September 23, 2021 -

Hey everyone, I've never posted before but I was recently playing the first challenge mode and wanted to have more carnivores in my park. I have a cerato already, but i wanted to have a few allos too since they can cohabitate. I was trying to research allos but couldn't find them in the carnivore tag in the center, how to unlock them so I can do excavations? Thanks in advance!

August 17, 2024 -

So I re started Evolution 2 after some years and I gotta say nothing captures the differences between a Stan Winstonesque JP design vs a modern JW design like the allosaurus variants. New one is just SO edgy and overdone, to me the original less spiney and more natural design would be what a JP ILM movie design would be

December 12, 2022 -

With the new Malta pack available, post after post has compared the Old Allosaurus model with the new BaBR/Dominion Allosaurus variant.

To the point, here's the differences between the two:

Ta dah

Ta Dah

If that's all you were interested in, there it is. No need to scroll down on an essay I spent too much time on.

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.

.

Okay here we go.

However, the addition of this variant has launched various discussions across the subreddit: which one is better, which one is more paleontologically accurate, how similar is the original JWE model to the FK Juvenile Allosaurus, etc.

Well, with "encouragement" from u/Unwafflespoon, I decided to investigate. What I found not only surprised me, but is likely sure to surprise a lot of people here in the community.

And so, let's get into the history of Allosaurus in the Jurassic World franchise.

Fallen Kingdom

Early in pre-production, Allosaurus was selected as a new entry in the upcoming Fallen Kingdom. However, it is rumored that not much time was given to design the upcoming dinosaurs, and the designs were fast tracked through.

In Dec 2017, the first trailer to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom debuted. With it, we received the first glimpses of the new dinosaurs coming to the franchise: Carnotaurus, Baryonyx, Pachyrhinoceratops, and of course, Allosaurus. The later was seen in three specific shots:

Two wide shots, and one unflattering medium close up.

Immediately, backlash erupted from the community. While Carnotaurus was relatively well received, it was so unclear what Baryonyx and Pachyrhinosaurus were in the trailer, that it had to be clarified via Twitter (Baryonyx was confirmed by Trevorrow himself, even). With Allosaurus not being explicitly named, and with its 3 appearances in the trailer not being very flattering/clear, it unfortunately found itself wrapped up in the criticism surrounding Bary and Sino, with audiences confused whether or not it was an Allosaurus, an Albertosaurus, a Metriacanthosaurus, or even a Suchomimus.

In short, Universal heard this criticism loud and clear. In the coming months, Universal would seek additional paleontological advisors for their upcoming projects, and would make changes to the dinosaurs in the trailer.

While nothing could be done about Baryonyx (until Dominion), "Pachyrhinosaurus" was relabeled as Sinoceratops (a change that unfortunately was too late for the merchandise to accommodate), and Allosaurus was branded as a juvenile - an adult to be designed at a later date. To this day, the advertising renders that were created for Allosaurus for Fallen Kingdom have never been released to the general public.

Upon the film's release and distribution to Blu Ray, ILM at least released a side profile render of the Juvenile Allosaurus in behind the scenes footage. This image was later upscaled and cleaned up by u/TheRedRaptor65.

ILM Model Upscale by TheRedRaptor65

Jurassic World Evolution 1

Approximately 2 years before the release, Universal approached Frontier with the prospect of a tie in game with the release of Fallen Kingdom. While ILM was happy to work with Frontier in the creation of dinosaurs that already appeared in the franchise like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, obviously, the upcoming dinosaurs were not finalized at the time. As such, Frontier was likely not provided the final designs to the animals; only what was rendered for advertising (hence why Carnotaurus is not exactly accurate to what appears in the movie in proportion).

Nonetheless, with the Fallen Kingdom pack in active development and set to release a month after the film, Frontier needed to develop an Adult Allosaurus to use in game. So, they took the juvenile design, and upgraded it: the body was beefened up, the spikes down the back were raised, the crests were adjusted, etc.

Comparing the two, you can easily see the differences:

Larger crest, larger spines, beefier body, beefier tail, slightly larger arms, larger neck.

It is of note, however, that the creation of this Allosaurus was happening near simultaneously with the early designs of the BaBR Allosaurus. This could explain why the two shared similar designs in the long run.

Battle at Big Rock

In early 2018, Universal expressed interest to Trevorrow regarding creating a Jurassic short film, to which Trevorrow agreed. It was decided that this would be the film debut of the Adult Allosaurus, set one year after the Juvenile's escape into the California woods in Fallen Kingdom.

