Safari: New for 2017

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

i love the Giga myself, best one out there. Just compare it to Carnegie's version for example.  Everything wrong with it was fixed in this model.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I don't really collect theropods so this was easier for me perhaps but I loved this model . In hand it is quite impressive and calls attention to itself....large size, dynamic pose...I like it myself. Guess I am with Blade here...

[spinosaurus1]

i'll probably will end up buying the giganotosaurus as it does seem to be the one suffering from the least quality control problems out of the safari figures. and the sculpt is very well done. that color scheme has got to go though, lol.

[tanystropheus]

more recent restorations of giganotosaurus does support a significantly less elongated head then what is seen in this model.



it's not just preferring more subtle color transitions, it's the overall color pallet used in the figure that bothers me honestly. a blueish grey with strongly defined stripes of light and dark brown with golden eyes and pastel white claws. i just can't get myself to like such color combination as it doesn't appeal to me from neither an artistic or even a naturalistic standpoint. i do however actually like the rugosity of the facial crests and i do like the sculpt. in fact the more i look at it, the more i actually becoming accustomed to it. if i ever decide to buy this figure, i would most likely repaint it myself, or even look into commissioning someone else repaint it for me. thats if i decide to get it.

Thank you for posting the illustrations.

It actually looks near identical to the skeletal restoration, especially when you take into account musculature, skin, integuments and angle of the head. Safari definitely did their research. Props.

[tanystropheus]

i'll probably will end up buying the giganotosaurus as it does seem to be the one suffering from the least quality control problems out of the safari figures. and the sculpt is very well done. that color scheme has got to go though, lol.

If you are worried about quality control, why don't you have Dan's Dinosaurs, Dejankins or Everything Dinosaur hand select a model to your liking? Not all models of T-rex suffer from paint mishaps.

[spinosaurus1]

i'll probably will end up buying the giganotosaurus as it does seem to be the one suffering from the least quality control problems out of the safari figures. and the sculpt is very well done. that color scheme has got to go though, lol.

If you are worried about quality control, why don't you have Dan's Dinosaurs, Dejankins or Everything Dinosaur hand select a model to your liking? Not all models of T-rex suffer from paint mishaps.

let me clarify, i understand that not all rexs suffer from paint mishaps. but thats not negating the fact that there are still various examples to point to that has rather sporadic degrees of quality control. some look amazing for there price range, i also seen examples that are less to be desired. as a person who tends to be a bit picky on the quality of the figures i purchase, that is a risk for me. 

i honestly never knew they given you the option to do such thing. i never really ordered products from any of the sites mentioned other then dans dinosaurs. and that was for a product that i have yet to receive.  thank you for informing me about this.

[stargatedalek]

There are also a number of people around here who do very reasonable prices on repaints, I'm sure a touch-up job on a figure with unsatisfactory QC wouldn't set you back much at all.

#shamelessplug

I got into painting by fixing minor errors in paint apps, things like misaligned pupils or overflowing teeth, it's a great way to start doing paints and there are some great tutorials here too.

[spinosaurus1]

more recent restorations of giganotosaurus does support a significantly less elongated head then what is seen in this model.



it's not just preferring more subtle color transitions, it's the overall color pallet used in the figure that bothers me honestly. a blueish grey with strongly defined stripes of light and dark brown with golden eyes and pastel white claws. i just can't get myself to like such color combination as it doesn't appeal to me from neither an artistic or even a naturalistic standpoint. i do however actually like the rugosity of the facial crests and i do like the sculpt. in fact the more i look at it, the more i actually becoming accustomed to it. if i ever decide to buy this figure, i would most likely repaint it myself, or even look into commissioning someone else repaint it for me. thats if i decide to get it.

Thank you for posting the illustrations.

It actually looks near identical to the skeletal restoration, especially when you take into account musculature, skin, integuments and angle of the head. Safari definitely did their research. Props.

perhaps the model will speak volumes once i have it in hand. i'll admit, looking at photos of products of this nature leaves a much different impression once you have them in hand. but i would say that there is a clear lack of musculature in the jaws, more specifically, the pterygoides ventralis muscle, which looks completely missing on this figure, instead giving a clearly defined shape of the lower mandible. that and overall, i really see more of a resemblance of the skull present on the figure with the first skull restoration in the image i posted, but i shall withhold that sort of judgement untill i have it in hand. either way, i'm not too critical on this and it is very easy for me to overlook it if it's indeed the case
overall, it's still a fantastic sculpt. it's just that that paint scheme has got to go 

[spinosaurus1]

There are also a number of people around here who do very reasonable prices on repaints, I'm sure a touch-up job on a figure with unsatisfactory QC wouldn't set you back much at all.

#shamelessplug

I got into painting by fixing minor errors in paint apps, things like misaligned pupils or overflowing teeth, it's a great way to start doing paints and there are some great tutorials here too.

thanks for the info. once i have the model in hand, i'll certainly start asking around, if not let my curious nature drive me into attempting to repaint the model myself.

[KeU]

more recent restorations of giganotosaurus does support a significantly less elongated head then what is seen in this model.

it's not just preferring more subtle color transitions, it's the overall color pallet used in the figure that bothers me honestly. a blueish grey with strongly defined stripes of light and dark brown with golden eyes and pastel white claws. i just can't get myself to like such color combination as it doesn't appeal to me from neither an artistic or even a naturalistic standpoint. i do however actually like the rugosity of the facial crests and i do like the sculpt. in fact the more i look at it, the more i actually becoming accustomed to it. if i ever decide to buy this figure, i would most likely repaint it myself, or even look into commissioning someone else repaint it for me. thats if i decide to get it.

