Review and photos by Nathan ‘Takama’ Morris, edited by amargasaurus cazaui and Suspsy
In the world of dinosaur toys, smaller species are not all that common. Most companies seem to think that members of the general public find them to be boring. But we, as a specialized community of dinosaur enthusiasts, can agree that this is far from true. Indeed, there are many species of dinosaur only 3 meters long or less that are recognizable enough to be added to the various companies’ dinosaur collections. In recent years, Safari has taken notice of this issue by releasing Guanlong in 2011, and Archaeopteryx in 2015. Since the latter has already been reviewed here, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle the former. At first glance, the Wild Safari Guanlong appears to be a decent little replica of this crested predator. It is fairly feathered, and appears to be true to the fossil specimen—until you examine the proportions more closely.
The feet and hands are too big, and furthermore the hands are pronated. Another problem with this figure is that the skull is laterally compressed, giving it a rather thin look. Given the track record with Safari’s models, the oversized feet would be a forgivable sin if the model were able to stand on them without issue. The model is sculpted in a tripod position as if it came out of the Carnegie Collection (may it rest in piece). Even though the proportions are off, it is clear that some research has gone into this model, as the crest is the right shape, and it was given a covering of blue feathers.As you can see, the legs are not feathered like this year’s Yutyrannus model, but given that that animal was discovered a year after this figures release, I think this little blunder gets a pass.
The paint scheme on this figure is rather simple: blue for the body feathers and red for the small fan on the tip of the tail, the feathers that pop on the back of the neck, and the design on the crest. The face, legs, and hands are tan, and the claws and eyes are painted black.
Overall, this is a flawed but forgivable figure, just like a majority of theropods made by Safari. To cut them some slack, they are really improving their theropod models with feet that get smaller as the years go by. It is not as bad as the second Wild Safari T. rex released back in 2006. If you’re looking for a decent Guanlong, this is the easiest to obtain, as it’s available on Amazon and Ebay for a decent price. As an added bonus, it can be used in dioramas with the Safari Monolophosaurus since the two lived in the same environment.
This figure is available from Amazon.com here.
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For me the Guanlong was the weakest figure of Safari 2011.
On the other hand I was disappointed to buy this figure the abyssal difference between the prototype and product displays in stores. Moreover, the prototype was excellent, but I know for sustainability reasons guess Dinosaur prototype was changed to the current figure.
Actually, (shudder) Geoworld makes a half-decent Gualong, that while flawed (pronated paws, tail base too thin, questionable pose, etc., etc.) that is at least as good as this one (which has a certain charm, to be sure.)