POP! Movies – Dilophosaurus (Jurassic Park)

Because everything under the sun is currently getting turned into a POP, Funko have seen fit to release a series of Jurassic Park POPs. Coinciding with the movie’s 25^th anniversary, there’s a good selection of human and dino characters alike – so today, we take a look at the regular version of Dilophosaurus.  

Unlike T-Rex or Triceratops, Dilophosaurus was a relatively obscure dinosaur before it was included in the novel and film versions of Jurassic Park. This obscurity allowed both Crichton and Spielberg to take a bit of creative license to turn the Dilophosaurus into a better villain for both page and screen; she got shrunk down, given a frill and the ability to spit poison.

It was an unusual departure for Crichton; those who have read the book will be aware that he poured a ton of research into the book, making considerable effort to keep his dinosaurs in line with then-current scientific findings. That said, Crichton wasn’t totally talking out of his ass when they took this piece of creative license. Given the weak jaws of Dilophosaurus, it has been speculated that it was primarily a scavenger – or that it had a poisonous bite, similar to modern Komodo Dragons. Probably no spitting venom or frill, though. 

Nonetheless, the film had a huge influence on the way the public perceives dinosaurs, and the frill looks set to stay in pop culture images of these beasts. There are worse falsehoods that have done the rounds, I suppose. Interestingly, it was one of the few dinosaurs in the book or movie that actually did live during the Jurassic Period. 

The sculpt of the figure is great, with the face being a particular standout. I'm generally ambivalent about Funko's move away from stylised looks to greater "realism" but this is one instance where I really think it works. 

I do have some gripes, though. From the back I feel like there’s a few too many ugly join lines. Such is the nature of moulding, but we’ve seen Funko do more complex sculpts in fewer pieces in the past. Likewise, the paint is disappointingly sloppy. If you’re in a generous mood I suppose you could palm it off as “unique markings” for each different animal.

Now, there is a 1:6 Chase for the Dilophosaurus – not glow in the dark, sadly. Indeed, many won’t see the value in it as doesn’t feature the distinctive frill. Not so iconic by film standards, but technically it’s more accurate to how a real Dilophosaurus looked. I'd love to get my hands on one, but can't see myself spending big money for it. 

The Dilophosarus is a fun, if imperfect collectible. Those who enjoy repainting their POPs will enjoy the challenge, while the rest of us will simply tolerate it as we always do. And Jurassic Park or no, Dilophosaurus toys are relatively unusual, so it's always nice to have another one out there. Sure to be a strong seller over the next few months, particularly as the real anniversary grows closer. 

The Lupine Book Club Sunday Afternoon Reader

Despite the name of the blog, books don't get mentioned a lot on here. So I thought it was time to mix it up a little, and chuck this up on here, inspired by this article from The Surfing Pizza.

Sunday afternoon is not one of my favourite times of the week. It’s usually too late to start any major new undertakings, but too early to go to bed. The spectre of work looms over the forthcoming week, its ominous presence casting a gloomy shadow over the enjoyment you might otherwise get from simply not being at work.

The evening is usually better – church, dinner with friends or simply watching TV are all great ways to alleviate this. But these are all night-time activities, with the possible exception of TV – and free-to-air TV on a Sunday afternoon is usually a black pit of despair in and of itself. the hours between 1 and 5pm can be a grim time.

A lot of this probably stems from high school. Though I had many friends, I rarely hung out with them outside the confines of school. There was “nothing to do” at my place (though to be fair, you can extend that criticism to just about anywhere as a teenager), so I didn’t invite people around and I didn’t often take the initiative to go and hang out at a friend’s home instead. So more often than not, solace was found in the confines of the local library. Open from 1-4 on a Sunday afternoon, it served as a place for me to read books and comics – and perhaps most importantly, it helped stave off the Sunday afternoon blues.

So I’ve put together a list of books that I find great for Sunday reading. Some are old, some are new. All are specific to my peculiar set of interests, so your own mileage with them will probably vary. But most of these books are not particularly rare or expensive, and a bit of second-hand bookshop or eBay scouring should see you being able to track most of them down easily, should you be so inclined.

