Safari Ltd: New for 2023

[Doug Watson]

Question: This was sculpted by doug?

Yes

[Flaffy]

Late post, had to take a few hours to calm myself and collect my thoughts

Pros:
- I love it I love it I love it I love it; how can you not love an Estemmenosuchus?
- Mammalian-like sculpt, true to it's therapsid lineage. Love the sagging oral tissue on the lower jaw.
- Lovely choice of colours, a nice switch up from the ol' Safari yellow+tan combo. Certainly a lot more pleasing and natural than CollectA's take. I think some pinkish fleshy tones around the limb junctions and throat region would serve the figure very well (something like what Haolonggood did for their green Ouranosaurus)


Cons (more like nitpicks) & potential inaccuracies:
- The left side of the face seems slightly off centre? I see this often with Safari figures where one side is higher/lower than the other. Is this an issue with the molding process perhaps?


- Lack of paint highlights on the horns, which likely would've served as display structures
- Lack of lips on the upper jaw, would've expected a thick fleshy covering; see Gabriel's reconstruction of E. mirabilis.



- Lack of skin bumps, which is a shame cus we have beautifuly preserved soft tissue from E. uralensis which displays these. But considering the small size of the figure, this can be excused. Especially so if these are interpreted to be glandulous tissue rather than something hard like a pseudo-osteoderm.


- Missing 2 lower incisors on the mandible. Estemmenosuchus was odd that it had a pair of incosors directly adjacent to the canines. (though looking at the figure closely, the teeth might be there? Just that the white paint wasn't precise enough to capture this feature)
- Would've liked to see the rest of the lower teeth sculpted too, but that can be easily explained away with the tongue/oral tissue covering them.



All in all, an easy 9/10 release for me. Please don't mistake the longer list of critisisms for me not liking the figure. Estemmenosuchus is my favourite prehistoric genus BY FAR, and Safari delivers with this new release. Can't wait to get this little guy in my collection. I expect to have him as my lucky charm companion for quite some time.

[Flaffy]

I saw it already. As always the outdoor photos look way better than the white background ones. I think it looks very good but a different color scheme would have helped, although I can't picture any color schemes for this animal, somehow I always end up picturing it in browns and greys

It's almost criminal how much worse the figure looks in the lightbox, white background promo pics compared to the outdoor photos and reviews.
They're strangely low resolution too? Definitely not representative of the figure. Maybe it's a good idea to retake those photos? S @Shane

[Bread]

@Flaffy I agree with your assessment of the model. Funny enough too, I thought it could use a bit of additional tissue around the jaws.

@Doug Watson can you comment regarding the lack of lips? It seems like the model does have slight lips but lacks I guess the more "hippo-like" look. I think this is really a minor nitpick though.

[Doug Watson]

@Flaffy I agree with your assessment of the model. Funny enough too, I thought it could use a bit of additional tissue around the jaws.

@Doug Watson can you comment regarding the lack of lips? It seems like the model does have slight lips but lacks I guess the more "hippo-like" look. I think this is really a minor nitpick though.

It does have lips they can clearly be seen on the lower jaw, as for the upper jaw the lips are drawn back in a snarl/agressive tooth display. I don't have a production sample in hand yet but going by these pictures my original has more of a lip ridge over the upper teeth it looks like the teeth on the production piece have been thickened and are out further possibly for casting reasons I don't know. The canines are all thicker and blunter than my original for child protection reasons obviously, that has also lessened the lip ridge.
I wasn't going for a hippo look with the lips.
Someday if I can muster the energy and will I may get back to posting photos of my originals but I am 4 years behind so who knows if and when that will happen.

[Flaffy]

@Flaffy I agree with your assessment of the model. Funny enough too, I thought it could use a bit of additional tissue around the jaws.

@Doug Watson can you comment regarding the lack of lips? It seems like the model does have slight lips but lacks I guess the more "hippo-like" look. I think this is really a minor nitpick though.

It does have lips they can clearly be seen on the lower jaw, as for the upper jaw the lips are drawn back in a snarl/agressive tooth display. I don't have a production sample in hand yet but going by these pictures my original has more of a lip ridge over the upper teeth it looks like the teeth on the production piece have been thickened and are out further possibly for casting reasons I don't know. The canines are all thicker and blunter than my original for child protection reasons obviously, that has also lessened the lip ridge.
I wasn't going for a hippo look with the lips.
Someday if I can muster the energy and will I may get back to posting photos of my originals but I am 4 years behind so who knows if and when that will happen.

