Safari: New for 2017

[darth daniel]

Psittacosaurus and Giganotosaurus photos are available on the Safari website.

[suspsy]

Welcome to the world of permanent bases, Safari!

[MLMjp]

The hype just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

At first I was not impressed by Tylosaurus, but now I think it looks gorgeous. Kronosaurus also looks gorgeous, just...Why they have to use the WWD Liopleurodon colors for it? WHY?! And if you use it, at least give it to a Liopleurodon toy! As weird as it, the cigarre-o-saurus at least has different colors.
Another unfortunate thing is their size, Kronosaurus is a bit too big and Tylosaurus is not big enough. If Tylosaurus was the size of the Kronosaurus, and Kronosaurus was the size of the Tylosaurus it will be perfect.

Giganotosaurus looks beautiful, the colors look better than previous photos. Although I wanted Papo to do a Giga, this one has potential to be a substitute.

Not a fan of the spots on the Psitacosaurus, but apart form that I think is a fantastic rendition of the animal.

TYRANNOSAURUS REX PICTURES UPLOADED ON SAFARI´S WEBSITE: https://www.safariltd.com/feathered-tyrannosaurus-rex

My thoughts:
Awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome.

´Nuff said

[Dobber]

Wow! The Rex looks even better than I hoped. The Velociraptor and Giganotosaurus look great too. The Giga also appears to be more Gray than White in the pictures, particularly the last one.

I hope the production Rex will look as good.

Chris

[Jose S.M.]

Definitely awesome, it's a must have for me!
Psittacosaurus looks great too, a little different from the most accurate reconstruction to date but still I love it.
And I don't really mind the base on Giga, it looks better than most Collecta bases, being more close to the proportions of the actual toy size and form.

[MLMjp]

I was so blinded by the T.rex that I forgot completely about V-Raptor.
Finally a good and accurate representation of Velociraptor. (With full wings )I can see some people complaining about the bare fingers, but it´s a minor detail that I can easily overlook.
PD: Is it me or every single modern depiction of Velociraptor has sandy colors like this figure. I have seen tons of paleoart with similar colors....

[CMIPalaeo]

Hm, the T. rex isn't available until 1 December; most of the rest are coming out on 10 November.

The black spots on the Psittacosaurus are reasonably well-supported by fossils. The new reconstruction indicates that it had dark spots around at least its forelimbs and torso. This figure really does seem similar to the recent reconstruction generally; darker above than below, fairly meaty, accurate hands, etc. OF course it was probably painted well before this new research was unveiled.

[CMIPalaeo]

I was so blinded by the T.rex that I forgot completely about V-Raptor.
Finally a good and accurate representation of Velociraptor. (With full wings )I can see some people complaining about the bare fingers, but it´s a minor detail that I can easily overlook.
PD: Is it me or every single modern depiction of Velociraptor has sandy colors like this figure. I have seen tons of paleoart with similar colors....

Well, it did live in the desert...

[sauroid]

kudos to Doug Watson for creating the best looking T. rex plastic figure to date.

[Doug Watson]

The black spots on the Psittacosaurus are reasonably well-supported by fossils. The new reconstruction indicates that it had dark spots around at least its forelimbs and torso. This figure really does seem similar to the recent reconstruction generally; darker above than below, fairly meaty, accurate hands, etc. OF course it was probably painted well before this new research was unveiled.

I painted my piece long before the recent interpretation was revealed, however, my colours and patterns were based on the same specimen as described in the 2010 paper.
The ring-like pattern of smaller tubercles surrounding the larger plate-like scales appear throughout the body but the colour pattern of light tubercles around darker larger scales was best preserved over the scapula and humerus. The authors speculated that the colours were better preserved over bone compared to areas over soft tissue so I interpreted that to mean the spotted pattern could have occurred over more of the body. I have pasted the pertinent section from the paper below.

"Pigmented impressions of the scales found imprinted over virtually all the skeletal
elements of the specimen give a very vivid impression of
color and patterns, no more so than those at the base of the
left scapula, probably articular cartilage, which shows a well
defined ring-like pattern of amber tubercles surrounding the
dark plate-like scales (Fig. 2d, white arrows; ESM S1). The
ring has possibly survived better over bone (ESM S3) given
that the skin as it contracts (as over a drum) is probably less
likely to crease and distort as it might over muscle. The color
too is generally brighter over bone—a brighter amber/brown
and deeper black (Figs. 2d, 3d, e; ESM S1), presumably
because the pigment has less chance to permeate bone or
cartilage and dissipate as over soft tissue....."

