Collection Review: Papo, Safari Ltd & CollectA Hyena and Canids

Figure Brand: Papo& Safari Ltd & CollectA

Figure Name(s): Hyena (50252)
African Wild Dog (239729)
Maned Wolf (88595)

Sex: Hyena – Male
African Wild Dog – female
Maned Wolf- female

Name: Hyena –Shenzi
African Wild Dog – Aala - (African???-she who protects and hunts)
Maned Wolf- - Aaliyah (Hebrew- Lofty, towering, exalted one)

Year Made: Hyena –2019
African Wild Dog – 2005
Maned Wolf- 2013

Observations/Thoughts:
These wild dog species make up an interesting collection. What I love about them is the choosing of species that aren’t typical sculpted a lot in the animal kingdom?

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Shenzi the Papo hyena is the first of this trio. I’m always being delighted by Papo’s models and what animals they depict and choosing a hyena I believe is a great choice as hyenas tend to be overlooked in the animal kingdom. They sadly don’t seem to get enough love or appreciation, so it was nice to see Papo depicting one. I call my hyena Shenzi as a direct reference to The Lion King. I find his pose a little bit on the neutral side, with all four feet on the ground, one foreleg slightly back while the other is forward, he appears to be staring directly ahead with head straight and tail down. I think the pose might be a…squaring up one? With this pose he could be used in a diorama posed to appear as though he’s standing guard over a carcass. I don’t know if there are any carcass figurines apart from a few dinosaurs. (Something else to go on the long list of wishes…)
Shenzi stands neutrally on the ground, his colouration seems very much true to form with a hyena, as he’s b0th a patchy grey, brown, sandy through to dark chocolate brown and black. His coat is randomly speckled all over with brown patches and he’s moulded to appear as having thick tufts of shaggy hair. His ears are really big and realistic looking and I think he has that determined, focused facial expression which leads me to think he could be posed to appear as though he’s standing, alert beside a carcass.

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The next animal is Aala the Safari Ltd African Wild Dog. I adore these creatures and feel this one from Safari Ltd really needs an overhaul as I find her overall pose and facial expression really need to be redone. These are really cool dogs and definitely deserve a fitting model. Aala stands with all four feet spread out on the ground and one foreleg pressed forward. Again, she could be made better to represent a focused or even stalking look, but she isn’t, instead both her eyes are staring stupidly up at the ceiling. I find this choice for her eyes completely baffling and bizarre. I don’t know why they’d do this for her model, and I find it extremely frustrating. Especially since the rest of her seems fine, she has a realistic looking and detailed coat pattern and large tufted ears, but these are all offset by the ridiculous look of her eyes staring upwards?

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The last in the trio is Aaliyah the CollectA maned wolf. An unusual species to depict which I really love, she has such a long loping look with a foreleg stretched outwards and the back one spread behind. I also like the fact she’s looking over to the side over her shoulder, makes me think something has called her attention in the long grasses. However well detailed she may be, which I think she is, as individual tufts of hair are visible, I don’t know if her coat colour is right? Looking them up they are a sandy orange, brown to russet sort of colour, however mine seems overly orange? Other than that, she is a fine and unusual animal to be depicted.

Rating: Hyena – 4/5
African Wild Dog – 3/5
Maned Wolf – 5/5

Safari's wild dog is one of my favorite figures from them! Maybe you have a newer model? Mine's eyes are looking directly ahead, not up.

Interesting Joliezac, I'd love a straight gazed one because definitely with mine her eyes aren't straight!

I enjoy reading your review because you explain why you give these rattings. The fact I sometimes do not agree doesn't mean I'm right.
I gve 3 to the hyena, it is nicely detailed but in my opinion it does not match the morphology of the species.
On the other hand, I give 5 to the Safari African wild dog and the CollectA maned wolf. Both are really accurate representatives of the respective species. CollectA's might have a more updated finish but Safari did a very good job considering the age of this model. Safari's style often doesn't work on faces but for the "painted" effect on this figure's body,  it worked perfectly
Here is mine, it is printed 1010 so it is from the 2010 production batch. What's printed on yours?

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Roger wrote:

I enjoy reading your review because you explain why you give these rattings. The fact I sometimes do not agree doesn't mean I'm right.
I gve 3 to the hyena, it is nicely detailed but in my opinion it does not match the morphology of the species.
On the other hand, I give 5 to the Safari African wild dog and the CollectA maned wolf. Both are really accurate representatives of the respective species. CollectA's might have a more updated finish but Safari did a very good job considering the age of this model. Safari's style often doesn't work on faces but for the "painted" effect on this figure's body,  it worked perfectly
Here is mine, it is printed 1010 so it is from the 2010 production batch. What's printed on yours?

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I can't seem to find a batch number on mine. Just "Wild Safari African Wild Dog" 2004 Safari Ltd Miami FL Made in China. Then a "2" on the leg

Interesting indeed, mine is from a much later batch because I only got her last year. Here is what the eyes on my model look like, so it's obviously a feature in later models:
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[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]It is hard to see your tiny picture but to me it is not that bad, just a different expression. Yours is probably bored for being so long on catalogue.
@Jolie, early batches are not printed , when did you buy it? As you can see on mine, the print is quite easy to find. About what is marked, I think it is the same on every model. As you know, 2004 is the year when they started the production.

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I can’t remember when I got mine, but there isn’t a batch number in white, I can’t find any batch number on it at all. I must have gotten it not long after release..

I remember well how amazed I was discovering one in a small shop showcase as I was visiting Genova in Italia!.. Since Safari ltd  models are very hard to find in France I had bought 2! I am just coming to check: no date mark, one is watching perfectly straight then the other one watchs straight with one eye and up with the other one! I had never noticed this detail..

 About the Papo hyaena, I think it would be better with strippes! Did you canceled the spots on its manner?

I think I've read some reviews about people with the African Wild Dog, how one eye is straight and the other is facing up, t's fairly bizarre...

Figures with crossed eyes are relatively common. Schleich is the only brand we have plenty shops to choose the best painted one, most of the other brands we have to acquire online and it is just a question of luck.
About the printed numbers, as I mentioned, early batches do not have it, for example, my Safari coyote lacks it and it actually is good because sometimes those printed numbers do not contribute to the realism of a figure. See how the wonderful Arctic wolf has the printed number in a very unfortunate place. You can easily see 0310 printed on the inner left rear leg of my figure while the one on TAW, from Christophe's collection, does not have it.

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p.s. contrarily to Papo, Safari numbers have first the production month and then the year.

Mine has a mark on her...paw I think? Belly? Probably paw? I don't remember what the numbers are though?