This news comes a little earlier in the year than usual, but maybe that’s because these figures will all be released late in 2014, just in time for Christmas. These early images come from a PDF version of a “2015 New Product Guide” by Safari Ltd, which was posted as low resolution images on Facebook by a dealer based in Sweden. The catalogue reveals one new addition to the Carnegie Collection, and four new additions to the Wild Safari Prehistoric Life line, as follows:
The upcoming newbie to the Carnegie Collection will be a modern version of the infamous Velociraptor, confirming previous rumours that circulated around the web. Velociraptor has been represented in the Carnegie Collection before in retro scaly form (a figure mysteriously unreviewed on the dinotoyblog to date), but it is nice to see a new feathered version – it was only a matter of time. This new figure might prompt a review of the old one.
Feathered dinosaurs also abound in the lineup of four new Wild Safari figures, half of which are feathered.
Yutyrannus, a recently discovered feathered tyrannosauroid from China.
Archaeopteryx (strictly speaking the ‘first bird’), a famous feathered taxon from Germany.
There are also two new Wild Safari herbivores:
Sauropelta, a nodosaurid (armoured dinosaur) from the USA – a personal favourite of mine.
Nasutoceratops, a newly described (in 2013) ceratopsid (horned dinosaur) from the USA.
Some interesting and inspired choices. We will, of course, review them all in detail here on the blog when they are released. I’ll also update this post with better quality pictures as and when they become available. In the meantime, the best place to discuss these new figures is the ‘Safari Ltd – New for 2015’ thread on the Dinosaur Toy Forum.
Safari Ltd figures are available from Amazon.com here
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Sean: I don’t think there’s any conclusive evidence so far that Velociraptor had hind wings rather than unfeathered hind limbs like an ostrich.
except for the archaeopteryx, they all look pretty great and very desirable. Some look fantastic though. The Nasutoceratops and Sauropelta? Wow.
Yutyrannus, Sauropelta, and Nasutoceratops look good and interesting. Archaeopteryx and Velociraptor are not bad, but are missing the wow factor, even with the new feathers!
3 out of 5 have their mouth shut. How often does that happen!
And here’s where it gets even more unusual.The Yutyrannus,a big fierce theropod does not have it’s mouth open,and yet the Archaeopteryx DOES. 🙂
Also the birdie has that unlikely raised talon as if the were trying to claim its speculated birthright….
(I really like that discontinued Buyllyland version much better, and it came in a choice of colors.)
I’ve added slightly better quality images to this post.
Hmm. The style seems to be collecta. But I can’t wait to see these “obscure” Dino’s for myself!
I could not be happier with this news. A few brief comments…
Velociraptor: I love the color scheme. By far the best on the market. I wish the wings were a bit bigger and that the legs had proper wings as well, as well as overall more flufiness and less feather hugging the body, but overall really good.
Yutyrannus: Sporting a winter white color scheme, this is also very good. Accuracy seems spot on. If I had to chose this would probably come fourth, but I have nothing bad to say about it.
Archaeopteryx: My least favorite. Still good, thought I’d stick with the Papo version. Being honest it’s best to have both, but I just don’t find this one visually appealing.
Sauropelta: Easily my favorite. Extremely accurate, greatly colored restoration of my favorite Thyreophoran. No problems with it at all, and almost impossible any future toys of this creature could be better. Except maybe papo.
Nasutoceratops: First time in the toy market for this guy, and he’s off to a good start. Seems to follow the same color scheme as some of the more popular palaeoart of this thing.
The velociraptor and yutyrannus are beautiful. The velociraptor looks to be the most accurate figure of this animal to date. The yutyrannus is my personal favorite of this lot. The archaeopteryx will make a nice companion and/or contrast to the Papo version. The color scheme here seems to follow the recent discovery/theory that their feathers were dark/black with some white. I can take or leave the sauropelta, and the nasutoceratops almost looks like they reused the same body sculpt as their pachyrhinosaurus but I do dig the colors used here.
For the last half decade or so major toy companies have been coming out with feathered raptors, oviraptors, therizinosaurs and the like. This year T-rex kin like Bistahieversor and Yutyrannus. Eventually one of the companies will be the first to offer feathered T-rex in 1:40 scale (toy, not a pricey kit nor statue), and it’ll be a sensation.
Sorry, at this, can it be the company Collecta? I say this because this makes dinosaur figures 1:40 scale.
Oh, I was just speculating. Toy companies are easing their way into feathered dinosaurs, not wanting to introduce a feathered version of the iconic dinosaurs just yet – but they’re ahead of the movies at least.
From my point of view, a substantial improvement over the previous year totally edgy, but you can not see in detail the figures are unbeatable for me to understand the nasuceratops and velociraptor. Congratulations Safari / Carnegie
Oh, yeah, lest I forget…
AT 8″ long I think that 1:50 scale notation on the v-raptor might really be 1:10. What do you think?
Both Safari and CollectA often screw-up those listed scales completely (last year’s T-Rex comes to mind.)
I calculated it at 1:8. 1:50 is certainly a mistake.
The Yutyrannus (fresh from a stop at the beauty parlor,) the Sauropelta (who can resist a new model nodosaur) and the (all-business) Nasutoceratops look to be works of art. The raptor and the birdie have been done better (by others) before.
But that’s just my opinion.
So get on with it and release them already…
Cheers.
Patience, Paul, Patience! 🙂