Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Difference between revisions

[[File:firedino.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|'''Clay:''' Can't you speak to her? <ref> A T-Rex</ref> You're practically one of those critters!<br />

 

What could be worse than a t-rex? A t-rex that breathes fire.

The older version of the trope is gradually becoming more and more discredited as it filters into the pop-culture consciousness that dinosaurs, really, were just another kind of animal. The newer version comes at the issue from a different angle: now it's more like [[Dragons Are Dinosaurs]]. This is based on the fact that quite a few anthropologists are convinced that all of the legends of fantastic beasts could ''only'' have been based upon misinterpreted fossils. (This was certainly the case for a few legends, but surely not ''all'' of them.) At least one anthropologist has proposed that dragon legends ''have'' to be based upon (get a cold drink and a comfy seat) long-held [[Genetic Memory|"Racial Memories"]] of dinosaurs dating back to the tree-shrew days. In any case, look for fantasy worlds where wizards are finding [[Here There Were Dragons|dragon fossils]] and local legendary dragons who turn out to be surviving dinosaurs (you wonder how many of the latter are inspired by the true story of the Komodo Dragon).

 

 

Note that this is not limited to dinosaurs, and can apply to other prehistoric reptiles like pterosaurs too.

** The confusion among American fans, at least, is probably due to the American dub of ''Godzilla Raids Again''. In it, an educational film reel explained that dinosaurs, including Godzilla (then called Gigantis) and Anguirus, were ''created from pools of burning lava and sulfur'', resulting in their being walking fire elementals of sorts.

*** And they dominated the earth during the "age of fire", whenever that was.

***** If that's the case then they fail geology forever.

** This may have ''possibly'' been an homage to the Disney diorama noted below.

* Oddly, ''[[Disney Animated Canon|Fantasia]]'' may have a lot to do with the volcano subtrope. "Rite of Spring" begins with a seemingly endless field of lava-spewing volcanoes. A short and easily missed transition shows the progress of life on Earth and then suddenly cuts to an extended scene set during the late Cretaceous. Given that this is one of the most influential dinosaur film moments ever, perhaps many people missed the transition....

* [http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/2008/05/13/fmv-hell-mighty-morphin-power-rangers/ "Spoony Experiment"] on ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': "I never really understood what the Green Ranger's [[Humongous Mecha]] was. He doesn't even fit into the whole dinosaur thing, he just yells "Dragonzord!" And I have no idea where dragons fit into the whole dinosaur thing." In the next season, the dinosaur (or not) [[Humongous Mecha]] are explicitly transformed into mythical creature [[Humongous Mecha]] - of course, the Tyrannosaurus becomes a dragon.

** ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' has the White Ranger with what's clearly a pterosaur mecha - called the "Drago zord".

* The Japanese TV series ''Dinosaur Prince'' was about a boy who grew up in a [[Lost World|strange island]] and befriended a fire-breathing Brontosaurus. It turns out the island was actually created by alien invaders to grow superpowered dinosaurs for use as [[Kaiju|living weapons]] to conquer the world with. Naturally , Prince and his dino were often asked by outsiders to help battle the other monsters.

* ''[[Primeval]]'' has a Dracorex which is mistaken for a Dragon while passing through the middle ages on it's way to 2009. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

** What are you talking about "never see"? There are Wyverns right outside the town....

* In ''[[Tales of Eternia (Video Game)|Tales of Eternia]]'', one can encounter dinosaurs. They're big green lizardy things with tiny arms and lots of teeth. Also, they breathe fire. Making it worse, elsewhere, one can find actual dragons, which are ''exactly'' like red Dinosaurs with tiny wings.

* Misuzu Kamio of ''[[Eternal Fighter Zero]]'' can summon various fire-breathing (stuffed) dinosaurs with her "Gao Gao Fire" super. Sure, they're just stuffed animals, but still....

** As well as Helmasaur King of ''A Link to the Past''.

* ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 5'' has a Maverick boss named Mattrex/Burn Dinorex, a humanoid Tyrannosaurus Reploid with flame powers, including fire breath.

** What makes the inconsistency especially stupid is that there's a whole episode devoted to him proving he's a dinosaur so he can get into an ice cream parlor that doesn't allow dragons (because they melt the ice cream).

* While the series has other problems, ''[[The Flintstones]]'' had a dino/dragon who doubled as a lighter or an oven. ("It's a living...")

** Additionally, it's clear that all the [[Animorphism|animal-specific shapeshifters]] had a mixer and decided that ''[[Tyrannosaurus Rex]]'' would be their go-to [[One-Winged Angel]] form.

* ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'' probably deserves a mention here due to Greg Weisman's [[Shrug of God]] in response to the question, "[http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/faq.php?s=faq18#1 What kind of animal are Gargoyles classified as?]":

** Though ''Dracorex'''s [http://www.hmnh.org/galleries/deadanimalblog/dracorexhead.jpg head] ''does'' look a lot like a horned dragon, [[Justified Trope|so the name fits in this case]].

* Several Chinese dinosaurs have "long", the Mandarin word for "dragon", in their names, i.e. ''Dilong paradoxus'', ''Guanlong wucaii'', ''Mei long'', ''Yinlong downsi'', and ''Tianyulong confuciusi''. The Chinese word for dinosaur, in fact, is "konglong" (恐龙 or 恐龍, "fearsome dragon.") Translations of dinosaur names into Chinese almost always include "long", in place of the "saurus" - for example, Tyrannosaurus rex is "ba wang long", or "tyrant king dragon". There's also an oviraptorosaur called ''Hagryphus'' ("Ha's gryphon") and Welsh prosauropod called... ''[[Draco in Leather Pants|Pantydraco]]''... (It's... not what it sounds like. It's derived from the Welsh valley "Pant-y-ffynon".

** The Japanese uses the same word for dinosaur, ''kyouryuu'' (恐竜 or 恐龍), literally means "dreadful dragon."

* Related to the Dragons Are Dinosaurs version of this trope (although nobody could mistake them for dragons): ''Homo floresiensis'' almost instantaneously gained the [[Fan Nickname|nickname]] "Hobbit". A significant number of anthropologists are convinced that a lost race of small people ''have'' to be the basis for little people legends, and absolutely not dwarfism or, uh, people using their imaginations. You could almost hear their collective triumphant shouts of, "See! See!!!"

[[Category:Tropesaurus Index]]

[[Category:Dinosaurs Are Dragons]]