Tyrannosaurus rex (Keychain from Sue at the Field Museum by Safari Ltd.)

Review and photos by Takama, edited by Suspsy

Everyone knows about the now-defunct Carnegie Collection, which was a collaboration between Safari Ltd and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. As far as I know, this was one of the longest running museum lines, with a lifespan of over 27 years, before being cancelled due to disagreement between the two entities. However, as you may know, this is not the only time that Safari collaborated with a museum. In fact, I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Field Museum of Natural History’s line of prehistoric figures released back in 2006. Out of all the four models, only two were not the famous Sue itself, and almost every figure in this line has been covered already on this forum. I say almost because there is one more figure that is often overlooked, because it rarely counts as a part of the collection, and serves to be more of a piece of merchandise for the museum. What I have today is the blog’s first review of a keychain that has a dinosaur figure hanging from it.

The Sue keychain is made from Safari’s standard PVC plastic, and due to the flexible nature of the material, its legs have become warped after carrying it around in my coat pocket for nearly all of eternity. Anatomically, this little girl is not your typical robust Tyrannosaurus rex. Instead it’s a gracile little critter, so much so to make me wonder if Safari intended this to be a juvenile Sue instead of a full grown adult. The tail lacks caudofemoralis muscles, and the feet have no dew claws due to it being such a tiny model. The hands are very crude with painted on claws, and on top of that, they are also pronated. The colors on this figure are not your standard Sue colours. Instead, we have a light orange body with a light green wash instead of the famous plain orange body with a dark green back. The teeth are painted white and the eyes are “mean girl” red. Being a figure that’s made to be carried around in your pocket means that this model will get paint rubs from being pushed up against whatever it is you’re carrying with you. The only way to prevent this is to simply not take it with you, or spray it with a varnish to coat the paint when you first receive it.

Overall, if you like keychains and dinosaurs, then this one is a no brainer, I don’t like collecting keychains myself, but I needed something that will help make my key ring stand out from the rest of those in my household. Unfortunately, this figure has long been retired, so a trip to eBay is your best bet for acquiring one.