Ideas for Safari 2022

sphyrna18 wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

QuollMate wrote:

At this point, Safari is weeks away from revealing their 2022 lineup. Anything new posted here won’t be a remote possibility until 2023.

Most of the things in this thread are a remote possibility period.

Given the current state of things regarding animal replicas, I'd say most of the things in this thread aren't even a remote possibility - even in our wildest dreams.  One glance at Amazon, eBay, or any other similar site, and you are bombarded with bootlegs and cheap knockoff figures like never before.  Some of the bootlegs are even on par with (or better!) than the quality of the official figure.  Some offer more realistic colors or different species; regardless, at the rate the official figures are being bootlegged, it will not take long for all of our beloved companies to shift their focus to other ventures or go out of business.  Further, look in almost any zoo or aquarium gift shop and you can see that there is not a lot of love for high quality replicas.  Plush/stuffed/cartoony toys, cheap novelties, and cars & trucks dominate the children's areas of gift shops.  Gone are the amazing displays of replicas.... or even the cheap animal toys that were staples in the past.

Safari has moved more and more into distribution this past year over production of new figures.  They are opening up a new, brick-and-mortar store in their new home city.  Their focus appears to be on other ventures than producing bootleggers' next big sellers.

Safari has been going downhill for years in my opinion. They’ve turned into a Montessori brand, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what they end up becoming. They haven’t gotten much of my money in 5+ years. You raise good points about the bootlegs though— I see them everywhere on AliExpress.