The Past Happened a Longtime Ago, officially shortened to The Past Happened, is a Prehistoric Life Trading Card game.
Think of it as being Yu-Gi-Oh!, but with dinosaurs. Or, alternatively, a more scientifically rigorous version of Dinosaur King.
Tropes in this game include:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Well, for starters, the Tyrannosaurus rex card has the titular character having rainbow colored feathers.
- Cool vs. Awesome: It's a tabletop game involving prehistoric beasts. This is a given.
- Feathered Fiend: In addition to obvious examples such as terror birds, the non-avian coelurosaur dinosaurs are also given feathers, including the aforementioned Rainbow feathered Tyrannosaurus.
- Giant Spider: Downplayed by Mongolarachne and Arthrolycosa, which are about the size of a tarantula. The sea scorpion Megarachne also appears, with an explanation that it was once thought to be one of these.
- Giant Squid: Tusoteuthis is shown as one, despite more recent evidence that it was actually a gigantic octopus.
- Shown Their Work:
- Coelurosaurean dinosaurs are given feathers.
- Mosasaurs have tail flukes.
- The Brachiosaurus card notes that, despite what is shown Jurassic Park, it is unlikely the actual animal woul have been able to stand up on its hind legs. Whether or not it could do handstands, though, is still up for debate.
- Spinosaurus is shown with the correct leg length and sail shape. However, it's missing the paddle-shaped tail, since the cards were published before 2020.
- Andrewsarchus is portrayed resembling its close relative the entelodont, rather than a mesonychid like in Walking with Beasts.
- The Gastornis card describes it as a herbivore, while explaining it was formerly thought to be a carnivore.
