Collection Review: Papo and Schleich Polar Bears

Name: Schleich Polar bear- Iorek
          Papo  Standing Polar Bear – North Star
Papo Polar Bear – Sven

Figure Brand: Schleich & Papo

Figure Name(s): Schleich Polar bear (14800)
Papo  Standing Polar Bear (50172)
Papo Polar Bear (50142)

Sex: Males

Year Made: Iorek the Schleich Polar bear- 2018
          North Star the Papo Standing Polar Bear – 2015
Sven the Papo Polar Bear – 2013

Observations/Thoughts:
I love these polar bears, though I must admit, I think Papo do them a good bit better and more realistic. The reason I think this is because of the posing.

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Sven, the Papo bear has a dynamic pose, with one front paw forward, making it look like he’s walking over the ice sheets, prowling and on the hunt, whereas North Star, the standing bear is in a cool, upright pose which I really like a lot with my bear models, as they do do this, though it’s not seen all that often in animal figurines I think?

Because of this I prefer the Papo polar bears a lot more, they have much better sculpts and poses, but that’s not to say I don’t like Iorek the Schleich polar bear either:
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I just wish his pose wasn’t the typical, standing kind of thing. I wish he had more movement, instead of the standing, looking forward etc. He’s also a skinnier looking polar bear, I like mine far more muscular and powerful, though maybe that could become a story beat…? I also called him Iorek, after the polar bear from Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass series.

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My favourite however is North Star the standing polar bear. I call him North Star because he's so tall and strong when he stands up, he looks like he could swipe a star out of the sky. Bears in general can be very terrifying when they stand up, so North Star is a fierce, powerful looking one.

Rating: Iorek the Schleich Polar bear- 3/5
          North Star the Papo Standing Polar Bear – 5/5
Sven the Papo Polar Bear – 4/5

The standing bear is my favourite too. North Star is a great name!

Thank you rogerpgvg, I love his name too

I would rank these figures in the same manner. Papo polar bears are defintely more realistic and the standing one is the most impressive. Schleich also released a standing polar bear a long time ago, I've always liked it although I've never gotten it because retired Schleich figures were not cheap at all. I also love the Wild Safari walking polar bear, it was my favorite until the release of the Papo standing one.

Thanks Roger, I totally agree, and yknow I always feel as soon as a figure is retired, for me, it's immediately impossible to get so it might as well be nonexistent for me. They're crazy expensive online!

Nice

Thanks Widukind!