Safari ltd., the daring company

Wow! That flying squirrel is adorable! I'll have to keep an eye out for him...

Safari ltd is one of my favorite manufacturers too (in my heart, their most serious competitors are Bullyland and CollectA).

Safari's major strength really is that they are not afraid of representing animals we have never seen before; in other words, they are not afraid of TAKING RISKS. Because when you dare releasing something few people know about, you take the risk to lose sales. Plus, you have to make the effort of making researches. And they take that risk for a reason: to offer diversity to their customers. And it's that diversity of unseen animals that I love. Why? Because it's only when you are conscious of nature's diversity that you are more willing to make efforts to preserve it. A person who thinks the only wild animals out there are panda bears and tigers won't take nature conservation people seriously. However, a person who knows there are eleven species of baleen whales and eight species of bears in the world will take them a little more seriously. You cannot convince someone to preserve nature by showing him/her the same old species day after day; you have to go further than that. And Safari ltd DOES GO further, much further.

CollectA basically has the same strength; only, their main diversity is in their prehistoric line. But why would it be important to be conscious of the diversity of a world that does no longer exist? Simple: it's because the link between prehistory and the present world is easy to make. A child who thinks there were only ten species of dinos in the ancient times will think there also are only ten species of animals in the present world. "In the past, there were T-Rexes, Triceratopses and Diplodocuses; today, there are lions, tigers, elephants and giraffes". And that will be it. The only reason why I don't own that many CollectA pieces simply is because I have to get them shipped from Europe, and that is a problem for me: it becomes expensive. Yet, I do have six pieces: Blue Whale, Hatzegopteryx, Indricotherium, Beckelspinax, Agustinia and Terror Bird. And I'm expecting my Gigantoraptor via mail this month.
One catch: I think they (some sort of) copied Bullyland by releasing ALSO a Deinotherium, and (some sort of) copied Safari ltd by releasing ALSO a Miragaia...

Bullyland also makes researches to release unseen animals (Deinotherium and Paratypothorax are among their classics), yet they release lower numbers of them. But that is because they do something only Playmobil and Lego also do: THEY AVOID MAKING THEIR STUFF IN CHINA. Because nowadays, stores are litterally invaded by Made In China merchandise. Toys Made in China, hats Made in China, skirts Made in China, boots Made in China, jewelry Made in China, books Printed in China... and because of that, industries all around the world are closing and jobs are lost because companies move their production to China, where they can slave workers for ten cents a day. This year, Schleich are retiring their very last pieces Made in Portugal, which means more portugese people lost their jobs for the profit of China. But did Schleich lower their prices for that? NO-O-O! We still pay big prices for them, just like if they were still purely european like before... But when you buy Bullyland, you buy "Made in Germany", "Made in Bosnia" and "Made in Sri Lanka". OK, Sri Lanka is also an asian country with low salaries; but at least, it's not in the industrial overconcentration of China. It's in a different country where people also have the right to work. I personnally have a lot of Bullyland pieces for a person who has to have them shipped from across the ocean (around 40 pieces). But knowing I'm buying something else then "Made in China" encourages me...

And my newer Safari ltd. arrivals - few interesting species

Monteray bay series
MANTARAY
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HAMMERHEAD SHARK
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Galapagos animals

FRIGATE BIRD
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Galapagos giant tortoise
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EMU
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Your newcomers are phantastic Doc

BEAUUUUTYFUL ! CONGRATULATIONS !

Ohhh, I adore that fregate bird
They should make one for the "Wings of the World"-series

SUSANNE wrote:

BEAUUUUTYFUL ! CONGRATULATIONS !

Ohhh, I adore that fregate bird
They should make one for the "Wings of the World"-series

Agreed!
... and congratulations again, Doc!

Thanks Andreas , Susanne and Roger .......yes, the frigate bird

BANDAÏ made an excellent Frigate bird too

A month back , I captured a very nice lot of Vanishing wild models for a fantastic deal [ 15 animals for just 80 $ on ebay ] . Vanishing wild series is one line which I admire a lot for their models' elegance and vintage beauty

I am so happy with these additions

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the older version tiger cub [ left ] is the new arrival
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my most awaited Snow leopard male and cub
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prowling wolf
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Polar bears
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Brown bear
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African Elephant male
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this guy has got a twin brother already
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Howling grey wolf [ color variant ]
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Brown bear cub [ he too has a twin brother ]
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Great deal, Doc!
This line is very nice, I enjoy specially the standing polar bear.

Big congratulations for this good catch doc (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)):

Beautyful, beautyfulk models, and in extremely fine shape, too (o)):

CONGRATULATIONS

Thank you Roger , Andreas n Susanne

Luckily they r in a very good state esp. the snow leopard n cub

Given an opportunity , I would grab one more African elephant adult , I adore him soooo much

Wow, nice lot of VW animals Doc! Big congratulations!

Thank u Ana , VW series is phenomenal (o)):

Congrats! Is this the same lot I told you about?

Ofcourse Kevin, bcoz of u I could get this beautiful treasures . I sent a pm to u the moment I won the auction .Anyway, thanks a ton for ur great guidance .