Playable Figure Made of Soft, Durable Material, inspired by a baby dinosaur
This figure, inspired by a baby dinosaur, is part of the Vinyl Model series. Made from safe materials that are gentle for small children to touch, it can be played with safely. with safely in the living room or children’s room.
Tyrannosaurus
Classification: Saurischia/Theropoda/Tyrannosauridae
Size: Total length 12–14 meters
Period: Late Cretaceous
One of the most popular dinosaurs and one of the largest terrestrial carnivores ever known. Its lower jaw was enormous compared with those of other theropods, giving it an exceptionally powerful bite. Its teeth had distinctive serrations suited to tearing flesh from prey. Although its forelimbs were reduced to just two fingers and appeared small, they were powerful enough to help restrain prey.
Interview with Supervisor Kazunari Araki
- What impression do you have of juvenile dinosaurs?
- Baby pandas and kittens are incredibly cute. Young animals often inspire a protective instinct not only in their parents but also across species. Dinosaur hatchlings must have seemed just as endearing to humans.
- What characteristics do juvenile animals have compared with adults?
- Young animals are not simply smaller versions of adults; they generally have proportionally larger heads and eyes, shorter limbs and bodies, and rounder forms. These are the features we tend to associate with cuteness. Their colors and patterns also often differ from those of adults.
- There are few models based on juvenile dinosaurs. What concept did you use when creating these figures?
- When making juvenile models, it is tempting to emphasize a plush-like cuteness, but this time I focused on depicting young dinosaurs in a naturalistic way.
- Were there any particular points you took care with when sculpting juvenile dinosaurs?
- Because I wanted to depict young dinosaurs in a naturalistic way, I avoided making their eyes unnecessarily large or their limbs too short. At the same time, I tried to preserve the appeal of young animals. Although removing wrinkles from the face and body might make them look cuter, I deliberately retained these details.
- What ideas inspired the colors of each model?
- I chose colors based on the image associated with each dinosaur. For Tyrannosaurus, I used a fierce red as the base and added soft pastel tones to suggest its youth. Triceratops has spots inspired by patterns commonly seen in young animals.
- Finally, could you share your thoughts on each of the Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Brachiosaurus Baby Models?
- I imagined Tyrannosaurus as a mischievous youngster curious about everything, while retaining the character of a carnivorous dinosaur. For Triceratops, I based the model on a juvenile skull discovered in the fossil record, imagining a very young individual close to its life-size proportions. The Brachiosaurus has a shorter neck than an adult and is shown stretching up to reach high leaves. I wanted the three models to convey the different characters of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs.
Supervisor Profile
Kazunari Araki
One of Japan's leading dinosaur model artists, he creates dinosaur reconstruction models for natural history museums and master models for dinosaur encyclopedias and other publications.