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Post by Libraraptor on Aug 10, 2008 9:58:15 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? I have the same Schleich favourites as you, although I own none of them. Additionaly I love the Shonisaurus (I´ve got one, yeah!). But to answer your question concerning colour: What use are all those highly "overcoloured", chequered models? Can you really imagine an elephant with a colubrid skin pattern? At least some dino figure makers seem to. To my mind dinosaur colour is an overrated matter. If they ever find a fossil elephant in, well, 35 million years (quite surely man will not exist any more, but be it), how do they find out it had a trunk and ears like that? I imagine a child holding a prehistoric elephant toy in its hand that´s painted brindled red and yellow ;D That´s why I appreciate the fact that the Schleichs are this bland, although of course some of them evocate that "not quite right" feeling our admin talked about above. No or discreet colour leaves place for imagination, Louis Rey style models just don´t. By the way I think the Schleich Torosaurus is underrated.
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Post by sid on Aug 10, 2008 11:29:03 GMT
But to answer your question concerning colour: What use are all those highly "overcoloured", chequered models? Can you really imagine an elephant with a colubrid skin pattern? At least some dino figure makers seem to. To my mind dinosaur colour is an overrated matter. If they ever find a fossil elephant in, well, 35 million years (quite surely man will not exist any more, but be it), how do they find out it had a trunk and ears like that? I imagine a child holding a prehistoric elephant toy in its hand that´s painted brindled red and yellow ;D That´s why I appreciate the fact that the Schleichs are this bland, although of course some of them evocate that "not quite right" feeling our admin talked about above. No or discreet colour leaves place for imagination, Louis Rey style models just don´t. By the way I think the Schleich Torosaurus is underrated. Totally agree,about the coloring and about the Torosaurus,a really nice figure sadly so underrated It's such a cool "classical-looking" dinosaur...One of Schleich's best,without a doubt
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Post by crazycrowman on Aug 10, 2008 13:18:56 GMT
"What use are all those highly "overcoloured", chequered models? Can you really imagine an elephant with a colubrid skin pattern?"
Except that elephants are just one large mammal, and with Rhinos and Hippos, and (that ooze pink for the record) are really an exception to mammalian color. I have not seen many dinosaur figures with what I would call a colubrid color pattern.
A quick browse through any book on mammals will show you that many of todays large mammals are brilliantly colored, or at least highly patterned creatures. The hoof stock has Zebras, Giraffes, various Deer and Gazelles, Suidae has things like the Red river Hogs, and so on... Cetaceans, though pattered for life in the sea, are not dull drab animals either...
As for our mammalian predators, no one can call the Tiger or Jaguar "drab" - Same goes for the Painted Dog. In the mid sized category, there are a fair number of bright and strikingly patterned mammals.
Now, if we are going to look at animals that are closer related to, or are in the case of birds, dinosaurs, many of them look like that were attacked by a 3 year old with a box of crayolas, and even the large ones are often far from dingy flat colors.Sure, some, like Giant tortoises are flat greys, browns and shades of, but, the Leatherback sea turtle is blue and white. Some others like the Gharial and Crocodile Monitor are stunning animals. Same goes for the Giant Pythons. In the birds we have the things like the Cassowary, and interestingly pattered predators like the Fish Eagles and Monkey eating Eagles. (I am just going for "large" here, as there are plenty of spectacularly colored smaller birds.
Anyway, IMHO, colored Dino's with interesting and well thought out patterns are great !
I also like the Schleigh figures, even the big, and very blue, Apatosaur. My favorite figure from the line ? Probably the big orange Edmontosaurus, simply because I like to look at it.
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Post by Libraraptor on Aug 10, 2008 16:23:12 GMT
"What use are all those highly "overcoloured", chequered models? Can you really imagine an elephant with a colubrid skin pattern?" Except that elephants are just one large mammal, and with Rhinos and Hippos, and (that ooze pink for the record) are really an exception to mammalian color. I have not seen many dinosaur figures with what I would call a colubrid color pattern. A quick browse through any book on mammals will show you that many of todays large mammals are brilliantly colored, or at least highly patterned creatures. The hoof stock has Zebras, Giraffes, various Deer and Gazelles, Suidae has things like the Red river Hogs, and so on... Cetaceans, though pattered for life in the sea, are not dull drab animals either... As for our mammalian predators, no one can call the Tiger or Jaguar "drab" - Same goes for the Painted Dog. In the mid sized category, there are a fair number of bright and strikingly patterned mammals. Yes, to a certain extend you are right. I did not bash colouration as such but the often disproportionated colour of some figures. Or what do you think of that Majungasaurus? Totally implausible in my opinion. [/quote] But it would need a complete new topic on colours to discuss on them, not the SCHLEICH topic. So is anyone interested?
