Safari Ltd - New for 2022

[SidB]

Thanks S @SidB. Nothing to do but wait and see what happens.

You're welcome, but I decided to be proactive. I've just reached out to him on his channel to see if he can shed some light on the matter. After all, many of us are/ were looking forward to a year of exciting Safari releases.

Not sure who is sharing this rumor or where it started but it's news to me.

As I've stated before, there are many Safari figures in development for 2022, and there are more dinosaurs included in that.

That hasn't changed.

Well, that's certainly reassuring. Thanks for the positive affirmation, S @Shane . You've made my day brighter already.

[Brocc21]

https://youtu.be/BmCno088jSE

[Flaffy]

Thank you for your patience and taking your time in explaining how things work from the inside, S @Shane ! Much appreciated. 

Regarding the Patagotitan - I like it! Its color scheme may be similar to the Baryonyx, but I like that, as I was fond of its colors. I will keep an eye out for it, as well as for the other (?) Safari releases for this year. Looks like @Doug Watson sculpted it? If so, I would like to ask why does it have 4 toe claws? Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it have 5 toes but with only 3 having claws?

The 4 "claws" are my doing. The feet of Patagotitan have not been found and are not discussed in the paper I used. I should have magnified the skeletal from the paper more since I wasn't sure if the forth ungual was sporting a claw. Instead I used a museum mount of Argentinosaurus for the foot detail and that mount had four claws so I thought that was what was depicted in the papers skeletal. Since this has blown up here on the DTF I went back and took a closer look at the paper and there is no claw on the fourth ungual. As far as I can see the feet of Argentinosaurus have also not been found so I am not sure what the feet are based on in the museum mounts of the largest Titanosaurs. I should have asked Dr. Pol when I consulted him about the skull. The fifth toe on Titanosaurs are shown as vestigial in all the reference I have seen including the paper on Patagotitan.
As an aside the Titanosaur Notocolossus has one of the most complete pes discovered and it has truncated unguals unlike other sauropods so if a Patagotitan pes is actually found maybe it will have some surprises.

Hi Doug! Thank you for your explanation! Not sure why the Argentinosaurus mount has 4 clawed digits either, and that mount is incredibly problematic too. I did a bit of digging on Titanosaur hindlimb remains as a whole and found the following info:

Titanosaurs were not doing anything novel with their hindfeet. Based on the complete manus & pes of the Patagonian titanosaur MUCPv-1533 and Epachthosaurus, we can safely conclude that Titanosaurs were consistent in the 3-clawed digit condition seen in most derived sauropods. There's not a whole lot of reason to assume Patagotitan deviated from this norm.


Abstract from the paper:
"Most titanosaur dinosaurs are represented by incomplete skeletal elements lacking articulated pes. An exceptionally preserved specimen from the Late Campanian–Early Maastrichtian strata of Patagonia (Argentina) provides new data on pedal morphology and the evolutionary trends of these huge dinosaurs. This finding is one of the few articulated titanosaur pes known in the world, and shows a phalangeal formula of 2-2-2-2-0. The first three digits possess sickle-shaped claws and the articular facets of ungual phalanges, suggesting mobility in horizontal and vertical planes. A comparative analysis of available record suggests that titanosaurs had a progressive reduction of size and number of pedal phalanges in digits III and IV during the Late Cretaceous."

Articulated titanosaur pes in dorsal view. (A) Titanosaur MUCPv-1533 from La Invernada site, Northern Patagonia; (B) Epachthosaurus from Central Patagonia, after Martınez et al. (2004). Scale bar = 5 cm. (González Riga, Calvo and Porfiri, 2008)

Link to paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236230250_An_articulated_titanosaur_from_Patagonia_Argentina_New_evidence_of_neosauropod_pedal_evolution

[Skorpio V.]

The amount of times Shane has had to reiterate the fact the Patagotitan won't be the only release is laughable. THERE'S MORE COMING

As for the extra toe, I'm sure a bit of sanding and retouching wouldn't be too much labour for those picking it up .

[Doug Watson]

Link to paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236230250_An_articulated_titanosaur_from_Patagonia_Argentina_New_evidence_of_neosauropod_pedal_evolution

Yes I had already found that paper.

