Kids perspective by William, edited by Laticauda
Young and old gather around and see the new king in town. I present the highly anticipated 2017 Safari Ltd. Giganotosaurus. Why do I call it the new king? Sure it doesn’t have the name rex in its name, and its not because it was one of the largest known carnivores the world has seen, in which some estimates have it bigger than the almighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is king because it has raised the bar on how a toy model can capture the look and attitude of a voracious carnivore Lets be honest, the old Safari’s including the Carnegies are good but they just blend into your dinosaur collection, but the 2017 Safari Ltd Giganotosaurus screams, here I am, look at me, love me. (How that for a sales pitch!) Could this be better than the 2017 Safari feathered T-Rex? Does this model deserve the royal crown, is it a lower rank like a baron, or is it just a common dinosaur toy? Lets take a closer look.
About the toy: At 15 in (38.1 cm) long and 4.75 in (12 cm) high it is an imposing figure. It is bigger than the standard animals in the Wild Safari line. Its size and scale is on par with the old Carnegies. The pose is truly something to rave about. It is so fluid, dynamic, natural and beautiful that it is hard to believe that this isn’t a higher end resign model. How where they able to get such a great pose and not have over sized feet, wide hips, or a tripod pose that blemishes many other figures. It was accomplished due to it having a base.
Many companies have plain bases that are boring but at least they do their job in keeping the figure stable. For example, CollectA has plain brown bases with perhaps a leaf imprint or a footprint which are ok but nothing to get excited about. This base on this figure goes way beyond that simple standard. It looks like a muddy bank and is part of the over all look of the model. It is painted with color washing that adds to the visual interest of the base. The feet are sculpted in such a way that they look like they are actually sinking into the muddy ground. The back foot is actually pushing off the ground, ready to step forward. It looks so natural.
The head is beautifully sculpted with its jaw wide. It is not a shrink wrapped head. There is an interesting boney ridge on its skull that exaggerates the top of its head. It runs up the nasal and parietal and surrounds the orbit. The external nares are huge. The teeth are individually sculpted and the tongue looks wet due to a glossy finish.
The texture on the figure is rather smooth. The scales, bumps, and textural over load that many models have are mostly missing on this sculpt. In reality an animal this big you would not see each individual scale so with that in mind, it is a little more realistic and there is nothing wrong with that. What they do have are skin folds, wrinkles, and some small bumps. The figure has some nice muscle tone and loose skin that gives a realistic feel. If you look at the hips you can see the muscles bulging that are driving this predator forward.
The paint job is the one major flaw in my opinion. Its not the base color of greyish blue. I think that color works really well. The striping is the first place were the colors start to fail. The other is in the application. Here is why. The light brown stripes looks alright, but the dark brown striping over the top appears rushed and haphazardly painted. There are gaps in the paint and it doesn’t look right. From a distance it looks fine, but when you get closer you see how poorly the paint has been applied. The teeth are white and most likely so are the gums around the teeth. The rest of the paint job looks nice. The eyes are great in Carnegie gold. The mouth is pink and the tongue as mentioned earlier, is painted a slick, glossy, wet pink. Last but not least all the claws on the hands and feet are painted in white.
Play ability and kids perspective: When I first saw it come out of the box I was blown away, it was amazing to look at. I wanted to play with it right away. It looks like a blue tiger with the stripes. Its colors are blue with blackish brown stripes. The head looks cool, but it would have been nice if the jaw was movable. The teeth look as sharp as knives but are safe too touch. It is not as good as the Carnegie Giganotosaurus which has better colors and it doesn’t have a base. Since there is a base it can slide around like it is on ice. The toy is safe to play with. The tail, arms, and fingers are a little bendy. I would play with this toy because it looks amazing and it can destroy toy cars. I would like it better if it had no base so I could use its feet. Even with the base it can still ambush and attack due to its striped camouflage. One and half thumbs up for play ability.
Overall: I fully recommend this toy! Why? I’ll describe it with one word, awesome! This figure is huge when it is compared to the other Wild Safari dinosaurs. If you combine that with a pose that is so natural and dynamic you end up with an amazing dinosaur toy. It is also very accurate to the fossil material. The base is well done and the model is stable. I know some people do not like bases, I am one of those people, but for collectors, you will not be disappointed as the base really adds to the figure. Kids who want to play with this toy on the other hand would probably prefer to have no base, but will still find a way to have fun with this toy.
