Pteranodon (Conquering the Earth by Schleich)

Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy

Long time collectors may remember Schleich’s first Pteranodon, part of the Replica Saurus line back in 2001. It was an elegant creature, beautifully sculpted, and still pleasing to the modern collector’s eye. In 2018, almost two decades later, Schleich released a new version as part of the Conquering the Earth line. If it does live up to the old version and if it may even surpass it we will see today.

Like the previous version, this one is sculpted in a flying pose, which is usually a nightmare for display but the perfect pose for play. The head is even slightly tilted, giving it a very dynamic pose when seen from front. The crest shape shows it is clearly a Pteranodon, not a Geosternbergia. The confluent naris and antorbital fenestra are greatly pronounced as they are separated from the rest of the face by lacrimal keratin that grows from the bill. The bill is massive and straight, lacking the upcurve we see in Pteranodon skull fossils. Due to the extension of the bill, no room for a throat pouch is left and I can also only call it a bill as opposed to a beak due to how massive and blunt it is. The crest is not covered in a keratin sheathe and instead in wrinkly skin, oddly. Around the wrinkled eyelids, four large scales can be seen surrounding the eyes. The strangest features of this toy are the shoehorn-like structures that extend from the beak over the brows to the crest. I can’t really think of a reason why Schleich came up with this, especially given that it doesn’t appear very organic due to the angular ends. Usually such bizarre features would have resulted from plagiarism such as the plates of the Conquering the Earth Carnotaurus but this appears to be an original creation. Perhaps it was inspired by the questionable design of the Jurassic World Pteranodon. While less detailed, the Replica Saurus Pteranodon made the head look more natural and anatomically correct than this newer version.

On the other end of the body we have the feet, which are unlike actual pterosaur feet. Instead, they are rather bird-like, similar to what one would see on a monster movie creature. If you feel like you can actually make it hang down from a wooden chopstick like a bat, I’ve tried it out and it works. On the feet are also large randomly placed scales that make it all the more monstrous. The old version did that better with the plantigrade feet we know from pterosaurs.

The back is covered in pycnofibers, which is at least one point for accuracy. They have been sculpted to look quite fluffy, quite unlike the slimmer fit on the Replica Saurus version that even had the spinous processes of the backbone sticking out. The wings are quite broad and propatagia are present, so there is at least that, but the metacarpals are incredibly short when they would be rather long on the real animal. A pteroid bone is also nowhere to be found on this toy while the Replica Saurus version did possess that. On the back side, the hind limbs just appear out of nowhere, emerging somewhere from the wings.

How the hind limbs connect to the body can only be seen from the underside, which also shows where the tail actually is.

The body of this Pteranodon is coloured a dark rusty brown, the beak is bright orange, the face pink with white eyes that have been previously described by reviewers as cartoony, the claws and bumpy foot scales are black, and the wing membranes and the weird brow structures are bright Babybel wrapper red. The toy measures 14.9 cm long and has a wingspan of 23.2 cm.

The overall absurdity of this toy becomes apparent when directly compared to a more anatomically correct one such as the Safari Ltd. toy that was released just one year after.

The odd shoehorn structures actually reminded me of something, something that is the reason why I ultimately bought this figure. It is the strange feather moustache of the Inca tern, so I got my hands on this model specifically to paint it like that bird, as you can see below.

In the end, the classic blue-headed Replica Saurus toy remains the better Pteranodon. This new Conquering the Earth version still feels good in hand and is fun to play with, but compared to its predecessor, it is an unfortunate downgrade. Perhaps someday there will be a third attempt and looking at the upcoming 2021 pterosaurs by Schleich, I think they could make a great one if only they pick the right artist for this task.