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Post by infernosaurus on Apr 22, 2008 22:37:59 GMT
So, my question to all of you. What do you think about Schleich dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles (I'm talkin' about ONLY reptiles, no mammals;P)? For me, some of them are great, but some others are awful As an example - Schleich's Kronosaurus is nice, BUT MOVING TYRANNOSAURUS IS TOTAL TRAGEDY! The same with Parasaurolophus (thanks God, they made this new model that is very nice). Their newer dinos are better, but they still don't have good T. rex:P
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Post by sbell on Apr 22, 2008 22:44:39 GMT
I don't think I've withheld my contempt for many of the Schleich dinos--the Albertosaurus being the most egregious example of a good choice going horribly wrong (fortunately, Carnegie stepped up on that one). Generally, though, Schleich is pretty good at reptiles, meaning crocs, lizards, snakes, and non-dinos (the Elasmosaurus is great, and the Desmatosuchus is one of my favourites). That said, I don't go out of my way for them. I find that Bully, Safari/Carnegie, Papo, Procon, and others make far better replicas. And I have been collecting Schleich moderns since 1999, before they even made dinos, so I am actually a fan of them (mostly).
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Post by piltdown on Apr 22, 2008 22:56:39 GMT
The tyrannosaurs of Schleich are indeed painful to look at. They've tried three or four times over the past few years, but all still look wretched. When Papo , Battat, Carnegie, and even the Jurassic Park line can release nice looking tyrannosaurs, it is incomprehensible why Schleich can't do so. Their marine reptiles on the other hand are marvelous. And unfortunately for non-mammal collectors like me, Schleich's prehistoric mammal collection is quite well done.
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Post by infernosaurus on Apr 22, 2008 23:05:29 GMT
The tyrannosaurs of Schleich are indeed painful to look at. They've tried three or four times over the past few years, but all still look wretched. When Papo , Battat, Carnegie, and even the Jurassic Park line can release nice looking tyrannosaurs, it is incomprehensible why Schleich can't do so. Their marine reptiles on the other hand are marvelous. And unfortunately for non-mammal collectors like me, Schleich's prehistoric mammal collection is quite well done. Yeah, prehistoric mammals by Schleich are one of the best in this category. From marine reptiles I have only Shonisaurus and Kronosaurus, I think that others were not even sold in Poland (as it was still hard to get those two!). Albertosaurus by Schleich is not so bad, the head is worst part of it. I thought even about some 'tuning' of this model to make its head look more albertosaur-like
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Post by piltdown on Apr 22, 2008 23:16:29 GMT
I do highly recommend the Schleich elasmosaurus (even though, as Dinotoyforum would point out, its eyes are set a bit too far back ;D ); it looks wonderful and is my favourite "long-necked" plesiosaur figure. The Deinosuchus is not as finely detailed as, for instance, the Papo Nile crocodile, but it is worth hunting down just for its size alone.
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Post by nobs on Apr 23, 2008 0:16:10 GMT
I enjoy the schleich line alot actually. The big blue Bronto is one of my favs from that line. Their figures also offer a variety poses not commonly seen (for example the "bellowing" para.)
If your going for realistic and "pretty" then schleich may not be the brand for you, overall I find their coloring and paint to be very drab, and as mentioned before their theropods are pretty horrendous from a scientific stand point. With that being said however, they do have a certain "charm" about them that I really like.
As mentioned some of the stand outs are the marine reptiles and desmatosuchos. Another gem that I'd like to point out is the Torosaurus, Its a pretty dynamic figure. The Iguanodon is good too, although small, its accuracy is better than Carnegie, Bullyland, and Invicta.
Their selection of animals is another thing that sets them apart, true they have all the basics, but they also throw in several animals not commonly seen. Think Shonisaurus and Desmatosuchos.
I do hate however that they retire their figures at an alarming rate. Ive heard that they plan to keep the active models to a scant 12!
All in all, I personally really like schleich!
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tiermann
Full Member
Playmosaurus
Posts: 142
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Post by tiermann on Apr 23, 2008 2:32:13 GMT
I collect all the Schleich animal lines, and have all of the ReplicaSaurus and Junior ones plus the mammals. Some are certainly better than others. I am intending to get them all out and do a group photo if I ever get a Saturday free to play around. The next three they are releasing are reworkings of the Brachiosaurus, Allosaurus and Spinosaurus. I think the sculpts are getting better and the Brachio is a huge improvement over the last one. Blah looking colors, but sometimes they can be surprising in depth. The Shonisaurus looks brown but it actually has some nice subtle coloration going on.
