Wolves by Toy Major (T.M.) - Same model like wolf by Safari Vanishing Wild

Recently I found these wolves. First I thought it was the wolves from the Vanishing Wild series by Safari.
But, to my surprise the wolves are by T.M.
The model by T.M. is virtually identical to the wolf by Safari.
Only differences are the color and model by T.M. is a few grams lighter.

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Is it a copy or a license? The T.M. wolf is five years younger as the wolf by Safari.

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The adult T.M. wolf is marked with these informations under the belly:

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The young wolf is only marked with Made in China.

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If somebody is interesting in, wolves by T.M. and Safari are for sale.

Good question

Safari's Vanishing Wild figures have been used before (I think Schleich sold some under their brand as well). I am not sure if Safari sold the rights to the molds or if both companies are using a 'common mold'. Some of the figures in Safari's Insects TOOB are in the TM-style indicating another sharing of sculpts. The TM figures and Vanishing Wild are older, so it's possible a while back there was more sharing between the companies.

TM is often accused of copying other companies, but where their insect figures are concerned, the TM figures always have the earliest year so likely they are not the copycats.

It is really surprising and quite interesting, Yvette!
As far as we know, Vanishing Wild figures are Safari designs or is it just the earlier ones?
What may happen sometimes, is that they really design them but they are manufactured in China under a partnership with a manufacturer. Toy Major is a manufacturer, they accept oem projects, it means that design is not theirs but the equipment is. Often these moulds are later available for under the manufacturer's brand. It always depend of the kind of agreement between the companies or sometimes they are also used inadvertently... inadvertently is not exactly the correct word... However, it is all speculative, I have no idea neither official sources, it remains as a mistery.
I only want to add that in 1997 (these are from 1995) TM released a few Forest sets of large solide figures showing an adulte and a young. The wolves from 1997 are different from these but it doesn't mean these were not made as a similar set 2 years before. TM always released loads of figures. I have the foxes of the 1997 sets, the adulte I acquired from you and it is marked like your wolf with complete information while the kit is just marked Made in China as the wolf pup is.

Gosh, Yvette ! Where do you find all these interesting models ?    

I never knew this before, - thankyou very much for sharing  

bmathison1972 wrote:

....... (I think Schleich sold some under their brand as well). ......

Yes, Schlech sold some of the VW models back in '93, but they were moulded with Safari's name. Actually they were exactly the same.
The tags too, except that "Safari" was replaced by "Schleich".
The tale goes that the people in Safari's production joked about it , saying that "Taday we make Schleich", while thay were making exactly the same models.

Safari also sold Schleich models in '90, as you can see on p1 here : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
They also sold TM and Invicta and many other brands.

The only model I know sold by both Schleich and Safari but with eac ones name mould on is the Mountain goat ( Schleich 2005 - 7, and Safari 2008 - 11)