Safari 2019 Hopes and Dreams

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I predict we get a protoceratops

[tyrantqueen]

Shantungosaurus would be cool. Big hadrosaurs for the win.

[Shonisaurus]

I predict we get a protoceratops

A protoceratops made by Mr. Doug Watson would be great.

On the other hand, would not it be interesting for the theropods Safari to make a baryonyx? There are not many good ones in the market except two of two companies that I have in mind (one in this year) and Safari should show who is in charge of the market of dinosaurs and prehistoric toy animals with a spectacular baryonyx. 

[Dobber]

Perhaps I was misremembering my timeline. I thought I remember reading Utahraptor was a recent discovery around the time the movie was being made and influenced the look of the Raptors in the movie...namely their size as they seem to be bigger than even Deinonychus.

Chris

[Jose S.M.]

Shantungosaurus would be cool. Big hadrosaurs for the win.

I would love that!

[Halichoeres]

Perhaps I was misremembering my timeline. I thought I remember reading Utahraptor was a recent discovery around the time the movie was being made and influenced the look of the Raptors in the movie...namely their size as they seem to be bigger than even Deinonychus.

Chris

I think that might actually be right. I might be misremembering because I was pretty young at the time, but I think before the Utahraptor description was published there were rumors of something like Deinonychus, ONLY BIGGER, so whereas it probably didn't affect the morphology much, it probably did help make them comfortable with beefing the movie versions up.

[Sim]

I've read production of the Jurassic Park film began before the discovery of Utahraptor was made public, and people who worked on Jurassic Park expressed how the large "raptor" they had created was later actually discovered.  My understanding is for the film's Velociraptor, they took Deinonychus's size and increased it.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I've read production of the Jurassic Park film began before the discovery of Utahraptor was made public, and people who worked on Jurassic Park expressed how the large "raptor" they had created was later actually discovered.  My understanding is for the film's Velociraptor, they took Deinonychus's size and increased it.

The producers of JP took the discovery of Utahraptor as justification for the size of the JP raptors. "See! It wasn't so farfetched after all!"

*Actually, how long has this other sculptor been active? Could they have done the 2007 Allosaurus? I think there are noticeable aesthetic similarities between it and the 2017 Giganotosaurus.

I think Doug said it's a completely new sculptor.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Alright, I'll hop on this bandwagon!

Dinosaurs

Stegosaurus
...and just to go meta I'll hop on the bandwagon within the bandwagon. I'm normally very against rehashing the same old famous dinos yet again, but since Safari is already updating a lot of their dinos anyway, ol' Steggy IS indeed in need of a bit of touching up. The short tail of the current model always bothered me. One thing: don't forget the osteoderms on the neck!!!! Everybody always does, and thus makes it skinnier than it probably should be.

Ouranosaurus
I've been dying to get my hands on this genus for ages. Of the models that exist, I've only ever been interested in the Battat version, but since that no longer looks like an option, I'm crossing my fingers for Safari to come through for me! I won't feel like my collection of African dinosaurs is complete until I have it!

Lambeosaurus
None of the museum quality toy lines have produced one of these that I really like. Bullyland comes close, but something about it just doesn't do it for me. It would be nice to place it next to my Parasaurs and my Carnegie Corythosaurus to complete the classic trumpet-head trifecta!

Centrosaurus
I can think of no mainstream museum quality lines that have produced this well-known, critically important ceratopsian. I know Doug would absolutely knock this one out of the park. Styracosaurus would be fine too.

Saurolophus
My thoughts on this are similar to Centrosaurus; it's another classic dinosaur that somehow always get overlooked in toy form.

Spinosaurus
Not much needs to be said. Like others have said, the Collecta is just okay. I'm sure I'd prefer it from the hands of either Safari sculptor. If at all possible, I would really love to see the colors of the 2009 Carnegie model re-used. It's one of my all-time favorite color schemes I've ever seen on this genus!

Protoceratops
With Psittacosaurus and Velociraptor last year, it would only be fitting to get a Protoceratops next year! I want to recreate The Fighting Dinosaurs specimen!

Non-Dinosaurs

Koolasuchus or Prionosuchus
Either one of these monsterous amphibians would be amazing. Koolasuchus isn't TOO obscure, either, having appeared in both "Walking With Dinosaurs" and Disney's "Dinosaur".

Edaphosaurus
Dimetrodon has been done to death! Pleeeeaase give us the OTHER charismatic Permian finback!!!

Shonisaurus
Is it too much to ask for a 1/40 scale model? 

Chalicotherium
Or any chalicothere, really. These weird sloth-horses don't get enough love. Also, it would be a great pun to give it a calico fur coat!

Sivatherium
Or any other sivathere. These DEFINITELY don't get enough love, either!

Placerias
Or some other dicynodont. Ditto the above statement.

Sarcosuchus
I like my Collecta version, but it's a bit small. I'd love it if Safari would do a 1:40 version to match my Carnegie Deinosuchus! Bonus points if it's high-walking rather than lounging on its belly; extra bonus points if you can pose the high-walking gait in such a way that it could also conceivably appear to be swimming as well. Two poses for the price of one?  I also recommend a closed mouth to avoid the warping that the Collecta version is prone to. The creature is plenty impressive enough without yawning at everyone.

