Schleich's future

[tyrantqueen]

Seeing anchry6's suggestion thread, that got me thinking...has anyone ever tried to get in contact with Schleich?

I was wondering if it would be possible to make some suggestions as to how Schleich could improve their dinosaur line, much like Mojo and CollectA have done. If there is one community that Schleich might listen to, it is the DTF.

I have always thought Schleich dinosaurs have potential, since their toys are pretty well detailed. It's not like their sculptor doesn't have any talent, he/she is most likely just paid to keep producing bad JP rip offs.

Before anyone says that "Schleich sucks", and "why I am bothering?" keep in mind that Schleich have made some really good figures in the past, like their Edmontonia, Parasaurolophus, and many others. Also, they have a very good modern animal line up, especially their sharks and whales.

So, why not?

If you had any suggestions for Schleich, what would they be? What dinosaurs would you be interested in seeing?

Anyone know anything about contacting them? Would it need to be written in German?

Here are my ideas
1. STOP ripping off JP and WWD. Most important.
2. Consult a paleontologist
3. Stop with the zombie hands on their theropods, and the gigantic heads and feet.
4. Keep the detail up. That is one thing they should be commended for

[Roselaar]

Would Schleich bother with our suggestions? Schleich's strength is marketing, they've proven excellent at getting their products wide distribution and brand recognition, by our standards undeserved. However, their tactic ensures they make ample money, so why would they care about improving their products if they can just continue to do what they do and make more money than most of their competitors who do bother with accuracy and quality?

Sorry to be such a pessimist, but this is really how I see Schleich.

[Gwangi]

Would Schleich bother with our suggestions? Schleich's strength is marketing, they've proven excellent at getting their products wide distribution and brand recognition, by our standards undeserved. However, their tactic ensures they make ample money, so why would they care about improving their products if they can just continue to do what they do and make more money than most of their competitors who do bother with accuracy and quality?

Sorry to be such a pessimist, but this is really how I see Schleich.

I agree, they even sell them at Wal-Mart now. I also agree that they have a lot of potential and some of their figures aren't bad, I suppose it couldn't hurt to try. I have no tips that I can think of myself that TQ has not already mentioned.

[tyrantqueen]

Would Schleich bother with our suggestions? Schleich's strength is marketing, they've proven excellent at getting their products wide distribution and brand recognition, by our standards undeserved. However, their tactic ensures they make ample money, so why would they care about improving their products if they can just continue to do what they do and make more money than most of their competitors who do bother with accuracy and quality?

Sorry to be such a pessimist, but this is really how I see Schleich.

It's fine. Honest opinions are valued as well

[SBell]

Schleich has no interest in doing any of the things you've suggested. We know this because until two years ago they were associated with the Stuttgart museum. Then they revamped, got rid of that line, and started to suck hard. it was also when they started copying Papo with the moving jaws (to say nothing of some of their sculpt inspirations).

Their strength now is in mass appeal and broad name recognition. They don't need dino collectors, as horse and animal people can be Schleich fanatics. The dinos are just to ensure that no gift shop or store is left untouched.

Between this and their very nasty marketing strategy (they have been known to make retailers sign rather tough agreements regarding minimums and display frontage, for example) I really have no interest in supporting more than I (well, my kids) need to.

[postsaurischian]

    (this was my first reaction when I saw the thread's title - cool!)

I tried to put some influence on Bullyland about 1 - 2 years ago. Of course with the help of a close friend of mine who's working for a designer company and who had contact to Bullyland's manageress.

I could see that they have great sculptors at Bullyland (Really! Trust me! Give them a good design and they make you an accurate 3D copy). We were talking about their Stegosaurus and its inaccuracies (toes, plates, headshape, bodyshape and so on).
Since neither any person of my friend's company nor any of Bullyland's management floor had any clue about what Dinosaurs should look like, that was my part (and Dr. Andre Mursch's too ). We even started a Zbrush 3D design with the help of one of my friend's company's designers ..... of course it would have been the best on the market ... but guess what - they all lost interest (after weeks of working on the model )

Science advisers? Nonsense! Do they still write that on their tags? I don't know, haven't bought any of their last years' releases.

Anyway - this is the Schleich's future thread ( - I love that title) and I'm coming to the point: They were unbelievably stubborn and resistant to advice at Bullyland, I could hardly believe it, since they were interested in discussing the issue at the beginning. We all know that Bullyland and Schleich are related and date back to the same roots. I'm afraid there is no sense in trying to change their minds about Dinosaurs and I guess SBell is right - they're not even interested a tiny bit in doing so .

[ZoPteryx]

I agree with pretty much everything that's already been said, Schleich has no reason to listen to us, they are hugely successful in other markets.  Sometimes I wonder if that's the only reason why other companies have noticed us, because they fear Schleich and need a niche to exploit.  Schleich certainly has potential though, their sculptors are obviously talented.  I think it's just that they treat their dinos like dinos were treated in the early 1900's and earlier: big, scaley, mythical monsters doomed to extinction and not really worth proper scientific attention.

If I was going to make a suggestion to Schleich it would be this:  Either drop the dinos all together or start investing in some scientific advisors.  Heck, I would be willing to advise them for free if they'd listen!

On that note, do we even have a connection with Schleich like we do with the other companies?

[SBell]

The thing to remember about Schleich (and Bullyland) is that they are no longer independently owned by families that care about their figures. Both were sold several years back (7?) to large conglomerates, neither of which probably want to spend a bunch of money on dinosaurs that will sell anyway (have you seen the 2013 thread? There are people actually excited about the terrible releases for this year!).

