Friday, July 22, 2022

The Legion of Silly Dinosaurs: Therizinosaurs!

 

It's the last day before a big vacation, and I decided it was time to clear out some backlogged material. As it happens, I have a new acquisition and something I've had for a long time that I had meant to cover a while ago. To start things off, here's a Jurassic World Therizinosaurus in package.


This came out, of course, with the Fisher Price Imaginext side of the Jurassic World Dominion toy line. The movie gave a prominent role to Therizinosaurus (see T. Rex Vs. Everything), which was a nice choice for a semi-obscure dino. Of course, the movie makes the dino far more menacing than it is, though what's actually shown amounts to the herbivore either slicing up carnosaurs that would happily feed on it or crossing paths with humans who run away before it can react either way. (For real silliness, see the "deadly" dicynodont.) I decided I liked this one better than the bigger "realistic" representation from Mattel, so I put in an order. Here's another pic of the packaging.

What I really like about this is the simple color scheme and very solid construction, which truly give the feel of a 1980s FP toy. The design also leaves things open-ended whether this is a hostile creature. The big gimmick is the button that lets it break loose from its bonds. Here's some pics of the thing unboxed.




"I'm a hugger, not a slasher! Mostly..."

This all reminded me of something I already had lying around. I had previously acquired a therizinosaur from a museum gift shop, along with one a raptor from the Odds And Ends post that I'm sure came from the same manufacturer. It's a pretty typical product of the 2000s, with a lot of "realistic" detail that isn't that accurate.  It was nice enough at the time to see a protobird with feathers that looked like they were meant to be there rather than added on. (See also the Retro Raptors post.) As it happened, I saw the same dino when I recently discovered Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong, a fine show/ channel from a guy I believe would cry if he saw the things I deal with. Here's a few pics of the thing.
"You say dinosaur ground sloth like it's a bad thing..."



That still leaves the Jurassic World Dominion movie. I have to say I kind of liked it, certainly better than the previous entry. It's odd and goofy, which is a tone that has served the franchise better than its self-serious "message" installments. (See my JP video rant while you're at it.) I especially liked the locust subplot everyone else has complained about. Notwithstanding the ludicrously oversized bugs on-screen, it's the kind of thing that could actually be done with existing and foreseeable tech, and the overall flavor of the scheme would fit a Bond movie as much as a JP sequel. The biggest improvement is bringing back the original cast and giving them something to do. For the moment, it wraps things up on a relative high note. With that, I can call it a day. That's all for now, more to come!

No comments:

Post a Comment