Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Difference between revisions

'''Roy:''' Same place all those [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|ninjas came from]].|''[[Garfield and Friends|U.S. Acres]]'', "The Name Game"}}

 

 

Since dinosaurs [[Real Life|actually existed]] in the past, some writers like to throw them into their stories. In many cases, this makes no sense at all, but when dinosaurs show up, we're generally in the realm of [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|awesome for the sake of awesome]]. Generally, the dinosaurs seen will be [[Stock Dinosaurs|restricted to a few well-known types]].

* ''Dinosaur Bop / Wanda et les dinosaures'' (''Wanda and the dinosaurs'') is set in a comical (with realist drawings) post-apocalyptic world were humanity regressed at prehistoric age (but more like "American sixties in a prehistoric setting"). For no reason, dinosaurs are here anew, and are used as pets, food or... cars (but ''T. rex'' is still a predator and wreck poor Eddy's car).

* The title character of ''Sláine'' has gone up against dinosaurs animated from amber.

* The Tar Pits in ''[[Sin City]]'' feature dinosaur statues. Frank Miller said he put them there as an excuse to draw dinosaurs.

* The villain in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man]]'' is Henry Phage, an immortal velociraptor at the head of a multidimensional corporation whose flagship product is the corruption of souls.

* [http://twitter.com/Dr_Dinosaur AH!] [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/05/01/fcbd-09-page-5/ DECEPTION!] MAMMAL '''''DECEPTION!'''''

* The Malibu Comics franchise ''[[Dinosaurs For Hire]]'' is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. An anthropomorphic tyrannosaur, stegosaur, and triceratops (and later a pteranodon) [[They Fight Crime|fight crime]]!

* One of the antagonist races in ''Shakara'' is called the Teknosaurs. And yes, they're a race of cyborg dinosaurs.

* The [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] that is ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' also has the [http://tmnt.wikia.com/wiki/Triceraton Triceratons]

* The graphic novel [[Dinosaurs vs. Aliens]] adds aliens to the mix.

 

 

== Music ==

* [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]]'s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4zvQfDhi0 Jurassic Park]", turning the [[Melodrama|melodramatic]] ([[Narm|to the point of hilarity]]) "MacArthur Park" into a [[Filk Song|retelling of]] [[Jurassic Park|Spielberg's movie]].

 

** The later action-oriented ''Dino2010''/''Dino Attack'' lines. Had mutated prehistoric critters that bore a very faint resemblance to their real-life counterparts, and although both lines were essentially the same, there were slight differences between the European and US releases: in the European ''Dino2010'', the protagonists merely wanted to contain the beasts; while their US counterparts came equipped with guns instead of capturing equipment.

** ''[[Bionicle]]'' very nearly averted this trope. Rumors say they originally intended to introduce cybernetic dinosaurs, but that set line got canceled. However the dinosaurs themselves eventually ended up in official canon, and [[Word of God]] says that a released model (Skirmix, a [[Horse of a Different Color|rock steed]]) was actually a close relative to these cyber-dinos.

** Then, there's LEGO's new venture into prehistoric themes: ''Dino'', which features a similar approach as the above described ''Adventurers'' line: people packing serious gear going after dinosaurs. The dino figures themselves are without doubt the best LEGO has ever made, though unfortunately, these are ''still'' ''[[Jurassic Park]]''-inspired, '80s or '90s-styled reptilian beasts.

* As mentioned, quite a few ''[[Transformers]]'' have dinosaur altmodes. The Dinobots were some of the fans' favorites, and of course Grimlock became a classic nearly on par with Optimus Prime and Megatron.

* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' has the recurring Hackasaurus (or Battle Rex), [[An Axe to Grind|an axe-wielding]], [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons|fire-breathing]] tyrannosaurus. ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'', in particular, has Lizzie the Hackasaurus, whom you can get to join your team in a special encounter; in the DS remake, she's the ''only'' non-[[Mascot Mook|Slime]] you can recruit.

* Despite taking place in the modern day, ''[[Dead or Alive]] 4'' has an area populated entirely by dinosaurs.