Clearly, science is no longer part of it for Schleich. They dropped the museum connection. They dropped their 'good' line. They started Papo-izing their figures. Accuracy is secondary to market share for them now.

[Jetoar]

The thing to remember about Schleich (and Bullyland) is that they are no longer independently owned by families that care about their figures. Both were sold several years back (7?) to large conglomerates, neither of which probably want to spend a bunch of money on dinosaurs that will sell anyway (have you seen the 2013 thread? There are people actually excited about the terrible releases for this year!).

Clearly, science is no longer part of it for Schleich. They dropped the museum connection. They dropped their 'good' line. They started Papo-izing their figures. Accuracy is secondary to market share for them now.

I think the same that you friend  .

[suspsy]

Schleich's dinosaurs are unquestionably lame, but the rest of their toyline is, well, stellar. Their animals are incredibly accurate and beautifully sculpted---and have been steadily improving over the years. Take a look at what their lions and tigers looked like six or seven years ago and what they look like now. The contrast is striking. Their fantasy lines also continue to expand. Tons of dragons, fairies, knights, and Smurfs.

Carnegie, Safari, and Papo may rule the museum stores, but Schleich has its foot in the doors at chains like Toys R Us.

So yes, as others have already noted, they are probably uninterested in any advice we have to offer.

[SBell]

Schleich's dinosaurs are unquestionably lame, but the rest of their toyline is, well, stellar. Their animals are incredibly accurate and beautifully sculpted---and have been steadily improving over the years. Take a look at what their lions and tigers looked like six or seven years ago and what they look like now. The contrast is striking. Their fantasy lines also continue to expand. Tons of dragons, fairies, knights, and Smurfs.

Carnegie, Safari, and Papo may rule the museum stores, but Schleich has its foot in the doors at chains like Toys R Us.

So yes, as others have already noted, they are probably uninterested in any advice we have to offer.

Their dragons are cartoons, but otherwise I'd mostly agree (other than their raccoons. Those look like animated characters. The Safari one, while big, is very accurate).

[Roselaar]

Glad and sad to see I'm not the only pessimist when it comes to Schleich. :-/ I have little hope of any improvement on Schleich's part. I'm more worried about Schleich's aggressive marketing to hurt other, superior toy lines like Papo and Collecta.

[docronnie]

Here in our country, Schleich seems to be selling really well, even figures with paint chips disappear on the shelves.

[SommoDracorex]

I'm mainly a modern animals' collector and I can say that also Schleich figures in modern range are the worst on the market. Not only they continue to repeat the same well known animals every year (such as elephants, bears and hippos), but they don't care at all species anatomy. Instead they try to do cartoonish look figures and produce popular species because doing so they have a greater grip on children. This also applies to their dinosaurs. They don't care to produce accurate animals or dinosaurs, even try to make them more cartoonized as possible. No point wasting time with Schleich. Personally, I stopped collecting Schleich years ago. Companies like Mojö and CollectA listen to their customers and endeavor to improve, I think it's better to dedicate to them.

[tyrantqueen]

Thanks to everyone who commented. My eyes have been opened

[SBell]

Thanks to everyone who commented. My eyes have been opened

It's a tough thing to get used to--when Schleich really hit the market Safari was very much in the doldrums, Invicta was petering out and Carnegie was kind of just 'there' as the main (dinosaur) line. Battat was starting up, but didn't have the range to attract retailers.

So when Schleich, which was well-established in Europe, came along with high quality sculpts, a decent range of figures and a promise to appeal to specialty stores and collectors, the small retailers were thrilled and brought them in.

Now Schleich has become the standard as far as retail goes--setting strict policies with small retailers, entering most large retailers, and forgetting the collectors in favour of big, broad markets. It's to the point where my nieces, when discussing what they want to see as figures, refer to them as 'schleichs' to describe all figures (even the Collecta and Safaris I've given them). So in a way, they are becoming the Kleenex (or Puppy Chow) of animal figures, for better or worse.

[suspsy]

I'm mainly a modern animals' collector and I can say that also Schleich figures in modern range are the worst on the market. Not only they continue to repeat the same well known animals every year (such as elephants, bears and hippos), but they don't care at all species anatomy. Instead they try to do cartoonish look figures and produce popular species because doing so they have a greater grip on children. This also applies to their dinosaurs.

I've already made it clear that I share the overwhelming majority opinion that Schleich's dinosaurs are substandard. However, I fail to see how their modern animals are anatomically incorrect. If anything, they've done their research very well, especially when it comes to horse breeds. I've actually learned more from their line that way.

It is true that they've released new versions of their elephants, lions, tigers, and certain other mammals, but that just proves my point about them improving each time. For example, here is one of their older tiger moulds:



And here is their more recent version:



I'd call that an improvement.

Furthermore, Schleich has released plenty of less popular animals like the African buffalo, the Griffon vulture, the yak, and the tapir.

I'll stress again that I'm not a Schleich junkie. But I still think your criticism is unfair.

[Takama]

Schleich is sold at every farm and home type shop in my region. And i must say that some of there animal figures are very good, and are far better then there lazy @$$ dinosaurs.

[Balaur]

Mojo's dinosaurs a pretty bad, but Schleich, I will never by their dinosaurs again, ever. Unless they improve, I'm done with them. But their modern animals models are not bad.

[SommoDracorex]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I was referring only to releases of the last years.
Look at 2012 and 2013 Schleich animals and compare with Collecta and Mojo released of the same years.
I don't want to offend anyone who likes Schleich, I just think in my opinion that Schleich isn't sure the best company.
All my criticisms were moved in relation to other animal figures on the market.
I like old Schleich animal figures but surely not the new ones.