Concept art for the adult allosaurus was quickly drawn up, and let's be real: it's abundantly clear whoever designed it essentially drew up a modified version of Papo's Allosaurus and colored it blue.

Like they even used the same pose.

On the coattails of the backlash from the first trailer back in December 2017, this was looking to be another mishap. In short, Universal was not happy with the design, and sought adjustments: switching the paleontological consultants mid way through pre-production.

In comes Ethan S., a paleontologist working at the Museum of Ancient Life in Utah. Through a branding partnership between the Museum and Jurassic World, Ethan was introduced to executives in Universal's branding department; the same that manage designs across the Jurassic franchise. After discussing the museum's own juvenile Allosaurus specimen with the executives, Ethan was invited to consult on Battle at Big Rock.

Over the course of a few months, Universal emailed Ethan the original concept art, asking for his own drawing concept in retort. He emailed them, they later sent additional concepts that implemented his work, he would give advice, etc. Through Ethan's advisement in this back and forth, the BaBR Allosaurus gained a few features: proper wrist orientation, a thinner skull than its original concept, a higher raised/squared lacrimal crest, teeth adjustments, and most importantly, ensuring the base species was that of Jimmadseni instead of the more popular Fragilis (though it's unclear if the original design was actually based on Fragilis or not).

HOWEVER, it is important to note that Ethan did not have final say on the design; he only offered advisement. In fact, Ethan has stated that the final design, though better than the original concept and among his favorite designs in the franchise, could still use tweaks; namely, a thinner head and longer arms. One of Universal's mandates that could not be changed: the spikes.

In any case, the design to the Adult BaBR Allosaurus was completed, and sent to ILM to model and animate. Somewhere in this process, the coloration also changed: from the concept art's sapphire blue to duller blueish-grey (ironically mimicking the Papo Allosaurus even more).

Side question: did this walk cycle ever look a little weird to anyone?

On September 15, 2019, Battle of Big Rock debuted; the community mostly praising the dinosaur designs featured (though they were, admittedly, obscured in darkness throughout).

Jurassic World Evolution 2

With the release of Evolution 2, Frontier's Allosaurus was given a texture update, but was not given an update to its model. Though perhaps higher in polygon count, the same Allosaurus model from the first game was carried over to the second entry. However, like Battle at Big Rock, the wrists were adjusted, losing their pronated nature.

Fans were immediately disappointed that Allosaurus would not be among those receiving a model update (such as Tyrannosaurus and Pteranodon), and expressed those opinions outwardly.

Little did they know, it was simply being saved for the Malta expansion pack.

Dominion

During Dominion's pre-production, it was originally conceptualized that the Baryonyx would be appear alongside the Carnotaurus in the Malta scene in Dominion.

The artist confirmed that that is indeed Baryonyx. Suchomimus was never considered.

However, following the success of Battle at Big Rock, the Allosaurus was quickly regarded as the more popular dinosaur. As such, in an ironic twist, Baryonyx would be reduced to a brief cameo role as a juvenile, with the adult BaBR Allosaurus taking its place. There appears to even be a reference to this behind the scene switch, as both a juvenile Bary and a juvenile Allo are briefly seen fighting in the Malta Black Market's introduction, though this could also just be a coincidence.

Considering the Juvie Bary shows up again, and the Juvie Allo doesn't........

And so, Accuracy

So, the big question that has enveloped multiple comment threads here remains:

Which Allosaurus (Fallen Kingdom, Evolution, or Battle at Big Rock) is the more paleontologically correct?

Surely, considering the how much slander the Fallen Kingdom design received it must be the worst of the bunch, right? And surely, considering how much more care was put into Battle at Big Rock's Allo, that must be the most accurate?

Well, as the title suggests, the answer might surprise you.

With renders of all 3 designs now available at neutral t-pose position, I have compared them to skeletal constructions of both Allosaurus fragilis and Allosaurus jimmadseni. While it was directly stated that BaBR's Allo was based on Jimmadseni , it remains unclear which species Frontier's or Fallen Kingdom's Allos were based on. So, might as well cover them both; assuming none of the three were at any point based on Europeaus. Furthermore, I have also compared their skulls to more detailed skull constructions of Fragilis and Jimmadseni.

