Safari Ltd: New for 2023

[SidB]

Everything Dinosaur has posted on Facebook that the Safari 2023 Therizinosaurus is around 16cm tall and around 16cm long.  Is it not being shrunk down from 1:35 scale then?

In comparison, the PNSO Therizinosaurus comes in at approximately 15 cm tall and 20 cm long.

[MLMjp]

Everything Dinosaur has posted on Facebook that the Safari 2023 Therizinosaurus is around 16cm tall and around 16cm long.  Is it not being shrunk down from 1:35 scale then?

In comparison, the PNSO Therizinosaurus comes in at approximately 15 cm tall and 20 cm long.

Considering Safari's more upright pose, I'll say the figure is still in 1:35, or close to. Good, it would have been a real shame for this to be downsized.

[SidB]

Everything Dinosaur has posted on Facebook that the Safari 2023 Therizinosaurus is around 16cm tall and around 16cm long.  Is it not being shrunk down from 1:35 scale then?

In comparison, the PNSO Therizinosaurus comes in at approximately 15 cm tall and 20 cm long.

Considering Safari's more upright pose, I'll say the figure is still in 1:35, or close to. Good, it would have been a real shame for this to be downsized.

This should display very nicely alongside Safari's feathered T-rex. A good color match with the first, pre-Dino Dana  release.

[postsaurischian]

Everything Dinosaur has posted on Facebook that the Safari 2023 Therizinosaurus is around 16cm tall and around 16cm long.  Is it not being shrunk down from 1:35 scale then?

This is impossible because the Therizinosaurus is not standing on the tip of its tail.

[Sim]

postsaurischian, I don't understand what you mean?

[suchomimus]

postsaurischian, I don't understand what you mean?

@Sim think of it as a geometry problem.

If we define

1. "tall" to be the vertical height,
2. "long" to be the measurement along the head to the tail, and
3. that both are roughly equivalent,

one solution is that the length of the figure is indeed the height of the figure, i.e. the Therizinosaurus is postured completely upright and not angled.

I believe this was what postsaurischian meant.

Of course, there are other possible solutions to these constraints, e.g. the space taken up by the figure's side profile is a circle with a diameter of around 16cm.

[Splonkadumpocus]

I definitely want the Estemmenosuchus; the Paleozoic is drastically underrepresented in my collection and it could be used to overlap with Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus as they aren't separated by that much time.

[Halichoeres]

I definitely want the Estemmenosuchus; the Paleozoic is drastically underrepresented in my collection and it could be used to overlap with Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus as they aren't separated by that much time.

Scales reasonably well with Safari's Inostrancevia, too!

[Saarlooswolfhound]

Just gonna drop this here for those curious on the Estemmenosuchus' size...

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres It's amazing how well it fits alongside it, as well as their Scutosaurus. Shame both are retired now (I mean I have them, and just barely missed out on them, but I mean that for other folks that might be interested in them). I wonder if that was good planning by Doug, considering all three are from late Permian Russia (although still separated by time) or just a wonderful coincidence?

By the way are there like any other (late) Permian animal figures in a similar scale to these three (aside from the ones you showed in your collection thread)?

This also makes me wish that Safari Ltd would tackle Moschops (unless the classic Marx one can fit in alongside these), if not other Permian period animals in the future. At least we got these three thankfully, since very few have tackled them outside of them. In the case of Inostrancevia, nobody has since done one, although gorgonopsids as a whole have like only three figures or so, like Kenner's Lycaenops, the Schleich Dinogorgon, and the former Inostrancevia, all of which are also retired/out of production.

[Splonkadumpocus]

If I get an Estemmenosuchus, I'm probably using it in a diorama with Inostrancevia and Scutosaurus and saying the scene is set ~260 million BC when the latter two first evolved.

Doesn't really make sense to put it with Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus as the latter isn't known from Europe and the former's European species is separated from Estemmenosuchus by 12 million years.

[Shane]

Just to provide an update on the size of the Therizinosaurus:

It's a little over 7 inches (18 cm) in length, from the tip of its tail to the tip of its outstretched claw, and almost exactly 7 inches (18 cm) tall.

From the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail (measuring diagonally), it's about 9.5 inches (24 cm).

[Doug Watson]

I wonder if that was good planning by Doug, considering all three are from late Permian Russia (although still separated by time) or just a wonderful coincidence?