Ahh.... I remember meshing this picture together for a similar topic here ages ago.
You even managed to find the picture in my scraps folder in DevArt.
To clarify, the top skull was the original elongated restoration. That is the one that the Safari Giganotosaurus was based off.
The middle skull was Greg Paul's restoration. Can be found in the Princeton's Field Guide 1st edition. Not sure if it was updated in the 2nd ed. Don't have that one yet.
Bottom skull was Scott Hartman's restoration. I would like to believe that was the most accurate. Turned out pretty similar to the Acrocanthosaurus.
Shouldn't be surprising considering they are closely related.

[Sim]

The top one of those three Giganotosaurus heads looks like it was artificially elongated at the back.  The shape of its temporal fenestra looks especially bizzare.  It also makes me think of how the premaxilla of Carcharodontosaurus appears to have been artificially elongated in some reconstructions of its head.

[spinosaurus1]

Ahh.... I remember meshing this picture together for a similar topic here ages ago.
You even managed to find the picture in my scraps folder in DevArt.
To clarify, the top skull was the original elongated restoration. That is the one that the Safari Giganotosaurus was based off.
The middle skull was Greg Paul's restoration. Can be found in the Princeton's Field Guide 1st edition. Not sure if it was updated in the 2nd ed. Don't have that one yet.
Bottom skull was Scott Hartman's restoration. I would like to believe that was the most accurate. Turned out pretty similar to the Acrocanthosaurus.
Shouldn't be surprising considering they are closely related.

ah, thats cool. what are the odds of seeing the creator of the image here 

i had a feeling that the safari ltd giganotosaurus was based off of the top skull. it looks very elongated and the lower mandible matches up perfectly. it looks as if whoever was restoring it tried their hardest to get that skull as close to 2 meters as humanly possible. i'm also very partial to the skeletal restoration made by Scott Hartman.

just to answer your question, i went ahead and checked the 2nd edition and i can tell you that Greg Paul didn't really update anything with the skull.

[KeU]

Ahh.... I remember meshing this picture together for a similar topic here ages ago.
You even managed to find the picture in my scraps folder in DevArt.
To clarify, the top skull was the original elongated restoration. That is the one that the Safari Giganotosaurus was based off.
The middle skull was Greg Paul's restoration. Can be found in the Princeton's Field Guide 1st edition. Not sure if it was updated in the 2nd ed. Don't have that one yet.
Bottom skull was Scott Hartman's restoration. I would like to believe that was the most accurate. Turned out pretty similar to the Acrocanthosaurus.
Shouldn't be surprising considering they are closely related.

ah, thats cool. what are the odds of seeing the creator of the image here 
i had a feeling that the safari ltd giganotosaurus was based off of the top skull. it looks very elongated and the lower mandible matches up perfectly. it looks as if whoever was restoring it tried their hardest to get that skull as close to 2 meters as humanly possible. i'm also very partial to the skeletal restoration made by Scott Hartman.
just to answer your question, i went ahead and checked the 2nd edition and i can tell you that Greg Paul didn't really update anything with the skull.

I agree, it appears that the team behind the original restoration really wanted the title of longest Theropod skull.
So you have the 2nd ed? Any significant changes? I'm kinda on the fence on getting it.

[spinosaurus1]

I agree, it appears that the team behind the original restoration really wanted the title of longest Theropod skull.
So you have the 2nd ed? Any significant changes? I'm kinda on the fence on getting it.

yep, i have the second edition. though i never had the 1st ed,. so unfortunately i cannot really state how the two compare to one another. i would however say i would assume that the 2nd ed has more animal skeletal to offer and quite a few species that he believes should be lumped together. some of the skeletal in the book however seem to have receive little change in comparison to his older reconstructions such as his tyrannosaurus.

[Sim]

I have seen speculation that the restorers of Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus elongated incomplete parts of the skulls as much as possible.

The image below shows restorations of the skulls of Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, two closely related animals.  Comparing the two makes it very noticeable how incomplete parts of the skulls have been elongated to an extreme, the front of the upper jaw (the premaxilla) in Carch and the back of the skull in Giga.

[Jetdin]

thanks guys for pointing all these out! i wouldnt have known all this. goes to show exactly how little we know and how large the margin of errors can be when reconstructing from incomplete parts. seeing how complete t rex skeletons are, i still dont understand why toy companies cant make truly anatomically correct t rex figures though

[CityRaptor]

At least with some companies that is because they just copy Jurassic Park instead. Let's hope they never find out about the Jurassic Park comics by IDW.

[tanystropheus]

thanks guys for pointing all these out! i wouldnt have known all this. goes to show exactly how little we know and how large the margin of errors can be when reconstructing from incomplete parts. seeing how complete t rex skeletons are, i still dont understand why toy companies cant make truly anatomically correct t rex figures though

It also has to do with the sheer number of morphological variations found with respect to the T-rex skull. The WS and Papo Standing T-rex seem to share the same T-rex skull configuration (but the Papo is embellished with body ridges or 'angry brows'). The Collecta w/Struthiomimus prey, Battat and PNSO Wilson feature a longer skull configuration(s). There are many more variations outside the ones reflected in toy form.

[Shonisaurus]

By the way of the skull of the giganotosaurus (it is my speculation because I do not know) does a full skull remain? It seems to me that of the giganotosaurus not the whole skeleton has been found as it happens with the tyrannosaurus rex.

[Sim]

I think the known parts of the skeleton of Giganotosaurus are what's shown in the top skeletal here: http://franoys.deviantart.com/art/Giganotosaurus-carolinii-skeletal-diagram-645266194