Safari 2020

[Ravonium]

@Doug Watson Sort of unrelated question, but if you started working on your Coelophysis today, would you make it feathered (like you did for the 2017 figure) or scaly?

[Doug Watson]

@Doug Watson Sort of unrelated question, but if you started working on your Coelophysis today, would you make it feathered (like you did for the 2017 figure) or scaly?

Normally if no fossil integument has been found my default position is to go with a scaley hide but when I did this one since so many recent depictions had shown Coelophysis with primitive feathering I consulted with Dr. Xiao-chun Wu and he suggested that it could have had a filamentous integument. So in the absence of physical evidence I went with the more informed opinion and would probably do the same today unless he has changed his mind.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I would retire this one next year and have Doug take the same model and just add feathers to it.

Oh God please no!

lol I think it would def sell more and be a standout among all these other companies now..but yeah a bit of work. Sorry.

Actually my reasons for not wanting to add feathers are not because of the extra work but lets just leave it at that. 

Edit: P.S. Safari Ltd actually tells me the Spinosaurus is a good seller.

Gotcha.  I can only base what I think on what I observe in person and online ( in this case it seems to be not as popular from what I've seen compared to other brands is all ) , no stores in my area even carry Safari anymore, though I do try and tell kids/parents about them.  When I get lots of older toys I sell them in my gift shop so there is that but it's few and far between. 

They all look really nice!
Shame I won't be getting them in a while, too much stuff on my list right now...

Keep an eye on Safari for deals, after all the discounts and gift card I received these couldnt be more than 50.00 for all of them.

Sorry man, but I'm not from the States and Safari´s website does not ship to my country, I have to rely on other stores like Everything dinosaur.

If you ever need a hand getting anything let me know and I'll try.

I'm gladly surprised of how the new Safari figures have turned out! The promo images were not the most flattering to say the least. But hey, all of them have turned out quite nicely.

Looking forward to more pics of these, especially of the Deinonychus   

lol

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Thanks for humoring me, @Blade-of-the-Moon! The rex and the Edmonto look absolutely perfect together!

Also, that JP pic is just great. 

[Patrx]

I appreciate the photos, Blade! They confirm what I already knew–that I am enamoured with that brilliant Deinonychus.

[Andreioli]

The sarcosuchus in action:









Source: https://www.deviantart.com/zoome3/gallery/all
Also, check out the Papo Spino in it's underwater element

[Killekor]

Thanks for the photos Andreioli! The new Safari Sarchosuchus look great, as always with Doug Watson's sculptures. I'll probably get one one day or another.

I would retire this one next year and have Doug take the same model and just add feathers to it.

Oh God please no!

lol I think it would def sell more and be a standout among all these other companies now..but yeah a bit of work. Sorry.

Actually my reasons for not wanting to add feathers are not because of the extra work but lets just leave it at that. 

Edit: P.S. Safari Ltd actually tells me the Spinosaurus is a good seller.

I actually would also love a feathered Spinosaurus figure, although I don't find it necessary from Safari which already have their own interpretation of this animal. I'm personally hoping from @Eofauna to make one, and judging from their Atlasaurus I'm sure that they would make an extraordinary toy rendition of it (which I would surely add to my collection).

Killekor

[Ravonium]

@Doug Watson Sort of unrelated question, but if you started working on your Coelophysis today, would you make it feathered (like you did for the 2017 figure) or scaly?

Normally if no fossil integument has been found my default position is to go with a scaley hide but when I did this one since so many recent depictions had shown Coelophysis with primitive feathering I consulted with Dr. Xiao-chun Wu and he suggested that it could have had a filamentous integument. So in the absence of physical evidence I went with the more informed opinion and would probably do the same today unless he has changed his mind.

Thanks for the answer Doug

While intriguing at first glance, I do see why you would choose to feather Coelophysis but not, say, Qianzhousaurus; while they both lived in fairly warm climates, the former was much smaller and no skin impressions that suggest filaments or lack thereof have been found associated with it or a close relative (unlike with the latter).

[Sim]

No, no more Spinosaurus figures please!  There are so many good versions of it now, with more to come from Rebor.  If Eofauna makes a spinosaurid, I hope it would be Suchomimus as the only decent option available for it is the Safari 2014 version which is in a pose I dislike.

