Safari 2020

[Shonisaurus]

This year has been the best in terms of figures of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals by Doug Watson, the concavenator is small but of a beauty, well sculpted, detailed and of an elegant pose that makes it the best concavenator ever made by a toy brand

@Doug Watson I would like you to ever do a turiasaurus, it is a gigantic dinosaur within the Iberian Peninsula and one of the best preserved in paleontological records (including its head and teeth). It could be a good option although that is a matter of a different thread.

That said I love that you have made the sarcosuchus, shringasaurus and ichythiosaurus are beautiful and honestly the best figures of each species, although I like Carnegie ichythiosaurus just like your ichythiosaurus made this year.

[Wandering]

I was really excited about this years releases, the Shringasaurus got me super excited and I love the figure so much.  I love the Triassic era and seeing some of the strange and exciting animals from that time period get represented is always wonderful.  it's been so long since Safari released Deinonychus, seeing the huge jump in quality and science is really fun ^^ ahaha.  I think the original Carnegie Pachycephalosaurus came out on the same years as the Deinonychus... so thats neat.  The Dilophosaurus let me down, but I loved the Edmontosaurus as I expected I would.... but the Concavenator was a huge surprise hit for me.... I really like that figure... The rest of the lineup, the Sarco, Qianz, Packy, Ichy... All great releases.  Over all I found myself a little more excited about this years additions than last... Without subtracting the excellence of last years lineup.   

[Shonisaurus]

W @Wandering I totally agree with you the releases of Safari 2020 have been outstanding to a maximum this year.

[SidB]

I agree that this is another outstanding line-up, but I still prefer the 2018 and 2019 ones. I miss my annual ceratopsian and sauropod fix.

[Shonisaurus]

S @SidB For me it has been an outstanding year that of Safari 2020 although I also miss the great dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. This year has been characterized by medium-sized dinosaurs. In that I agree, I also miss sauropods and my greatest illusion would be a paraceratherium and among the sauropod dinosaurs a turiasaurus.

[SidB]

@Shonisaurus, yes, taken as a whole, the Safari upsurge following the disappearance of Carnegie safari has been remarkable, covering a widening range of interests and tastes. It would be great if this continues. Supporting this by making consistent purchases of their products will be important. we can't depend on traditional retail sources. Big retailers like Michaels (Safari) and Toys R Us (Schleich), to name two, seem stuck in a time warp, not being able to get beyond a previous generation's inventory. It's up to us as small consumers. Sheer numbers will make a difference -people power.

I currently have Baattat, PNSO/Vitae/Eofauna and Safari figures on my display shelves. Guess which ones are the biggest eye-catchers, IMO: the Safaris, as a collective. It's very impressive what Safari and especially Doug Watson have accomplished.

[Shonisaurus]

S @SidB Of course Doug Watson has left an outstanding work of prehistoric animals that will survive for decades to come.

[Wandering]

@SibB  Yeah I was thinking about how quickly Safari surpassed the Carnegie line in terms of number of species and they've re-created more than half of the species covered by the Carnegie lineup... its impressive!

[SidB]

@SibB  Yeah I was thinking about how quickly Safari surpassed the Carnegie line in terms of number of species and they've re-created more than half of the species covered by the Carnegie lineup... its impressive!

I have a large collection of Carnegies, not 100% complete, but all the figures and most of the many subvariants. But I think that they effectively blocked Safari from fulfilling its potential during their long reign, particularly over the last several years when the Carnegie annual output was extremely low. Even considering the excellent work of Forest Rogers in the latter years of her creativity, when her skills had matured and the factory capabilities had the capacity to do them justice, I think that the output of Safari is now surpassing the Carnegie opus, in my opinion. The artistry of her work remains intact, but the number and accuracy of Safari's figures of the years since 2015 is very exciting for collectors.

[Wandering]

S @SidB Considering the Carnegie line released an average of two figures a year for the most part, your right that it wouldn't take to long before Safari was able to catch up... it'll be interesting to see what models safari chooses to incorporate into their main line.  Though I am a tad more excited to see species Safari has never done before...

[SidB]

S @SidB Considering the Carnegie line released an average of two figures a year for the most part, your right that it wouldn't take to long before Safari was able to catch up... it'll be interesting to see what models safari chooses to incorporate into their main line.  Though I am a tad more excited to see species Safari has never done before...

We'll be able to hope for more prehistoric mammals in the future as well, since the Carnegie had contractually blocked Safari from independently producing these and had only generated three (Wooly Mammoth, Smilodon and Australopithecine pair) over the course of their long partnership.

[Shonisaurus]

S @SidB Considering the Carnegie line released an average of two figures a year for the most part, your right that it wouldn't take to long before Safari was able to catch up... it'll be interesting to see what models safari chooses to incorporate into their main line.  Though I am a tad more excited to see species Safari has never done before...

We'll be able to hope for more prehistoric mammals in the future as well, since the Carnegie had contractually blocked Safari from independently producing these and had only generated three (Wooly Mammoth, Smilodon and Australopithecine pair) over the course of their long partnership.

Hopefully, in the future, make the Safari brand an exceptionally large and precisely scientific paraceratherium. It takes justice to be done with that prehistoric mammal.

It was a pity that the concert of Safari and Carnegie while it lasted blocked the figures of prehistoric mammals since they are animals that many collectors interest us and for me they are as interesting as dinosaurs or any other prehistoric creature.

[SidB]

S @SidB Considering the Carnegie line released an average of two figures a year for the most part, your right that it wouldn't take to long before Safari was able to catch up... it'll be interesting to see what models safari chooses to incorporate into their main line.  Though I am a tad more excited to see species Safari has never done before...

