Review and Photos by Rugops
Another T rex review for the blog, and this time around it’s the Wild Safari original version.
One thing you probably notice about this figure is that it’s rather athletic and slim looking for a Tyrannosaurus. In fact it looks little bit like a Daspletosaurus or even an Albertosaurus. As with most of the early dinos from this line the body is covered in wrinkles rather than individual scales. The chest and thighs are great, although you might have some molding problems in the arms. The legs are really nice mainly because Safari did a good job adding in musculature and detail which includes bulging calves, tiny, if not painted, dew claws, faint knee caps and heel joints. A long undulating tail comes down to form yet another tripod, but it doesn’t look too bad once you get used to it. Further up, the head is way too narrow and full of little crests that likely shouldn’t be on a T rex, and there is a ridge along the snout that probably shouldn’t be there either. Another unfortunate detail is that the right side of the top jaw sports massive fangs, while on the left side the teeth are almost reduced to gums that are really annoying since it looks like it has tooth decay. But despite that, the head is well sculpted and very good looking sitting atop the muscular neck. I might add that this figure is in 54th scale making it smaller than some other figures from the line, but trust me it makes a great Albertosaurus for dioramas.
I know all you green paint haters are looking at this with distaste right now. I will admit the paint job could be better, but don’t let that put you off. It really doesn’t look half bad, and you can always repaint it your self if you want to. Safari did do another paint job for this guy, yet its not much better, being green as well.
The pose is great. It’s dynamic and full of energy and at the same time it looks real and believable. It honestly looks like it’s about to pounce on some hadrosaur. The model is made of surprisingly soft material, and nearly everything is pliable. Truly, this model has a fabulous posture about it.
In conclusion this is definitely a nice figure to have if you don’t mind a few problems. It is meant to be a toy after all. Safari only sells the repainted version still, but you could probably find the original easily enough on Amazon or Ebay.
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I found the repaint of this one at a Michael’s craft store today. If you have one in your area, and use the 40% off coupon found in the Sunday newspaper(remember those?), it can be had for four dollars and change.
I was on the sculpter of this figures website. It said it is trex. But its trex. Bataar. In other words. Its tarbosaurus
[…] to resculpts, but the most famous dinosaur of all is unique in having been revised twice. The iffy original was replaced by an abysmal Jurassic Park-esque affair back in 2006; it was almost reminiscent of […]
lol i had the battat rex so i always used this as a daspletosaurus. funny how other people thought of this as well.
Fabuloso a pesar de todo
It does look alot like the Tyrant King sculpt. Its probably based on this T rex sculpt seeing as this one is from 1996 and the Tyrant King is a little later.
I agree with Griffin – the relatively long arms certainly mean that it doesn’t look like Tyrannosaurus, while the head is unlike that of Albertosaurus. Must admit though that it does look a little like a small version of the ‘Tyrant King’ sculpt.
It really does look like a Daspletosaurus more than anything else. Mine will balance without the tail quite naturally as long as its on a flat surface.