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Post by tomhet on Apr 23, 2008 2:38:51 GMT
I just hate their retiring the marine reptiles, those were very promising
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Post by sbell on Apr 23, 2008 2:54:55 GMT
I enjoy the schleich line alot actually. The big blue Bronto is one of my favs from that line. Their figures also offer a variety poses not commonly seen (for example the "bellowing" para.) If your going for realistic and "pretty" then schleich may not be the brand for you, overall I find their coloring and paint to be very drab, and as mentioned before their theropods are pretty horrendous from a scientific stand point. With that being said however, they do have a certain "charm" about them that I really like. As mentioned some of the stand outs are the marine reptiles and desmatosuchos. Another gem that I'd like to point out is the Torosaurus, Its a pretty dynamic figure. The Iguanodon is good too, although small, its accuracy is better than Carnegie, Bullyland, and Invicta. Their selection of animals is another thing that sets them apart, true they have all the basics, but they also throw in several animals not commonly seen. Think Shonisaurus and Desmatosuchos. I do hate however that they retire their figures at an alarming rate. Ive heard that they plan to keep the active models to a scant 12! All in all, I personally really like schleich! You are correct, if what I've been told is true-they are going to keep a set of 12, and in order to spur collectors, there will be annual retirings; I'm guessing this means there will be frequent reissues, tweaks, and repaints too. Having collected moderns for even longer, I have to say that nothing annoys me more--I would rather see what they can do with something new than a rehash of something they already did (for example, I believe the lions are on a 4th or 5th iteration now). Of course, with that type of turnover, I am guessing we should see a lot of great new stuff (whether great means "new animal as a figure" or "so well done I must have it even though I have twelve different versions of that animal already" remains to be seen). While some of the Schleich dinos are good, I have to agree with many of the people here that Schleich seems better at non-dinos, prehistoric or not. Given how well they did their elasmosaurus (optical foramina notwithstanding) and Desmatosuchus, imagine if they were inspired to try a placodont or nothosaur? The lizards and crocs they make are pretty decent (their deinosuchus actually appears more hefty than just a modern croc, unlike the Carnegie) so a modified reptile would probably be great from them. But they should really just give up on T rex. For whatever reason, they just can't pull it off.
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Post by sbell on Apr 23, 2008 3:06:48 GMT
The tyrannosaurs of Schleich are indeed painful to look at. They've tried three or four times over the past few years, but all still look wretched. When Papo , Battat, Carnegie, and even the Jurassic Park line can release nice looking tyrannosaurs, it is incomprehensible why Schleich can't do so. Their marine reptiles on the other hand are marvelous. And unfortunately for non-mammal collectors like me, Schleich's prehistoric mammal collection is quite well done. Yeah, prehistoric mammals by Schleich are one of the best in this category. From marine reptiles I have only Shonisaurus and Kronosaurus, I think that others were not even sold in Poland (as it was still hard to get those two!). Albertosaurus by Schleich is not so bad, the head is worst part of it. I thought even about some 'tuning' of this model to make its head look more albertosaur-like No, the Albertosaurus is faecal matter. Why on earth would they allow their sculptor to give it such an odd, laterally compressed, high-domed head? That is just plain idiocy. I know they have tyrannosaur issues for some reason, but it just doesn't make sense--plus they even kept it as a tail-dragger. I know it was for balancing purposes, but still--Carnegie came out with one right after, and it not only has a proper tyrannosaur head, it balances amazingly well on its two legs. That is dedication to the craft (incidentally, the albertosaur and Sinraptor that came out that year really did herald a shift in the quality that we have come to expect from Safari overall). Compare: Schleich Albertosaurus: Carnegie Albertosaurus: Personally, I think there may be a good reason that Link & Pin is cutting Schleich. It's a shame, because they really have been the best; they led to Bullyand; they forced Papo to start as a good company; and they probably pushed Safari into a massive corporate change. But it is almost like they don't know where to go anymore--among the Museum-quality lines they are too pricey and detailed to be just "toys" (the Safari lines take those easily), yet they are not exclusive and rare enough (Bully, Kinto) or well done enough (Papo) to truly be considered the collector's pinnacle. hence, this new move to try and become a limited collection. I am sorry for so much rambling; but I have been a Schleich person for a long time, and it pains me to see what they are becoming (and a new corporate management is not going to help).
