Another “Savanah Summer” that will see us back into the water, or at least wade through it. After all, though they are known as “water horses”, the Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) does not actually swim like it’s cetacean relatives, more hopping along the bottom of the body of water they are in, so don’t venture into deep water. Best not to disturb them in water though, as they are highly dangerous in water. Their large size has earned them a large number of models, and here we see one from Safari ltd.
One thing that will likely draw the eye is the colouration. It seems very light, despite hippos usually darker grey and red. This is largely due to exposure to sun and what the body does to cope, though it can be found with this lighter grey colouration. It could be a little darker and not overall grey, but pretty good. It’s an older model, so some parts (largely the black areas) aren’t brilliantly painted, but not horrible.
The pose is actually quite peaceful, as if staring into the water or looking for something to eat. It’s nice as a lot of hippo models show them yawning or going into a fight. It is a decent size, measuring 5.4″ long and 2.1″high, good for several lines. It do like the details on the snout, is very well done, though pretty smooth overall otherwise.
This is a nice old figure, and has been well played with by myself as a child and survived. I won’t call it the best, but I would say it was in the higher-middle range of the hippo models. It is from 1996 and now discontinued, so eBay is the best if you want it, maybe not for the collectors shelf, but maybe to wallow in a playground. Now we’ve cooled off, back to the heat of the “Savanah Summer”!
When I was initially a general collector, before my decade-plus stint specializing in arthropods, this was my hippo! It’s been long replaced by the most recent CollectA version, but it’s still a very nice piece!
My daughter has a TOOB figure that is identical to this hippo, this is my first time seeing its larger counterpart.