[Flaffy]

Tylo: might just get it for the fabulous skin detailing, hopefully it won't suffer from last years plesiosuchus's sloppy factory teeth paint job.
Feathered Velociraptor: Lovely details, very bird-like. The bare hands bug me though, one of the reasons I didn't buy the BotM one.
Psittacosaurus: Cute little fellow, not a must have for me but definitely an attractive model.
Giganotosaurus: Meh, not too fond of the mouth gape, a decent giga nonetheless.
Feathered tyrannosaurus rex: One of the, if not  the best tyrannosaurus figure I've ever seen. Not on my must have list though.

[suspsy]

Ye gods, that feathered Tyrannosaurus rex looks absolutely wonderful! Fabulous! Splendid! Smashing! Wicked!

My one concern though . . . is it made out of solid plastic just like the large figures from CollectA and Papo, or is it a softer material along the lines of Recur?

Also, I definitely feel that the FTR should be included in a new 2017 banner for the blog and the forum!

[Derek.McManus]

As an aesthetic I'm not fond of feathered dinosaurs but the new T.Rex is stunning and I suspect will set a new benchmark for the depiction of these creatures, I look forward to seeing it in the flesh so to speak. Exciting work congratulations to all involved!

[Shonisaurus]

kudos to Doug Watson for creating the best looking T. rex plastic figure to date.

Totally agree. Doug Watson has surpassed all figures tyrannosaurus rex toy in beauty and genius.

Although a feathered tyrannosaurus its appearance is terrifying.
Moreover velociraptor and feathered giganotosaurus now I like seeing them in detail.

As for the psitticotosaurus is an absolute improvement over its predecessor of Carnegie.

Apart from all these figures are very detailed hyperrealist as Papo, with the difference that they are correct and have palaeontologically articulated jaws thing I hate.

On the other hand I welcome it has joined a non-mobile base for giganotosaurus.

A great year for Safari yes devoid of new prehistoric mammals.

[Patrx]

My gosh, these really are astonishingly good overall. Not only is this going to be the new definitive plastic Tyrannosaurus, but the Psittacosaurus, Coelophysis, Tylosaurus, and especially the Velociraptor surpass any of their PVC predecessors unequivocally.

Also, maybe I'm seeing things, but the promo pictures do look a bit less Photoshopped than normal this year - which leads me to hope that the production pieces will match them fairly closely. A good thing, to be sure, I like the colors and patterns of all of these so far.

[fason]

kudos to Doug Watson for creating the best looking T. rex plastic figure to date.

Apart from all these figures are very detailed hyperrealist as Papo, with the difference that they are correct and have palaeontologically articulated jaws thing I hate.

I wouldn't say as detailed as papo but definitely way more accurate

[Tyrannosauron]

Good lord, there isn't a one of these that I don't want! And December can't come early enough for that T. rex!

[tyrantqueen]

The new T. rex is good. Doug Watson's style isn't really my cup of tea but this looks to be his best theropod. Or maybe I'm biased for Tyrannosaurus

I'm really glad Safari has shown such fearlessness in bringing their dinos up to date by feathering them.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Dat psittacoasaurus doe.......wow...Rostral correct..frill correct..digits ..hands..proportions..tail size...Spent an hour going over this model....my questions are what species Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis based off the quilled specimen?   Did  Dr Admin consult on the piece?  Assume an adult based off bi pedal stance and the spacing between nasal and eye orbit?  A juvenile would have the two orbits touching so....
    The coloring is actually rather close...darker dorsally lightening ventrally as stated by the paper done by Lingham and Solar.   The only thing I see is it could have been shaded darker towards the tail lightening moving forward.  That is the most accurate commercial model of this dinosaur offered of the final toy is as accurate as the image.
Yeah I am going to need a few of those signed Doug...ha. A solid candidate for model of the year right there

[DinoLord]

I painted my piece long before the recent interpretation was revealed, however, my colours and patterns were based on the same specimen as described in the 2010 paper.

Thanks for sharing some of the reasoning behind the design process of this figure; I always love this kind of information. I think the coloration is perfectly reasonable given the fossil remains when one considers intraspecific variation - not every member of a species is colored exactly the same way!

However I'd like a point of clarification. The Safari website lists this as P. mongoliensis, but I thought the specimen published in that paper was from an undetermined species?