Safari Ltd. 2018 Thorn Dragon Review:
I have been a fan of Safari Ltd.'s offerings for many, many years and eagerly look forward to new reveals each year.
Safari Ltd. crafts their unarticulated figurines out of a dense, heavy vinyl making figures that can stand up to rough play from younger kids but at the same time make for great collectibles for older kids and adults that are kids at heart. The sculpts vary from figurine to figurine from extremely crisp to somewhat softer, rounded detailing. The paint varies widely from figurine to figurine as they are hand painted so I prefer to look over multiple examples of each figurine in the store to pick the one with the best paint work, sadly, until just recently, none of the usual brick and mortar outlets have carried any new figurines since 2016 and ordering online doesn't allow for this so you are at the mercy of the employee pulling them out of the master cartons. Surprisingly, I managed to find most of the 2018 figurines at A.C. Moore recently so I used a 60% off coupon to pick up a figurine, the Thorn Dragon that I had initially passed on as I wanted to see it in person instead of just ordering it based on some pictures online.
The thorn dragon has a very slim build topped off with a head with a massive crown of thorny protrusions on the back. A pair of beautifully sculpted wings really make an impression with their deep, rich green and copper coloring.
The paint, which is applied by hand on each figurine is a bit sloppy with a lot of overspray and poorly drybrushed areas all over the figurine. It looks like they were trying to make it look metallic, which in and of itself is pretty cool, but the sloppy drybrushing covers areas like the teeth and eyes making the dragon look more like a metallic sculpture than a living creature. I will more than likely end up repainting the whole thing in the same colors but much more neatly.
The only real downside to Safari Ltd.'s product aside from the lack of articulation is the price. They are fairly expensive for their size. The Thorn Dragon was $20.99 but only cost me $8.40 with the 60% off coupon. They are fairly heavy and well constructed, but still expensive for what they are.
I received another 60% off coupon on my receipt so now I have to decide which other figurine I want next week
