Schleich New for 2017

[Shonisaurus]

This next year will be more disappointing than the previous ones in terms of Schleich.

Seeing their figures is a good invitation not to buy them. In the bad the stegosaurus (already this year) and microraptor are both less horrible figures.

[Derek.McManus]

  As collectors and having a certain degree of knowledge about things we are all entitled to our opinion on Schliech as say models or replicas....but as toys I saw one young chap in my local bookshop which also stocks the Schliech range playing with a pair of Giganotosaurs and a Pentaceratops and he was having a great time! I would suggest no young enthusiasts today means fewer collectors on down the line...after all the dinosaur toys I had in the 1970s are barely worthy of the name! 

[Jose S.M.]

As collectors and having a certain degree of knowledge about things we are all entitled to our opinion on Schliech as say models or replicas....but as toys I saw one young chap in my local bookshop which also stocks the Schliech range playing with a pair of Giganotosaurs and a Pentaceratops and he was having a great time! I would suggest no young enthusiasts today means fewer collectors on down the line...after all the dinosaur toys I had in the 1970s are barely worthy of the name! 

I think you are right in that if their toys manage to awake a child's interest in dinosaurs,  said child might want to get knowledge of the dinosaurs and eventually switch to more accurate toys and updated info,  as a child I only didn't like when the herbivores had razor sharp teeth,  other inaccuracies I forgave them, now I prefer as much accuracy as I can.  But also I think schleich can do better and should do it. Collecta and safari and other brands are still toys and more accurate. Schleich doesn't have to change everything of their brand,  just make better decisions about accuracy

[CityRaptor]

Depending where they are, there is not really a choice, given how dominant Schleich is in Germany for example. If they want something else, they will have to buy online.

I really don't like the way the feathering is done on the Velociraptor, it kind of makes me shudder. It sorta looks like it has dropsy, if there's any aquarists here.

I'm pretty sure Schleich confirmed that the new raptors are Utahraptor and Deinonychus. But yeah, the feathers aren't great.

Oh yes..of course their "Velociraptor" looks more like the Terrible Claw anyways.

[Gwangi]

I really don't like the way the feathering is done on the Velociraptor, it kind of makes me shudder. It sorta looks like it has dropsy, if there's any aquarists here.

Yes, I know what you mean, and I agree.

Personally, it reminds me of the really old reconstructions of Archeopteryx.

[Halichoeres]

Seeing their figures is a good invitation not to buy them.

Hilariously put, well done. I think that objectively Shleich is mostly improving, or at least not getting any worse. Unfortunately, everyone else (except Bullyland) is getting better faster. I wonder, if Papo hadn't put out their almost-right Velociraptor this year, and Colorata and Rebor weren't making good-faith efforts to feather their raptors, and we weren't awash in gorgeous prototype photos of the Beasts of the Mesozoic line, whether these new Schleich offerings would look quite so unpleasant. This really is the year of the feathered dromaeosaurid. And only 15 or 20 years late.

[SpartanSquat]

Well my opinion.

-Brachiosaurus: Looks much better than the first one from the new line.
-Stegosaurus: The best of the 4 new revealed.
- Allosaurus: I think I prefferd to see by my eyes. The problem is Schleich have really bad photographers and some models have a really bad angle, for example Spinosaurus (purple) and Dimetrodon look horrible in the pics but I have the figures and looks nice and decent.
- Utahraptor: At least Schleich is trying to add more feathers to their dromeosaurs.
Minis: Why update the t-rex when spinosaurus had the same model with different colours. The same with raptor.
I think we should open the 2017 news section. We have enought confirmations for new 2017 toys.

[Silvanusaurus]

Lots of people have said Schleich is at least trying with the raptors, but I don't believe they are actually trying. It isn't as though they have attempted to sculpt a realistically feathered dinosaur and have just fallen short, or have failed somehow. If they wanted to sculpt a properly feathered dinosaur, they wouldnt need to try very hard, their sculptors obviously have enough talent to render the requisite detail to accomplish it, you can see by their figures of extant birds that feather forms are not difficult for them to grasp, and they know how to get colour schemes from google image searches, so it isnt a stretch that they could find a multitude of references for realistically feathered dinosaurs to 'inspire' them.

