This image has a great deal of symbolism for me. The funny part is (and this is going to sound corny) I didn't set out intentionally to be symbolic with it. It just happened organically. Dragon Skeleton (Articulate Vertebrae) was one of the first models I ever purchased from DAZ. April 17th, 2003. The sixth order I placed with DAZ online. The first model I purchased after becoming a PC member. List price $39.95, but with the vagaries of the invoice system, I don't know what I actually paid. Probably $1.99. To put this in perspective, the Dragon Skeleton is DAZ SKU 712. DAZ's current SKU is 19700+. That is how old the model is. And how long it has been in my collection. When I saw the model I was instantly inspired. It reminded me of the (only hinted at) Dragotha dracolich in the AD&D White Plume Mountain module by TSR. Visions of a iconic battle scene sprang into my mind. Dragonfile, magic missles, elvish archer posed to aim for that perfect shot, while the human paladin and dwarvish warrior distracted the beast... Instead I got something that looked more like a rejected storyboard for a 1960s Gumby short. I could never pose the thing. It always looked like plastic. I used the model in exactly zero scenes. This wasn't any shortcoming on the models part. Just my lack of understanding of lighting, surfaces, camera positioning, framing, posing, etc. etc. Hell, I barely understand most of these concepts now. (And half of what I think I understand is probably still wrong.) So here is the beast. Slayed.