Safari Ltd - new for 2015

[triceratops83]

Speaking of dinosaur names, there is an episode of "Friends" where Ross (the paleontologist) is asked to spell the name of a species of dinosaur. He says he can't spell it because he's never heard of the species before. Apparently the first letter is silent. Does this dinosaur exist? I can't remember what it was called.

It's been bothering me for a while.

Only one I can think of is the Psittacosaurus. The "p" is silent.

You'd think a palaeontologist would have heard of Psittacosaurus. But that would be crowd pleasing TV writing for you.

[tyrantqueen]

Speaking of dinosaur names, there is an episode of "Friends" where Ross (the paleontologist) is asked to spell the name of a species of dinosaur. He says he can't spell it because he's never heard of the species before. Apparently the first letter is silent. Does this dinosaur exist? I can't remember what it was called.

It's been bothering me for a while.

Only one I can think of is the Psittacosaurus. The "p" is silent.

You'd think a palaeontologist would have heard of Psittacosaurus. But that would be crowd pleasing TV writing for you.

I think I've figured it out. So apparently it was called a "Mboscodictiosaur". I guess that would be a fictional species, but they implied in the show that it actually existed.

[Yutyrannus]

Speaking of dinosaur names, there is an episode of "Friends" where Ross (the paleontologist) is asked to spell the name of a species of dinosaur. He says he can't spell it because he's never heard of the species before. Apparently the first letter is silent. Does this dinosaur exist? I can't remember what it was called.

It's been bothering me for a while.

Only one I can think of is the Psittacosaurus. The "p" is silent.

You'd think a palaeontologist would have heard of Psittacosaurus. But that would be crowd pleasing TV writing for you.

I think I've figured it out. So apparently it was called a "Mboscodictiosaur". I guess that would be a fictional species, but they implied in the show that it actually existed.

I remember that episode, it was a fictional species in the show.

[Dan]

The Nasutoceratops looks to be another ceratopsian winner for WS.

It really is stunning, and I don't think there's any other figure in 2015 that I found as impressive. Here's a size reference, though I think the Nasuto was made at a slightly larger scale.

[ignite444]

I got my models from you, Dan, today. I'll be uploading the video of it tomorrow. You can get a decent scale of their size when I hold them in my hand. They really aren't any bigger than their other normal sized models.

[CityRaptor]

It's about scale rather than model size.

As for Friends:

[Manatee]

The Yutyrannus looks wonderful; too bad it came out too late to arrive by Christmas . I will surely be picking it up on my own time, though.

[Sim]

Haha!  You're funny!  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see what you wrote about Khaan.  What did you think was the reason for Khaan's name?

That's it. I seem to remember a story about the naming of Mendozasaurus in response to Khaan. A reference to a moment in the Simpsons when Rainier Wolfcastle screams "MENDOZA" in a very Shatnerian manner. I may have imagined that, too.

Oh, was Khaan the dinosaur you were referring to when you said a dinosaur was named after a Star Trek Villain?  I did a Google search on Mendozasaurus, and it was the first dinosaur discovered in the Mendoza Province in Argentina...  Yep, it's named after where it was discovered!

[Meso-Cenozoic]

The Nasuto and Yuty look so good! Can't wait to get them!! I'm waiting for the Yuty and Archaeopteryx to come in at DeJankins, which they're still listed as arriving before Xmas. He has all the rest of the Safari's in already, including the Carnegie. Just trying to be patient and having them all ship together to save on postage costs.

I tell ya, I'm probably most excited about the new WS and Papo figures than anything else!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Carnegie/Safari really needs to do something major to get back on track.

[Zhuchengotyrant]

Carnegie/Safari really needs to do something major to get back on track.

Why do you say that?

[DinoLord]

Carnegie/Safari really needs to do something major to get back on track.

Why do you say that?

Many feel that the last few years of Carnegie releases have been rather dull/uninspired. I remember when I first started serious collecting around the 2010 era Carnegie was viewed by many as an innovative line, with new releases like the Spinosaurus. 2011 in particular was a really widely popular year for the line.

But since then it seems to have declined with repetitive releases of tripod theropods all posed in pretty much the same way - I remember there was a good amount of disappointment with the Concavenator when it was revealed because the pose was almost exactly the same as the Carnotaurus from the year before. The Carnegie sculpts would be very nice if posed differently/more dynamically, but since the line does seem to be heading down a monotonous path (likely the Carnegie museum's fault rather than the sculptor's) people are growing more dissatisfied with the line.

[tyrantqueen]

Carnegie dinosaurs have not been particularly bad as of late...just very stagnant.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

^ what they said.

Based on opinions I've seen of the newest piece..no one seems to be REALLY excited about it.

I want to be excited by a new Carnegie piece myself but the past few have just been "good" not bad mind you, just stale I guess.  I've no idea who actually makes the decisions or how it's done but it would be nice to switch things up a bit.

[Gwangi]

The last good theropod from Carnegie IMO was the Carnotaurus. It was still in that tripod pose but it had other positive attributes that made it something worth getting, including a stellar paint design and decent paint application. The last great model though, that would have to be the Miragaia. Both of those are from the same year incidentally. The 2012 Brachiosaurus was alright but poor paint application and a 1:50 scale didn't help its cause. Poor paint application seems to be a big problem with them lately, along with the constant tripod theropods. The fact that last year was their anniversary and the T. rex released was only sub-par didn't help either.

[triceratops83]

I think what they need to do is retire once and for all their older figures, so that they may be sought after and appreciated more, then, one year, release like TEN figures, about half new sculpts of some of their old figures, and the other half new species. That would please everybody, then they could slack off for a while again.