Also, I doubt Spinosaurus was feathered in life.  It lived in an environment that was warm and tropical, and it was an enormous animal with access to water to help control its body temperature.  This combination of features makes me think feathers would hinder changing body temperature too much.  Mark Witton has even suggested that giant dinosaurs that lived in the colder Nemegt Formation were lacking in feathers: http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2019/10/megafuzz-under-microscope-how-credible.html

Normally if no fossil integument has been found my default position is to go with a scaley hide but when I did this one since so many recent depictions had shown Coelophysis with primitive feathering I consulted with Dr. Xiao-chun Wu and he suggested that it could have had a filamentous integument. So in the absence of physical evidence I went with the more informed opinion and would probably do the same today unless he has changed his mind.

If you make a Cryolophosaurus for Safari I hope you'll consider giving it feathers similar to the Coelophysis.

[stargatedalek]

No, no more Spinosaurus figures please!  There are so many good versions of it now, with more to come from Rebor.  If Eofauna makes a spinosaurid, I hope it would be Suchomimus as the only decent option available for it is the Safari 2014 version which is in a pose I dislike.

Also, I doubt Spinosaurus was feathered in life.  It lived in an environment that was warm and tropical, and it was an enormous animal with access to water to help control its body temperature.  This combination of features makes me think feathers would hinder changing body temperature too much.  Mark Witton has even suggested that giant dinosaurs that lived in the colder Nemegt Formation were lacking in feathers: http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2019/10/megafuzz-under-microscope-how-credible.html

Normally if no fossil integument has been found my default position is to go with a scaley hide but when I did this one since so many recent depictions had shown Coelophysis with primitive feathering I consulted with Dr. Xiao-chun Wu and he suggested that it could have had a filamentous integument. So in the absence of physical evidence I went with the more informed opinion and would probably do the same today unless he has changed his mind.

If you make a Cryolophosaurus for Safari I hope you'll consider giving it feathers similar to the Coelophysis.

Spinosaurus likely didn't live inland, but rather spent considerable amounts of time in the open ocean. Most specimens found are of young animals, and even these are found in coastal mangrove forests and not inland waterways. Additionally the Oxalaia specimen is within reasonable inference possibility that Spinosaurus crossed the (admittedly then smaller) Atlantic.

Even working from the assumption that habitat is particularly relevant to integument (which I argue is grossly overstated extremely often) the habitat of Spinosaurus is an inherently unknown or at least potentially variable factor.

Why if I may ask are you in favor of feathers for Ceolophysis and Cryolophosaurus, theropods about as far removed from solid evidence of feathers as possible, but avidly against the inclusion of feathers on Spinosaurus?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

@Blade-of-the-Moon congratulations for your awesome new batch! And thanks for your pics too!

Would you be able to post some comparison pics of the Deinonychus with the 2017 Safari Velociraptor, the 2015 Carnegie Velociraptor or the Carnegie Beipiaosaurus, please? 

@Blade-of-the-Moon congratulations for your fantastic adquisitions!
I really like all of them, and sarcosuchus and edmontosaurus are BIG! So nice ... Please, I'm so excited about the itchyosaurus, it looks like it has also an interesting size, could you take a pic next to the Safari Velociraptor? Or better to a marine reptile as Safari elasmosaurus, Collecta liopleurodon or mosasaurus? I will display it with them. Thanks a lot.

@Blade-of-the-Moon I will say the Edmontosaurus looks better than expected. Deino looks better, but a lot bigger then I would have thought.
Can you put the Deino next to the Einiosaurus? That's where I'm gonna put it next to on my shelf.

[Shonisaurus]

Deinonychus is perhaps one of my favorite prehistoric animals by Safari along with the edmontosaurus. The deinonychus looks great.

[Dinoguy2]

No, no more Spinosaurus figures please!  There are so many good versions of it now, with more to come from Rebor.  If Eofauna makes a spinosaurid, I hope it would be Suchomimus as the only decent option available for it is the Safari 2014 version which is in a pose I dislike.

Also, I doubt Spinosaurus was feathered in life.  It lived in an environment that was warm and tropical, and it was an enormous animal with access to water to help control its body temperature.  This combination of features makes me think feathers would hinder changing body temperature too much.  Mark Witton has even suggested that giant dinosaurs that lived in the colder Nemegt Formation were lacking in feathers: http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2019/10/megafuzz-under-microscope-how-credible.html

Normally if no fossil integument has been found my default position is to go with a scaley hide but when I did this one since so many recent depictions had shown Coelophysis with primitive feathering I consulted with Dr. Xiao-chun Wu and he suggested that it could have had a filamentous integument. So in the absence of physical evidence I went with the more informed opinion and would probably do the same today unless he has changed his mind.

If you make a Cryolophosaurus for Safari I hope you'll consider giving it feathers similar to the Coelophysis.

