Kelvin Shadewing's Pixels

[Sketchasaurus]

It's possible for the neck's default position to be held diagonally, but there's always going to be some sort of curvature (see giraffe's skull/neck as reference for diagonal attachment/orientation). Also, depending on what lifestyle and range of motion you want it to have, certain anatomical features work where others don't. But there's almost always going to be some degree of curvature in the spine. Though a lot of this degree of study may be extraneous, it's one thing that I use as a basis for a lot of creature design. For what I assume to be predatory, or at least carnivorous, the anatomy of the neck would allow for greater flexibility than say that of a giraffe (while it is still flexible, the neck is rather stiff because it doesn't need to move its head very much in its grazing lifestyle)

If the neck were connected in the way a giraffe's is, the head would likely not have as much up/down motion that would be beneficial to a predator, and the chance of injury because of this would potentially be greatly increased. part of this is because the skull's attachment to the neck wouldn't allow all of the musculature of the neck to be used in tandem to that of the jaws. One reason why predators have such deadly bites is because the musculature of the neck works in tandem with the jaws, it's also one reason why humans don't have that powerful of a bite because our necks and jaws don't work together to the same degree that a lion's do.