Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy
We already made it through the first two issues of the Schleich Team Dino magazine, so here comes the third, which is also the 24th issue of the Schleich Dinosaurs magazine by Blue Ocean Entertainment as a whole. This one is available for December 2020 and January 2021 and the animal included as a gimmick is the Triceratops.
There is also some beautiful cover art featuring today’s gimmick and, of course, Triceratops is also the topic of this issue’s comic. I don’t want to give spoilers, but what I can say is that it has been revealed why the head of Triceratops is Team Dino’s logo, in case anyone is interested in Team Dino lore. The other contents include a Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops dice game, a poster that features the cover art, a Triceratops fact card for the “Dino Researcher Book,” and many other things that are quite similar to the previous issues. Overall, it’s a fun package.
The Triceratops is once again inside a blister packaging, but this time, however, it doesn’t have the two shells which were previously used for the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor to prevent leg warp. Instead, it is just one shell and the cardboard backing. The packaging is again Team Dino themed with blue rims and striped tape, plus a stamp that says “Limited Edition,” as it is only available in this magazine issue in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
When taken out, you can see how delicately painted this model is; in fact, it is better painted than the two previous figures. The colour of the base plastic is light grey with some dark grey airbrush on the sides and a dark wash applied over it. The same pattern of raised scales has been painted red as on the large counterpart from the Conquering the Earth line. The horns are carefully painted in a bright eggshell colour and the eyes are just as carefully painted black.
Much like the regular-sized version, it is a decent Triceratops with only a few very minor inaccuracies, but of higher quality than the anatomical standards of most other Schleich dinosaurs. The only major difference between these two is that the magazine version has its jaws closed, which was presumably done for safety when being handled by a child. Given how nice it looks, it makes me sort of wish it looked more like a juvenile than a tiny adult Triceratops, but either way, I am very much satisfied with this small toy.
This is the latest incarnation of Schleich’s Triceratops. I do not have all of them; for example, I don’t have any of the Mini ones, the World of History one, or the Junior that was the first Schleich toy to have this grey and red colour scheme. Here you can see the miniature with the Replica Saurus versions from the mid 2000s and mid 90s, all four of them being quite decent attempts at this genus.
While the larger ones are all roughly at the popular 1:40 scale, the magazine one has a length of 11.3 cm at a scale of 1:70. Due to this, it scales up rather nicely with the Tyrannosaurus of the first of the Team Dino themed issues, although it would have been favourable if they went with the Conquering the Earth sculpt instead of shrinking the World of History version that doesn’t seem to want to leave the store shelves.
Overall, I love this tiny model. It’s not only a great magazine gimmick, but of such high quality that it is easy to forget where it originated from. The downsized Schleich dinosaurs that are offered in 2020 and 2021 with this magazine and at McDonald’s are simply a joy. It is both decent as a toy and as a collector item. Parents do need to be informed, however, that the brow horns are rather stiff as it is made from only one type of plastic, hence they could break off and get swallowed, and the nose horn and tail tip are even quite sharp and pointy, so don’t leave it with small children.
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I really like that triceratops, the repainting and the sculpture is a perfect miniature of his big figure. Superb review.
Suspy, I noticed that you edited the part out where I mention that the colourist of the magazine’s comic doesn’t whitewash Yuki anymore.
It isn’t relevant to the figure itself but it should have been kept in the review as that was a huge deal to me as an Asian person.
Proper representation is something extremely important.
Also you removed the section where I inform that Maxx Colby almost cusses in the story, I think this information should be included as well to inform wary parents.
Please inform me beforehand when you are about to remove large parts of text next time.
Sorry you feel that way, but I felt that those sections simply were not relevant to the review of the toy itself, especially because there were no photos of the magazine submitted. People outside of the few countries that sell it aren’t likely to have any idea who Yuki is, let alone share the significance you attach to them. I say that as an Asian person myself.
I didn’t show the inside of the magazine here to avoid copyright issues.
I couldn’t find information if the inside is allowed to be shown publicly or not.