Gwangi was a theropod dinosaur who appeared in the 1969 movie, The Valley of Gwangi. He's become a cult classic over the years and I wanted to do my own take on him.
Now, there's an argument to be made on what Gwangi is supposed to be. But from what I've heard while researching online, Ray Harryhausen, the stop motion animator of the movie, said that he's a mix of Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, and he definitely looks the part considering what those two were thought to look like back then.
My Gwangi features a Tyrannosaur like head with blood covering his lips, he has crests on the top of his brows, and he has some osteoderms on his back. He has long arms with three fingers and long legs. His design is pretty much a modern version of Gwangi's original depiction. With him being a combination of Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus. However, if I were to make a story about this, he'd be a Tyrannosauroid who went through some kind of convergent evolution which is why he has traits from Carcharadontosaurs. And I gave him lips not because I wanted him to be accurate to modern day dino depictions, but because the original Gwangi also had lips. And below him is the decapitated head of a Styracosaurus as a reference to his fight with one in the movie.
This dinosaur is known as Diafotyrannus Occidemare, which translates to "Different Tyrant Western Marshal". The genus name is a reference to the combination of Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, because Allosaurus means "Different Lizard" and Tyrannosaurus means "Tyrant Lizard". The species name refers to a Western town marshal which, if you know anything about Wild West stories, you'd know that a town marshal is pretty much the police. It's why I wanted that to be included in the species name to give it that Western, cowboy feel, especially considering what kind of movie The Valley of Gwangi was. Also because I just think it sounds cool.
Diafotyrannus is 15 feet tall and 40 feet long and weighs about 8 tons. It attacks anything and anyone who comes into its territory and often clashes with Ceratopsians like Styracosaurus. Males like Gwangi are especially aggressive and sport large crests on their heads to attract females. The osteoderms on their back protect them from damage and they are quite fast for their size at an estimated speed of 23 miles per hour. They have two sets of teeth, ones for ripping flesh, and ones for crushing bone.
What do you think?