I just want to clarify I did the Inostrancevia & the Estemmenosuchus, but I didn't do the Scutosaurus.
I also didn't shoot no Deputy (apologies to Bob Marley and my English teachers)

[Faelrin]

@Doug Watson Oh wow, all these years I had thought you were the one that did it. Well much appreciated for the correction on that.

[SidB]

I wonder if that was good planning by Doug, considering all three are from late Permian Russia (although still separated by time) or just a wonderful coincidence?

I just want to clarify I did the Inostrancevia & the Estemmenosuchus, but I didn't do the Scutosaurus.
I also didn't shoot no Deputy (apologies to Bob Marley and my English teachers)

Glad that the issue about that Deputy was finally cleared up.

[Concavenator]

Finally, a therizinosaur figure that shows off their insane toes claw morphology. Many people talk about the large size of the claws on their forelimbs, but many miss that the claws overall on therizinosaurs were massive.

I didn't know therizinosaurs have big pedal unguals, do you know where can I read more about this?

I've seen in Dan Folkes' Therizinosaurus skeletal that it has big pedal unguals indeed (even though these haven't been preserved)  and in Qilong's rigorous therizinosaurian skeletals that the taxa whose pes are known seem to have relatively big claws too. Is that what you were referring to?

Spoiler

Therizinosaurus skeletal By Dan Folkes



Rigorous therizinosaur skeletals by Qilong.

[close]

Didn't find anything in the literature, though.

Also noticed that in Qilong's skeletal, the relative lenghts between the digit unguals matches the PNSO figure, but not Safari's. Although I know these aren't completely known. What I don't know is how much was preserved of those, I've seen 2 different depictions (showing what's preserved):

Spoiler

From PaleoNerd's review.



From paleofile.com

[close]

The Safari figure appears to be consistent with the relative lengths shown in Nothronychus:

Spoiler

Nothronychus skeletals (including rigorous) by Scott Hartman.

[close]

Any word on which interpretation is more correct?

About the PNSO, even though its proportions may seem kinda off to some people, I would ironically say that's a plus. The Safari figure has proportions that result more familiar (as seen in the previously shown Folkes skeletal), but that's because those depictions depict it as an oversized generic (sans the claws) therizinosaurid. Therizinosaurus was easily the biggest member of its family, so it probably had different proportions. The PNSO is more stout and has a somewhat slightly humped back (at least to my eyes) and while this may be made up, I would say any slight deviation from the generic therizinosaurid body plan might even be accurate in this case, compared to the more traditional proportions seen in Safari's figure. In PNSO's case, its claws are longer than Safari's too, which I find to be a plus.

I also wish both figures represented it as a plantigrade, since that's what the evidence suggests (Sennikov, 2021), though this might not be set in stone.

I've decided I want to get a Therizinosaurus for my collection and I'm trying to choose between the Safari and the PNSO, and want to pick the more accurate (as tricky as this might be because of its fragmentary status) of the two. Now, I know the Safari has oversized belly scales, and I'd also wish the feathering transition on the head was smoother, but I'm not really bothered. I'm more inclined to get the Safari though, being cheaper and more attractively (imo) colored. But I think both versions are great. Looking forward to seeing more pics of the Safari.

Any thoughts?

[Lynx]

I also wish both figures represented it as a plantigrade, since that's what the evidence suggests (Sennikov, 2021), though this might not be set in stone.

As far as I know, the plantigrade theory has since had some well-formed doubts, and last time I checked is considered inaccurate currently.

[Shane]

I also wish both figures represented it as a plantigrade, since that's what the evidence suggests (Sennikov, 2021), though this might not be set in stone.

As far as I know, the plantigrade theory has since had some well-formed doubts, and last time I checked is considered inaccurate currently.

Doug can shine more light on it (if he chooses to), but there was some discussion about this and ultimately, it does not appear to be very set in stone.

It appears to be one of those recent paleontological findings that everyone seems to jump on because it's new and novel, but like most of paleontology it's far from absolute. I'm not saying it's wrong; just that there is a tendency for people to regard recent findings as gospel truth, despite there still being varying degrees of uncertainty.

The available evidence was weighed, and while there's no absolute consensus at this time, it was determined that there was more support for digitigrade over plantigrade currently.

[SpartanSquat]

I still remember some tendencies over the years: Large tyrannosaurs with heavy coats of feathers, ceratopsians with quills, saberooth cats with bulldogs lips, half sailed rat dimetrodons. I think some of these are like time capsules of their time.

[Lynx]

I have a question, why do people dislike ceratopsians with quills so much? I've seen people say they will outright not buy a figure if it has quills.