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Post by tomhet on Apr 23, 2008 3:16:07 GMT
I still like that Albertosaurus ;D Of course, in a very 'retro' sense. so I see why you can't stand it.
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Post by sbell on Apr 23, 2008 3:26:17 GMT
I still like that Albertosaurus ;D Of course, in a very 'retro' sense. so I see why you can't stand it. It's not just the retro look (that prize goes to their original T rex). It's the incomprehensible skull. It looks plain goofy. Even the Disney Dinosaurs figures weren't that pointlessly cartoonish.
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Post by wheezy on Apr 23, 2008 3:40:58 GMT
schleich to me is midline as far as their dinos go. their newer para (evan though it has five instead of four digits on the hands) and salta are great but the imagination falls flat when it came to the coloring. I like to think the crested hadrosaurs were vibrant in color not a muted brown. as far as the older styles go i like the edmonto and corythosaurus i hope they bring these two back with an updated style. I do agree the majority of the therapod dinos are way off base and their marine reptile were exquisite most of the others are decent but not home runs.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 23, 2008 8:18:32 GMT
Many of the dinosaurs have a distinct clunky, almost cartoony look to them. Often quite difficult to put your finger on the problem, I'm not a big collector of Schleich because there is often "something not quite right" about their figures.
*Risks criticizing the Schleich marine reptiles*
It may be because dinosaurs in general are so much more familiar to us all, that the more obscure species like the marine reptiles, are immediately more impressive, and more easy to please. But they do suffer from similar errors and inaccuracies (and that same "something not quite right"-ness), which if present in a dinosaur, we would come down on like a ton of bricks. I will leave the details for my upcoming blog entries. However, I really like the....um....how do I say this.....the....er........cloacal openings in the marine reptiles?
I have no problems with the Shonisaurus actually, but who knows what a Shonisaurus 'really' looks like?
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Post by sbell on Apr 23, 2008 12:36:19 GMT
Many of the dinosaurs have a distinct clunky, almost cartoony look to them. Often quite difficult to put your finger on the problem, I'm not a big collector of Schleich because there is often "something not quite right" about their figures. *Risks criticizing the Schleich marine reptiles* It may be because dinosaurs in general are so much more familiar to us all, that the more obscure species like the marine reptiles, are immediately more impressive, and more easy to please. But they do suffer from similar errors and inaccuracies (and that same "something not quite right"-ness), which if present in a dinosaur, we would come down on like a ton of bricks. I will leave the details for my upcoming blog entries. However, I really like the....um....how do I say this.....the....er........cloacal openings in the marine reptiles? I have no problems with the Shonisaurus actually, but who knows what a Shonisaurus 'really' looks like? People who have spent years slowly chipping dark, phosphatized fossils out of shale that is just as dark, but not quite as shiny. Crazy, patient people.
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Post by EmperorDinobot on Apr 30, 2008 7:27:59 GMT
I want that Shonisaurus....
I wish I could see a mount of a shonisaurus.
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brad
Junior Member
Posts: 83
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Post by brad on May 10, 2008 16:04:40 GMT
It's really baffling how often Schleich fails with their dinosaurs. My wife has a small collection of the Schleich horse figures, and I'm jealous that the horses always have better attention to detail and accuracy than the dinosaurs. (Imagining the horses way too chunky with the wrong number of digits...)
My favourite Schleich "dino" is the Pteranodon. Not sure if it is outdated, but it is very pretty. Really atypically gracile for a Replica-Saurus figure, too. The Quetzalcoatlus is not nearly as nice.
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Post by bokisaurus on Jul 30, 2008 2:49:55 GMT
How sad if Schleich just limit the dinosaur line to just 12! Yes they look funny, but I have a soft spot for the original (the big ones) first eight figures. It will be a shame to have one more toy maker to discontinue a line!
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Post by stoneage on Jul 30, 2008 14:15:50 GMT
Lets hope the new Allosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Spinosaurus will be a move in the right direction. They just need to get more up to date.
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Post by EmperorDinobot on Aug 9, 2008 4:05:13 GMT
Their Saltasaurus is amazing. It's one of my new favorite dinosaurs. And their Parasaurolophus is magnificent. So is their Stegosaurus. But you'd think the coloring would be...not as bland?
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