Uintatherium was among the largest land animals in one of the stranger groups of large mammals that lived during the Eocene. Its flat and strongly built skull is quite the trophy as it is strange and bizarre. The skull is adorned with six long paired knobs that protruded from its nose, forehead, and from the back of its head. It also came equipped with large upper canine teeth with a boney flange.
For the 2018 line up I am glad Safari Ltd. decided to take a chance on a animal that is bizarre but not seen often in the world of toys. I can only think of four others that have been made, a skull in a Safari toob, a classic Starlux toy, a cheap orange one by Ja-Ru, and a very nice one that was recently made by CollectA. Eobasileus looked very similar to the related Uintatherium as they both belonged to the order Dinocerata and has been made into toys by Geo-world and Play visions.
About the toy: Looks like its early morning and this Uintatherium is a little lethargic and is dragging itself down to the closest coffee shop for a pick me up. The expression on its face is not one of excitement, it looks like he might be a little grumpy. The sculpt had the head tilted to its right and its left foot is slightly lifted as if it is about to take a small step forward. The tails is swinging to the left and if you look underneath you can see it is a gentlemen . This figure is 5 ¾ inches (14.605 cm) long and 2 ¾ inches (6.985 cm) tall. Where as the sculpt is nice and the paint job is realistic the colors are plain and basic. Its hide is grayish above, fading to a pale orange underneath. His tusks are an ivory and his eyes are brown. Unfortunately the boney knobs are the same color which makes them blend in. Even though the function of these structures are unknown, its possible they could have been used for sexual display, which makes the plain grey color a missed opportunity.
Safari is doing a nice job with the eyes by adding a little bit of gloss so there is a lively sheen. The head is adorned in the proper knobs and the ears are sticking out on the side. The nostrils are large and are right below the knobs. The mouth is closed and the large canine teeth are visible . The limbs are strong and robust and the belly is barrel shaped. This figure has very little hair and is sculpted more like a rhino or hippo. The only hair that is visible is the tuft of hair on the end of its tail. Their are five claws visible on all the feet.
It is sculpted with lined or cracked skin which crosses and makes a diamond pattern across the body. When we again look underneath, there is a skin fold line down the middle, and it is just like a hippo as the scrotum is not present and the penis is retracted into the body. The bottoms of the feet are textured pads.
Play ability: Were as it is a well done figure, when it comes to kids wanting to play with it, it ends up lacking a little pizzazz. The bony knobs just do not stick out far enough like a rhinoceros so there is no danger factor that many kids are looking for. Neither is it a cute animal that kids will have galloping in a herd along with horses, giraffes, or unicorns. If a kid does find it interesting, the paint is decently durable and there are no sharp edges.
Overall: It is a really good and solidly made figure that ends up looking a little grumpy and rather plain. For collectors, this is a cool animal to have but CollectA’s version has a bit more of a wow factor when compared to this version by Safari. This is a great toy for educators and it accurately depicts this prehistoric animal. For smaller fans, I would get their approval as it lacks many of the exciting traits kids like in a toy. I would rate this as a good, yet unspectacular figure.
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the one form COLLECTA i like better.
Great review. Poor fellow must be a little chilly standing in that frosty grass!
It is appreciated by Safari that has become a prehistoric mammals (for me one of my favorites with elasmotherium, paraceratherium, megacerops, embolotherium and arsinoitherium) their colors are very conservative and realistic, and for my part I am very happy with This figure does not mean that there are other companies that have also made very good figures of that extinct animal such as Play Visions or Collecta for putting two examples.
What I would have liked about the uintatherium Safari in my ignorance about prehistoric animals in general and being a simple “amateur” collector is that their corneous excrecences were more showy. But it’s just an appreciation, I would also have liked a bigger size for that figure. I say this with all the respect and appreciation that I have for the excellent paleoescultor of figures Doug Watson.
Nice shots there at the riverbank 🙂
I really like the figure ,especially cause it looks like the Uintatheriums from Burian with which I grew up. For me the downside of the sculpt is the skin pattern which looks a bit lazy and uninspired, but it is also not very prominent from a distance.
A must have for any collector of prehistoric mammals.
Szerintem ez jobb a CollectA-snál,nem tökéletes,bár én nem nagyon látok benne hibát,legalábis sokkal kevesebbet.