The Dinosaur Toy Blog

A number of dinosaurs in the Wild Safari line have been subject 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 the Papo T. rex, but with none of the high-quality detailing or copyright-infringing charm. This year Safari are back for one more try and – although flawed – the resulting toy is a huge improvement over its predecessors.

This toy caught people’s attention when it was first announced thanks to its bipedal stance, which remains quite unusual in Tyrannosaurus figures. The pose is indeed an uncommonly dynamic one, and the figure is very steady on its feet without any assistance; the feet also look less awkward than in the similarly-posed Favorite model. This has come at a cost, however, as the feet are also noticeably exaggerated in size. That said, it doesn’t detract from the model too much and the attractive stance is probably worth it. Unfortunately, the anatomical flaws don’t end there.

Tyrannosaurus‘ highly specialised mega-head is what often draws people’s attention (and with those arms, it’s hardly surprising). Here a respectable effort’s been made to make the head lifelike, with plenty of scaly detail and all facial features (nostrils, ears etc.) present and correct. However, the mandible appears to be dislocated, as muscles that should attach it to the cranium at the rear just aren’t there. The result is that the skull appears to have just been stuck on the end of the neck without too much thought as to how it would all work. (The eyes are too low down and large too, but I’m more willing to forgive them on that one. Being the lovely man that I am. At least the face is nicely symmetrical.)

As can be seen in the above picture, the arms – while not broken (HURRAH!) – are still far too long. It seems like everyone makes a big deal of T. rex‘s small arms without ever realising how comparatively piddly they actually were – although T. rex could totally have taken an abelisaur in an arm-wrestling contest (or indeed a human), describing its forelimbs as ‘highly atrophied’ is probably not hyperbole.

Still, and in spite of all this, the figure has a lot going for it. The low price is an important factor, but just as with its neo-Wild Safari contemporaries it’s a lovingly detailed and scaly figure, with some well-defined musculature (even if the shoulder area looks a bit bony), a barrel chest and a paint job that is, for the most part, nice and subtle as befits such a huge creature. While the overall paint application is praiseworthy it does seem that the guy who painted the teeth was retiring the next day, as in that area it is rather sloppy. At least it gives Tyrannosaurus the opportunity to star in the next ‘Got Milk?’ ad.

In the end, though, I’m disappointed that this figure didn’t live up to the standard set by the Wild Safari Allosaurus. And that’s not really fair – the Allosaurus is a truly exceptional figure, and given their track record it was unlikely that Safari would produce a T. rex to match it. This is a good figure in its own right, and given its bipedal stance and correctly-positioned arms it’s one of the best in the 1:50 – 1:30 scale range.

Available from eBay stores here

As an illustration of how far the Carnegie line has advanced in 20 years, you can’t do much better than the original Tyrannosaurus. Many people in their early 20s will remember owning one of these as a child. They’ll probably also remember it gathering dust in a dark corner of the cupboard under the stairs when the Jurassic Park toyline came along and made everything else seem a bit rubbish. It’s crude, it’s chunky, it’s a little bit adorable.

I have a pet theory related to the Carnegie line – that it started off as a line aimed squarely at kids, but matured alongside its consumer base. I’ll cite this toy and its ‘Tenth Anniversary’ descendant as evidence. What we have here is Tyrannosaurus with the edges taken off – no breakable teeth, a rather rotund body and blunted claws on the feet (although admittedly the fingers could still give you a nasty poke). It’s clearly designed to endure a bit of rough-and-tumble play the likes of which would probably knock the finely-sculpted teeth out of the jaws of the ‘Tenth Anniversary’ model.

Anatomically this old beast veers away from reality and into the realms of old fashioned dino-toy overweight chunkiness (see also UKRD). There’s barely a hint of  Tyrannosaurus‘ huge pelvis, while the legs merge into the body with the scarcest indication of the enormo-muscles that were surely present on the living creature. The head is essentially reduced to two rectangular blocks, with the admittedly very finely painted eyes facing defiantly sideways.

The classic showdown, circa 1988!

However – and bearing in mind the date of this figure’s genesis (ie. 1988) – there are some definite plus points. The overall proportions, unduly long tail aside, aren’t too far off. The rearing pose remains largely passable and has been reused for many theropod figures since – the raised tail (bent down only at the tip for support) put it ahead of many other figures at the time. The hanging tag, if you’re lucky enough to acquire one with it intact, is good for a giggle too – apparently Tyrannosaurus reached 15 metres in length (versus 14 metres stamped on the toy) and lived in “Western North America, Argentina (???), Mongolia (fine if you consider Tarbosaurus bataar to be a species of Tyrannosaurus, but the toy’s stamped “Tyrannosaurus rex“), India (????) and China”. Riiight. Seems T. rex went globetrotting in the 1980s.

