Safari Ltd.: New for 2018

[indominus]

I don't know how, or why, Safari Ltd are still a company. Compare any of their models to, say Papo, and you will always see that Papo figurines and much more detailed and realistic than their Safari counterparts.


Safari Acrocanthosaurus

Papo Acrocanthosaurus



Safari Styracosaurus

Papo Styracosaurus


Safari Ceratosaurus

Papo Ceratosaurus

[tyrantqueen]

But Safari wipes the floor with Papo when it comes to accuracy. Some people really care about that (I do!).

That Styracosaurus is an old sculpt from the Carnegie line, sculpted by Forest Rogers. She doesn't even work for the line anymore so I can't say that is a fair comparison.

I don't care for Doug Watson's sculpting style but he definitely puts his heart and soul into his sculpts. I have warmed up to some of his newer sculpts (like the triceratops and the T. rex)

It would be great to see a line that could combine the best traits of both companies.

[Ravonium]

I don't know how, or why, Safari Ltd are still a company. Compare any of their models to, say Papo, and you will always see that Papo figurines and much more detailed and realistic than their Safari counterparts.

First off, as many will say, Safari Ltd appeals more to the paleontological collector than Papo does.

Also yes, the Papo figures are more detailed, but some of those details might not have been obvious on the actual animal (unless you looked very closely at the animal). Also, being more detailed does not make the figure more lifelike/realistic. Take Luis V Rey paintings for example, that are detailed but either have over-ornate colour schemes, look overly imposing or, in the case of feathered dinosaurs, have odd feather placement that makes them look more like paintings than actual animals. Also take Mark Witton paintings that aren't quite as ornate or hyperrealistic, but look more naturalistic, and therefore more like living animals than Luis V Rey paintings.

Finally, none of those examples are Safari Ltd's best or most recent work. Their newer theropods, aside from a few paint app issues, easily beat the Acrocanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus.

In the end, I do prefer the Papo Acro and Ceratosaurus to the Safari Ltd versions for aesthetic reasons, but I don't think the real animal would have looked like the Papo figures either.

It would be great to see a line that could combine the best traits of both companies.

I agree.

[Shonisaurus]

Both companies are very good. And each one has its philosophy, I like the figures of Doug Watson very much and I consider both his and those of Safari's other sculptors some great figures and they are very detailed, even though they are more scientific. Those of Papo are hyperrealistic and are more benevolent when it comes to paleontological interpretation.

Although we must also say that unfortunately we do not know enough about the dinosaurs to know what they were like, regardless of the great scientific and technological advances, I understand that it is very difficult to know how these creatures were and other millions of years preceding or succeeding except for honorable exceptions. One company complements the other, each one has its charm and beauty.

Leaving this issue in my case a little parked. What I do not understand that in the USA the dimetrodon of Safari has not yet been commercialized to date and instead in Europe it is already on sale as in urzeitshop (where I bought it) and now in everythingdinosaur. It surprises me a lot and even more that it is not even commercialized even on eBay with the aggravating factor that it is a US company. It fills me with perplexity. 

[Jose S.M.]

That post is unnecessary and unfair. Acro and cerato are half the price or even cheaper and smaller figures, also they're older  figures with problems like the oversized feet solved by now and a big evolution in the sculpt quality, which wasn't bad to begin with but clearly has improved. We were talking a few days ago on the 2018 Papo thread about how unnecessary is to bring other companies down to express your love of another and that post makes exactly that in a bad way.

[DinoToyForum]

The new for 2018 Wild Safari Prehistoric World models are now in stock at Everything Dinosaur - Przewalski's horse, American Mastodon, Daeodon, Hyaenodon gigas, Macrauchenia, Megacerops, Uintatherium, Dimetrodon, Amargasaurus, Ankylosaurus, Anzu wyliei, Malawisaurus, Regaliceratops and Triceratops.

