Recently, X-Plus, a model maker that produces character figures for various sci-fi movies, released a plastic model kit recreating the famous scene from "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" – the Rhedosaurus VS. the lighthouse. As a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen, I couldn't resist building it. Carried away by enthusiasm, I also built the massive soft vinyl kits of Rhedosaurus and Gwangi from Star Ace Toys in one go.

So, this time, I'll introduce these three, along with a surprisingly large number of Harryhausen dinosaurs (and non-dinosaurs) that inhabit my home.

Rhedosaurus

The main character of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," produced in 1953, one year before Godzilla. Frozen in the Arctic, it awakens due to a nuclear test and wreaks havoc in New York. Unlike Godzilla, it doesn't seem to be irradiated and doesn't breathe radiation, but instead spreads an unknown virus.

There's no doubt that Rhedosaurus is a dinosaur, as a paleontologist explicitly states it in the film. It's said to be a new species of dinosaur whose fossil was discovered off the coast near the mouth of the Hudson River the previous year (1952). The doctor, attacked and killed by the Rhedosaurus during an underwater investigation, calmly continues to observe it from the viewport of his diving bell even in his dying moments, reporting its characteristics to his assistant over the phone. He's a model researcher. He states, "It resembles the imagined drawings, but its dorsal fins are in a single row," and "its clavicle is connected as one bone." Finally, he leaves us with the line, "What an astonishing discrepancy!" What that discrepancy is remains an eternal mystery.

The original story for "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is generally believed to be Ray Bradbury's masterpiece short story "The Fog Horn" (written in 1952 – a truly poignant tale of a plesiosaur who, after spending an eternity in solitude, mistakes a lighthouse's foghorn for the roar of a fellow creature and joyfully comes to meet it...). However, this doesn't seem to be the case.

According to the very informative book "Seisaki's Monster Garden: The World of Ray Harryhausen" by Seisaki (a fanzine, but available for purchase online), the film project actually predates the novel by a year, and it's possible that Bradbury's idea was used to add the lighthouse scene. The film's credits reportedly state that it was inspired by Bradbury's novel. As an aside, when I re-watched the "Atomic Beast" DVD this time, it included bonus footage of a 2003 interview with Bradbury and Harryhausen (I had completely forgotten about it), where Bradbury commented that "modern dinosaurs all have their tails up, and that doesn't look cool."

Now, regarding the plastic model of the lighthouse scene, since the movie is in black and white, coloring it is a dilemma. By the way, this scene in the movie is entirely a silhouette, a shadow play, so it's not a reference. In the end, I colored it as I pleased with shades between black and white. Since I was at it, I also took some simple diorama photos. The waves are crumpled plastic bags, and the illumination wasn't built-in, but simply a penlight shone from the opposite side. And the photo on the right is inspired by "The Fog Horn." The creature I featured is a Safari Elasmo.

Other Rhedosauruses. The large one is the Star Ace Toys soft vinyl kit I built this time. It's more than double the size of the X-Plus plastic model, which is explicitly stated to be 1/72 scale, so this one is probably around 1/35. I found a jeep toy of just the right size and placed it next to it. For the coloring, I referred to a color photograph (of the original animation model?) found in the aforementioned "Monster Garden."

The blue one is an 80s Biliken Shokai soft vinyl kit that I built back then. I used to frequent their shop in Minami-Aoyama quite a lot. Besides the Harryhausen items I'll introduce later, my home also has quite a collection of Biliken's foreign monsters, such as Metaluna Mutants, Venusian crabs, Xylos, and Laser Blast lizard aliens.

Next to it is a garage kit purchased at Wonder Festival or something similar. My memory is now shrouded in darkness, but it seems I lacked the resolve to make teeth for some reason.

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Dinosaurs from "One Million Years B.C." (1966)

All of these have already been introduced. Please see New Treasure House Vol. 58 / Vol. 66 / Vol. 70. These are expensive resin-cast finished products from Star Ace Toys. For some reason, as far as I know, most of the dinosaurs from "One Million Years B.C." have not been made into figures. Previously, I'd only seen garage kits of "Raquel Welch being carried by a pterosaur" or "Raquel Welch posing for the poster," and indeed, Raquel Welch had a huge impact on that film.

*When the film was released, Marusan launched a series of soft vinyl figures called "One Million Years B.C.," but they were far removed from the dinosaurs that appeared in the film. Archelon was present, however...

