Customs from paintingdinos: Tarbosaurus base (6/29/2022)

Sometimes, a figure just won’t do what you want it to, even if that task is something as simple as standing up. That was the case here, with the Favorite Tarbosaurus. I love this model and think it’s honestly one of the better tyrannosaurs on the market, but the struggles I’ve had getting it to stay upright. Boy, do I miss the days when the worst thing to happen involved a figure falling over.

Anyway... I live in Southern California and the summer heat can sometimes do quite the number on my figures, particularly theropods (I’m looking at you, Papo Malibu Stork), and warp their legs to the point of them no longer being able to stand. My Australovenator was hit so badly that I could no longer get it to stand even when I tried to warp the legs back, so I commissioned a base from Dinosaur Toy Forum member, paintingdinos.

At one point, I considered this with my Tarbosaurus (I even sent it to her with the Australovenator), but, I decided to cancel that commission and sell it. Then, I started to miss the figure, and my lack of will led me to buy it again. This time, finally, I gave in and realized the only way it would continue to stand would be with some help.

Paintingdinos absolutely knocked my socks of here. There’s something transcendental about this base, it feels alive in a way that makes you forget it exists to prop up a figure l. Looking at the floor, you can tell this is a place that has been shaped by animals. The Tarbosaurus footprints are just so inspiring, they’ve clearly filled up with some water and I can imagine smaller animals drinking out of them. BTW, the muddy look is inspired by paintingdinos’ research into the Nemegt Formation, which yielded information about there being some floodplains.

The tree (would you call such a thing a stump?) is definitely a contender for the best part of the base. No joke, I, for a brief moment fooled myself into think that it was in fact real wood. It’s not, it’s made of foam, but that says something. I also love the little notch that the Tarbosaurus’ hand can fit into for extra support.

Bases usually register such little emotion from me. They’re either flat bits of  blandly sculpted unpainted plastic that, no matter what habitat the animal occupied, look like sand, or overblown nightmares that take up more room than the figure itself. This base is the perfect refutation of both those ideas. It’s not huge, but it packs such a punch, and it actually helps the figure stand. I’m so grateful To paintingdinos for making this and helping one of my favorites (pun intended) be able to live on my shelves once again.

So, that’s it for now. There’s 3 more customs to share and I’ll probably post the next one in a couple of days. In the meantime, you should really check out paintingdinos' thread on the horribly acronymed DTF: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=5847.0

Thanks for reading!