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Post by tomhet on Aug 10, 2008 17:16:11 GMT
I agree, colour is overrated. Besides, it's part of Schleich's style, I have no problem with it.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 10, 2008 22:27:35 GMT
Not to mention you can always re-paint...
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Post by bolesey on Aug 13, 2008 20:38:47 GMT
poor colour choice can really detract from a figure. I always hated the blue and yellow on the otherwise fantastic Battat T.rex.
Schleich play it safe with their colours. Really conservative and not terribly imaginative. I often like these kind of simple colour schemes because you get a more sculptural aspect to the figure. Unfortunately most of the Schleich sculpts are so weak that they could really benefit from more imaginative colouring.
The other thing with their choice of colour is that they're all so terribly brown.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 14, 2008 3:45:23 GMT
I've seen that paint design they used for the Battat Rex before....but I can't place whose art it's based on.. :?
I repaint a lot of my figures..I'll post the WS Allos I painted and re-posed at some point.
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Post by EmperorDinobot on Aug 14, 2008 6:30:39 GMT
I really don't have a problem with bland colors on dinosaur models. For Sauropods, for instance, it's just fine, but I've always pictured color as a defense mechanism, and most ornithopods (especially the ones with ornamentation, like crests, high sails, or the smaller earlier ones) I believe to have been most colorful, same for thyreophorans like Stegosaurus, and the like.
Many such game animals are very colorful, and have some very interesting patterns on their bodies, like those exotic hoofed animals (Extinct Quagga, Zebra, some antelopes and so on), birds, and reptiles. It's more than a possibility that such dinosaurs were probably very colorful. And I like seeing models with nice vibrant colors (However, some are far-fetched, like that Majungasaurus...I mean, c'mon. Sometimes too much is really too much). Carnegie is playing it right with dinosaurs with nice coloring on them, like the Giganotosaurus (One you usually picture wearing blander shades of brown).
We'll never know, and you could say this is all a question of preference (and maybe it is?)
Oh, and that Japanese Vinyl Isisaurus looks like a Mango.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 14, 2008 7:20:57 GMT
Color has many uses besides defense though...a sign of sexual maturity for instance..a pattern can intensify and then get lighter as it ages...many predators fur starts out one color and then turns white-ish as they age. Sauropods could have been quite colorful as adults...there is no way to hide something that large no matter what color it is..lol I guess as you said it is a matter of prefence though
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Post by tomhet on Aug 14, 2008 7:48:26 GMT
poor colour choice can really detract from a figure. I always hated the blue and yellow on the otherwise fantastic Battat T.rex. The last time I looked at mine, they were green and yellow.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 14, 2008 8:33:47 GMT
Really ? Mine is blue and yellow as well....and I'm pretty sure the one's in the new Dinosaur Collector section of PT were blue and yellow as well... :?
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Post by crazycrowman on Aug 14, 2008 9:11:30 GMT
Well, I agree, Majungasaurus is supprisingly colorfull there, and I think its unlikely such a large animal would be so brightly colored as an adult, and it would not be my choice for coloring a figure. But really, no one can say for sure. There are some strange colored animals out there., especially in the world of birds/reptiles. A couple of those figures look like they are colored with what could be considered refresing drink options! I personally like the color on the battat rex, especially the purpleish mouth lining. I think it all comes down to a matter of prefence.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 14, 2008 9:43:35 GMT
Maybe I'm missing something...I didn't see where this Majungasaurus figure was from ? Or are you guys referencing te JFC Male ?
Why would an animal that large need to subdued tones ? It's prey was prob large enough to see them anyway...also if is the male your talking about..those colors could present themselves during mating season...a time when a male dinosaur wouldn't be caring much for prey anyway...lol
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Post by bolesey on Aug 14, 2008 23:16:58 GMT
The best you can go on are animals today, and the largest animals don't tend to be particularly colourful. But there are still exceptions like giraffes and zebras, and besides, those are all mammals, which are generally less colourful than birds. The largest birds the ostrich and emu aren't particularly colourful either. But that's just 2 birds. There are plenty of small birds with similarly dull colours. Regardless of any colour theory, we'll never know for sure, so I think it's best to just go with something which looks good. I think Schleich are improving in that respect even if they still stay on the conservative side. The recent Stegosaurus and Parasaurolophus were typically dull, but with nice accents of red and green. Incidentally, does the head sculpt of their upcoming Allosaurus remind anyone else of the Walking With Dinosaurs Big Al animatronic? All things considered, it's a pretty decent looking figure, and one I'll try to pick up.
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Post by Blade-of-the-Moon on Aug 15, 2008 4:47:20 GMT
There are exceptions to every rule..I think that's one reason a lot of artists are drawn to dinosaurs in general you have a bit of freedom in design but still a nice base to start with.
I think Schleich was copying the WWD Allo it loos nice until you get to the head...the skull seems to taper too quickly and sharply there...maybe the the final version will look better..if you get one post some pics will you ?
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