Most of these books are structured in a short, easy-to-read, article-style fashion. This is perfect for Sudnay afternoon reading, when you want to be distracted, but don't want to invest too much time into something. 

*The Complete Book of Dinosaurs (2006)

Picture from Amazon.com

Like many children, I was deeply obsessed by dinosaurs. I was going to be the first person to discover dinosaur soft tissue – or more specifically, dinosaur skin. It seemed like the logical progression – we had found bones, skin impressions and even evidence of feathers, but no actual soft tissue as far as I was aware. Soft tissue has since been found, and though I think skin is still up for grabs, my palaeontology days are probably behind me.
However, I have still retained my interest in dinosaurs into adulthod, and that's why I handed over the cash for this book. Divided up into short articles that covered all known dinosaurs (at the time of publication), it's full of great information and (almost equally importantly in such a book) loads of illustrations. If you have a favourite dinosaur, odds are strong you'll find something about it in here.  The $15 I paid for it was an absolute bargain.

 

*30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons and Dragons (2004)



Picture from Amazon.com

I first played Dungeons and Dragons in 2006, when I was at one of my absolute lowest points of life. Desperately poor, attending uni and living out of home, it was the closest I ever came to Dickensian living. I don’t recommend it. So I do not exaggerate when I say that Dungeons and Dragons – among other pen-and-paper RPGs – was an absolute lifeline during this period.

Not long after I started playing, I came across this book in my local library. Not quite a straight history of the game, it’s more of a love letter to the franchise, as penned by various TSR and Wizards of the Coast employees, and numerous celebrities (including Vin Diesel and Stephen Colbert!)

Best of all, it’s packed with a huge amount of artwork that’s rarely seen now – I love TSR’s 1980s/early 1990s fantasy artwork. Lots of it is quite crude by today’s standards, but it has a charm and atmosphere that more modern iterations are hard-pressed to compete with -- in my opinion anyway.

Being published in 2004, the book finishes around the time of the 3.5 release. 4^th and 5^th edition were still years away, so it’s time for an update. I’d definitely pick it up an updated version if Wizards of the Coast decide to do one.   

*Communion – Whitley Strieber (1987)

Picture from Amazon.com

Selling a huge number of copies in the late 1980s, Communion is a seminal work in UFO literature and probably best known to the general public today as the book that popularised the image of the “Grey”.
My parents were always fine with me reading books about UFOs, aliens, the paranormal etc as a kid, but they were a little bit funny about Communion and consequently I didn’t read it until I was probably in my mid-teens. But I do remember the cover image frightening me as a child; in hindsight it was probably the first time I had really seen an image of a grey – they were an uncommon sight in a pre-X-Files world. Ted Seth Jacob’s rendering gave it an almost photorealistic appearance, which made it seem much more real and therefore all the more disturbing. I’d seen alien illustrations before, but they were just that – illustrations, easily dismissed as unreal or non-threatening. This was different.   

The content within the book is almost as disturbing as its cover – though pretty standard stuff to those familiar with UFO and abduction literature, Strieber’s background as a horror author lends it a more unsettling tone than most. Incidentally, there's also a film adaptation starring Christopher Walken as Strieber -- apparently it's not great, though I've never seen it myself.

*Mysteries of the Unknown: Alien Encounters (1992)

Picture from Amazon.com

An absolute plethora of books on UFOs, aliens and the broader “unexplained” were published from the 1970s to the 1990s – just go check out your local second hand bookstore if you don’t believe me. Time-Life’s Mysteries of the Unknown series was one of the most prominent in the genre, spanning a whopping 33 volumes from the late 1980s through to the mid 1990s.

I only read maybe 4 or 5 of these – that was all that my library had, and most of them didn’t interest me – but they have remained as something of a personal gold standard for books on the unexplained. Classy, black faux-leather covers, lavish illustrations (many printed with metallic ink) and filled with interesting (if highly questionable) tales, it’s not hard to see why they were such a hit on release or why they're still so entertaining today.  Look at that ominous cover -- it's worth the price of admission alone!  

