Review by Tomhet, photographs by Dinotoyblog
As of late, Safari’s newcomers really have become something to look forward to, even more so if one of those newcomers is a late Devonian Placoderm (Placodermi are an exotic but fertile terrain only Kaiyodo, Prehistoric Panorama and Starlux had dared to explore) The Dunkleosteus is a fresh idea from Safari, and as such, it’s had a warm welcome among collectors.
The Dunkie’s main colour is shiny golden yellow (incluiding the bulging, ferociuos eyes), although the armour itself is a little bit darker. The posterior section of the body has a pattern of black spots. The plates of the armour (which are very detailed) are smooth, while the parts that aren’t covered by the plates have a grainier feel. The teeth plates are marbled grey; this contrasts nicely with the weak shade of pink inside the mouth.
The whole sculpt is awesome, but I specially love the flat tail (the most common assumption, since only the fossil armour of this giant has been preserved)
If we consider the meticulous colour blending, the delicate sculpting and the accuracy, we would be tempted to say that this is the best Safari replica so far. The top dinosaur companies should already know that ‘unpopular’ prehistoric creatures are in fact very popular: the Dunkleosteus has been one of the best-selling replicas of 2007.
Available here $ 
Edit – New photographs added 28th October, 2008
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i’m in love with the schleich one and have this on the way. i have 3 of the schleich one, a knockoff schleich one, the safari one coming, and I’m planning on getting the collecta mini one and upcoming collecta model, and this other schleich knockoff i found and more to have a dunkleosteus army.
[…] Schleich Dunkleosteus is a big toy, about 24 centimeters long measured along the spine (the Safari Ltd and Favorite Co. Ltd versions are a bit smaller). Like other fish, Dunkleosteus didn’t have a […]
Estoy en desacuerdo con M Favibar en el sentido que este animal está representado de una forma meticulosa y podríamos decir muy bien detallada en las reconstruciones de especies paleobiológicas del Devónico en los libros dedicados a esta época. Que se pudiera mejorar, todo es mejorable, pero es una de las mejores figuras hechas sobre el Dunkleosteus, teniendo en cuenta que es la primera que ha hecho esta casa. Ha mejorado aún con el Celacanto realizado en 2010.
Sorry, but this doesn’t look anything like the way a real Dunkleosteus would have looked. I’m glad it’s a popular beast, I’m very fond of this devonian apex predator. Too bad another opportunity to do it justice was blown and yet again and we have a pregnant eel….this fish is not Coccosteus (which is what it was modeled after). That said, it will still be fun for kids to play with in the bath and pool. Please try again and make one that’s better for the grown-ups….
After doing a lot of research and discussion, I agree that this is probably not what Dunkleosteus looked like.
however, it could be a good representative of Eastmanosteus, a smaller close relative of Dunkleosteus, which grew up to about 3m in length. and may have had a body form more like Coccosteus. Eastmanosteus species are well known from N. America, Europe and Australia from the mid to late Devonian
Simply the finest 😀
It seems almost alive!