft and equipment taken as spoils of World War I. There's no explanation or even a title, but it's a parody depicting Knight's Laelaps as British aircraft (top) and German aircraft. The German Laelaps is adorned with the camouflage paint schemes of German aircraft that are detailed on subsequent pages. What was the intention behind including it? Was the artist Japanese, or was a foreign illustration borrowed? It's a complete mystery. Actually, I heard that a few days before my visit, an elderly gentleman, who must have seen Knight's painting, brought this book to show curator Okamoto-san. Happily, Okamoto-san took a photo of it and showed it to me. I liked it at first glance, and when I searched for it on an used bookstore website after returning home, luckily it was in stock... and now it's in my hands. Another valuable piece of material has been added to my collection.

 

Until I encountered the Shimadzu Corporation's Laelaps at this exhibition, I thought it was the world's first Laelaps = Dryptosaurus figure. What's more, the Japanese version is the "Roaring! Dryptosaurus" from the Jurassic World "Dino Tracker Series," which was just released on March 25th. If you ask me where it looks like a Dryptosaurus, I'd be at a loss, but for now, I'll consider it good because it looks pretty cool, and I tried playing with it as shown on the right. Of course, I had no intention of buying two, so the image is a composite.

 

Furthermore, this fighting pose of two dinosaurs has been reused in various skeletal displays of carnivorous dinosaurs.

 

For example, at the "Dino World 2015 Yokohama Dinosaur Expo" held at Pacifico Yokohama in 2015, two pairs were displayed: Ceratosaurus VS Tanycolagreus and Allosaurus VS Ceratosaurus. For photos and detailed explanations, please visit the " Lineage of Carnivores" page, which I always rely on.

 

And Yutyrannus, a feathered tyrannosaur that debuted at "Dinosaur Kingdom 2012" in Makuhari in 2012, also adopted this pose, perhaps out of respect for Knight. There is a photo on the Tyrannosauroidea page of Wikipedia.

Since both Yutyrannus and Dryptosaurus are included in the same Tyrannosauroidea superfamily, the exhibition might have been designed with that in mind.

 

Yutyrannus, inspired by that exhibit, is available as a limited edition figure at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum from Favorite. The sculptor is Araki-san. Unfortunately, this Yutyrannus has the one on top firmly planted on the ground with both feet. The one below is exactly Laelaps... So, as a last resort, I used the same individual for both top and bottom and composited them. It's a bit of a stretch.

Speaking of a stretch, there's Bandai's Imaginary Skeleton Tyrannosaurus released in 2021. It's quite a stretch to make a T-Rex adult weighing over 7 tons jump, but of course, this also originated from Knight's Laelaps.

 

 

"Dinosaur Expo 2023"

 

Since this is related to NHK, they heavily promoted and broadcasted dinosaur programs such as "Dinosaur Superworld 2," "Darwin Came! What About Dinosaurs?", "Which is the Strongest Dinosaur? Evil Mape VS Immovable Zuul," and "Mape and Tyranno's Dinosaur Love," so many of you might have seen them. However, if you expect to see the magnificent figures of the South American giant sauropod Puertasaurus or the newly discovered theropod Maip, which starred in these programs, you'll be disappointed. In the first place, very few parts of these two have been discovered. The Puertasaurus exhibit consisted of two vertebrae (though they were certainly large). Maip's exhibit, though it included real bones like vertebrae, ribs, and coracoid, was a rather meager display of just a few inconspicuous parts.

However, this dinosaur expo's main star from the beginning was Zuul, a member of the armored dinosaurs, and indeed, nearly half of the approximately 180-page catalog is dedicated to it. As expected, Zuul did not disappoint, with its magnificent fossil in excellent preservation. Let me start by introducing Zuul.

 

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And here it is, Zuul from Ghostbusters, after which the dinosaur Zuul was named. The red-eyed one on the left is Zuul, the Gatekeeper, and she is female. The one on the right is Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster, and he is male. They are like guardian dogs protecting the temple of the destructive god Gozer, and in the movie, they were actually called Terror Dogs. Anyway, I don't think they resemble the fossil.

The figures are 1/6 scale Terror Dog soft vinyl kits released by Tsukuda in 1984, when the movie was released. I bought two and assembled the Zuul one in a different pose. Back then, I put a lot of effort into making things like these.

 

Below that, found not in the exhibition shop but surprisingly in the National Museum of Nature and Science shop, were silver straps of Zuul and its rival, Gorgosaurus. Gorgosaurus is about 2cm and Zuul is 1.2cm, both minuscule in size, yet as you can see, they are delicately and beautifully finished. These are products from RC GEAR, which makes silver paleontological items and radiolarians, and while they cost around 2750 yen, I think they are the best goods from this event.

 

And then there's the venue-exclusive gacha of Zuul. It's made by Kaiyodo. I tried twice and luckily got both the skeleton and the living body. If I had gotten a Gorgosaurus skeleton on the third try, I could have arranged them together, but I got Maip instead. I plan to buy the rest online to complete the set. This one is also very well made.

 

*This time, the real Gorgosaurus skull from the Royal Ontario Museum had something familiar about its lower jaw. Just in case, I took a picture and compared it to the Albertosaurus on my piano, and it was the same! The upper part of the skull was different, so it was a composite skull, but finding out the original lower jaw was an unexpected bonus.

 

There weren't many other noteworthy Zuul goods, so I even pre-ordered a moderately sized plush toy that was delayed in release. As an alternative, I'd like to introduce Mattel's Jurassic World Hammond Collection Ankylosaurus, also recently released. It's an excellent item with many movable joints, allowing for poses like gacha figures, and is quite fun to play with.

 

The unprecedented sight of two Tyrannosaurus skeletons side-by-side was impressive, but what was paleontologically significant was the actual fossil of Scipionyx displayed along the wall. In fact, the arrival of a real Scipionyx was not advertised beforehand; initially, a replica was displayed, but it was replaced with the real thing a few days before my visit. I don't know the circumstances, but what a stroke of luck!

 

Some of you might be wondering what Scipionyx is, but when it was announced around the late 90s, it attracted attention as a dinosaur with preserved internal organs. Replicas were also circulated, and I have one at home. A life-size figure was also released by Favorite, and children's books were published. Because of all this, it was a big surprise for me to suddenly be able to see the real thing.

 

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My replica, a discontinued Favorite figure, and a Scipionyx book published by Poplar Publishing in 2004, all holding their own against the precious original.

 

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Despite NHK's efforts to promote Maip, which largely fell flat, two types of original figures were released. One is from a gacha machine, and the other is a laser-cut 3D paper puzzle, which has been a regular item among the National Museum of Nature and Science's dinosaur expo goods recently.

 

The few Maip fossil exhibits were supplemented by a complete skeleton of Megaraptor, which is considered a closely related species. The reconstruction also seems to be based on Megaraptor. So, let me introduce Megaraptor figures. The one on the left is from the 2007 "Dinosaur King: Dinosaur King Legends" series. It's from a time when it was thought to be a gigantic Dromaeosaur, and its claws are on its feet. The one on the right is a Mattel figure from "Jurassic World: Dominion," and while it's embellished for appearance, it captures Megaraptor's characteristics, such as the huge claw on its first forelimb digit and its long, slender snout.

 

Finally, there's the Kaiyodo figure from the complete box set that came with the admission ticket. The sculpt is the same as the venue-exclusive gacha, but the coloring is jade green and artistic.