[Sim]

I've read production of the Jurassic Park film began before the discovery of Utahraptor was made public, and people who worked on Jurassic Park expressed how the large "raptor" they had created was later actually discovered.  My understanding is for the film's Velociraptor, they took Deinonychus's size and increased it.

The producers of JP took the discovery of Utahraptor as justification for the size of the JP raptors. "See! It wasn't so farfetched after all!"

So it seems, although it appears to be based on beliefs that turned out to be incorrect.  I read a recent Facebook discussion on this topic, in which Andrea Cau pointed out the Velociraptor in the film Jurassic Park is the same length as Deinonychus.  Cau also said the JP Velociraptor are within the size variability of Deinonychus.  I think he could be right about this, as looking at images that show the size of the Velociraptor in JP, JP3 and JW compared to humans, it seems to me they are only a little taller than Deinonychus.

Utahraptor actually appears to be quite a lot larger than the JP Velociraptor, and it's now known Utahraptor didn't look like them with its relatively short tail, extremely robust build, and forward-pointing teeth at the front of the mouth.

*Actually, how long has this other sculptor been active? Could they have done the 2007 Allosaurus? I think there are noticeable aesthetic similarities between it and the 2017 Giganotosaurus.

I think Doug said it's a completely new sculptor.

I haven't seen Doug say that, can you remember where you think you saw that?  Or perhaps Doug could confirm whether he actually said that or not?  I get the feeling the mystery sculptor is the same person as the one who did the Wild Safari 2008 Allosaurus, Stegosaurus and Velociraptor, as well as other WS prehistoric figures, maybe even all the non-Doug Watson ones.  I see stylistic similarities among most of these figures, for example when comparing the WS Giganotosaurus to the WS 2008 Allosaurus.

[Shonisaurus]

Alright, I'll hop on this bandwagon!

Dinosaurs

Stegosaurus
...and just to go meta I'll hop on the bandwagon within the bandwagon. I'm normally very against rehashing the same old famous dinos yet again, but since Safari is already updating a lot of their dinos anyway, ol' Steggy IS indeed in need of a bit of touching up. The short tail of the current model always bothered me. One thing: don't forget the osteoderms on the neck!!!! Everybody always does, and thus makes it skinnier than it probably should be.

Ouranosaurus
I've been dying to get my hands on this genus for ages. Of the models that exist, I've only ever been interested in the Battat version, but since that no longer looks like an option, I'm crossing my fingers for Safari to come through for me! I won't feel like my collection of African dinosaurs is complete until I have it!

Lambeosaurus
None of the museum quality toy lines have produced one of these that I really like. Bullyland comes close, but something about it just doesn't do it for me. It would be nice to place it next to my Parasaurs and my Carnegie Corythosaurus to complete the classic trumpet-head trifecta!

Centrosaurus
I can think of no mainstream museum quality lines that have produced this well-known, critically important ceratopsian. I know Doug would absolutely knock this one out of the park. Styracosaurus would be fine too.

Saurolophus
My thoughts on this are similar to Centrosaurus; it's another classic dinosaur that somehow always get overlooked in toy form.

Spinosaurus
Not much needs to be said. Like others have said, the Collecta is just okay. I'm sure I'd prefer it from the hands of either Safari sculptor. If at all possible, I would really love to see the colors of the 2009 Carnegie model re-used. It's one of my all-time favorite color schemes I've ever seen on this genus!

Protoceratops
With Psittacosaurus and Velociraptor last year, it would only be fitting to get a Protoceratops next year! I want to recreate The Fighting Dinosaurs specimen!

Non-Dinosaurs

Koolasuchus or Prionosuchus
Either one of these monsterous amphibians would be amazing. Koolasuchus isn't TOO obscure, either, having appeared in both "Walking With Dinosaurs" and Disney's "Dinosaur".

Edaphosaurus
Dimetrodon has been done to death! Pleeeeaase give us the OTHER charismatic Permian finback!!!

Shonisaurus
Is it too much to ask for a 1/40 scale model? 

Chalicotherium
Or any chalicothere, really. These weird sloth-horses don't get enough love. Also, it would be a great pun to give it a calico fur coat!

Sivatherium
Or any other sivathere. These DEFINITELY don't get enough love, either!

Placerias
Or some other dicynodont. Ditto the above statement.

Sarcosuchus
I like my Collecta version, but it's a bit small. I'd love it if Safari would do a 1:40 version to match my Carnegie Deinosuchus! Bonus points if it's high-walking rather than lounging on its belly; extra bonus points if you can pose the high-walking gait in such a way that it could also conceivably appear to be swimming as well. Two poses for the price of one?  I also recommend a closed mouth to avoid the warping that the Collecta version is prone to. The creature is plenty impressive enough without yawning at everyone.

Any of those dinosaurs would be fine, on the other hand I would like to also an albertonectes (I'm tired of both elasmosaurus and plesiosaurus).

A yi qi would be interesting too.