Spinosaurus likely didn't live inland, but rather spent considerable amounts of time in the open ocean. Most specimens found are of young animals, and even these are found in coastal mangrove forests and not inland waterways. Additionally the Oxalaia specimen is within reasonable inference possibility that Spinosaurus crossed the (admittedly then smaller) Atlantic.

Even working from the assumption that habitat is particularly relevant to integument (which I argue is grossly overstated extremely often) the habitat of Spinosaurus is an inherently unknown or at least potentially variable factor.

Why if I may ask are you in favor of feathers for Ceolophysis and Cryolophosaurus, theropods about as far removed from solid evidence of feathers as possible, but avidly against the inclusion of feathers on Spinosaurus?

I think the days when we could confidently make phylogenetic inferences about feathers are over. All dinosaurs had the generic predisposition to express feathers, but the type of feathering or lack thereof appears to be much more a matter of ecology and size than anything else.

I mean, we live in a world with feathered Ceolophysis and featherless Qianzousaurus, within a few years of each other by the same sculptor, and both are totally plausible. We live in a world where I'd prefer a mostly feathered Anchisaurus and a mostly featherless Gigantoraptor. Heck I'd love to see a mostly featherless Dinornis.

[Faelrin]

Wow that new Deinonychus with the Velociraptor make a lovely pair. It would be nice to some day have a Utahraptor to go with them too.


Edit: The new Ichthyosaurus looks great alongside both Kronosaurus figures too.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Wow that new Deinonychus with the Velociraptor make a lovely pair. It would be nice to some day have a Utahraptor to go with them too.


Edit: The new Ichthyosaurus looks great alongside both Kronosaurus figures too.

In the same vein a Stygimoloch to go with the Pachy and Dracorex would be nice.

I didn't think the Icthy would be so big, for some reason I was imagining something 3 or 4 inches. Def happier.

[Mirroraptor]

When talking about the feathers of dinosaurs, Xu Xing mentioned that the feathers of Archosaurids have appeared and disappeared many times in the history of evolution. This phenomenon can explain why Pterosaurids or Cosesaurus have a feather-like structure, and they are not much related to dinosaurs in most mainstream taxonomy. Another example is that crocodile micro-organs have a homologous structure with feather hair follicles(check here: http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/doi/10.1242/jeb.076836). Does this mean that crocodile ancestors have feather-like structures? We don't know, but at least it shows that feathers or feather-like fibrous structures can appear multiple times in evolution. Another study showed that the genes that control feather expression is monogenic inheritance.



So we don't have to worry too much about whether Spinosaurus will have feathered or not. Just let your sculpture dominate by your imagination.

I mean, we live in a world with feathered Ceolophysis and featherless Qianzousaurus, within a few years of each other by the same sculptor, and both are totally plausible. We live in a world where I'd prefer a mostly feathered Anchisaurus and a mostly featherless Gigantoraptor. Heck I'd love to see a mostly featherless Dinornis.

If you really need it, then I might list it as my next plan for my next zbrush kit. Birds without feathers can show the anatomy of bird muscles to the greatest extent. In some ways, it is feasible and has unique aesthetic value.

[Sim]

What is the source for Spinosaurus most likely spending considerable time in the open ocean?  This paper says the environment Spinosaurus lived in was as I described it: https://journalofpalaeogeography.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s42501-019-0042-6

I'm in favour of feathers on Cryolophosaurus because even though Antarctica was warmer back then, it was still cold enough to make me think Cryolophosaurus would've needed feathers.  Coelophysis could go either way, but feathers being basal to dinosaurs is plausible to me and can be used to explain feathers on Coelophysis.  Spinosaurus on the other hand is precisely the kind of dinosaur I'd expect to lack feathers for the reasons I mentioned.

[Dino Scream3232]

Got 3 of the 2020 figures yesterday. They are all beautifully sculpted and painted. The deinonychus is by far my favorite. Did a review on the Edmontosaurus for those of you interested. Definitely looks much better in hand. Glad I took advantage of the deal on Xmas night. Got all 3 for less than $40. https://youtu.be/Kr2dd6QlJv4

[Loon]

I'm in favour of feathers on Cryolophosaurus because even though Antarctica was warmer back then, it was still cold enough to make me think Cryolophosaurus would've needed feathers. 

I would prefer feathers on any Cryolophosaurus as well. Mostly because I've fallen in love with the animal over its inclusion in the traveling "Antarctic Dinosaurs" exhibit, where it was portrayed, via a beautiful model, with feathers. And, not to be rude to those who disagree with the idea, but, I trust the opinion of the researchers behind that exhibit more than a forum post.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Wow, great pictures and fascinating discussions over the last day or so since I last logged on!