The only reason they don't do proper feathers on their dinosaurs is because they are chosing not to, rather than because they don't know how to, or lack the skill to do so. Schleich decided it wanted to make gaudy, awkward, gangling monsters, and so it did. It hasn't strived for anything more than that. They are either just lazy and don't care about trying for anything more, or are just consistently loyal to a visual style that is very strange and difficult to appreciate for those of us who prefer imagery that is natural, or is at the least vaguely pleasing to the eye.

Personally I find it would be easier to believe that Schleich are actually trying to make the most obnoxiously ugly Dinosaur toys on the market. I mean, come on... I've seen £1 Chinasaurs with more class than that Allosaurus... 

Anyway... do or do not, there is no try... 

[Gwangi]

A lot of companies get the feathering wrong, and it's frustrating. Even the Carnegie Velociraptor is badly feathered, though infinitely better than what Schleich puts out. I don't understand why companies so seldom get the feathering right. Like you said, it shouldn't be difficult to grasp.

[Rain]

A lot of companies get the feathering wrong, and it's frustrating. Even the Carnegie Velociraptor is badly feathered, though infinitely better than what Schleich puts out. I don't understand why companies so seldom get the feathering right. Like you said, it shouldn't be difficult to grasp.

I've always wondered why companies(in general, not just Schleich) are hesitant to give their Dromaeosaurs primary feathers. I understand why they'd opt for scaly over feathery but it just seems weird to me for them to not complete the wing. I think we can all agree that half finished wings just look silly regardless of whether you like feathered dinosaurs or not.

[terrorchicken]

b/c they are convinced boys(especially boys) wont want to play with plastic bird figures.

[pylraster]

Schleich should get a better designer for their figures. Surely the sculptors have talent, but they might have been following terribly inaccurate concept art.

[CityRaptor]

Well, what do you expect? Their research is Google Image Search and watching Jurassic Park movies. One of the imaged shown on screen in that video is literally a promo pic for TLW:JP.

b/c they are convinced boys(especially boys) wont want to play with plastic bird figures.

I dunno. Their other specifically boy oriented line ( Yes, Schleich considers Dinosaurs boys only ) features griffons, which are basically birds with lion butts.

[Appalachiosaurus]

Lots of people have said Schleich is at least trying with the raptors, but I don't believe they are actually trying. It isn't as though they have attempted to sculpt a realistically feathered dinosaur and have just fallen short, or have failed somehow. If they wanted to sculpt a properly feathered dinosaur, they wouldnt need to try very hard, their sculptors obviously have enough talent to render the requisite detail to accomplish it, you can see by their figures of extant birds that feather forms are not difficult for them to grasp, and they know how to get colour schemes from google image searches, so it isnt a stretch that they could find a multitude of references for realistically feathered dinosaurs to 'inspire' them.

Schleich most likely have different sculptors for their modern and prehistoric life, and since they aren't smart enough to let the bird people do the dromaeosaurs, we are stuck with an expert on lizards and dragons trying to make a bird of prey.

[Takama]

I wonder if what ED showed is everything for the year, or if there is more to come in the summer mounths

[Silvanusaurus]

I think it said in the ED article that there would indeed be more later in 2017.

[Sim]

The Microraptor's colouration looks like it's inspired by this image, which is one of the first results in a Google image search for Microraptor: http://www.search4dinosaurs.com/191_microraptor_robert_squier/

[sauroid]

LOL i am not at all surprised. their researchers are a buncha lazy people.

[pylraster]

Isn't there like, any way to contact Schleich? or at least talk to someone within the company. They can really, really benefit from our help. But they probably wouldn't care. Still, I think it's worth a shot.

[Derek.McManus]

I strongly suspect that a large commercial company such as Schliech has very little interest in the views of a small niche group of collectors, their main thrust will be to create the largest profit for the minium outlay and I also strongly that the market that it is the junior end of the market or to be more exact the parents of the same that they are aimed at! It is my understanding that Schliech as a company have gone to great lengths to position themselves as the first company that will be encountered at point of sale with regards to animal and dinosaur figures.