Concavenator’s Collection (new 8/5/2024)

An unusual paravian whose holotype and only known specimen so far (STM 31-2) preserves both direct evidence of feathers and membranous wings akin to those of flying/gliding tetrapods like bats. It therefore represents a striking case of convergent evolution. The holotype contains different types of melanosomes, some of which are particularly large considering both modern and fossil feathers. Feathers from its neck and limbs contained eumelanosomes, the head’s feathers contained both eumelanosomes and phaeomelanosomes and the membranes’ skin contained phaeomelanosomes. It’s not clear whether or not it was capable of powered flight or if it predominantly relied on gliding. (Xu et al., 2015).

I can’t believe I finally have a figure of Yi, and one this good at that! I find Yi to be a fascinating creature and it is among my favorite dinosaurs.

Yi is a striking creature by itself, but as per usual, I like having figures of prehistoric animals we know the colorations of (or have an approximate idea). And while we don’t exactly know what color Yi was, we can make educated guesses considering the presence of melanosomes in the holotype. Considering that:

- Eumelanosomes can produce black, grey or iridescent colors.
- Phaeomelanosomes can produce shades of brown.

And taking into account the distribution of both types of melanosomes as described in the first paragraph, a coloration like Kaiyodo’s is perfectly plausible.

I became aware of this figure fairly recently, and realized it is pretty much what I was looking for, so very happy to have it. I have been requesting CollectA and Safari to make a figure of it ever since it was described back in 2015, but I no longer need that, as figures by them would surely be larger.

Even though this figure is in a pretty huge scale (it’s about 1:5), the animal is so small that the figure itself is small too. Pretty sure it doesn’t get smaller than this for a figure of this animal, at least when the major companies are concerned. Does anyone want to try a 1:18 Yi? And what about a 1:35 one?  >

Wonderful figure of an amazing creature!

Utahraptor represents a case of gigantism in paravians, a condition also seen in other dromaeosaurid and non-dromaeosaurid taxa, like Austroraptor and Imperobator, respectively (Ely & Case, 2019). Utahraptor is both the oldest and the largest Dromaeosauridae. Aside from its large size, it is also notable for its highly blade-like manual claws and its distinctive lacrimals (Kirkland, Gaston & Burge, 1993). Undescribed material points out to Utahraptor possessing tall neural spines, a shorter (but more mobile) tail than other dromaeosaurs (Hartman, 2017), as well as a rather boxy skull with a Masiakasaurus-like lower jaw. Said material also suggests Utahraptor was unusually robust for a dromaeosaur (Hartman, 2017). It is considered by some authors to represent one of the most remarkable paleontological discoveries in recent decades (Costa & Normand, 2019).

So exciting to not only finally see a good Utahraptor figure… but to add it to my collection, too!  ;D

Captures this animal’s weirdness really well. What may initially seem as odd proportions to some people is the figure being accurate to the real animal, which is clearly an unusual one. Dromaeosaurids are usually elegant, gracile creatures. But Utahraptor is an outlier:

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Utahraptor by Gabriel Ugueto. Compared to Ursus maritimus and Homo sapiens.

I usually favor calm poses, but this Utahraptor has an interesting threatening (?), or defensive (?) pose. The color scheme is beautiful too (also interesting that [member=816]Doug Watson[/member] took inspiration from another raptor  ), and it does not involve brown! 

As per usual, Safari keeps making the best dromaeosaur figures, together with Creative Beast Studio. And hopefully they will continue with this trend, and it would be appreciated if more companies turned (at least a bit of) their attention to this amazing family at long last. It wasn’t until 2020 that we got the first good Deinonychus figure (expectedly, thanks to Safari) , and it wasn’t until 2023 that we got the first Utahraptor figure to do a good job at depicting the animal (again, thanks to Safari, and this year the BotM version is planned to be released as well), which is one of the most iconic members of the clade, and since its description, also one of the most famous. On the other hand, Zhuchengtyrannus and Saurophaganax (for example) have received more figures despite being quite fragmentary, poorly-known taxa. Food for thought here…

I got this figure from a seller on Vinted, which is a second-hand app, but the figure itself is brand-new. No local store has the Utahraptor in stock yet. Maybe by next year they will?  ::) Yeah, that’s why I had to pick it up as soon as I saw the chance. I don’t know why, but the distribution of Safari figures has become really bad in Europe as of late, I hope the situation improves…