The Fragilis skeletal used is drawn up by Franoys on DeviantArt, last updated October 23, 2021.

https://www.deviantart.com/franoys/art/Allosaurus-fragilis-skeletal-DINO-2560-773506961

The Jimmadseni skeletal and the skull diagrams are from the very paper that described Jimmadesni as a new species of Allosaurus, published January 24, 2020.

https://peerj.com/articles/7803/

To help display which ones match up better, I have also roughly re-posed the skeletals' poses accordingly.

Fallen Kingdom Allosaurus Accuracy

Let's just rip the band-aid off: the Fallen Kingdom Allosaurus is basically fine.

Skeletal Comparison

A little scrawny, but not too shabby.

Compared to both Fragilis and Jimmadseni, the biggest errors FK Allo has are that it's rather thin: a lack of gastralia (stomach ribs), an ischium that doesn't extend far enough backwards, and the pubis isn't long enough. For the limbs, the shoulders are ever so slightly too high, the metatarsals (feet) are slightly too long, and of course, the wrists are pronated. Overall, however, the body is proportioned well, the tail is appropriately long, the arms an appropriate length (if not ever so slightly too long??), and the neck and head are at appropriate sizes.

Skull Comparison

We were confused by what dino this was? Seriously???

Compared to Fragilis, FK Allo's skull does not fit very well. The general length is okay, but the jugal hornlet (the weird cheek dip) is not pronounced enough, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones (the back of the skull) are seriously warped and stretch too far backwards (along with the jaw), and the overall skull is too thin. For the jaw, the dentary (front part of the jaw that the teeth attach to) seems to be oversized, making the jawline flatter than it should be and adding teeth where they should not be. Finally, the crests are oddly stretched backwards in a thin, triangular shape instead of curving upwards in a more squared, arrow-head shape.

However, compared to Jimmadseni, FK Allo's skull fits pretty decently. While the squamosal and quadratojugal bones are still a little warped, their size is much more reasonable, the jugal hornlet is appropriately reduced (though it could be even more reduced), and the skull's "height" is appropriately thin. For the jaw, the dentary is still a little oversized, but the flattened jawline is fitting for Jimmadseni, and the jaw now attaches in the proper place. The crest and eye are the biggest detractors: the crest still lacking the arrow-head shape and the eye is placed a little low.

Overall

This design was wrong to be shoved in with the likes of the FK Baryonyx and "Sinoceratops". Not only does the skeletal anatomy match decently well with the real life animal, but the skull anatomy is surprisingly decent if compared to Jimmadseni. My suspicion is that this Allosaurus was designed off of Big Al; arguably the most famous Allosaurus specimen there is. This would explain its similarity to Allosaurus jimmadseni, as well as its relatively thin body and juvenile nature. If not, then maybe someone just googled "Allosaurus", picked an image, and got really lucky.

Jurassic World Evolution Allosaurus Accuracy

When Frontier made their Adult Allo, they went all out.

Skeletal Comparison

*Chef's kiss*

Compared to Fragilis, Frontier Allo's body is great. By adding more bulk to the body and tail, Frontier essentially added the missing gastralia (though they do seem to oddly bend inwards just in front of the pubis). The pubis and ischium are still a tad too short, but not as short as they once were. Furthermore, the metatarsals (the feet) have been reduced. Plus, with JWE2, the wrists have been corrected. The biggest errors Frontier's Allo has is a hip that's slightly too low and a shoulder that's again sightly too high.

However, as for the latter, it may be a matter of positioning, as compared to Jimmadseni, Frontier Allo's body is near perfect. The shoulders appear to be at their appropriate place if the torso is angled slightly upward (not an impossible pose). Unfortunately however, the slightly too low hip and slightly too small pubis and ischium are retained. Overall though, everything else is pretty well done.

Skull Comparison

Seems they took the crest of Fragilis and put it on the skull of Jimmadseni.

Compared to Fragilis, Frontier Allo's skull fairs better than FK Allo, but not by much. The jugal hornlet (the weird cheek dip) is still not pronounced enough and the squamosal and quadratojugal bones (the back of the skull) are still warped, stretching a bit too far backwards. As for the jaw, the dentary is still too big, flattening the jawline and adding teeth where there should not be. However, the crests are better, curving upwards and retaining a more arrowhead shape.

Compared to Jimmadseni, Frontier Allo's skull is even better. Appropriately pronounced jungal hornlet, appropriately thin skull, etc. The squamosal and quadratogual bones are still a little warped, but not too badly; their length, perfectly reasonable. The flattened jawline is again appropriate, despite teeth again being added where they shouldn't be. Biggest error is the crest is adjusted a little too far: it retains the more arrowhead shape, but ironically curves slightly too far upwards. Furthermore, the eye is placed slightly too low.

