Review and photos by Bokisaurus
Greetings dinofans! Since 2019 is shaping up to be the year of the Spinosaurus, I figured it would be a great way to celebrate it by reviewing Safari’s new for 2019 swimming Spinosaurus. The review is longer than I wanted it to be, but with a species that already is one of the most reviewed figure, I wanted to add just a little bit of its history in the toy world.
Biggest by far of all known maniraptorans, bearer of the longest claws of any known animal, and just downright rocambolesque to the human eye, Therizinosaurus is one truly remarkable dinosaur. It’s been made into a toy by many of the major companies, including Safari Ltd.
When it comes to iconic dinosaurs, even after the rise of Velociraptor and Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park fame, Triceratops is placed towards the top of the list along with Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stegosaurus. In fact, if I did a Greek Pantheon of Dinosaurs and replaced the top twelve Greek gods with Dinosaurs , Triceratops would get a top spot.
Lizards have been around about as long as dinosaurs, and during their time on Earth their family tree has produced some weird side branches. One is snakes (yes, all snakes are lizards, but not all lizards are snakes). Another is the mosasaurs, a group of large aquatic lizards that included some of the largest predators of the late Cretaceous.
In late 2020 Safari Ltd. teased their upcoming dinosaurs with silhouettes of the figures, with two particularly interesting ones, the “fantasy” T. rex and Triceratops. Since Safari Ltd. had just acquired the rights to produce merchandise for the television show Dino Dana, it was assumed by many that those dinosaurs were part of that line.
The first things most dinosaur enthusiasts will notice are the pyramidal crests above the eyes, this is quite a common feature among tyrannosaur replicas and is something that most collectors can accept.
One thing you probably notice about this figure is that it’s rather athletic and slim looking for a Tyrannosaurus. In fact it looks little bit like a Daspletosaurus or even an Albertosaurus.
