Bison by Safari Ltd 2018- a walkaround

Here is the Wild Safari North American Wildlife 2018 plains bison. When it was released I was surprised to see a new bison in the lineup, so I decided to satisfy my curiosity by getting it. In hand, it is excellent- in my opinion the best version from any of the current brands. He is accurately sculpted, nicely painted in brown tones, and has a face with character. The pose is great- besides the intended posturing/display pose, it also works for confronting a predator or, viewed from the side, gives a pretty good general movement/walking impression (also helpful for a toy: the splay of the legs makes it stand better on carpet than its predecessor).

I'm including a link to a comparison topic with the previous bison and white bison below these walkaround photos, so there won't be so many pictures on one page.


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With the 2008 and 2014 models. Full comparison    [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].
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A wonderful bison :)

Thank you for these beautiful photos Andy
This is a great walkaround of a great model.
And my favorite Bison model too
One thing I didn`t like when I saw it on my hands ...and this was these so wide open hind legs.
Just because it is not a typical for Bisons ... but then I watched some videos, where two bisons have a fight , I saw there that sometimes, when they move to the side , the hind legs can be open like that. Yes, this is very very rare posture ... but still can be real, which makes me like this model even more :)

I'm not surprised we agree on the quality of this model.

While a wider spread to the legs is not unusual for a toy model (it does stand steadier than the previous one), in this case it is reasonably accurate for a displaying or fighting bull. In fact, this picture from Wikipedia shows the legs even further apart: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

You could also tip him over and imagine he is rolling in the dirt:
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Yes Andy, this picture from Wikipedia is a very good example :)

This model is also one of my favorite sculptured models by Doug Watson`s hands.
So my goes to him :)

Doug did indicate I believe that this bison was designed to be taking up a defensive posture. Interesting all three Safari bisons are different scultps!

I also find this figure very realistic and serious as it is usual with Doug's sculpts. The fur is nicely textured, there is a fine detail allover the figure, the back seems also very sculpted and the head too. There are several good American bison figures and maybe you are right that this one may be the best.

Very nice bison even if I still prefer the old Lineol one

Is someone have a comparison pic with the WW one?

Thank you Andy for this great topic

Kikimalou wrote:

Is someone have a comparison pic with the WW one?

I'd like to see this, too. I don't have any WW models but the bison would be among my top considerations.

I can't bring myself to compare models too directly to Lineols, which have such a distinct artistic style.

I can't prevent myself to compare my models with new products unfortunately. , despite their different styles, materials...

We are living a great period for animal toy collectors, maybe the greatest ever, but I'm still waiting for something really great about some species: Elephants, moose, black rhinoceros, European and American bisons.

A lot of models are very good but I'm still unsatisfied with these ones. Maybe I'm too picky but it is more a feeling than a thought process.

I keep coming back to this thread too. I was planning on getting this figure for my Synoptic Collection, but the more research I did into images living animals in the wild, I decided the CollectA one was more of my liking. Still, I may reverse my decision some day ;-)

Christophe, that is a nice testament to the artistry behind some of these older products. I can relate to the feeling you describe- there is a Gestalt to animal models beyond the aspects we usually describe as positive or negative. (Yes, elephant creation seems to be a complex task in this regard...)

Blaine, the CollectA looks like a nice model and shows the shedding fur, a realistic feature most models don't have. Personally, the head/face has always looked a little strange to me, but I haven't seen it in person.

As a side thought, I'd love to see a bison made in a grazing pose. The grazing/drinking Schleich zebra is one of that brand's masterpieces.

bmathison1972 wrote:

I keep coming back to this thread too. I was planning on getting this figure for my Synoptic Collection, but the more research I did into images living animals in the wild, I decided the CollectA one was more of my liking. Still, I may reverse my decision some day ;-)

A.R.Garcia wrote:

Blaine, the CollectA looks like a nice model and shows the shedding fur, a realistic feature most models don't have. Personally, the head/face has always looked a little strange to me, but I haven't seen it in person.

I had the CollectA bison in the past, I think it has indeed good details but the whole thing doesn't work for me, there is something odd in the global shape I really dislike.