You can find them all in this section here: Wild Safari Prehistoric Animals

May I take this opportunity to wish all forum members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - compliments of the season to you all.

Merry Christmas, but please don't change the topic name in the "New for" section. I consider such action thread hijacking for the purpose of spam. It is a step too far when we are already allowing you to self promote in this section. We tolerate such links here only because they are somewhat "on topic", but the "New For" section is primarily for information and dicussion of the figures themselves. It would be more appropriate for you to use the dedicated classifieds section to disemminate detailed information about your store. Thanks for your understanding.

[indominus]

That post is unnecessary and unfair. Acro and cerato are half the price or even cheaper and smaller figures, also they're older  figures with problems like the oversized feet solved by now and a big evolution in the sculpt quality, which wasn't bad to begin with but clearly has improved. We were talking a few days ago on the 2018 Papo thread about how unnecessary is to bring other companies down to express your love of another and that post makes exactly that in a bad way.

First of all, both the Safari Ltd. Acrocanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus were made in 2012, so they don't classify as " older figures". And just because they are "smaller figures" does not make them and different when comparing them to Papo. The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another. You seem to have a serious problem with people having their own opinion without lashing out at them for doing so.

[Jose S.M.]

That post is unnecessary and unfair. Acro and cerato are half the price or even cheaper and smaller figures, also they're older  figures with problems like the oversized feet solved by now and a big evolution in the sculpt quality, which wasn't bad to begin with but clearly has improved. We were talking a few days ago on the 2018 Papo thread about how unnecessary is to bring other companies down to express your love of another and that post makes exactly that in a bad way.

First of all, both the Safari Ltd. Acrocanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus were made in 2012, so they don't classify as " older figures". And just because they are "smaller figures" does not make them and different when comparing them to Papo. The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another. You seem to have a serious problem with people having their own opinion without lashing out at them for doing so.

I realised that it's pointless to talk or respond to you, so after this post I won't do it again, the last thing I'm going to say it's that there are better ways to compare companies that saying one should not exists.

[Flaffy]

Actually they do classify as older figures, if I'm not mistaken there is indeed a 5 year time gap between 2012 and 2017, a very long time for the artists to develop their style and skills. You can see huge leaps in quality when comparing currently new releases to figures that were released years ago.
This post in my opinion quite rude, to both the artist and the company. It's as if you're implying that Safari Ltd shouldn't exists just because their figures don't match your personal taste in figures.
First things first, you are comparing figures from 2 very different companies, with different goals, different marketing tactics, and different styles and target audience.
Secondly, the Safari ceratosaurus and acrocanthosaurus are both from 2012, while their Papo counterparts are from 2017, the 5 year gap is practically ignored in your comparison. The styracosaurus as well, but this time the Carnegie is from 2001, and the Papo figure was released in 2011, a decade's gap of skill and development, yet you still compare them ignoring all the factors than can affect a product's quality.
Thirdly, the price point. Papo figures are known to be pricy, Safari on the other hand keeps things mostly accessible to a wider audience. Papo can afford to get fancier paint jobs on their figures as they generally charge more.
Lastly, size. You claim size should not be a factor when comparing figures, I say otherwise. Here's a scenario, I'm comparing a Wild Safari Triceratops to the Sideshow Triceratops. It's a bit of an extreme example but you get the picture, size does matter. You have the potential to pack a whole lot more detail in bigger models than in relatively smaller ones. Saying size is irrelevant is just illogical. 

Like other forum members have said, there are much better ways of expressing your opinions. Keep that in mind before posting.

[Reptilia]

The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another.

It's a problem when you do comparisons with Safari, because there are a lot of fans here, so it's kind of an holy cow and any disliking opinion is perceived as disrespectful. If you were doing the same kind of comparison between Papo and Schleich nobody would react with disdain, because Schleich has no fans here. I don't think it's unfair to make comparisons when voicing own opinions and preferences, I said this already many times before, but maybe the post was simply out of topic in the "New for 2018" Safari thread, since it showed only older figures from Papo and Safari. You should have posted elsewhere, maybe you should have started a dedicated topic, but in such case be prepared for people picking on you.

