Computer problems

My laptop didn't want to start up at first today, and has been a bit unstable recently, so I'm looking into getting a new computer. Fingers and toes crossed I get around to it before this one breaks. I consider myself warned that it's planning on that sometime soon.

Dino acquisitions

Here's the stampede! Some of these figures are going to get repainted, so consider these the "before" photos.

The first package contained a small JW Blue figure, originally made as a soda cup topper, hence the base (without which the figure would probably fall over, so I'm not going to try to detach it). The set includes a bunch of other dinos (and a ptero) from both JW movies, too, but this was the only one I wanted.

It's a little weird, for one it's missing sickle claws, but it can't have been very expensive originally if it's just a decoration for your drink to have at the movie theater, and I paid less than 5 euros total for it on ebay, so.

The second package was of the fluffier variation. These guys are both Safari Ltd Velociraptor figures, one is a mini figure. The bigger one looks really lovely, and at least with my knowledge on raptor anatomy I can't find anything actually inaccurate about it, it's got functional wings and everything. Which is surprisingly hard to find.

A stampede, even

I just went to pick up a dino I'd ordered at the post office, when as soon as I get home I get a notification that I've got another package to pick up. So an abundance of dinos arriving today, and I guess I get some exercise on the side.

T. rex arm jokes

I came across a picture the other day that was a cartoony T. rex character trying to pick up a cup of water off a table to drink it, but couldn't because small arms, and I caught myself thinking it's an overrated, lazy joke. Which is a little odd, because I happen to find T. rex arm jokes hilarious and never get tired of them. This wasn't the first version that's made me think that, though, so what's the issue?

After some overthinking I've come to the conclusion that there's an easy way to miss the point of why, at least to me, T. rex having small arms and as a result difficulty doing some things is funny. Small arms or difficulty doing things aren't funny on their own, the joke needs the T. rex in it to work because the contrast is what's funny. Tyrannosaurus rex, the most iconic of dinosaurs, a huge, scary carnivore with big, sharp teeth and an unbelievable bite force, terrifying enough even millions of years after its extinction to be named "the king of tyrants"... has tiny, useless-looking arms. Badum-tss!

I mean, T. rex arms weren't even all that useless, they're considered to have been pretty strong for their relative size. They just couldn't be bigger because of the animal's massive head, or you'd end up with a creature so front-heavy it might as well be a quadruped. But it's the visuals that count there.

Making the rex cuter doesn't necessarily ruin it, it's still presumably a fierce beast by standards of cutesy dinosaurs. Anthropomorphizing the rex, on the other hand, kind of takes away the contrast. A T. rex who uses tables and cups and as I recall wears clothes, too, is bound to all kinds of boring conventions of human society - probably doesn't hunt and murder to eat, and instead buys its meat in neat little packages at the supermarket. What's funny about this creature not being able to do things?

The more humanlike you make the rex the easier it also starts to get for the punchline to accidentally be at the expense of actual humans unable to do some things. A joke about someone having difficulty with the seemingly simple task of picking up a cup and drinking from it isn't funny, it's just ableist. Even when keeping the rex as an animal, I wouldn't find the struggles with arm-related tasks funny if the species usually had no problem with those, and this individual just has had an injury or was born with smaller arms than usual. It's funny because the small arms are the standard for the species.

Phenomenal bone-crushing power vs. itty bitty forelimbs, that's the stuff.

Lightnings

Bookshelf Dilos

Some photos of my bookshelf raptor pack's neighbors.

I painted the two smaller ones a bit. The bigger JW Dilo (first from the left) just got her claws painted. I actually really like the mini's colours, but thought they could use a bit more camoflage, since being this small compared to the other figures they're obviously still a nestling (regardless of whether the figure is originally intended to be, which I'm pretty sure it's not).

Here's the minifigure before repainting:

And here's after:

101 Dragon Age questions

A fandom question meme made by gentlelarkspur on tumblr, here's the original post.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age?
Someday I'll write a book about how it happened, perhaps, except make it sound actually interesting, and then admit the at least alleged true course of events under interrogation. I... actually just can't remember.

2. Have you finished all three games?
I've finished DA:O and DA2, but I still haven't started DA:I.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series?
A long time. I'm thorough and slow, and like to stop to take screenshots at every turn. Like here, for example, is a mid-fight Justice with a floating shirtless guy.

No, it's not a staff, ser templar. It's a selfie stick.