Safari Ltd: New for 2023

[SpartanSquat]

Edit: Wow...I had a bad day and this makes it worse...well I have them but its really sad how many items of these and really recently are beign retired.

[Ikessauro]

Seeing a lot of people saying the list is surprising, and shocking, but also that they'd been dragging their feet and hadn't managed to get a lot of them yet.

It's very anecdotal but...perhaps there's some correlation there? As others have said, if you see a figure of an obscure species, it's pretty important that you show your support for it early if you want it to stick around.

Otherwise you can't really be too surprised if it ends up being retired.

A lot of people also tend to wait to acquire them later on after all releases of that year have already hit shelves, so they can save on shipping and buy them all in a single haul. That sometimes leads to postponing the order even more because, well, they are freshly released, so, they won't be retired anytime soon... But that doesn't appear the case anymore. No figure is safe it seems which is a bit sad. We are definitely in the age of "now or never!!",  "hurry, limited edition!!", "pre-order or there won't be any left !!!!!!" and that is tiring. With so many companies releasing so much stuff, it is hard to keep up. And lots of companies don't help by making things limited, exclusive etc. Mattel's exclusives, Nanmu's limited editions etc. So annoying. The thing I love about Safari and CollectA is that these companies mostly stay away of that type of marketing. I wish they continued that way.

For me it is a bit hard, because living in Brazil, getting things the momment they are relased is very complicated. Can't just walk into a store and get them. HAve to wait for the right online stores to have them, so I can order. Not all stores ship worldwide. Among the ones that do, not al of them have the best prices and shipping costs. Usually the stores that receive the items first from distributor, have the worst prices, except for a handful. They take advantage of having it first and sell for more.

[Flaffy]

S @Shane Out of curiosity, is there any way to be aware of which figures get retired each year? I would find that info important to know, to be honest.

It looks like the following are being retired this year: Psittacosaurus, Uintatherium, Deinocheirus, Diabloceratops, Citipati, Qianzhousaurus, Vagaceratops, Concavenator, Edmontosaurus, and Shringasaurus.

A shame these are getting retired, but if the sales aren't there to justify continued production then that's just the unfortunate reality of the market. Will likely be picking up an additional copy of the Psittacosaurus as I had my original one repainted brown.

The biggest loss in terms of uniqueness is definitely the Shringasaurus, as it's the only allokotosaur on the market iirc. But I'm hoping this means that someone else will take note and produce a new depiction that's consistent with the robust look of modern reconstructions, rather than the edited Azendohsaurus as seen in the paper skeletal.

[TheCambrianCrusader]

Man I would've never thought that the 2020 figures would be retired so soon. I'm glad I already own of all these besides the Psittacosaurus and Deinocheirus, but man it feels like safari models are getting retired much faster these days and that's gotten me pretty worried.

[Faelrin]

@Flaffy There was the 2021 Mattel one too, but it certainly wasn't the most accurate, and obviously discontinued thanks to the short shelf life they get.

[Lynx]

I'm surprised by the Edmontosaurus, on the website at least it seemed to sell well

[Lynx]

On the topic of rarely seeing Safari LTD figures sold in stores, I can also say that the only places I have seen them is at the craft store and museums. The only other time I've seen these models in stores were knockoffs.

[marisaura]

On the topic of rarely seeing Safari LTD figures sold in stores, I can also say that the only places I have seen them is at the craft store and museums. The only other time I've seen these models in stores were knockoffs.

the place i'm working at right now actually sells exactly two safari figures: the triceratops and, strangely enough, the regaliceratops.

i also picked up the shringasaurus a couple months ago at a physical store that had quite a few others in stock! i think it's probably a regional thing since i'm in the south and safari is a florida company.

[Concavenator]

I'm also surprised to see the Edmontosaurus go, it's an iconic dinosaur. It's most definitely not obscure. Well, most genera from that list I wouldn't consider obscure.

I'm also puzzled to see the Deinocheirus and the Qianzhousaurus being retired. It hasn't been long since these two animals are (relatively) well known by the general public, but despite being recent paleontological discoveries (in Deinocheirus' case, its true appearance), I get the impression they're popular animals. Same for Concavenator. When it comes to Deinocheirus and Qianzhousaurus specifically, I would have expected their appearances on Prehistoric Planet would've enhanced their sales...

I'm not sure it follows that ceratopsians and hadrosaurs, for example, will never be made again. If Safari carries something for four years, and has strong sales the first two years, that might still have been a worthwhile investment. But maybe continued production would meet diminishing returns, making subsequent production runs unprofitable.

I would like to think that too, but truth is, it's been 4 years since their last ceratopsid and 3 years since their last hadrosaurid. And they used to release a new ceratopsid every year. More like seeing new figures of those groups, what's happening is more figures of said groups are getting retired. So I wouldn't say it's looking good for hadrosaurids and ceratopsids, at least when Safari is concerned.

