He is here! He has arrived! His name is Thomas (Tom or Tommy for short) and he is an almost-life-sized velociraptor plush.

Story: so I moved recently and got super depressed and anxious and then decided to make one of the biggest impulse buys of my life. I’m glad I did. 

Thomas here was custom made for me by the wonderfully talented amazing artist Smittensknuffels. Look her up, she has her own etsy shop and she’s absolutely phenomenal. She does all kinds of custom-order big stuffed animals, alive, extinct, fantasy or other. And she was super friendly and accommodating when it came to making sure I was happy with Thomas. And it only took her a few weeks to make him, too – the detail and care that went into him is just incredible! I really can’t thank her enough! (Here’s the original design I sent requesting a simplified version of design number 3, and a moodboard I made of the first pictures she sent to me for review when she was finished building – Thomas had black eyes at this stage, but even unfinished he looked amazing!)

So yeah. Ever since I was a little Jurassic-Park-obsessed kid I wanted my very own raptor friend – and now I finally have one! If my house burnt down and I could only run in and save one item this feathery fellow would be it! 

I’ll probably write more about him later, as he’s a big OC in my writing that I’ve recently been trying to resurrect/reinvent. But for now …