On the other hand a styracosaurus to compete with that of other companies.

[Jose S.M.]

Safari doesn't have any ichtyosaurs in their own lines yet right? That would be nice. More variety of marine prehistoric creatures in general.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Safari doesn't have any ichtyosaurs in their own lines yet right? That would be nice. More variety of marine prehistoric creatures in general.

Their Carnegie line had an Ichthyosaurus, though of course that's no longer in production.

[Doug Watson]

I think Doug said it's a completely new sculptor.

Sorry I don't remember saying anything like that. I just checked the 2017 release thread, the first time we split duties and all I did was acknowledge which ones I did. Someone asked if I would name the other artist and I said I didn't have permission plus I don't really know or have any interaction with the artist.

[suspsy]

Safari doesn't have any ichtyosaurs in their own lines yet right? That would be nice. More variety of marine prehistoric creatures in general.

Their Carnegie line had an Ichthyosaurus, though of course that's no longer in production.

I would really like to see a basal, serpent-like Triassic ichthyosaur from Safari for a change. Either Cymbolspondylus or Thalattoarchon would be great.

[Shonisaurus]

They could reedit in a new version the Triassic tanystropheus, that after the disappearance of the Carnegie tanystropheus there are no good figures of that species, for me it seems a mixture of reptile and snake.

[Sim]

I think Doug said it's a completely new sculptor.

Sorry I don't remember saying anything like that. I just checked the 2017 release thread, the first time we split duties and all I did was acknowledge which ones I did. Someone asked if I would name the other artist and I said I didn't have permission plus I don't really know or have any interaction with the artist.

Could you clarify what you mean by this being the first time you split duties with the other artist?  I'm not sure what you mean, since there have been previous years which have had prehistoric Wild Safari figures both by you and not by you, e.g. (click on a year to see its new figures) 2014, 2011, 2010.  I also think you mentioned you did the feathered dinosaurs in the Safari feathered dinos toob while another artist did the unfeathered dinosaurs in that toob?  I say think as you referred to it as an AMNH toob rather than a Safari toob.

[Doug Watson]

I think Doug said it's a completely new sculptor.

Sorry I don't remember saying anything like that. I just checked the 2017 release thread, the first time we split duties and all I did was acknowledge which ones I did. Someone asked if I would name the other artist and I said I didn't have permission plus I don't really know or have any interaction with the artist.

Could you clarify what you mean by this being the first time you split duties with the other artist?  I'm not sure what you mean, since there have been previous years which have had prehistoric Wild Safari figures both by you and not by you, e.g. (click on a year to see its new figures) 2014, 2011, 2010.  I also think you mentioned you did the feathered dinosaurs in the Safari feathered dinos toob while another artist did the unfeathered dinosaurs in that toob?  I say think as you referred to it as an AMNH toob rather than a Safari toob.

I was talking specifically about this artist. For a few years I was doing most if not all the prehistoric figures (2016 and 2015 for example not counting the Carnegie line), sometimes they would have someone do one or two other pieces but in 2017 there were way too many for me to do plus my other pieces so this artist was given substantially more to do 5 to my 8.
Yes I did split the AMNH toob with another different artist, again they wanted me to do the whole toob but I didn't have enough time and that was before they were letting me do the Wild Safari line of Dinosaurs.

[Sim]

Thanks for what you've explained, Doug.  So if I'm understanding right, you're saying that the artist who did the 2017 Wild Safari prehistoric figures not by you hasn't done prehistoric Wild Safari figures for a year when you also did any, before the 2017 line-up, and they aren't the person who did the unfeathered dinosaurs in the feathered dinos toob.  So this would mean there's at least three sculptors that have done Wild Safari prehistoric figures.

Doug, why do you refer to the feathered dinos toob as an AMNH toob rather than a Safari toob?

[Doug Watson]

Thanks for what you've explained, Doug.  So if I'm understanding right, you're saying that the artist who did the 2017 Wild Safari prehistoric figures not by you hasn't done prehistoric Wild Safari figures for a year when you also did any, before the 2017 line-up, and they aren't the person who did the unfeathered dinosaurs in the feathered dinos toob.  So this would mean there's at least three sculptors that have done Wild Safari prehistoric figures.

Doug, why do you refer to the feathered dinos toob as an AMNH toob rather than a Safari toob?

First of all I am not confirming that the artist that did the other 2017 pieces hasn't done PW Safari Ltd pieces before 2017. I don't know and I don't ask. For all I know it could be a different artist this year. I also don't know how many other artists have worked on the WS dinosaur line since its inception. I only started doing dinosaurs for the main line in 2010.
I used to know the name of the artist that did the non feathered dinosaurs for the AMNH Feathered dinosaur toob, but I have forgotten it since.
I refer to that toob as the AMNH Feathered dinosaur toob because it was requested at that time by the AMNH to coincide with an exhibit on feathered dinosaurs. They also consulted on the dinosaurs but not directly with me. If you look at the original issue toob case the label has "Feathered Dinos Toob" in white letters and above that is the American Museum of Natural History Logo in blue. Plus there is a blurb on the side about the AMNH.