Thanks for the clarification! It's a shame subtle details like that get lost in the moulding process, but I guess that's the unavoidable reality of toy production rather than higher-end pieces. Would love to see the original resin sculpt btw! In all it's original detailed glory.

Also @Doug Watson , can you confirm if your Estemmenosuchus has 6 or 8 incisors? It's hard to tell with the paint being rather thick in the area. And were the skin impressions taken into account when sculpting the model?

[Roar]

Yes!! A proto mammal! Please tell me there will be more coming?

[Shane]

Thanks for the clarification! It's a shame subtle details like that get lost in the moulding process, but I guess that's the unavoidable reality of toy production rather than higher-end pieces. Would love to see the original resin sculpt btw! In all it's original detailed glory.

Also Doug Watson, can you confirm if your Estemmenosuchus has 6 or 8 incisors? It's hard to tell with the paint being rather thick in the area. And were the skin impressions taken into account when sculpting the model?

I can confirm there are 8 incisors in the upper jaw, both on Doug's original sculpt and on the final release.

Regarding the lips, unfortunately as has been mentioned, such subtleties can sometimes be casualties of the molding process, as certain details are always simplified somewhat.

Regarding the bottom teeth, these are on the original sculpt, and do look to be on the final release, but they are very small and thus too difficult to highlight individually with paint (without resorting to a goopy, generalized white area). Again, sometimes sacrifices need to be made in order to convert a detailed resin sculpt to an affordable PVC figurine.

Doug's sculpt also has more texture. Again, things that just get a bit simplified in the molding. There are "bumpy" areas of the figure, but at this scale they come across more as rough areas than individual bumps.

Just about every minor issue folks have with the figure are unfortunately things that are just unavoidable sacrifices when making an affordable figurine at this scale. I'm glad people are still showing a mostly positive response. And I can confirm that none of these issues come from Doug's original sculpt.

[Stegotyranno420]

I don't know how to explain, but this figure kind of has a "oil painting" feel, but in 3d? Does anyone else understand what I am going for?

[Faelrin]

I just re-learned that Estemmenosuchus is from Russia. So one more reason it will be nice to have this smaller one from Safari Ltd that would be more in scale with their now retired Inostrancevia and Scutosaurus (which I am thankful to have gotten my hands on both years back), since they were also found there. Sure they might not have been contemporaries, but it's interesting to think some of our (or at least my) favorite Permian creatures originated on that continent (or in that particular region of what was Pangaea back then, which eventually went on to form into the Russian region).

[Flaffy]

Thanks for the clarification! It's a shame subtle details like that get lost in the moulding process, but I guess that's the unavoidable reality of toy production rather than higher-end pieces. Would love to see the original resin sculpt btw! In all it's original detailed glory.

Also Doug Watson, can you confirm if your Estemmenosuchus has 6 or 8 incisors? It's hard to tell with the paint being rather thick in the area. And were the skin impressions taken into account when sculpting the model?

I can confirm there are 8 incisors in the upper jaw, both on Doug's original sculpt and on the final release.

Regarding the lips, unfortunately as has been mentioned, such subtleties can sometimes be casualties of the molding process, as certain details are always simplified somewhat.

Regarding the bottom teeth, these are on the original sculpt, and do look to be on the final release, but they are very small and thus too difficult to highlight individually with paint (without resorting to a goopy, generalized white area). Again, sometimes sacrifices need to be made in order to convert a detailed resin sculpt to an affordable PVC figurine.

Doug's sculpt also has more texture. Again, things that just get a bit simplified in the molding. There are "bumpy" areas of the figure, but at this scale they come across more as rough areas than individual bumps.

Just about every minor issue folks have with the figure are unfortunately things that are just unavoidable sacrifices when making an affordable figurine at this scale. I'm glad people are still showing a mostly positive response. And I can confirm that none of these issues come from Doug's original sculpt.

Thanks for the detailed analysis S @Shane ! Glad to hear that most of the critisisms are an artifact of converting Doug's resin prototype into a mass-production toy, rather than issues on the original sculpt. The money I would give for Safari to restart their more premium line with higher quality molding, detail and paint though

The incisor issue I brought up are in reference to the lower incisors on the mandle, not the upper jaw. So does the lower jaw have 8 incisors as well? As shown in the picture of my original post, the inner-most lower incisors should be directly adjacent to the lower canines. @EmilianoTroco's Estemmenosuchus artwork shows this common inaccuracy of only having 6 lower incisors, while the CollectA model accurately portrays the 8.

