Tuesday, September 13, 2011

VDA special: Terrible '90s Dromaeosaur Face-Off

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, scientists and nerdy laymen with far too much spare time - welcome one and all to the first ever Terrible 1990s Dromaeosaur Face-Off competition. Inspired by a minor debate between Niroot and myself, and further encouraged by Trish*, in each round two utterly dreadful dromaeosaurs from '90s palaeoart will be presented for your consideration. It is up to you - the readers - to decide your favourite. By way of commenting.

This is definitely not just a way for me to gauge how many readers this blog really has. Oh no.

Reader participation will also be required when it comes to selecting entrants for future rounds (Trish has already provided one contender for next time). The only rules are that it has to be a dromaeosaur, from a serious publication with an educational remit, and from the 1990s. Or from the 1980s, whatever. Close enough.

Here we go then. In the blue corner: Velociraptor from Know the World of Dinosaurs.




In the red corner: Velociraptor from The Concise Illustrated Book of Dinosaurs.



I wonder if David still thinks allowing me to write for this blog was a good idea. Anyway, votes please!

*After splitting my sides reading her blog yesterday, I owe her one.
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26 comments:

  1. Thomas HoltzSeptember 13, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Blue, definitely. It was at least drawn by someone who once looked at a picture of Deinonychus (rather than Velociraptor) at some point in the 1970s or 1980s. Not sure the red corner artist had even seen a picture of a dromaeosaurid (good or bad) before they tried to draw this.

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  2. AdamSeptember 13, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    I kinda feel bad for the first velociraptor. It looks as if it has already been in a fight with the second one, and was punched in the face.

    Anywho, the first one is just so hilariously derpy that it gets my vote.

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  3. davorSeptember 13, 2011 at 3:12 PM

    Blue. Also, I'm totally turning off moderation. You're bringing in too many comments, Marc!

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  4. NateeSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    A little clarification if you please, Mr Vincent. By 'our favourite', do you mean the one we think is worse or better?

    And look, I have Dr. Holtz's backing about the red corner being worse! 'The [blue] at least looks vaguely like a deinonychosaur', were these not my words? ;)

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  5. ScottSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    My "Favorite" would definitely be the bottom (Red) contender.

    The top one is completely generic quickie art, the kind of thing I'd expect to see on the cardboard label of a bag of those cheap plastic dinos with the same mold for the same poses as they used when I bought them in the 70s - you know the ones.

    The bottom one may not be "realistic" or "anatomically correct", but it makes up for that in personality. Distinctive pose, and a coprolite-eating grin!

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  6. TrishSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:48 PM

    Oh, definitely the red corner. It looks as if the artist got a tiny one-line note on a scrap of napkin explaining what a velociraptor looks like and spat out that... thing.

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  7. tnthielenSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    RED!

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  8. Arthur MasloskiSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    If I was presented with both pictures and asked which one was supposed to represent a velociraptor I would choose the blue, as for red...I have no idea what that is. The quality is better sure but that can't save it.

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  9. tnthielenSeptember 13, 2011 at 5:29 PM

    Here is a (pre-jurassic park) Velociraptor that I always despised. It may not be as bad as some, but it's still bad in my book.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/62101859@N08/6145331424/in/pool-1430168@N22/

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  10. Marc VincentSeptember 13, 2011 at 5:33 PM

    @Niroot: It's whichever is your favourite. As to whether or not that means it's the worse or the better one, well, that's up to you.

    Thanks for all the votes so far everyone.

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  11. Marc VincentSeptember 13, 2011 at 5:34 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Marc VincentSeptember 13, 2011 at 5:35 PM

    Oh and @tnthielen: looks like we have our 2 contenders for the next battle. Although yours is obviously a (very bad) rip-off of a John Sibbick piece.

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  13. DurbedSeptember 13, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    I´m going with the Red. Blue is sort of cute -like a Pokemon- and it even has a stiff tail, but I prefer vintage grotesqueness any day.

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  14. TomozaurusSeptember 13, 2011 at 6:41 PM

    I'm going with blue because it reminds me of the "Dino Riders" Deinonychus figure I had as a child.

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  15. davorSeptember 13, 2011 at 6:49 PM

    Another fearsome contender for a future bout: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anatotitan/5589338220/

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  16. NateeSeptember 14, 2011 at 3:11 AM

    @Marc: But then how do we know on what grounds the winner actually um... wins? *Flails*

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  17. Maija KaralaSeptember 14, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    Red corner, definitely. It looks like a cross between a nasty pixie and... umm, some kind of reptile. I really like that expression. He's going to bite your head off and really, really enjoy it.

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  18. Marc VincentSeptember 14, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    @Niroot: No need to overcomplicate things. The winner wins on the grounds of public popularity. People may have their differing reasons for picking a certain one, and it's entertaining to hear them, but they are largely irrelevant :P

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  19. Mike KeeseySeptember 14, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    Blue is just kind of lame, while red is phantasmagorically terrible. Red.

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  20. Ryan DeLucaSeptember 14, 2011 at 2:00 PM

    Blue, he is too plump to not pick. Fat tiger raptor for the win!

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  21. Nobu TamuraSeptember 14, 2011 at 2:26 PM

    Difficult choice... Blue remotely looks like a fat naked Deinonychus running downhill from an avalanche while red is just pure fantasy. Blue.

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  22. NateeSeptember 14, 2011 at 3:19 PM

    @Marc: I know, I was just joking. :P

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  23. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2011 at 3:44 PM

    I can't make up my mind - in one corner you have an inflated bipedal Gila monster and in the other the cryptic (bipedal) Mongolian death worm... but I have to go with the blue corner. Like Dr. Holtz said it somewhat looks like a dromaeosaurid.

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  24. SammDSeptember 15, 2011 at 3:03 AM

    Red. He looks like some kind of freakish alien creature, but he has more character than blue.

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  25. envirionSeptember 16, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    I love how humanoid Red's limbs are... but Tomozaurus's comment made my vote for me.

    My vote goes to Blue!

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  26. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2011 at 4:52 PM

    They're both pretty bad! But I've got to go with red as the worst. I was laughing at both of them. Thanks for a great challenge!

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