Because the Neovenator pair seems on the scene, the nesting Iguanodons start rising to their toes and bellowing aggressively. The carnivores tempo forwards and backwards quickly in entrance of them, jaws snapping and sharp eyes scanning for any discernible weaknesses as they try and panic the massive herbivores into stampeding. However what neither predators nor potential prey discover is a smaller determine decked in crimson, white, and black emerge silently from the scrub brush on the alternative aspect of the nesting floor, scurry with nice fluckadrift immediately beneath the raised tail of an Iguanodon, pluck an egg out of the nest with its jaws, and hightail again into the comb once more. The poacher rigorously lays the egg down on the bottom, then darts out once more to steal a second one with out anybody noticing her nonetheless. Lastly, she sits all the way down to get pleasure from her meal and observe the bigger dinosaurs proceed to confront one another. As she bites into the primary egg, Sionnach ponders whether or not or not the Neovenators will reach offering her with one more alternative for a simple meal . . .
‘Twas precisely one yr in the past right this moment that I posted my first Beasts of the Mesozoic Tyrannosaur review to the Dinosaur Toy Weblog. It stays by far the longest assessment I’ve written (5628 phrases!), and the easiest one in my humble opinion. And now I’m wrapping up my tyrannosaur trio with this assessment of Eotyrannus, a part of the third and ultimate wave.
As at all times, we start with the field. Whereas I knew that it might be a lot smaller than these of the Tyrannosaurus rex and the Teratophoneus, I used to be nonetheless shocked at its dimension. It measures simply 17 cm lengthy x 14 cm tall x 6 cm huge. The excellent paintings by Shannon Beaumont on the entrance depicts the Eotyrannus standing triumphantly atop a lifeless Hypsilophodon in a darkish forest setting.
The again of the field contains the Eotyrannus‘ bio, stats, and options, a catalog shot of the determine, and headshots of the remainder of Wave 3. There’s one factual error within the bio: Eotyrannus was certainly a tyrannosauroid, however undoubtedly not a tyrannosaurid. Nonetheless, anybody who’s purchased or planning to purchase this determine is probably properly conscious of its correct place within the tyrannosaur dynasty, so not that large of a deal.
The insert reveals the identical darkish forest as on the field artwork. Presumably that is centered round a lake or a river, as again within the Early Cretaceous some 127 million years in the past, the Wessex Formation is assumed to have been a semi-arid land much like trendy California or the Mediterranean. Along with Eotyrannus, Neovenator, Iguanodon, and Hypsilophodon, the identified residents embody ankylosaurs Polacanthus and Vectipelta, ornithopods Brighstoneus, Mantellisaurus, and Valdosaurus, spinosaurs Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator, the dromaeosaur Vectiraptor, and pterosaurs equivalent to Caulkicephalus.
Right here’s the collectible BotM card, that includes the very same info and imagery as on the field. I’ve to say, I’ve actually come to adore Shannon Beaumont’s paleoart. Hopefully she’ll proceed to do extra for the upcoming Cyberzoic and Beasts of the Cenozoic sequence along with future BotM sequence.
And that brings us to the Eotyrannus, whom I’ve dubbed Sionnach, pronounced “she-OH-knock-AW” in Scottish Gaelic. She’s at the moment my smallest BotM determine at 21 cm in size and eight.5 cm in top when standing in a impartial horizontal pose just like the one above. Her colouration relies on an extant European predatory dinosaur: the red kite. Brick crimson is the primary color, with white utilized to the insides of her legs and arms and on her flanks. The underside of her tail is pale orange and the tip is darkish brown and black with gentle brown spots. Mild brown and black markings adorn her neck, torso, and thighs. Her toes are uninteresting orange, her fingers are darkish brown on the surface and mustard yellow on the within, and her claws are shiny black.
Sionnach’s head is painted white, black, and light-weight brown with a darkish yellow muzzle tipped with darkish brown. Her eyes are medium brown with shiny black pupils and her mouth is shiny darkish crimson with white tooth. All of it appears to be like excellent and fairly plausible. Sadly, the pupils on my determine have been painted as if they’re trying in several instructions like a chameleon. Makes Sionnach look a bit derpy when considered from the entrance. Additionally, her higher tooth have been painted as a single curving line, whereas her backside tooth are higher outlined.
And let’s get pleasure from some comparability pictures. First we have now Sionnach confronting the Eotyrannus that CollectA released all the way back in 2010. Fairly the stark distinction, no? I donated the latter to a kindergarten classroom’s dinosaur bin the day proper after this picture was taken. Definitely had no want for it anymore.
Right here’s Sionnach with some fellow diminutive tyrannosauroids: the Carnegie Collection Dilong, the CollectA Xiongguanlong, the PNSO Proceratosaurus, and the Wild Safari Guanlong.
