Although the 2008 Diplodocus has been featured several times on this blog already, it has never been reviewed, so it’s time to make amends with a photographic walkaround and short review.
This is Safari’s second attempt at a Diplodocus and this version is a much improved affair. The overall appearance of the model is elegant and gracile, the slender neck and tail are held more or less horizontally (the tail suspended above the ground) and the legs are positioned so the animal is striding along with intent. At 55 cm (21.5 inches) the figure is very long, even with the head and neck turned at almost 90 degrees to the body and the tip of the extremely long tail coiled up at the end.
There is a single thumb claw on each front foot and three claws on each hind foot, this makes a refreshing change to the generic five-clawed feet often portrayed in sauropods. The surface of the skin is rather bumpy and wrinkled. A sagging line of skin runs along each side of the body between the front and rear leg; this flabby feature is often present in Carnegie Collection sculptures although I as far as I’m aware it is speculative. Perhaps it is the sculptor’s calling card. There are several warty bumps on the back and base of the tail adding character and texture to piece, these are highlighted in deep green. Similar bumps or scutes are present in the recent Carnegie Spinosaurus but those are not highlighted as in the Dippy- cutbacks perhaps?
The head is nicely sculpted with the mouth slightly open. The nostrils are positioned near the front of the skull in line with the current scientific consensus – older restorations of sauropods had the nostrils on the top of the head.
The back is green-blue and there is a sinuous grey line extending along the entire length of the animal. The colour is paler below the line. In addition to the aforementioned bumps, there are some additional highlights. The throat is picked out in dashing blue and parts of the head too. The curled tip of the tail is striped in blue and green, perhaps the tail is being used as a communication devise as speculated in ‘Walking With Dinosaurs’.
In conclusion, this figure is both impressive and charming due to its combination of large size and attention to detail/ personal touches.
Available from Safari.com (here) and Amazon.com (here)
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[…] In the toy world it ranks as ok. There is certainly better Diplodocus out there such as the 2008 Carnegie, of even the standing CollectA version. The colorization bothers me just because it reminds me of […]
[…] larger than the Wild Safari Brachiosaurus, this figure is considerably smaller than the Carnegie Diplodocus and absolutely dwarfed by the rolly-polly 1989 Carnegie model, which is one seriously massive hunk […]
[…] that adds character to the model. This is highlighted in light blue, very much like the recent Diplodocus in the same line. The eyes are gold with black pupils, the mouth is pink and the teeth are white. […]
Since there are four species of Diplodocus, this figure might be an accurate restoration of one of them? The back and forelegs look fine to me.
…I feel I should add though that a lot of dinosaur toys have tails that are too short, simply due to practical reasons related to transport, fragility etc.
@Johannes: I agree that the tail it too short, but the back is not straight by any means; maybe it’s not entirely accurate, but it’s not dead straight. Another inaccuracy not mentioned in the review would be the hands which, while only possessing one claw each, are also round rather than concave as they should be. All that said, though, there really are no other *toy* Diplodocus of this sort of size that are as good as this one…unfortunately.
Compared to skeletal reconstructions of Scott Hartman, Greg Paul etc, this model seems inaccurate. Compared to the body, the tail is much too short (should be over three body lengths, I think). Also, I believe that the back should not be purely straight in real life as it is with this model (should be at least slightly convex). The forelegs seem to thick/heavy. On a purely personal note: I think that this is not an expecially graceful or beautiful reconstruction. I am not sure I like the flappy elephantine skin as well. I will probably buy it, as it still is one of the most beautiful Diplodocus toy models, but I am having still having some doubts …
[…] particularly rare or expensive. In spite of its age it makes a great companion to the more recent Carnegie Diplodocus and is a lovely sculpt overall – just make sure you have room for the tail! Tags: […]
[…] that adds character to the model. This is highlighted in light blue, very much like the recent Diplodocus in the same line. The eyes are gold with black pupils, the mouth is pink and the teeth are white. […]
The new Nigersaurus is equal to this, I believe. Although, that is Wild Safari, I guess.
Very cool. Let’s hope Safari’s sauropods will meet or exceed this level in the future!