This ‘blockhead’ version of the Carnegie Tyrannosaurus may be long gone, but amazingly its legacy lives on. It’s been the recipient of a couple of new heads and other improved details over the years, but the rather out-of-shape creature you see here has ultimately survived to this day alongside its ‘Tenth Anniversary’ counterpart, presumably in the name of providing a durable combat toy for the kids. Definitely not recommended for collectors (apart from sad old nostalgics like me/completists), except those with dinosaur mad children – throw them a version of this thing to keep them away from your Anniversary Tyrannosaurus! Oh, and finally if you want this version specifically, it’s pretty common on eBay.

Guest review by forumite Fooman666 (edited by Horridus)

The first things most dinosaur enthusiasts will notice are the pyramidal crests above the eyes, this is quite a common feature among tyrannosaur replicas and is something that most collectors can accept. However, it is plainly noticeable that on this guy the crests actually peak too far behind the eyes. After observing this it becomes noticeable that the entire skull is rather inaccurate, with the top jaw being the wrong shape and the tip of the lower jaw being too rounded.

The rest is the body is surprisingly accurate, its only downsides being that it is in a much hated tripod pose and the arms are much too long.

Detail is a feature this little one excels in, especially its feet which are presented in all their bird-like glory. The rest of the body is covered in various lines and criss crosses that, while adding a very reptilian pattern to the skin, also give a sense of the musculature of this animal. This, coupled with a nice paint job consisting of a range of greens and browns, results in a rather nice figure despite the inaccurate skull. Once again Safari have managed to hit the nail on the head in terms of providing a low priced toy for kids that doubles as a (for the most part) highly accurate replica for the serious collector. [I disagree - Contrarian Ed]

Now here’s a figure I know some of you will recognise from your childhood – the Carnegie Deinonychus trio. Remember your childhood? Those halcyon, carefree days that were spent frolicking through flowery fields and dawbing awful dinosaurs using wax crayons? Well, those days are gone – GONE – and you can’t have them back. Ever. However, if you’re lucky you can still get this long-retired figure from your youth back into your collection, and it’s a nice little piece for its age.

Of course, these days it’s horribly out of date (no feathers, inaccurate hands etc. etc.). However, it’s still a lovely little 20-year-old figure. Three ferocious Deinonychus are stuck into the rocky base, all of them lunging forward at some unseen prey. The poses are very dynamic and convincing – two of the animals have their left legs springing them forward with the right leg raised high, while the other, with its right foot touching the ground, looks like it’s about to fall over in the frenzy. They are very reminiscent of Bob Bakker’s famous depiction of a running Deinonychus – they even appear to have wattles.

As is typical of the early Carnegie figures, fine detail can be a little lacking – particularly when it comes to the heads, which look a little crude and blobby, as do the painted-on eyes and teeth. In addition, the animals’ feet that connect with the base are – at least in the case of the rear pair – notably larger than those raised in the air. Not a single claw is painted either (although they do have the correct number of toes). However, in some places the detailing is rather good – the animals all have nostrils, ears and a covering of scales (incorrectly nowadays, but it was 1990) and I like the subdued sandy-with-tiger-stripes colour scheme. There are also suitable skin folds to give the creatures a sense of fluidity and motion.

It’s a curious little figure this one – one of the minority of early Carnegie figures to have a base and the only one to feature 3 animals at once. These days smaller dinosaurs are released at a different scale to the behemoths like Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus etc. which makes these early efforts at keeping all the Carnegie dinosaurs at 1:40 very interesting (see also Protoceratops and Dimetrodon which, admittedly, is not a dinosaur). Each Deinonychus here is about 7cm long, which at 1:40 scale gives them a length of 2.8m. That’s close enough, as is the stated length of ’10 feet’ on the base, which for some reason they have translated to a stupendous 8 metres! Steady on, Utahraptor hasn’t been discovered yet.

The Carnegie Deinonychus trio is a fantastic vintage dinosaur collectible – few other figures have matched the dynamic presentation of these animals. It’s a must have for any Carnegie collector of course. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear on eBay as often as some of the other old Carnegies, but if you see it I would highly recommend picking it up.