[Jose S.M.]

The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another.

It's a problem when you do comparisons with Safari, because there are a lot of fans here, so it's kind of an holy cow and any disliking opinion is perceived as disrespectful. If you were doing the same kind of comparison between Papo and Schleich nobody would react with disdain, because Schleich has no fans here. I don't think it's unfair to make comparisons when voicing own opinions and preferences, I said this already many times before, but maybe the post was simply out of topic in the "New for 2018" Safari thread, since it showed only older figures from Papo and Safari. You should have posted elsewhere, maybe you should have started a dedicated topic, but in such case be prepared for people picking on you.

Making comparisons is not unfair when doing in context, and my problem is not the comparison is stating that a companie should not exists.

[SidB]

The back and forth exchange of opinions/ conclusions is stimulating and sometimes enlightening. In this case we can observe again as TQ has implied, how far Safari has come and its re-orientation towards the collector, without sacrificing its mass market appeal.

This brings me to my main point, Indominus - I think that Jose_S.M. is observing that when we are drawing conclusions and making assessments in any and all matters. we don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. Sometimes its a choice between this and that, either/or. Other times, we can have our cake and eat it too - the products of two companies can both be worthwhile, but each in their own way, in other words, both/and.

[Doug Watson]

Leaving this issue in my case a little parked. What I do not understand that in the USA the dimetrodon of Safari has not yet been commercialized to date and instead in Europe it is already on sale as in urzeitshop (where I bought it) and now in everythingdinosaur. It surprises me a lot and even more that it is not even commercialized even on eBay with the aggravating factor that it is a US company. It fills me with perplexity. 

Thought I would address this since at least a couple people had mentioned they couldn't understand why Safari Ltd had "held back" the Dimetrodon. Let me assure you that nothing nefarious is at foot they aren't trying to torture anyone. I sculpt a future year's releases over a period of a year and I deliver them to the company in groups as I finish them. Some are finished early in the year so the factory has lots of time to produce the figures but some are delivered at the end of the year so they have much less time, The Dimetrodon was delivered with my last group at the end of the year so it is only natural it would be one of the last to market and if it is a more complicated piece or there were any production issues that could delay it further. I am not privy to their distribution policies so why Europe is getting them before the US would just be a guess on my part.

[Reptilia]

Making comparisons is not unfair when doing in context, and my problem is not the comparison is stating that a companie should not exists.

He didn't say Safari should not exist, he wondered how they can be in the business when producing bad models compared to another brand he likes. It's his opinion, and he expressed it with sarcasm, but still without being offensive. The problem is only in people feeling touched by their favourite company being sort of attacked, as I said the same comparison with Schleich wouldn't have aroused any disdain. Meaner things have been said against Schleich or Rebor, to be honest. I think that people should start take things less seriously, and maybe debate more opinions rather than try to say others what kind of things is right to say. On that regard I think tyrantqueen and Ravonium responses were much more constructive.

[Jose S.M.]

Making comparisons is not unfair when doing in context, and my problem is not the comparison is stating that a companie should not exists.

He didn't say Safari should not exist, he wondered how they can be in the business when producing bad models compared to another brand he likes. It's his opinion, and he expressed it with sarcasm, but still without being offensive. The problem is only in people feeling touched by their favourite company being sort of attacked, as I said the same comparison with Schleich wouldn't have aroused any disdain. Meaner things have been said against Schleich or Rebor, to be honest. I think that people should start take things less seriously, and maybe debate more opinions rather than try to say others what kind of things is right to say. On that regard I think tyrantqueen and Ravonium responses were much more constructive.