Oh, was Khaan the dinosaur you were referring to when you said a dinosaur was named after a Star Trek Villain?  I did a Google search on Mendozasaurus, and it was the first dinosaur discovered in the Mendoza Province in Argentina...  Yep, it's named after where it was discovered!

For the love of... where am I getting this information? Am I going crazy?

[Meso-Cenozoic]

I still have hope for more exciting figures to come from Carnegie. I love Forest Rogers' sculpting. http://forestrogers.com/index/#/dinosaurs/ When you especially look at her bare sculpts, they really are quite spectacular. I don't know what's been happening these past three years (I'm including 2015). For me their last really nice figure was the 2012 Brachiosaurus.

I agree with TQ. The Velociraptor and the two prior figures haven't been necessarily bad. All of them are for the most part quite accurate depictions. But the poses on all three of these theropods are quite similar. They're getting to be too repetitive and uninspired in that area. And the paint applications have been getting a bit sloppy as well. I tend to believe these issues are out of Forest's control. I know the Carnegie Museum has to approve their figures. But who is exactly making these calls?

I'm also a bit disappointed that we've only been getting one annual figure from them since 2012. Their small to medium figures have been really quite comparable in cost with the WS figs. So I don't think cost is the main reason. I know they give the reason that it takes more time to approve a figure and its sculpt. But, they didn't seem to have any trouble producing two figures per year from 2008-2011. And those figures were some of their best!

So, I don't know folks. I'm still going to hang in there with them. I think I pretty much have all their dinos past to present in my collection. It's really going to take something pretty earth-shattering for me to stop collecting them. They're still overall probably the nearest to accurate dino toy line. We just have to wait and see. Even though we collectors are probably a smaller customer group compared with the general public, maybe they still might hear are concerns and make some changes. We all know they have it in them. They just have to find that magic once again and set it free!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

The last good theropod from Carnegie IMO was the Carnotaurus. It was still in that tripod pose but it had other positive attributes that made it something worth getting, including a stellar paint design and decent paint application. The last great model though, that would have to be the Miragaia. Both of those are from the same year incidentally. The 2012 Brachiosaurus was alright but poor paint application and a 1:50 scale didn't help its cause. Poor paint application seems to be a big problem with them lately, along with the constant tripod theropods. The fact that last year was their anniversary and the T. rex released was only sub-par didn't help either.

I think that's it..so many " oh. well that's interesting." moments from them in the past 3 years or so. 

I think what they need to do is retire once and for all their older figures, so that they may be sought after and appreciated more, then, one year, release like TEN figures, about half new sculpts of some of their old figures, and the other half new species. That would please everybody, then they could slack off for a while again.

THIS.  This is exactly what I was expecting for the Anniversary.  They also showed that artwork of Luis Rey and had his Oviraptor..that made some of us think maybe they were going to do a line of Rey dinos.  But we only received one, under painted figure. sigh.

I still have hope for more exciting figures to come from Carnegie. I love Forest Rogers' sculpting. http://forestrogers.com/index/#/dinosaurs/ When you especially look at her bare sculpts, they really are quite spectacular. I don't know what's been happening these past three years (I'm including 2015). For me their last really nice figure was the 2012 Brachiosaurus.

I agree with TQ. The Velociraptor and the two prior figures haven't been necessarily bad. All of them are for the most part quite accurate depictions. But the poses on all three of these theropods are quite similar. They're getting to be too repetitive and uninspired in that area. And the paint applications have been getting a bit sloppy as well. I tend to believe these issues are out of Forest's control. I know the Carnegie Museum has to approve their figures. But who is exactly making these calls?

I'm also a bit disappointed that we've only been getting one annual figure from them since 2012. Their small to medium figures have been really quite comparable in cost with the WS figs. So I don't think cost is the main reason. I know they give the reason that it takes more time to approve a figure and its sculpt. But, they didn't seem to have any trouble producing two figures per year from 2008-2011. And those figures were some of their best!

So, I don't know folks. I'm still going to hang in there with them. I think I pretty much have all their dinos past to present in my collection. It's really going to take something pretty earth-shattering for me to stop collecting them. They're still overall probably the nearest to accurate dino toy line. We just have to wait and see. Even though we collectors are probably a smaller customer group compared with the general public, maybe they still might hear are concerns and make some changes. We all know they have it in them. They just have to find that magic once again and set it free!

I love Forest's sculpts, it's a real shame the production pieces rarely do them justice.

I wonder just how big of a priority this line is to The Carnegie? Granted it bears their name, but does an image just come across some one's desk and they check it off? Maybe they aren't working as closely with Safari as they used to.

I have no intent to stop collecting them myself, it's the first line I ever started collecting, but I do long for the past when they did some really awesome pieces you couldn't wait to get. Now it's just " I'll get it eventually.."

I really hope 2016 is better, now that we have these two "anniversary" pieces out of the way.  I wonder what made them split it up anyway? Wishful thinking, but perhaps Forest needed the time to make something big. A new Apatosaurus and juvenile would fit that and get us back to two figures a year.  I can keep my claws crossed at least.

[tanystropheus]

Maybe Carnegie is taking a page from Favorite's book and intentionally making dinosaurs with neutral stance. My guess -- Carnegie assumed that non-neutral stances confuses and/or alienates its user base (or that neutral stances are less threatening to avid collectors).

[triceratops83]

I really hope 2016 is better, now that we have these two "anniversary" pieces out of the way.  I wonder what made them split it up anyway? Wishful thinking, but perhaps Forest needed the time to make something big. A new Apatosaurus and juvenile would fit that and get us back to two figures a year.  I can keep my claws crossed at least.

It would probably bug everyone else, but since there's now three Tyrannosaurus, I'd go for a new Triceratops... But you're right, a replacement Apatosaurus and Jr would be very nice.