Safari Ltd. 2018 Dimetrodon Review:
I have been a fan of Safari Ltd.'s offerings for many, many years and eagerly look forward to new reveals each year.
There were two 2018 offerings that I initially passed on as when I ordered the Alien Dragon, Leviathan and Anzu Wyliei from Amazon back in March, the Dimetrodon and the most recent Anklyosaurus.
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 40% off coupon to pick up the Dimetrodon.
The Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur despite always being lumped in with them. It is actually a prehistoric reptile. Dinosaurs have their legs beneath their bodies while reptiles have their legs splayed out to the sides.
The Dimetrodon has a great pose and a sculpt with tons of wrinkles and folds in its leathery hide. The deco is muted, full of deep earthy tones. As Safari Ltd. hand paints each figurine, there is some slop in the applications, but nothing too distracting or in need of repainting.
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 small Dimetrodon was $9.99 but only cost me $5.99 with the 40% off coupon. They are fairly heavy and well constructed, but still expensive for what they are.
When I checked out, I received a 60% off coupon that matures tomorrow so I am going to go back and pick up the Anklyosaurus.