Really I think you're just siding with him because I defended safari againt papo, I don't see why my comment was any different than the others, flaffyraptors talked about the same points that I did last, elaborating a little more. I don't know why he singled me out, I wasn't offensive towards him.

[suspsy]

That post is unnecessary and unfair. Acro and cerato are half the price or even cheaper and smaller figures, also they're older  figures with problems like the oversized feet solved by now and a big evolution in the sculpt quality, which wasn't bad to begin with but clearly has improved. We were talking a few days ago on the 2018 Papo thread about how unnecessary is to bring other companies down to express your love of another and that post makes exactly that in a bad way.

True this!

[Reptilia]

Really I think you're just siding with him because I defended safari againt papo, I don't see why my comment was any different than the others, flaffyraptors talked about the same points that I did last, elaborating a little more. I don't know why he singled me out, I wasn't offensive towards him.

He probably talked directly to you because you labelled his opinion as unnecessary and unfair. By the way if you think I'm siding him because we're sort of the "Papo team", ok, my point was an entirely different one.

[stargatedalek]

I don't know how, or why, Safari Ltd are still a company. Compare any of their models to, say Papo, and you will always see that Papo figurines and much more detailed and realistic than their Safari counterparts.

Spoiler

Safari Acrocanthosaurus

Papo Acrocanthosaurus



Safari Styracosaurus

Papo Styracosaurus


Safari Ceratosaurus

Papo Ceratosaurus

[close]

I think the Papo Acro is hideous. No the Safari isn't perfect, but it's definitely better on most fronts. The Papo one is shrink-wrapped, the general proportions are off, and frankly the design itself is trying way to hard to look like it's from a Jurassic Park movie and it falls short on even that. The Safari is also what, an eighth the size of the Papo? Of course it's going to look less detailed in a zoomed out photo.

Carnegie Styracosaurus is, again, much smaller, and much older, than the Papo. The Carnegie line also had a very deliberate "under-designed" style, it was purposefully not as detailed.

The Papo Ceratosaurus is definitely no more detailed than the Safari, look at any small patch on them and compare the actual detail.

You can't just compare photos and proclaim the (significantly larger) Papo versions are superior. I would argue most of them aren't even any more detailed, they just appear so because they are so much larger, compare any 1 centimeter square on them and they'd seem very similar in detail quality.

It's rather painfully clear that you went out of your way to find the worst possible comparisons you could to try and push some sort of agenda, so the next (which would be the third) time I see you trying to pull this it's just going to be a report and not a reply.

That post is unnecessary and unfair. Acro and cerato are half the price or even cheaper and smaller figures, also they're older  figures with problems like the oversized feet solved by now and a big evolution in the sculpt quality, which wasn't bad to begin with but clearly has improved. We were talking a few days ago on the 2018 Papo thread about how unnecessary is to bring other companies down to express your love of another and that post makes exactly that in a bad way.

First of all, both the Safari Ltd. Acrocanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus were made in 2012, so they don't classify as " older figures". And just because they are "smaller figures" does not make them and different when comparing them to Papo. The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another. You seem to have a serious problem with people having their own opinion without lashing out at them for doing so.

Yes, being smaller (and cheaper) is a completely relevant point. Detail on a smaller figure will be less visible when zoomed out and scaled to the same resolution as a larger one. Your post was off-topic, inflammatory, targeted, and at this point I'm inclined to believe you're only here to pick fights.

The post is not "unnecessary and unfair", it's simply stating my opinion when I compare one company to another.

It's a problem when you do comparisons with Safari, because there are a lot of fans here, so it's kind of an holy cow and any disliking opinion is perceived as disrespectful. If you were doing the same kind of comparison between Papo and Schleich nobody would react with disdain, because Schleich has no fans here. I don't think it's unfair to make comparisons when voicing own opinions and preferences, I said this already many times before, but maybe the post was simply out of topic in the "New for 2018" Safari thread, since it showed only older figures from Papo and Safari. You should have posted elsewhere, maybe you should have started a dedicated topic, but in such case be prepared for people picking on you.