And at last, right here she is with Marbhtach and Sealgair. I’m more than happy that I selected to pledge for these three; they undoubtedly present how numerous the tyrannosaur household was when it comes to dimension and look. Hopefully we’ll finally get a megaraptoran or two sooner or later.
Small although she might might, Sionnach’s sculpting is each bit as magnificent as her bigger kin. Her snout is roofed in tiny spherical scales and her tooth are fairly pointy. Her toes have the standard rows of scutes and spherical scales that we’re accustomed to seeing on theropod figures. The palms of her fingers have creases to indicate the joints, however are in any other case easy. The backs of her fingers, in the meantime, are coated in feathers, as is the remainder of her physique.
These will not be the pennaceous, bird-like feathers we see on dromaeosaurs and oviraptorosaurs; they’re as a substitute the extra primitive plumaceous or downy feathers that sure tyrannosauroids are identified to have had. Most of Sionnach’s plumage appears to be like quick and fuzzy, however her forearms and head have a thicker, shaggier look. The tip of her lengthy tail ends in a big fan, purely speculative for the time being, however believable. The claws on her toes are puny, however the ones on her fingers are pretty massive, curved, and lethal-looking.
Now, so far as accuracy is worried, Sionnach is fairly good on the entire. For sure she strongly resembles most scientific illustrations of Eotyrannus, which is at the moment solely identified from very fragmentary remains. Nonetheless, a 2022 monograph by paleontologists Darren Naish and Andrea Cau resulted in a brand new reconstruction that has a considerably smaller head, greater fingers, and greater toes. Nevertheless it should be famous that the monograph got here out properly after this sculpting for this determine had been accomplished. Revising it might have critically delayed manufacturing and value an excessive amount of cash. Such is the curse of prehistoric figures: frequently being proven to be inaccurate indirectly by new discoveries and publications. Personally, I feel the problems are comparatively minor. The determine additionally has a slight underbite, most noticeable when the mouth is closed.
Sionnach’s mouth opens to the standard levels, however not like bigger BotM theropods, her tongue just isn’t articulated. Her head and neck rotate a full 360 levels in both route. Her shoulders are ball-jointed, her elbows are hinged, and her wrists have common joints, though they give the impression of being dangerous when rotated (and, in fact, they couldn’t be rotated in actual life anyway). Her hips and toes are ball-jointed and her knees and ankles have common joints. Lastly, her bendable tail attaches by way of a ball joint. As at all times, it’s crucial that you simply take a hairdryer to your individual Eotyrannus with a view to loosen up all these joints and keep away from any breakage. Regardless of the small dimension of Sionnach’s toes, she could be put into an honest vary of poses as you’ve seen.
Sionnach’s base measures 9 cm lengthy and barely over 6.5 cm huge, and is sculpted to appear to be uninteresting brown rocks with a big patch of inexperienced moss, some medium brown roots, and a big gap for attaching the assist rod. In contrast to with the bases for the bigger tyrannosaurs within the sequence, there aren’t any pegs for attaching the toes, that are too small to have holes within the soles.
Listed below are the 4 various toes, with one pair having the toes bent and unfold aside and the opposite having the toes held shut collectively. They’re comparatively simple to swap out, though once more, finest to heat up the joints and sockets first. A single clear assist rod and two curved clips with ball joints are additionally included. Attaching the rod to the bottom was a problem that required a very good little bit of heating as properly, however as soon as put in, it was all high quality.
Getting Sionnach into some dynamic motion poses with out her falling over requires a very good little bit of persistence and precision, however that’s par for the course and a part of the enjoyable, isn’t it? And for security’s sake, I’ll be retaining her in a extra impartial and secure pose within the show case identical to with my different two tyrannosaurs.
Total, I’m reasonably happy with the BotM Eotyrannus. The crimson kite color scheme is superb, probably the greatest ones in the entire sequence. Sculpting is as spectacular as at all times, poseability is nice, and it’s fairly spectacular how the determine is ready to stand properly by itself despite its small toes. Granted, there are a couple of inaccuracies, however once more, by means of no fault of David Silva’s. He used what info was accessible and updated on the time. And at last, small tyrannosauroids nonetheless haven’t received very many figures to their title in comparison with their a lot bigger tyrannosaurid descendants, so this one, in addition to the others within the sequence, is most welcome certainly!
And thus does Sionnach full my trio of BotM tyrannosaurs. Don’t reckon I’ll be buying anymore, sadly, for the standard accursed causes of restricted house and funds. However Cyberzoic and Beasts of the Cenozoic loom massive on the horizon along with future BotM sequence, so I can particular promise that this isn’t the final such assessment from me. 🙂
“Humph!”
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