I think it all depends on how you interpret that video. I took away from it that they were proud of how the JP piece turned out and the reaction to it, but that ultimately they want to go their own way for the freedom it offers them now that they know there's support for such a product line. They also made a comment about Stan Winston in there that sounded to me like relations may not be the same after Stan's passing, like they may not work together with SWS anymore, who knows.
As long as you're happy with things, that's what counts, just throwing out my perceptions and interpretations.
Not a bad way to interpret it. I wouldn't read too much into anything about SWS. I expect they'll do the best they can to carry on Stan's legacy and the warm relations that they carried out with other industries. They are like a family there, it's a true geniality and common bond that brings those guys together. I can't see anything going south with them unless something serious happens. God, I still miss Stan. It's hard to believe we're not going to have his ingenious mind behind movie monsters anymore. We can just hope that his influence lives on in the lives of those he touched. Again, based on the video, I'm hopeful. It's all in the eye of the beholder when it comes down to it.
My understanding of the whole personality thing was more to do with physical traits.
The first piece shows scarring on both dinosaurs. I think what they were getting at is if they want a T-Rex in one piece to be like an alpha male or something where he's the big fighter, lots of scars, maybe a missing eye, things that suggest a past life and persona to the creatures instead of just straight anatomical replication, they can do it. With JP, if you do a dio of a scene and put a scar that wasn't there, the license holder may not approve and if they do, fans probably won't. Dinosauria is pure freedom for them creatively.
The description of the alpha male T.rex made me hunger to see such a statue soon.
Not outlandish, and it seems we got such an animal in this dio... though I would much like to see a statue. That's part of why I would like to see a piece with the TLW T.rex family, or even the two adults tearing apart the Mercedes to get at the juicy treat (Eddie Carr) inside. SWS put so much detail into that male T.rex to make it an alpha male individual, with heavy scarring, a more prominent brow, and even a fractured rib on its right side. Come to think of it, I think the scene of Eddie's demise would right high up on the list of dios I'd like to see. I love what they did with the T.rex alone in this first Dinosauria dio, with so many healed wounds and fractures. It's extremely well done.
Yeah it's probably my lack of imagination that I can't see much personality in physical traits like that.
Well if it doesn't sell, they'll drop it in a heartbeat as they always do. You know it.
Must be. In point of fact, most zoologists and paleontologists alike would argue that in large, aggressive carnivores or herbivores, the stories of their lives can be told by the scars they bear. I can think of several examples among crocodilians, lions, hyenas, and perhaps most prominently today among Great White sharks. The paleoartist in that video makes an excellent point (sorry, his name escapes me). He mentions being able to distinguish T.rex skeletons by their healed, fossilized injuries. Such wounds can help paleontologists piece together what type of life this animal lived, whether it died from the injuries it sustained, what caused the injuries (if, for instance, it was a conspecific), or whether it lived just a life that was matched in its ferocity only by its brevity; it's exactly how many carnivores do live - short and fierce. Exceptions are found in certain gregarious animals that are fortunate to survive long enough to be senior members and receive privileged access to resources. Now I'm digressing, but suffice it to say, and perhaps this is just coming from a biologist's perspective, but scars on carnivores in particular tell you a lot about them; in older individuals it attests to good genes in many cases... being that, if they live to a ripe age and are riddled with scars, they were probably very skilled combatants and capable of yielding young with similar traits. It unequivocally distinguishes them as individuals and gives them character.
Well personality isn't really the best word to describe it, it's hard giving animals like dinosaurs personality in a freeze frame.
I think this piece does an excellent job of it.