[CityRaptor]

The amount of times Shane has had to reiterate the fact the Patagotitan won't be the only release is laughable. THERE'S MORE COMING

Yep. People are way to willing to believe some second rate Youtuber rather than someone who actually has insight. 

Anyways, the Patagotitan looks nice.

[Thialfi]

Wow yeah, that little YouTube preview has made me so much more enthusiastic for the model. It looks great. Can't wait!

[Jose S.M.]

It looks way better in thar video! It's growing on me, the head doesn't look that oversized but I still i find it too cute hahaha. It has kind of gentle eyes.

[Doug Watson]

The amount of times Shane has had to reiterate the fact the Patagotitan won't be the only release is laughable. THERE'S MORE COMING

As for the extra toe, I'm sure a bit of sanding and retouching wouldn't be too much labour for those picking it up .

Don't go too crazy with the sanding it doesn't have an extra toe it possibly has an extra claw. That 4th toe whether it was clawless or not would still more than likely leave an impression. In fact if you look at the photos of the titanosaur footprint found in the Gobi in 2016 there is an impression left by the forth toe. I am not totally convinced that the forth toe may not have had a hoof like claw similar to a hadrosaur since the ungual looks very similar. The other three unguals would have been covered with the longer sickle shaped claws.

[Baryonyx]

Thanks @Doug Watson for this lovely sauropod, really hope to be able to get it when it comes out. The enormous mass of the limbs and body can be appreciated in that video, you've captured that very well! The Patagotitan will look great amongst some scale trees to give it some spatial context. Very exciting. Also that is a very interesting take on a hooved sort of fourth digit! Thanks so much.

[Shonisaurus]

That patagotitan is a good figure, I hope that this year, as the Safari representative has commented, this aforementioned brand will make some dinosaur or other extremely rare and obscure prehistoric animal in the labor market, such as that titanosaurid sauropod.

[Flaffy]

Does anyone know if there's an estimated release time for the Patagotitan? Or when retailers like @Everything_Dinosaur will have the figure in stock?

[Everything_Dinosaur]

We @Everything_Dinosaur hope to have the Patagotitan in stock around April time, but this has yet to be confirmed.

[Flaffy]

We @Everything_Dinosaur hope to have the Patagotitan in stock around April time, but this has yet to be confirmed.

It's a tad disappointing that the wait will be longer than usual (for Safari figures) this time around, but understandable given current circumstances. Thanks for the info regardless!


S @Shane Is the copy of the Patagotitan supplied to SpinodudeReviews a prototype or a production sample? If it's a prototype, are there any significant/noticeable changes to be expected (paint, material used etc.)? Or will the final figure be close to what we see in the unboxing video? Thanks!

[Shane]

S @Shane Is the copy of the Patagotitan supplied to SpinodudeReviews a prototype or a production sample? If it's a prototype, are there any significant/noticeable changes to be expected (paint, material used etc.)? Or will the final figure be close to what we see in the unboxing video? Thanks!

Anything sent for review is pulled from the final round of approved production samples, in order to be as close as possible to the actual production figure.

[Halichoeres]

Doug, just want to say thanks for giving us insights into your process and being willing to engage with the community even though I'm sure it's not always rewarding.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

https://youtu.be/S1Ds7-VbCbY

[Flaffy]

https://youtu.be/S1Ds7-VbCbY

Thank you A @Andysdinosaurreviews for yet another fantastic review! How does the material feel on the Patagotitan? Is it as brittle and rigid as the plastic used for the 2021 figures? e.g. Baryonyx.

Also, could you do a size comparison between the 2019 Safari Camarasaurus and Patagotitan? It'd be great to see how Doug's two latest sauropod sculpts display with each other.

[Andysdinosaurreviews]

https://youtu.be/S1Ds7-VbCbY

Thank you A @Andysdinosaurreviews for yet another fantastic review! How does the material feel on the Patagotitan? Is it as brittle and rigid as the plastic used for the 2021 figures? e.g. Baryonyx.

Also, could you do a size comparison between the 2019 Safari Camarasaurus and Patagotitan? It'd be great to see how Doug's two latest sauropod sculpts display with each other.

Hey! Thank you for sharing!!! It feels like the same material as the Baryonyx.

As far as the comparison goes, I can definitely get that for you tomorrow!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

It'd good to see in hand images, that's a really nice sculpt  another stunner from Mr Watson. Luckily it won't be going too near the Baryonyx.