Review and Photos by Dan of DansDinosaurs.com
Safari Ltd. released their first Brachiosaurus figure in 1989, and it remained the largest prehistoric figure in their entire collection for two decades. Despite the changes in paint application, its mold has been unchanged to this very day. Our image of the Brachiosaurus has changed a bit since that time, and thanks to the animal’s appearance in Jurassic Park, it has become a popular species among casual collectors.
For their Wild Safari dinosaur line, Safari created a smaller Brachiosaurus figure, presumably one that held greater playability among children. This figure has been released in both yellow and green paint schemes. For this latest 2010 release of the Brachiosaurus, Safari has echoed some of their earlier color palettes, but updated the figure with an entirely new sculpt.
Immediately noticeable is the posture of the new figure’s neck. Previous incarnations of the Brachiosaurus from Safari displayed the animal with a “periscope” neck posture, held straight into the air, perpendicular to the ground. More recently, we’ve come to believe this animal carried its neck like many other sauropods, further in front of its body. This would still allow the animal to graze from dizzying altitudes on leaves that would have been inaccessible to most other herbivores. As such, the 2010 Wild Safari Brachiosaurus carries its neck at a 45 degree angle to the ground.
Traditionally seen as pudgy, sloth-like giants, sauropods are now more often depicted as graceful creatures. They were not fast animals certainly, but when you’re the biggest thing on the plains, you’ve got far fewer predators to flee from. This entire figure displays a leaner, cleaner design aesthetic. The legs are powerful and well-proportioned, substantially thicker in the hind limbs, which are also appropriately shorter than the clawed forelimbs. The feet appear to be the dark and sullied, an excellent touch of realism rarely seen in mass produced figures.
The body has some great texturing with wrinkles and folds, and natural musculature around the limbs and chest. The tail tapers quite elegantly, though the head is perhaps the most pleasant surprise. The jaws are lined with individually sculpted spatulate teeth, while the ears and tongue and plainly visible. Rarely are sauropod figures lavished with so much attention to their heads. With its neck outstretched and its jaws agape, one can easily envision this animal reaching out for a tasty conifer morsel. The eyes are dark and glossy, which really enhances the animated quality of the figure. Being able to look the animal in the eye makes it that much more believable.
The only noticeable problem I had with this figure are the nostrils, which are conspicuously absent from an otherwise tremendously detailed head. It was once thought that Brachiosaurus had its nostrils on its crest, and they are now believed to be positioned further down the snout, yet in neither spot can they be seen on this figure. The figure’s foot has “1109” printed in white on the bottom, the first such inscription to be found on a Wild Safari dinosaur, while the ventral ID stamp includes “2008” in addition the usual information. It is a little known fact that this Brachiosaurus was originally scheduled to be released by Safari before 2010; the cause for this delay is unknown.
The 2010 Brachiosaurus is about half the size of the Carnegie Brachiosaurus, but it still towers over all other dinosaurs in the Wild Safari collection. The beautiful sculpt and attractive coloration make it one of the finest reproductions of the species to appear in figure form, and with a surprisingly low price point, there’s really nothing to stop me from recommending it to collectors everywhere.
Now available from Ebay here for $19.99 Also available direct from Safari here
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Do you think this model represents Brachiosaurus or Giraffatitan?
[…] Favorite Brachiosaurus. And the CollectA beast would lose out in a head to head battle with the Wild Safari Brachiosaurus, which is another obvious figure to compare it with. But I like it. I like it a lot. Otherwise, I […]
In addition to all the previous comments, I’d like to add (very belatedly, having just acquired one now) that this model has a longer torso and tail than the Carnegie model if both are scaled to the same size. I don’t know if this was deliberate (it was released after Taylor’s study, but the head is still a Giraffatitan head)), but this does mean I feel safe actually calling this model a Brachiosaurus.
This new model is great in most aspects! Especially the arms. However I don’t buy the “saggy neck” interpretation at all, I think the older “periscope necks” were actually more correct because of how brachiosaur neck structure just went together. In a vertical position gravity does most of the work, in a horizontal one you neck tendons are BADLY strained on such long necks. Diplodocids got around this problem by having twin reverse cantilever mechanisms at the base of the neck, but such a system didn’t exist in brachiosaurs, whose high shoulders are an obvious adaptation for browsing at the treetops.
The main selling point of this Brachiosaurus model over the older ones is that its tail is carried off the ground, the head looks far more realistic, and the model overall is not so over-fattened as the old ones. But the neck is a major flaw and also it still has that annoying skin flap on the bottom surface like the old models, these days we know there’s no anatomical basis for that flap, as there was plenty of room for the esophagus and trachea in the space that ALREADY existed between the cervical ribs.
The coloration is much more muted in real life. I was surprised when I got mine!
I really don’t like the colour on this figure.
[…] The animal perhaps could jut its neck out in this way, but it lacks the graceful appearance of the 2010 Wild Safari toy or the old Invicta (for a comparison shot with the former, see […]
Figuring at 82 feet for a real one these scale out at ~1/63. These are 15.5″ nose to tails tips.
I have to chime in to agree with all the other posters here.
This is hands down the BEST Brach. produced in PVC by any line in any scale. Stunning. Fits in perfectly with my Colorata sets, and the smaller Procons and $D Puzzle dinos which are scaled the same as Colorata.
I’m not sure of the scale 1:50 perhaps?
Thank you. I appreciate it very much that you like my site. When I took a look at the date on this new Brachiosaurus I contacted Safari directly to ask about the discrepancy. I was told that it was “introduced in 2008”. I know that the catalog has it as new for 2010, I have never seen it before (nor had anyone else) but it is still a 2008 model. I try to be as accurate as possible in my descriptions and discussions and this, I find, utterly anomalous.
Both the Liopleurodon and Coelacanth have 2010 embossed on their bellies and they too were just released.
I can only guess that the Brachiosaurus was particularly obstreperous and needed some socialization classes before Safari felt comfortable in letting it loose.
Clearly, it was such an awesome figure that Safari was concerned about dino-nerds attacking the shops in a stampede on the day of release. I’ve got mine now (sent over from the USA) and it’s a beaut. I think the Carnegie version needs an update – imagine a giant version of this in the place of their Periscope-o-saurus!
see http://www.dinosaur-toys-collectors-guide.com/brachiosaurus.html for a more in depth discussion of this and its predecessor.
I’d love to see this done in a larger size though. Safari has upped the ante since 2006 with their (greatly) improved line and I’d like to see them doing everything in a consistent scale like the Carnegie Collection.
I’m a big fan of that site – but recently a ‘correction’ was made that was unnecessary. The new WS Brachiosaurus may be dated 2008, but it’s still new this year.
This is better in hand than in the pictures.
That’s a beautiful Brachiosaurus.
Can’t wait to get my hands on one of these. A full 1:40 scale model like this would be spectacular though.
A nice figure, much better than the old one and the Carnegie version, but when will a manufacturer have the balls to release a model named ‘Giraffatitan’? ;D Time will tell!
That is one of the nicest looking affordable Brachiosaurus model yet.
Despite the inaccuracies and old-fashioned look, the invicta Brachiosaurus still remains my fav, but this one comes pretty much close to the top.
Best brachio to be produced within recent years IMO… Although I think the back feet have one claw to many (isn’t it supposed to have only three? Either way an Xacto knife will fix it just fine)