Though I’m sure I read this title as a kid, I recently ordered a 2004 reprint from eBay and found most of it quite unfamiliar. Perhaps it’s been longer than I remember between reads, or maybe I just never read it at all (SCREEN MEMORY ALERT). But it’s pretty much what you’d expect – alien abductions, the evolving nature of the phenomenon over the 20th century, comparisons with folk tales of fairies – and of course, ancient astronauts, with a heavy emphasis on the theories of Zecharia Sitchin. Though I haven’t seen any references to reptilians in there, which would be almost unthinkable were an updated version published today.  

I also spent a lot of time with its companion volume, The UFO Phenomenon, which I’ll hopefully cover in the next part of this series.  

BONUS MATERIAL: You can watch one of the ads for the Mysteries of the Unknown series here – and Julianne Moore showed up in another.

Well, that's it for part one. Hope you enjoyed it! Part two hopefully to come soon.

 

 

Easter Dinosaurs

I don't really go all out for Easter -- chocolate is great when you're a kid, but as an adult you begin to realise that eating an excess of it could have serious consequences, diabetes being one of them. A typical Easter for me tends to involve church on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, then hanging out with friends and/or family for the rest of the long weekend (and I think I may have built some Galaxy Squad Lego last year).  Easter has become an increasingly solemn occasion for myself as I have grown older. Too much chocolate is usually consumed, but not to the order of magnitude that occurs during childhood.

Nonetheless I was in Target the other day, and passed through their Easter section, which is now getting into full swing. And I spotted this:



Eight dinosaurs for five bucks alone is a bargain, but GLOW IN THE DARK as well? Not to mention the four Easter eggs. I had to have it.

The chocolate was better than anticipated. I expected that dreadful compound stuff that's so prevalent among cheaper Easter fare. But as you might expect, the real draw was the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs. Titanic beasts of prehistory. Favourite creatures of children and adults around the globe. I don't think they have a whole lot to do with the modern celebration of Easter, though to be fair they did lay eggs -- which means there's more of a connection than a lot of the other Easter merch doing the rounds.

The package contains the following creatures (L-R):

*Plesiosaurus -- waterbound creature, possibly best known these days as being a potential Loch Ness Monster. Not a dinosaur.

*Pachycephalosaurus -- probably used to have awesome headbutt fights.

*Styracosaurus -- like a Triceratops, but not.

*Bronto/Apatosaurus -- a herbivore, formerly at the centre of a naming controversy.

*Pteradon -- not actually a dinosaur, but lived in the same era. Soared above in the skies and
presumably rained death from above on its prey. A prehistoric Starscream, I like to think.

*Triceratops -- one of the most awesome herbivores. This bad boy could give most carnivores a run for their money in the violence stakes.

*The green one -- I assume this is a T-Rex, but it doesn't look quite right. So we'll go with cool-looking generic carnivore.

*Dimetrodon --not a dinosaur either, but actually a mammalian reptile. Lived about 60 million years prior to the Triassic period. Probably my favourite piece of the set.

So as we see, there's actually a number of non-dinos included here. This was pretty common with a lot of the toy dinosaurs I owned as a kid too -- I remember also having a sabre-toothed tiger, and even a set which included Neanderthals. So we won't hold it against them.

The figures themselves are cast in that "not quite soft, but not too firm either" plastic that you'd be familiar with from dinosaur toys in childhood. Some of the detailing is obscured due to the GITD colour scheme, but that's pretty standard. I'm pretty sure I've seen some of these molds before, back when I was a child -- the Pteradon looks particularly familiar.

As for the glow-in-the-dark feature, they all glow the standard yellow-green colour. I expected some other colours in there too, based on their non-glow colouring, but apparently not. Still, it's satisfying to see them glowing away on the bookcase as I drift into sleep after a hard day at the office.

Questionable links to Easter aside, this is a pretty cool toy set! $5 well spent. Recommended for any dinosaur or glow-in-the-dark fan. And if I don't get to post before then, have a happy Easter everyone!