Tyrannosaurus (Great Dinosaurs Collection by Safari Ltd.)

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Tyrannosaurus rex is a dinosaur that needs no introduction from me. Regardless of your knowledge concerning dinosaurs this is one species that everyone is familiar with. Because of its fame it is perhaps the species most reproduced in toy form, for better or worse. This review concerns the treatment of the species by Safari’s Great Dinosaurs Collection; a model that has a lot of misses but a couple surprising hits.

This figure is basically a blown up cheaper version of Wild Safari’s 1996 Tyrannosaurus, they’re virtually identical in every aspect of their form aside from color, size and a few other details. The Wild Safari version is about half the size of this piece which would measure 12” long if not for the curled tail, the size puts this tyrannosaur at 1/40 in scale, the figure measure 6” tall to the top of the head. The figure is hollow with an obvious seam around the mid-section; a feature of several “Great Dinos”. The coloration is rather uninspired, nothing but generic brown all over but an orange version of the toy exists as well. The body is covered with wrinkles rather than scales but there are a few scutes running down the neck. Some of the deeper wrinkles like those on the neck and belly look nice but overall the number of wrinkles on this figure is a bit overkill. The tail is long and laterally compressed with a nice ridge running the entire length of the back. One of the surprising features of the figure is that it can stand fully on two legs, or at least mine can. I don’t know if this was intentional but it is a nice change from the typical Safari tripod posture. I should note that actually getting it to stand on two legs can be a bit challenging; it stands more comfortably with the tail on the ground.

The head of the figure is full of inaccuracies. The snout looks too blunt and tall and similar to something like Carnotaurus. Looking head on the skull is far too narrow, especially at the back of the skull, even the Wild Safari version is a bit wider in this regard. The teeth are all of equal size and white, the inside of the mouth is featureless aside from the pink paint. The eyes are lifeless and black and the bosses atop the skull look over-exaggerated and probably account for the tall appearance of the head. The neck is fairly well done, looking thick and muscular as the neck of such a beast should be.

Tyrannosaurus is famous for its tiny arms and hands but like many other figures the arms on this one are a bit too large. The hands however are correctly positioned with the palms facing each other. The legs and feet are actually quite nice with well sculpted musculature and feet complete with a tiny hallux on each. The toenails are painted black as are the fingernails.

Overall this is not an essential piece to a collection but if you feel compelled to have it you probably won’t have to spend much more than five U.S. dollars as I did. You would be better off with just getting the Wild Safari version unless you find yourself attracted to the size and scale or the toy’s ability to stand on two legs. You could find a lot better Tyrannosaurus figures out there but with that said you could also find a lot worse.