[JimoAi]

hope it means they're going to be updated in the future. always found the deinocheirus too small

[Bread]

hope it means they're going to be updated in the future. always found the deinocheirus too small

Sadly, I doubt it. If the genus didn't sell well the first time, it would be another risk for them to try it again even at a bigger scale.

Plus there's PNSO's.

[Gwangi]

hope it means they're going to be updated in the future. always found the deinocheirus too small

I also considered it too small which is why I don't have it. Starting to second guess myself on that now that I know it's being retired.

[Sim]

Safari did remake Edmontosaurus after retiring their original version, but I doubt the demand is there for these newly retiring species.  In the case of Deinocheirus, due to PNSO and CollectA having large figures of it I think there isn't much demand for a bigger figure of it from Safari.

[Shane]

I understand everyone's practical reasons for not being able to get figures as soon as they release, but that doesn't change the fact that from a business standpoint, it's not really advantageous to keep manufacturing figures that are just going to be taking up space in a warehouse and not moving the units needed to make them worthwhile to the business.

The silver lining is, it's not like these are going to be yoinked from the store shelves or the website. They'll continue to be sold until the inventory is depleted. So there's still time.

All I'm saying is you can't really take it for granted that they're going to be around forever. Especially the "riskier" species that are not a definite slam dunk.

[Bread]

The silver lining is, it's not like these are going to be yoinked from the store shelves or the website. They'll continue to be sold until the inventory is depleted. So there's still time.

Exactly.

I've tend to notice that with this hobby, discontinued or stopped production of certain models and figures have a longevity presence online or on shelf compared to other hobbies.

[Jose S.M.]

Safari did remake Edmontosaurus after retiring their original version, but I doubt the demand is there for these newly retiring species.  In the case of Deinocheirus, due to PNSO and CollectA having large figures of it I think there isn't much demand for a bigger figure of it from Safari.

I don't think the average parent buying dinosaur toys would be aware of the PNSO one and since collectA is hard to find in America except for some online stores maybe the wouldn't be too aware of that one too. But again it rises the issue of small shelve presence in physical stores, since only people who follows Safari on social media would be aware of new releases. So yeah I don't think a bigger Deinocheirus will come soon even if it would be easier to find than the options left on the market.

The only figure of that to be retired list that I can see being re released is the Shringasaurus since it would look very different than the current one and tbh that reconstruction posted here has some kind of cool factor that the previous one doesn't in my opinion and I still don't think that's gonna happen soon.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I understand everyone's practical reasons for not being able to get figures as soon as they release, but that doesn't change the fact that from a business standpoint, it's not really advantageous to keep manufacturing figures that are just going to be taking up space in a warehouse and not moving the units needed to make them worthwhile to the business.

The silver lining is, it's not like these are going to be yoinked from the store shelves or the website. They'll continue to be sold until the inventory is depleted. So there's still time.

All I'm saying is you can't really take it for granted that they're going to be around forever. Especially the "riskier" species that are not a definite slam dunk.

We might be able to guess, but could you share which ones sell the most?  Just curious, I sell more Safari Rex Snapper toys than I sell any Safari dinosaur figures in the shop here.

[Shane]

We might be able to guess, but could you share which ones sell the most?  Just curious, I sell more Safari Rex Snapper toys than I sell any Safari dinosaur figures in the shop here.

There are lots of metrics depending on whether you mean wholesale, retail, etc.

TOOBS are always huge sellers as a collection. As far as prehistoric, Feathered T-Rex is the far and away winner.

[GojiraGuy1954]

I want to know where the massive fanbases for these ancient figures are which prevents them from being retired

-Apatosaurus (2010)
-Brachiosaurus baby (2013; repaint)
-Brachiosaurus (2010)
-Brachiosaurus (1998)

-Stegosaurus (2008)
-Triceratops (2008)

-Dimorphodon (2013)
-Pteranodon (1999)
-"Pterosaur" (2007)
-Rhamphorhynchus (2010)
-Tapejara (2009)

-Elasmosaurus (2013)
-Mosasaurus (2010)

[Shane]

I want to know where the massive fanbases for these ancient figures are which prevents them from being retired

-Apatosaurus (2010)
-Brachiosaurus baby (2013; repaint)
-Brachiosaurus (2010)
-Brachiosaurus (1998)

-Stegosaurus (2008)
-Triceratops (2008)

-Dimorphodon (2013)
-Pteranodon (1999)
-"Pterosaur" (2007)
-Rhamphorhynchus (2010)
-Tapejara (2009)

-Elasmosaurus (2013)
-Mosasaurus (2010)

It may shock you to learn that there are people who buy dinosaur and prehistoric figurines outside of this forum. Lots of them, in fact.