** Also don't forget that in ''Red Alert 2'''s expansion ''Yuri's Revenge'', the first Soviet mission deals with time travel and you're accidentally sent back to the dinosaur period to fight off hordes of ''T. rex''es. This of course includes the fate of the game's antagonist Yuri in the same campaign who after stealing the time machine from the Soviets tries to use it to "command and conquer" the world and all its history. Unfortunately for Yuri, the Soviets still had the command codes for the time machine and depleted all of its energy reserves to send Yuri back to the dinosaur era while he was gloating. Then Yuri lets off a [[Big No]] as a ''T. rex'' smashes through the time machine to devour him.

* The first ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' game had dinosaurs and a ''T. rex'' as enemies for no particular reason other than [[Rule of Cool]], though an FMV later in the game implied that they were created by the [[MacGuffin|Scion]]. The dinosaurs returned without explanation in ''Tomb Raider 3''.

* The ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series of games already had Bowser as some sort of dragon-dinosaur-turtle... thing, and then in ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' along came Yoshi and his friends....

** Not to mention the cute bruiser herself, Birdo.

** Oddly, most prehistoric Pokemon are part-Rock types, at least the ones that have to be [[Shout-Out|reanimated from fossils]]. Even [[Lightning Bruiser|Aerodactyl]], a ''pterosaur made of rock''.

** Now joined by Archen and Archeops, a basal bird/flying deinonychosaur Pokemon.

* Riptor in ''[[Killer Instinct]]''

* [[Fighting Game]] + this trope = ''[[Primal Rage]]''

* Take ''[[Resident Evil]]'', but make the main [[Mook|mooks]] dinosaurs instead of zombies. You end up with ''[[Dino Crisis]]''.

 

*** So that's an [[Averted Trope|aversion?]]

*** Might have ended up that way but the story included a mustachioed T-Rex in a business suit who was so good at diplomacy that the writer had to protect us from his words lest we weep for joy, then sink into despair over our own hideousness and take our own lives as we rightly should.

* ''[[Diesel Sweeties]]'' [http://dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1516 posits] that there are two types of people in the world: those who would travel back in time to get drunk with pirates, and those that would go back to see what color the dinosaurs really were.

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' has a [http://xkcd.com/135/ serious] [http://xkcd.com/292/ problem] [http://xkcd.com/87/ with] [http://xkcd.com/155/ raptors], though the problem may have been [http://xkcd.com/758/ minimized] by now. The fascination with dinosaurs extends to [http://xkcd.com/650/ other dinosaur species].

* While [[Toyless Toyline Character|sadly never released as toys]], the ''[[Bionicle]]'' web serials feature [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|cyborg dinosaurs]] that shoot [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] [[Eye Beams|from their eyes.]]

* ''[[Dragon Cave]]'' includes spotted dinosaur eggs- dinosaurs apparently being, in the absence of the former Yoshis, the second best choice, since no lawyer can complain about real-life creatures. The end results are very chubby, cheerful-looking cartoonish [[Gentle Giant|Gentle Giants]] that ''wear shoes''. Of course, this site presumably being set in medieval times with quite lax witchcraft-prosecuting policies, this is the least of their problems.

{{quote|'''Woman:''' Aww, you got me flowers. That's so sweet.

'''Man:''' THAT'S NOT SWEET. DINOSAURS ARE SWEET. }}

* Inverted in ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]''; bad smut is ''worse'' with dinosaurs.

** The story has [[Jesus Was Way Cool|Raptor Jesus]]...the ''best'' kind of Jesus. Who [[Barack Obama]] then jump-kicks. Yeah, its [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|that kind of story]].

** A [http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1580313 sequel] was later created which retcons the sister's death in the first story and [[POV Sequel|takes place from her perspective]].

* In an early episode of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', Brock Samson, while in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], and dreams that he is fighting flamethrower-wielding cowboys. Only, they're riding T. Rexes. Yet Brock, in his sheer awesomeness (and mainly because it's ''his'' dream) easily dispatches them.

* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' has [[Mad Scientist|Heloise]] building a large T-Rex skeleton as an instrument of misery [[My Little Panzer|aimed at kids]].

* Because sometimes just a guy in a mask isn't enough for [[Scooby Doo|Mystery Inc.]], the gang has faced dinosaurs (besides dragons, sea serpents, and the Loch Ness Monster) in ''[[What's New Scooby Doo]]'' and more recently ''Scooby Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur.''

* ''[[Extreme Dinosaurs]]''.