Sunday, June 23, 2019


The original Demogorgon of D&D is described as having two baboon-like heads connected to a reptilian body by serpentine necks, and tentacled arms. I'm pretty sure that the name was drawn from Milton, who mentions it in the same breath as the name of Orcus.

In later editions of the game, his upper body became more simian and each arm was split into two tentacles.

Recently though, the top search results for Demogorgon turn up the monster from the show Stranger Things which looks like a humanoid creature with a corpse lily for a head.

I'm partial to the original Demogorgon, and the miniature that I felt looked the closest to that design is the Icons of the Realms Demogorgon (Classic Creatures #8).

Unfortunately, the figure is posed in a strange bent over posture with flailing tentacles that is not very imposing.

The next picture is a comparison of the DDM Aspect of Demogorgon (Archfiends #45), the Icons of the Realms Demogorgon Promo (Classic Creatures #10), and a Demogorgon figure from the Stranger Things D&D Starter Set.

I like the DDM figure the best, even though it is a bit on the skinny side. The Icons of the realms promotional figure is almost the same as the larger version, but it has an upright pose that should have been used with the larger figure. Sadly both of these figures are tiny, and probably better suited to go with 15mm or 10mm figures. The Stranger Things Demogorgon is also small, but it is pretty much the correct size to go with 1/72 scale figures.

Anyway, what I decided to do was to fix the pose of the large Demogorgon figure. I straightened out the legs by cutting and extending the joints with metal pins and Kneadatite. I also reposed the right tentacle to make the tip point forward instead of backward.

The figure was then glued onto a 2¼" washer to give it some weight, and there you have it.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Yutyrannus huali

Yutyrannus dossier from ΛRK

Yutyrannus huali is currently the largest known feathered dinosaur to be discovered. There have been a few toys and models made of this therapod, but only two small scale versions exist.

One of the small scale models is an exclusive by Takara Tomy, made for the 2012 Dino Kingdom Expo. It was available from gashapon machines at the Expo for ¥300, but nowadays goes for about US$30 on the aftermarket. From what I have heard, it is supposed to be 1/100 scale, so I can safely pass on the model.

The other model is the Kaiyodo Yutyrannus from their Capsule Q Museum (カプセルQミュージアム) series. The Dinosaur Excavation Chronicles Tyrannosaurus (Kyōryūhakkutsuki Tyrannosaurus; 恐竜発掘記ティラノサウルス) was the first set in the series.

Each of the models comes with a human figure for scale comparison, but I can never be certain how big they are from the marketing pictures because they look identical despite being in at least three different scales.

In this particular set, the Tyrannosaurs are paired with 1/100 scale figures, while the Yutyrannus comes with a 1/60 scale figure.

The model is about 4" long, so it scales out to roughly 24 feet in 1/72, which is at the lower range of estimated size for Yutyrannus. If it were 1/60 scale, it would probably have to be considered a juvenile or sub-adult specimen.