Scar
Super Freak
I'm curious what everyone's personal wish lists look like for the line, so I thought I might get the ball rolling with a few thoughts.
First, a Velociraptor vs. Protoceratops diorama. This seems like a no-brainer. It's one of the most famous examples of prehistoric combat captured in the fossil record. The Velociraptor's recurved hind claw on its left leg embedded in the belly of the Protoceratops while it grips at the frill of the diminutive ceratopsian with its left forelimb. The Protoceratops is by no means the defenseless prey in this battle, clutching the Velociraptor's right forelimb in its beak and crushing it in an embrace not unlike a modern Snapping turtle, refusing to let go lest it give up its life to the tenacious Dromaeosaur. It would make for an extremely dynamic, albeit brutal, diorama... making it one which I sincerely hope SS decides to tackle.
While the two dinosaurs mentioned above are more diminutive, the next two on my list are titans known well throughout not only paleontological circles but to the public as well. An Allosaurus vs. Stegosaurus diorama also has a great measure of potential. We have healed wounds on both Allosaurus and Stegosaurus specimens that lead us to the conclusion that these two definitely encountered each other in acts of at least attempted depredation. Stegosaurus in either maquette or diorama rendering would be just fine. Again there's a great deal of potential for a fantastic color scheme, encompassing the plates. While it did most definitely have a diminutive brain case, it also has one of the most fascinating defensive builds. To have such a small cranium to body ratio could well have been both to minimize the starkness and vulnerability of the cranium as a target by shrinking it over evolutionary time, but also escalating the size of the body itself and bringing the cranium so low to the ground, making the body much more imposing, particularly when heightened more still by the ornamentation and weaponry - the plates and the tail spikes. It certainly does make the mind spin as to what environmental pressures could have placed the Stegosaurus head so low to the ground, raise its solid center mass, and bestow a tail with a wide range of attack. The answer is that organisms evolve parallel to one another. Evolving is much like swimming upstream - if you aren't constantly moving forward you inevitably move backward, terminating in extinction. Stegosaurus could well have developed in this manner in response to the increasingly prevalent and successful alpha predator in its environment - the Allosaurus.
To have the Stegosaurus locked in combat with the predator deemed "the lion of Jurassic North America" would be a wonderful spectacle to behold. Across the fossil record you see a lot of theropods built for speed, a lot specialized for strength, but what you have in the Allosaurus is perhaps the most successful theropod generalist. It achieves spectacular size and sacrifices neither speed nor strength on its evolutionary trek. It was capable of achieving great distances at an accelerated pace, but its jaws are extremely remarkable when looked at with greater scrutiny. Unlike the dentition lining the mouth of Tyrannosaurus rex, whose teeth were capable of pulverizing anything and everything unfortunate enough to be caught within them, Allosaurus teeth could saw through flesh like a knife through butter, and certainly rip small dinosaurs into even smaller pieces, but the larger herbivores in its environment would have had large chunks of flesh gouged out while still alive. The upper jaw is more robust and contains more teeth than the narrow, tapering lower jaw, leading one to the assumption that it is the primary tool of attack. Allosaurus jaws are continually referred to as a hatchet, with the upper jaw slamming into prey, digging a deep wound; the lower jaw is then brought up to assist the upper in excising a sizable amount of flesh. Afterward, the Allosaurus could remain close to its prey while it weakened from blood loss before moving in for the coup de grace. The resultant design encompassing both the jaws and teeth was ideally suited for inflicting deep lacerating wounds. These, however, were not an Allosaurus' only tools of attack. The immense claws on the hands of Allosaurus, one particularly large claw situated on the innermost digit on each hand, could have acted like meat hooks, latching onto the prey while the animal delivers devastating bites, and even potentially kicking with hind claws, as some more recent hypotheses speculate, like today's avian raptors and felines, digging deep, eviscerating lashes. A diorama could be posed with an open-mawed Allosaur charging a Stegosaurus and the Stegosaurus raises its tail like a flail mace to bring down upon its assailant. Perhaps a deep wound just behind the ribs of the Stegosaurus and a puncture in the Allosaurus from the armored herbivore. Just some stream of consciousness thought, but I like the potential.
