When it comes to dinosaur lines, Schleich have been a bit of a let down in recent years. Not only have they retired a large proportion of their prehistoric animal figures, their most recent sculpts have been ugly and anatomically incorrect. The sort of toys that wouldn’t seem out of place in a bargain bin of ‘Made in China’ ‘Chinasaurs’. The discrepancy in quality between Schleich’s living animal figures, which are generally excellent, and their prehistoric animals figures, which aren’t, has been growing year by year. So, how are things shaping up for 2014, have we anything to look forward to for 2014, or are we in for another year of duds? Schleich have four new figures in their World of History dinosaurs line up for next year, as follows:
Velociraptor. A real monster of a figure. If you’re going to get a figure anatomically incorrect in every single way, at least try to make it look superficially good. At first glance, this figure fails on so many levels.
Pentaceratops. A ceratopsian rarely depicted in toy form.
Tyrannosaurus. In the case of both the T. rex and Velociraptor, there seems to be a case of ‘spot the difference’ with last year’s models of these two dinosaurs by Schleich.
Therizinosaurus. An intriguing figure.
For some, this new offering may offer a glimmer of hope for Schleich as a reliable manufacturer of dinosaur figures in the future. For others, it may have just put the final nail in their coffin.
Join in the discussion about these new Schleich dinosaur figures on the dinotoyforum here: http://www.dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,1825.0.html
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[…] they have already made. The first instance of this was in 2014 when Schleich released another T. rex and Velociraptor despite the fact that they already had those two animals in their collection. The T. rex did not […]
I think the new Schliech Pentaceratops is one of the best models ever made. It’s just completely badass!!!!
I really think that Schleich should make more figures like Shonisaurus and Desmatosuchus, and not try to copy companies or make inaccurate figures. If only they could turn things around….
[…] had a good ogle at the upcoming (or already released) 2014 dinosaur figures from Papo, Schleich, Safari Ltd, and CollectA, but there’s another well-known long-standing dinosaur […]
If you want to see all the new Schleich, they are now all posted online at SchleichToyStore.com
Do the Pentaceratops and Therizinosaurus really have metallic silver horn and claw sheaths?
We know that they are still toys like all other plastic dinosaurs , but the question is this , with all Schleich toys how more quickly declassified figures dinosaurs?
I understand that something is wrong with that company, and a child for the same price will end up buying a toy figure or another company ( who read it already three companies appear to mean me ) a flawed figure , a boy and I have been cook before friar as the saying goes no fool and also likes to toy quality … and if it is cheaper … much better.
Obviously a collector buy paleontological Sideshow figures , but in the times that we run , how many? someone who has money and most importantly and coming together with the previous annotation with a fairly large house , Sideshow figures are of considerable size .
Ultimately I understand that could make toy figures but more refined in my humble opinion , as to the most important details and a pleasant to touch material for children is not the case .
I’m pretty pessimistic about this company and my greatest desire is to be overcome. On the other hand maybe a step were the first models Pentaceratops Therizinosaurus and especially the last which is inudito market toy vinyl or plastic
Sorry for my little knowledge of English and just in case I send it to my native language.
Sabemos que no dejan de ser juguetes como todos los demás dinosaurios de plástico, pero la pregunta es la siguiente, siendo todos juguetes ¿cómo Schleich desclasifica con mayor prontitud las figuras de dinosaurios?
Entiendo que algo falla en esa empresa, y un niño por el mismo precio acabará comprando una figura o juguete de otra empresa (el que lo lea ya se figurará a que tres empresas me refiero) que una figura defectuosa, un niño y yo he sido cocinero antes que fraile, como dice el refrán, no es tonto y también le gusta la calidad del juguete… y si es más barato… muchísimo mejor.
Obviamente un coleccionista comprará figuras paleontólogicas Sideshow, pero en los tiempos que corremos, ¿cuántos? alguien que tenga dinero y lo más importante y que viene unido a la anotación anterior con una casa bastante grande, las figuras de Sideshow son de tamaños considerables.
En definitiva entiendo que podrían hacer figuras de juguete pero más perfeccionadas a mi humilde entender, en cuanto a detalles y lo más importantes con un material más agradable al tacto para los niños que no es el caso.
Perdonen por mis pocos conocimientos de inglés y por si las dudas lo mando con mi idioma nativo.
I think comparing them to Chinasaurs is unfair and exaggerative, to be honest. They may not be scientifically accurate, but they are not on the same level of the aesthetic quality of a Chinasaur. Look at the detail of the skin impressions on that therizinosaurus. Can you honestly compare that to something like this? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8153266247_d5c2c71ac9_o.jpg
At the end of the day, Schleich’s main target range is people younger than us. These dinosaurs are toys. Not museum quality works of art that would be expected of something like a Sideshow model. Kids (nor me, to an extent) are not going to care about some inaccuracies. At least they’re not depicted as tail draggers or ugly retrosaurs like their earlier models were. These figures, while not perfect, are not as horrible as a lot of over reacting collectors are making it out to be. Sorry to rant but it’s just really getting annoying to hear people constantly whine about inaccuracies of a toy.
Some of these are obviously better than others, my main gripe would be with the Velociraptor. Chinasaurs are basically no brand figures that range in quality greatly – some of them aren’t bad at all. I’m not comparing Schleich with the dregs (yet!). That particular figure you link to is a knockoff of a Marx figure from the 60s. For me, it has more charm and character than the new Schleich Velociraptor. If you search for dinosaur toys on Amazon you’ll find all sorts of modern chinasaurs crop up. Take this set, for example, which comes up top for the keywords ‘dinosaur toys’. In my opinion, some of the new Schleichs are no better in terms of anatomical accuracy and aesthetic appearance than these. Schleich’s animal figures most definitely are museum quality, so, why not their dinosaurs?
Of course, The Dinosaur Toy Blog is all about reviewing figures for their anatomical accuracy.