Overall

Frontier's Allosaurus is overall just a really good depiction of Allosaurus, especially for Jurassic World; an upgrade compared to Fallen Kingdom, one that was already pretty decent. The bulkier body especially helps the design, as well as the adjusted crests. In JWE2, the corrected wrists further elevate this Allo. Honestly, if it had lips, a little less teeth in the lower jaw, and a little bit more bulk in the stomach/pubic region, it would just be a great Allosaurus depiction period- museum worthy.

Battle at Big Rock Allosaurus Accuracy

And here, we, go.

Skeletal Comparison

Fixed the wrists, broke the shoulders.

Compared to both Fragilis and Jimmadseni, BaBR Allosaurus' design is just lacking. Not only are the gastralia missing, but the body itself is just impossibly too thin; thinner than the FK Allo, even. The pubis and ischium are dramatically too short appear to end at nearly 2/3s the length they should be. In Jimmadseni's case, proportionally, the skull seems to be slightly oversized, and the neck extended awkwardly to its furthest possible position. Worst of all, though the arms seem to be pretty appropriately sized, their lack of muscle is damning, and their shoulder position is atrocious, raised far too high up on the ribcage that thus give the arms the appearance of being puny, as they don't have much room below the torso. In the skeletal adjustment pose, I had to break the shoulders entirely and drag the arm to an impossible position; they were just that bad.

Skull Comparison

Eeeeh?

Compared to Fragilis, BaBR Allosaurus' skull is ironically appropriately tall. Furthermore, as there is additional flesh covering the back of the skull that masks it's shape (+1 for lack of skin wrapping, I guess), the squamosal and quadratojugal bones don't appear to be warped or stretched too far (again, because they can't be seen). That said, it too suffers from a jugal hornlet that is not pronounced enough. Also, while the dentary isn't as oversized, it's still a little too big with teeth that extend back into the jaw where they shouldn't be. Most bizarrely, the surangular bone in the jaw (the upper back jaw), is very oddly curved upwards. Finally, the crest shape is by far the best out of the three designs: it's sharp, it's arrow-head shaped, and its very prominent. But, it's positioned too high in relation to the eye when compared to Fragilis. But of course, as stated before, BaBR Allosaurus' skull was designed off of Jimmadseni specifically. It shouldn't fit Fragilis well.

However, compared to Jimmadseni, BaBR Allosaurus' skull sadly doesn't fair much better. The crest is positioned better, but now the eye is too low on the skull: in middle of the orbit when it should higher. The jugal hornlet is appropriately flattened, but curves upward slightly towards the back. With the flesh masking the quadratojugal bone, this gives the appearance of an odd crocodile-like "grin". For the jaw, the flattened jawline is again better fitting for Jimmadseni, but that oddly curved surangular bone is even more apparent.

Overall

In a result that even shocked me, BaBR Allosaurus is ironically the worst of the three in terms of accuracy, it seems. For the good, compared to FK Allo, the skull is proportionally thinner from the front, the wrists corrected, the metatarsals appropriately reduced, and the teeth a little better in number and shape. The crests are the best part of the design, and the best out of the three; beautifully sharp, arrow-head in shape, etc. However, almost everything else is a downgrade. The body is the skinniest among the three, giving the appearance of extremely tall legs. The slightly shrunken arms are lacking in muscle and are attached to shoulders that are placed far too highly on the ribcage. The skull and jaw, while clearly based on Jimmadseni, is the most warped skull out of the three in comparison to Jimmadseni.

Conclusion

Frontier Allosaurus > Fallen Kingdom Allosaurus > Battle at Big Rock AllosaurusIn the end, Frontier's Allosaurus appears to be the best depiction of the three, paleontologically speaking. However, the runner up is not BaBR; it's Fallen Kingdom. How the FK Allo attracted so much ire, I genuinely don't understand; even I harped on it when it first debuted. Was it perhaps its close proximity to the poorly designed Baryonyx and Sinoceratops? Did it just get swept away in the controversy and was pegged because of an unflattering camera angle in the trailer?

Whatever any case, Fallen Kingdom's Allosaurus was unfairly scrutinized. It didn't deserve the ire then, and it doesn't deserve the ire now; it's just not that bad an Allosaurus.

And so, Frontier Allosaurus, you a chad.

BaBR Allosaurus, you're disappointing.

And FK Allosaurus, I apologize; you're not so bad afterall.