These are the first two I would like to see SS give some attention. Any other thoughts?
First, a Velociraptor vs. Protoceratops diorama. This seems like a no-brainer. It's one of the most famous examples of prehistoric combat captured in the fossil record. The Velociraptor's recurved hind claw on its left leg embedded in the belly of the Protoceratops while it grips at the frill of the diminutive ceratopsian with its left forelimb. The Protoceratops is by no means the defenseless prey in this battle, clutching the Velociraptor's right forelimb in its beak and crushing it in an embrace not unlike a modern Snapping turtle, refusing to let go lest it give up its life to the tenacious Dromaeosaur. It would make for an extremely dynamic, albeit brutal, diorama... making it one which I sincerely hope SS decides to tackle.
While the two dinosaurs mentioned above are more diminutive, the next two on my list are titans known well throughout not only paleontological circles but to the public as well. An Allosaurus vs. Stegosaurus diorama also has a great measure of potential. We have healed wounds on both Allosaurus and Stegosaurus specimens that lead us to the conclusion that these two definitely encountered each other in acts of at least attempted depredation. Stegosaurus in either maquette or diorama rendering would be just fine. Again there's a great deal of potential for a fantastic color scheme, encompassing the plates. While it did most definitely have a diminutive brain case, it also has one of the most fascinating defensive builds. To have such a small cranium to body ratio could well have been both to minimize the starkness and vulnerability of the cranium as a target by shrinking it over evolutionary time, but also escalating the size of the body itself and bringing the cranium so low to the ground, making the body much more imposing, particularly when heightened more still by the ornamentation and weaponry - the plates and the tail spikes. It certainly does make the mind spin as to what environmental pressures could have placed the Stegosaurus head so low to the ground, raise its solid center mass, and bestow a tail with a wide range of attack. The answer is that organisms evolve parallel to one another. Evolving is much like swimming upstream - if you aren't constantly moving forward you inevitably move backward, terminating in extinction. Stegosaurus could well have developed in this manner in response to the increasingly prevalent and successful alpha predator in its environment - the Allosaurus.
To have the Stegosaurus locked in combat with the predator deemed "the lion of Jurassic North America" would be a wonderful spectacle to behold. Across the fossil record you see a lot of theropods built for speed, a lot specialized for strength, but what you have in the Allosaurus is perhaps the most successful theropod generalist. It achieves spectacular size and sacrifices neither speed nor strength on its evolutionary trek. It was capable of achieving great distances at an accelerated pace, but its jaws are extremely remarkable when looked at with greater scrutiny. Unlike the dentition lining the mouth of Tyrannosaurus rex, whose teeth were capable of pulverizing anything and everything unfortunate enough to be caught within them, Allosaurus teeth could saw through flesh like a knife through butter, and certainly rip small dinosaurs into even smaller pieces, but the larger herbivores in its environment would have had large chunks of flesh gouged out while still alive. The upper jaw is more robust and contains more teeth than the narrow, tapering lower jaw, leading one to the assumption that it is the primary tool of attack. Allosaurus jaws are continually referred to as a hatchet, with the upper jaw slamming into prey, digging a deep wound; the lower jaw is then brought up to assist the upper in excising a sizable amount of flesh. Afterward, the Allosaurus could remain close to its prey while it weakened from blood loss before moving in for the coup de grace. The resultant design encompassing both the jaws and teeth was ideally suited for inflicting deep lacerating wounds. These, however, were not an Allosaurus' only tools of attack. The immense claws on the hands of Allosaurus, one particularly large claw situated on the innermost digit on each hand, could have acted like meat hooks, latching onto the prey while the animal delivers devastating bites, and even potentially kicking with hind claws, as some more recent hypotheses speculate, like today's avian raptors and felines, digging deep, eviscerating lashes. A diorama could be posed with an open-mawed Allosaur charging a Stegosaurus and the Stegosaurus raises its tail like a flail mace to bring down upon its assailant. Perhaps a deep wound just behind the ribs of the Stegosaurus and a puncture in the Allosaurus from the armored herbivore. Just some stream of consciousness thought, but I like the potential.
These are the first two I would like to see SS give some attention. Any other thoughts?