No, it's a problem when someone goes off-topic and starts trying to spew toxin into otherwise content places, bringing up figures completely irrelevant to the topic to make clearly planned out comparisons, and then starts trying to justify everything they do with "waah people are attacking me for my opinion". I've expressed a lot of distaste for some current Safari figures, but I did it (comparatively at least) constructively. When most members here have a genuine complaint about a figure, or about a brand, they make it constructive, they talk about what exactly they didn't like in detail.

The only "criticism" this guy has ever done was go around and say "hey at least it's not Safari!!1!!11!" everywhere he goes. And in the spirit of fairness, it was equally annoying and condescending of him to do the same to the Papo Baryonyx.

Just because "Schleich haters did it first" doesn't somehow make it OK.

Making comparisons is not unfair when doing in context, and my problem is not the comparison is stating that a companie should not exists.

He didn't say Safari should not exist, he wondered how they can be in the business when producing bad models compared to another brand he likes. It's his opinion, and he expressed it with sarcasm, but still without being offensive. The problem is only in people feeling touched by their favourite company being sort of attacked, as I said the same comparison with Schleich wouldn't have aroused any disdain. Meaner things have been said against Schleich or Rebor, to be honest. I think that people should start take things less seriously, and maybe debate more opinions rather than try to say others what kind of things is right to say. On that regard I think tyrantqueen and Ravonium responses were much more constructive.

Nothing in his original post gave any reason to presume he was being facetious or comedically brash. His post was clearly only intended to start fights, as his further response indicates very clearly.

When people said those "worse" things about Schleich or REBOR it was for good reason, borderline essays have been written about exactly why those companies deserve a lot of what they get. I don't recall anyone going into a Favorite Kinto topic, picking out the worst figure, and going "At least it's not made by REBOR!!". And if someone did I would be annoyed because that would be off-topic and borderline spam (at best) as it was when he did that to Safari in the Papo topic.

[Patrx]

All of this is way off-topic, folks, this thread is for conversations about Safari's 2018 lineup. Doug, thanks for the info regarding the Dimetrodon

[Shonisaurus]

Leaving this issue in my case a little parked. What I do not understand that in the USA the dimetrodon of Safari has not yet been commercialized to date and instead in Europe it is already on sale as in urzeitshop (where I bought it) and now in everythingdinosaur. It surprises me a lot and even more that it is not even commercialized even on eBay with the aggravating factor that it is a US company. It fills me with perplexity. 

Thought I would address this since at least a couple people had mentioned they couldn't understand why Safari Ltd had "held back" the Dimetrodon. Let me assure you that nothing nefarious is at foot they aren't trying to torture anyone. I sculpt a future year's releases over a period of a year and I deliver them to the company in groups as I finish them. Some are finished early in the year so the factory has lots of time to produce the figures but some are delivered at the end of the year so they have much less time, The Dimetrodon was delivered with my last group at the end of the year so it is only natural it would be one of the last to market and if it is a more complicated piece or there were any production issues that could delay it further. I am not privy to their distribution policies so why Europe is getting them before the US would just be a guess on my part.

Thanks for the esteemed clarification Doug, first of all I did not intend to offend anyone and least of all about the comments of the Safari dimetrodon. Your figure seems to me of the best thing that has been done, even more beautiful and detailed than the dimetrodon Collecta.

I was simply surprised that the stores of Europe have reached the dimetrodon Safari before the Americans whose parent company is based in the US, and of course for me is a sought-after and desired figure because as I said is for me the best dimetrodon figure made so far, and not because it is Safari or you have sculpted it, but because it is the one I like the most and the most similar paleontologically and paleoartistically to the pelicosaurus made to date. And a person speaks to you who lacks scientific knowledge.

I said Doug do not wish with my comments to offend anyone and less a key person and endearing in the dinotoyblog as you are.