Gwangi

"The Valley of Gwangi" is a 1969 film. While there aren't many figures of Gwangi, overseas garage kit manufacturers seem to be releasing kits that recreate famous scenes like Gwangi VS. cowboys or Gwangi VS. circus elephants. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any battle scenes with Styracosaurus. In Japan, Gwangi is accompanied by a skull and a corpse.

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The large one is a Star Ace Toys soft vinyl kit that I assembled this time. Next to it is an 80s? Kaiyodo soft vinyl kit. I think the product name at the time was "Allosaurus in the style of Gwangi." It closely resembles the Gwangi on the poster. Below is a resin kit from the Shizuoka garage kit manufacturer "Unagi Kobo" that I introduced previously in Treasure House Vol. 64, which comes with a Styraco skull, and one with a Styraco corpse that came with the DVD BOX. These were produced by X-Plus. Also, two figures from the Ackermann Collection (with certificates) that I introduced in New Treasure House Vol. 9. Since the Styraco is a Gwangi version (especially around the tail), the theropod must be Gwangi. In Vol. 9, I wrote "a battle scene ignoring eras," but if this combination is Gwangi, it makes sense. In fact, there's a theory that Gwangi was designed as a three-fingered tyrannosaur.

Non-Dinosaur Prehistoric Creatures from Harryhausen Films

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All of these are from X-Plus's "Ray Harryhausen Film Library," and from left, they are the Ammonite (though called a giant nautilus in the film) and Phorusrhacos from "Mysterious Island," and the Sabertooth Tiger from "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger."

Other Fascinating Monsters

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Top left: Biliken Shokai's soft vinyl kits, the Ymir (20 Million Miles to Earth) and Cyclops (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad).

Bottom left: X-Plus's 8-inch soft vinyl figures of the Dragon and Cyclops from "The 7th Voyage."

Right: The Dragon, Cyclops, and Ymir from the "Ray Harryhausen Film Library." The second row features the Harpies and Hydra from "Jason and the Argonauts." The third row features the Ghoul from "The 7th Voyage," the Mooncalf from "First Men in the Moon," and the Minaton from "Eye of the Tiger."

The bottom row consists of Furuta's candy toys: the Giant Octopus from "It Came from Beneath the Sea," the Ymir, Cyclops, and Talos and the famous Skeleton Warriors from "Jason and the Argonauts."

There are still many captivating Harryhausen character figures (like Medusa, for example), but I can't spend too much money on anything other than dinosaurs.

Well, the annual "Hakubutsu Festival" was held again this summer. From HASSAMIC WORLD, my target vendor, I bought Spinosaurus and Stenopterygius skeletons, as well as other small items. As always, the craftsmanship is amazing. I was particularly stunned by the enormous number of vertebrae and ribs of the ichthyosaur that were meticulously crafted. The small amphibian is about 1.5 cm in size, coated and with a ring attached. I requested an impromptu paper cutting, which I ask for every year, this time a Futabasaurus skull. Looking at the image on my smartphone, it was completed in about 3 minutes to this level of perfection.

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 At "Takaogama," which makes pottery dinosaurs, I got mini-sized Spinosaurus, old Iguanodon, Zuul, and Kentrosaurus. All of them have a unique charm. The Zuul, in particular, was something I had been waiting for a year since it was announced last year.

There was a gacha machine in one corner of the venue, and look what I found!

Sacabambaspis, apparently, is currently at the peak of its popularity.

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 I also went to the "Giant Dinosaur Exhibition" at Yokohama Pacifico. Aside from the main attractions, Patagotitan and its companion Tyrannotitan, most of the exhibits were ones I had seen at the 2015 "Mega Dinosaur Exhibition" (New Treasure House Vol. 26) and the 2017 "Giga Dinosaur Exhibition" (New Treasure House Vol. 37). Patagotitan was certainly large, but my impression was that the Ruyangosaurus from the Giga Dinosaur Exhibition, which was of similar length, had a greater impact in terms of size. Perhaps my eyes have become accustomed to giant dinosaurs.

The Tyrannosaurus "Y-Rex" that was at the Giga exhibition somehow had its bitten-off tail reattached and treated.

And for me, it was my first time seeing it, but the Crichtonpelta, which was apparently on permanent display in Fukui, had a strange, almost hybrid-dinosaur-like appearance, with Styraco-like elongated dermal plates growing on its back, but the explanation (even in the catalog) didn't touch on that aspect. I'll have to ask ASA, the ankylosaur enthusiast, when I see him.

As for merchandise, I couldn't resist when told it was limited edition and bought a ticket with a figure. Furthermore, I grumbled that it was a bit expensive, but I took home a venue-exclusive Patagotitan relief skeleton.

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