We'll be able to hope for more prehistoric mammals in the future as well, since the Carnegie had contractually blocked Safari from independently producing these and had only generated three (Wooly Mammoth, Smilodon and Australopithecine pair) over the course of their long partnership.

Hopefully, in the future, make the Safari brand an exceptionally large and precisely scientific paraceratherium. It takes justice to be done with that prehistoric mammal.

It was a pity that the concert of Safari and Carnegie while it lasted blocked the figures of prehistoric mammals since they are animals that many collectors interest us and for me they are as interesting as dinosaurs or any other prehistoric creature.

I suppose that the now defunct prohibition would have made sense if Carnegie had commissioned Forest to make more Cenozoic figures, but apparently that didn't happen. Perhaps poor prospects for sales took the wind out of their sails.

[Wandering]

I always found that strange is well... there really wasn't much representation of Cenozoic or Paleozoic eras within the Carnegie line... I feel like the current number of Cenozoic figures in Safari's current line up is good for a few years... I really love all the strange animals that the Paleozoic area produced and I think safari could really do them justice. 

[Shonisaurus]

I always found that strange is well... there really wasn't much representation of Cenozoic or Paleozoic eras within the Carnegie line... I feel like the current number of Cenozoic figures in Safari's current line up is good for a few years... I really love all the strange animals that the Paleozoic area produced and I think safari could really do them justice.

I believe that there are Paleozoic, Cenozoic and Triassic animals that can have the same success (or at least almost) that Jurassic and Cretaceous prehistoric dinosaurs and animals sincerely there are prehistoric animals as interesting as dinosaurs and I believe that the marks of Toy dinosaurs (though without risking making figures that are not going to be sold) should be encouraged to make figures other than dinosaurs and Safari in your case is no exception. The shringasaurus is a good example that maybe Safari can make figures that can be as successful as dinosaurs as well as obscure dinosaurs like the qianzhousaurus.

[SidB]

I always found that strange is well... there really wasn't much representation of Cenozoic or Paleozoic eras within the Carnegie line... I feel like the current number of Cenozoic figures in Safari's current line up is good for a few years... I really love all the strange animals that the Paleozoic area produced and I think safari could really do them justice.

I believe that there are Paleozoic, Cenozoic and Triassic animals that can have the same success (or at least almost) that Jurassic and Cretaceous prehistoric dinosaurs and animals sincerely there are prehistoric animals as interesting as dinosaurs and I believe that the marks of Toy dinosaurs (though without risking making figures that are not going to be sold) should be encouraged to make figures other than dinosaurs and Safari in your case is no exception. The shringasaurus is a good example that maybe Safari can make figures that can be as successful as dinosaurs as well as obscure dinosaurs like the qianzhousaurus.

The question that lurks in the background is a persistent one: can artistry/ craftsmanship, combined with an accessible price point and effective marketing overcome the general public aversion to change, to the slavish devotion of parents to "tried, tested and true"?  That's a big chunk of sales. Can Safari pull this off?

[Shonisaurus]

I always found that strange is well... there really wasn't much representation of Cenozoic or Paleozoic eras within the Carnegie line... I feel like the current number of Cenozoic figures in Safari's current line up is good for a few years... I really love all the strange animals that the Paleozoic area produced and I think safari could really do them justice.

I believe that there are Paleozoic, Cenozoic and Triassic animals that can have the same success (or at least almost) that Jurassic and Cretaceous prehistoric dinosaurs and animals sincerely there are prehistoric animals as interesting as dinosaurs and I believe that the marks of Toy dinosaurs (though without risking making figures that are not going to be sold) should be encouraged to make figures other than dinosaurs and Safari in your case is no exception. The shringasaurus is a good example that maybe Safari can make figures that can be as successful as dinosaurs as well as obscure dinosaurs like the qianzhousaurus.

The question that lurks in the background is a persistent one: can artistry/ craftsmanship, combined with an accessible price point and effective marketing overcome the general public aversion to change, to the slavish devotion of parents to "tried, tested and true"?  That's a big chunk of sales. Can Safari pull this off?

Likewise, the figures I mentioned could be popularized more if they appeared in movies like JW for example or in documentaries like the BBC.

[SidB]

Everybody needs a champion.

[Wandering]

@Shonisaurus   Your exactly right.  I think there is a good chance that some of the exciting or strange species like Estemmenosuchus would sell fairly well in a general market, at least well enough to justify their production...  Obviously CollectA thought so...  andrewsarchus, gorgonopsids, and Eurypterus are all prehistoric animals that seem to have a wider presence in the general public.  I think toy companies as a whole have a tricky balance between dedicated collectors and the general market.  It seems like most companies, at least within non-collector focused lines, will produce a few high demand figures like T-Rex and than throw out a few more obscure items for the collectors, like Shringasaurus.  I'd say a little over half of Safari's releases each year are in the more "safe" categorize.  I'm not to bothered by that as I never get tired of the more familiar species, I mean safari passed up deinonychus many times for other species and deinonychus it's self is well known, so even though deinonychus isn't what I would call an obscure species, it was easily one of the more exciting releases this year, I think Safari's approach to the model also helped.  It was a species we had not seen from Safari since the late 90s and it was also a fresh take on the species.  that really helped make it exciting to see a dinosaur we are all very familiar with feel new, in the same way that Safari's 2017 Tyrannosaurus was so exciting for many long time collectors.

[Shonisaurus]

W @Wandering I agree with you, even Schleich which is a brand that traditionally makes figures of known prehistoric animals made the dinogorgon, postosuchus, diabloceratops and dracorex.

I understand that Safari whose brand of prehistoric dinosaur and animal toys is one of the best on the market along with Collecta endorsed by the Prehistoric Times magazine, has to make more figures such as shringasaurus or deinonychus. Totally agree with you.