History: One of the most recognizable dinosaurs, Stegosaurus continues to be a popular choice for TV specials, movies, and of course toys. Stegosaurus lived during the late Jurassic around 150-155 million years ago. It shared a habitat alongside some of the most well known dinosaurs, such as Allosaurus (which would dine on Stegosaurus), Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Diplodocus. It is also likely they lived in multiage herds, due to footprint evidence, which can lead to interesting possibilities for dioramas, or displaying different Stegosaurus models.
In 2012, Schleich introduced a new Stegosaurus toy into the crowded market of stegosaurus toys; let’s see how it stacks up.
About the toy: The stegosaurus is approx 7inches long (19 cent) and 4 inches (10 cent) high from the tip of the plate above the hips. The pose is a slightly active one, with its left leg raised, head is pointed slightly toward the left side and the tail is bent to the right side of its body. It looks to be slowly shuffling along in search of some tasty veggies. On its head you can see its nasal cavity, textured beak, and a small ear hole behind the eye. It has a short neck, then it’s back raises up and looks like a small round hill. Its highest point is above the hips then it comes down a bit in a rounded fashion down the tail then levels out and curves to its right. There are 18 alternating plates along the back, starting with small ones on the neck, they increase in size a reach their apex in size over the hips and then become smaller down the tail. The plates all have texture lines that run vertically up the plates. The tail ends in four tail spikes that are in a classic V formation. The Front legs are short with 5 toes and the back legs are longer with 3 toes.
The texture on the model is very wrinkly and saggy kind of like an elephants. Along the top of the back, but below the plates there appear to be Osteoderms or rounded ossicles of different sizes. On the head there are little skin folds for the jaws, creases on the neck, and a nice jowl of skin underneath the head. The legs show some nice flexed muscles, wrinkled skin along the legs and elbows. The mid torso shows sagging and wrinkled skin that continues all the way down the toy.
The color is basically different shades of brown, and orange. The eyes are glossy black, and the spine is dark brown. The dark brown extends slightly up the plates and then turns to a light brown/tan. The dark brown also stops on the tail at the last plate, and the end of the tail is very light brown, with the spikes being almost white. The beak and toes are dark grey. Beginning at the neck and ending at the beginning of the tail are some circular orange pattern spots.
Scientific accuracy: Not bad, not bad at all. It is missing the throat scutes covering the neck. The head is also a little big and I would have preferred the tail being a little higher, instead of the rounded back that ends in a lower slung tail. Of course they also added one extra plate, but most companies never get close to 17, so not too bad.
Playability: This toy is very playable and children of all ages will enjoy this toy. It is easy to play with, with the points all rounded enough not to hurt anyone. The paint stays on very well, so it can be played with roughly, and can be used inside or out.
Overall appraisal: This is one of Schleich better attempts. I would have preferred a better color choice, but if one is so inclined, I think this would look awesome with a homemade paint job. The eyes are shark like, just black orbs, but it works. There is detail all over this toy, so it’s a joy from every angle. I happen to love Stegosaurus, so I am a bit biased, but this really is a decent toy. It is a good size, with good detail, and pose. I would recommend this for kids, and adults who don’t mind a few minor inaccuracies.
Available from Amazon.com here.
Addendum:
The 2012 World of History version is not a re-sculpt, but it is a new size and paint job. It retains the sculpt of the bigger 2007 Schleich Replica-Saurus Stegosaurus which is now out of production.
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Super blog , really enjoying it, my young daughter loves learning about dinosaurs.
All I can do is but encourage her so been finding out about these Schleich figures and buying some buy confused as to which are early and which are late models. This helps me with the two different types of stegosaur so thank you all.
Wish they were about when I was a lad !
Finally received the Replica-saur Stegosaurus, which I took to the stores to compare with the smaller modern version. I’m glad I didn’t buy that new one. I love the colors on mine. The red plates just stand out and it’s a pretty hefty piece of plastic goodness. Just goes on to show that Schleich can paint their dinosaurs with bright colors without having them look too garish.
Laticauda, I have both in my collection, and they are essentially identical in detail, but the older ReplicaSaurus is both larger and more vivedly painted. The latter replaced an older version that was considerably cruder in detail and very bland in its paint job.
The stegosaurus is the least bad among schleich figures, however I think the head is too big, keep in mind that his head was much smaller than horses. But it’s great especially for children this figure, although the commentary is one hundred percent reliable and thorough to the millimeter.
I agree, one of Schleich’s better dinosaur figures. A nice detailed review! I think this ‘World of History’ version is a slightly modified version of an earlier Schleich Stegosaurus sculpt (that also had a different colour scheme). If anyone has both versions I’d love to see a side by side comparison.
It is indeed a smaller version of the Replica Saurus Stegosaurus.
Ah, yes, ReplicaSaurus, that’s what I was thinking of. I should probably go through all the Schleich figure reviews on the site and update the titles to indicate if they belong to the ReplicaSaurus line, World of History line, or other…
Admin i know which is Which. All of the World of History items have are listed as World of History in the Companey pages, however not all of them pop up when i select the World of History Catagory. Expect several reviews Regarding these models in the near Future