The only thing I don’t like about this toy is the sloppy paint job. It is superior to the old Carnegie in every way, including size, with the exception of the paint job. Look at how amazing the Carnegie Giganotosaurus paint job is, then compare it to this model. I know you can repaint figures on your own, but it is a shame they can’t replicate the same level of paint application and execution that was done before. Despite this flaw I think we have a new king and it has a place of honor in my collection. I think it will find a place of prominence on most collectors shelves. All hail the King. Ok, maybe we’ll call it a prince for all the T-Rex fans out there, but its still royalty.
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Terrific sculpt. Realistic, animated and with scale sized feet! What a treat on a theropod figure. And i’m amazed by the size given that this is a Safari model.
I like the colour scheme and find it very attractive. For me the problem with it is that it is not very realistic. Theropods were most likely camouflaged to aid in ambush, but this poor fella would stand out a mile away. So i’ll have to repaint.
I’m actually going to be using the figure as a 1/18 scale Eocarcharia in a display i’m making.
I bought this figure from Amazon and returned it within 10 min of receiving it.
Boring figure, just a big white piece of plastic, won’t stand even with the base. Big disappointment.
I just want to update on my earlier comment.
I have since ordered another copy. This time, the model stands upright fine. The overall pose is really impressive, which is what drew me to attempt purchase a second time. This model is really growing on me, it is quite interesting that something I absolutely disliked at first could become one of my favorite. Like I said, there is just something about the stride that makes this an impressive figure.
Thanks for the update, I’m glad to hear you changed your mind on this one. 🙂
I’m honestly confused as to why Safari went with this colour scheme, as their other models for this year has been so bold and colourfull (even in the case of their Diplodocus and Deinocheirus where only two colours were used). I mean, it’s by no means terrible, but it’s disappointing since we know what they’re capable of.
Fantastic review here, I too plan on getting one of these, as it’s one of the most accurate Giga models out there. Well worth having for sure.
Congratulations Laticauda, for this excellent review. I think he really is a great model, and deserves absolutely the title of king. It is unfortunate about the application of the painting and I agree with you when you mention that the Carnegie copy is superior in that aspect, but not everything can be perfect. Anyway, in the figure that I have that is not so pronounced. I would also like to add a detail in favor of this model, and at least I have not seen it in any other model of this price range, and is that, if you look at the feet exactly from the front, you can see that Are perfectly aligned one after the other, as is the way most birds walk today, which is in complete agreement with the arrangement of the traces of theropods found in South America, in the Cajón Of the Maipo, in the central zone of the Republic of Chile, and that have been attributed to Giganotosaurus. My respects to the hitherto unknown sculptor, for having done a great research work at the time of making this figure.
Thank you.
Safari should be ashamed of the sloppy paint on this figure, (otherwise totally worth repainting) this has been a continuing trend with safari as of late, quality matters, it really does, and in the end paint can easy knock a 10 down to a 2. I’d probably give it a 4 out of ten just on the awful paint alone.
The sculpt is so nice though. The sculptor deserves a standing ovation. Due to that I would give it a higher rating but its amazing how a sloppy paint job can hurt even the best sculpts.
Thanks, William. for including the excellant Carnegie in the review for instant comparison. That was an inspired decision. i have the old one and your review confirms that i need to add the new Safari Giganotosaurus to complete the pair. You communicated the sheer fun and delight in collecting very well.
Thank you for your compliment. (from William)
Great review. I agree on the colour scheme; they really should have gone with something more vivid.
Thank you. Vivid would have been nice.
The giganotosaurus Carnegie is more detailed than this without it great, but the Safari is much more finished. What is wrong is the basis is something unreal could have set you up with more details.
On the other hand I like the paint version of the Giganotosaurus Safari itself and for me it is an improvement over the Carnegie is more scientific and apart from this thanks to the non removable base is kept on two legs. It is much more realistic and scientific than the Carnegie giganotosaurus. That if about tastes have nothing written.