[Shane]

The incisor issue I brought up are in reference to the lower incisors on the mandle, not the upper jaw. So does the lower jaw have 8 incisors as well? As shown in the picture of my original post, the inner-most lower incisors should be directly adjacent to the lower canines. @EmilianoTroco's Estemmenosuchus artwork shows this common inaccuracy of only having 6 lower incisors, while the CollectA model accurately portrays the 8.

Given the position of those rearmost incisors in relation to the tongue, I would posit that the tongue could be covering those teeth. Based on your photo of the lower jaw, those incisors are nearly overlapping with the canines in terms of their positioning, and on the figure and sculpt, the tongue essentially covers that area.

[Flaffy]

The incisor issue I brought up are in reference to the lower incisors on the mandle, not the upper jaw. So does the lower jaw have 8 incisors as well? As shown in the picture of my original post, the inner-most lower incisors should be directly adjacent to the lower canines. @EmilianoTroco's Estemmenosuchus artwork shows this common inaccuracy of only having 6 lower incisors, while the CollectA model accurately portrays the 8.

Given the position of those rearmost incisors in relation to the tongue, I would posit that the tongue could be covering those teeth. Based on your photo of the lower jaw, those incisors are nearly overlapping with the canines in terms of their positioning, and on the figure and sculpt, the tongue essentially covers that area.

Thanks again! Last thing, is the asymetry of the head due to the molding process? Or was it present already on the original resin sculpt? I see this with a few Safari ltd figures as well like the 2019 Stegosaurus, where one side is noticeably higher/lower than the other.

[Gwangi]

I went ahead and added another comparison photo to my review. It includes the Inostrancevia, Scutosaurus, and Dimetrodon. Even though two of those are in the other comparison photo I wanted a picture of just the Safari figures together, and it seems like folks might like to see the Scutosaurus included.

[Shane]

Thanks again! Last thing, is the asymetry of the head due to the molding process? Or was it present already on the original resin sculpt? I see this with a few Safari ltd figures as well like the 2019 Stegosaurus, where one side is noticeably higher/lower than the other.

It could be due to molding, but in the case of Estemmenosuchus I'm not really seeing too much asymmetry. Sometimes paint can exaggerate the effect. And in photos it also tends to be a lot more prominent or distorted, whereas in hand it may be far less noticeable.

[Jose S.M.]

Sometimes it's the placement of the pupil for me. Sometimes when the pupil is centered on one eye but off center on the other it looks like the head is distorted for me. I have repainted the eyes of several figures including the feathered Tyrannosaurus and I think it was the Triceratops, and the effect was very noticeable for me.

[Sim]

I've never noticed asymmetry in the Safari 2019 Stegosaurus's face.

[Doug Watson]

Also @Doug Watson , can you confirm if your Estemmenosuchus has 6 or 8 incisors? It's hard to tell with the paint being rather thick in the area. And were the skin impressions taken into account when sculpting the model?

Okay I had to go rummage through my reference because I did this guy a while ago.
Teeth: I didn't have the reference you show by Ivakhnenko at the time, what is that paper by the way? All of the papers and books I had only showed the cranium there were no pictures of the lower jaw or details about the teeth. What I did have was the catalogue I bought for the travelling exhibit "The Great Russian Dinosaurs" which I saw in person twice. In that catalogue on page 31 is a photo of the skull with lower jaw of E. mirabilis that shows only 6 insisors. The jaw doesn't look heavily restored so it looks like that individual didn't have those extra teeth. My wife has control of the computer now so I will have to post the image later. I do agree with Shane however that even if the teeth were there they would probably been covered by the tongue.
Skin: I had the same paper by Chudinov that your pictures of the integument came from and I based my skin on those plus his description of glandular skin. I might point out that the images are 7.5cm in width and the text states they are magnified 15x so none of those details would show on this scale of a 10 foot animal. I did try to give it a bumpy somewhat wrinkled look.
Asymmetry: Shane doesn't have the original so it is unfair to ask him that question. I have looked my original straight on in the eyes and it looks fine to me what I will say is the photo you posted is taken slightly to the right of dead centre. Which makes it look a little off if you think you are centred. I don't claim that I am perfect sometimes at this size I may have an eye 1mm to high or to far forward but I do my best.
I have to say I don't notice other brands being picked apart on this degree of minutia but that's just me.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

For what it is worth, I think this is a superb figure! You did it justice Doug, and I appreciate the representation of such an obscure (and poorly represented in the fossil record) species. I will be adding this guy for sure to my collection.

[Baryonyx]

What a great model! thanks Doug!