Collection Review: Schleich and Papo Bears

Figure Brand: Papo & Schleich

Figure Name(s): Pyrenees Bear 50032
Cave Bear 55066
Grizzly Bear 14685

Sex: All males

Name: Pyrenees Bear- Bruno (Germanic- Burnished Brown)
Cave Bear – Romulus (Latin- Citizen of Rome)
Grizzly Bear – Ursus (Latin- Bear)

Year Made: Pyrenees Bear-2005
Cave Bear – 2015
Grizzly Bear - 2013

Observations/Thoughts: these are an interesting lot of bears from both Schleich and Papo. Two are Papo, one is Schleich and all three depict different species of ursines.

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The first one is Bruno the Pyrennes Bear. He’s such an odd one out of the trio, simply because he’s so round and smooth and shiny- the material he’s made from is even really different and smooth, whereas modern Papo’s tend to be more lighter and…a bit less slippery to the touch? They also seem to be smaller and rounder- he’s a really dense, chunky model with deep shiny gold brown colouring which is nicely patterned and even light golds on part of his body. His back legs and one foreleg are bound together, with only the fore one bent outwards, giving him a wandering, probing pose, especially with the head upwards. He most definitely has an older animal model feel in that he’s denser, but less detailed and even his material feels completely different from Papos today.

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My favourite of the bear trio is Romulus, the cave bear. I call him that because I feel any ancient and extinct animal models, I do have all need ancient and glorious names befitting their status. He’s also the largest and most savage of the bear models, in no way does he look kind and gentle as some bears are modelled, he’s a very large and fierce looking and would look great in one of those dioramas with ancient man etc.
He's marching forward, one paw out straight and the other way back giving him a real bear like lumbering and on top of that his mouth is open showing huge teeth and the sculpted muscles he has are wonderful, he’s definitely the most scary looking bear I think I have! He’s a dark mid brown all over with a much darker gradient on his huge arching shoulders and has a thick shaggy neck mane and rippling fur moulded all over him, and not only that but he’s a good bit bigger than any of my other bears, including the grizzlies and polar varieties, hence the reason I love him the most of my ursines.

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The last of the three bears is Ursus my Schleich Grizzly bear and as bears go, I think Papo has once again triumphed over Schleich, as in comparison to Romulus the Cave Bear he’s far less impressive and frightening, even though he’s in a snarling stance. He stands on all four feet with his head level and one paw slightly forward in a slightly…protective stance? His mouth is also open in a fierce roaring pose, which I think looks great on him, his tongue and teeth are a dark pink, his lips and inner mouth blackened considerably which is cool to see, reminds me of a dog’s actual mouth!
He’s also a lighter brown than the other bears, even a beige sort of colouring, his coat moulded to look extra thick and shaggy, with ripples of fur around his neck, though I will say Papo happen to make their bears a little bit more smooth? That’s not a complaint either as bears do tend to have very shaggy, heavy coats.

Rating: Pyrenees Bear-3/5
Cave Bear – 5/5
Grizzly Bear – 4/5

Papo earlier figures are inconsistent. Some like the lioness, tiger, cheetah were absolutely well sculpted and finished. On the other hands, a few like the earlier giraffes, zebras, white rhino, first hippo, etc., were really poorly produced and they aged a lot. They now feel like very outdated figures and they were not competitive enough in terms of quality to rival the Schleich counterparts at the time.
Today it is different. Schleich is not showing a big improvement and in terms of manufacturing quality, many Schleich are these days in a slightly lower level. Though, Papo has improved a lot with their new models, it is just a pity that the older models in catalogue are not getting paintjobs as good as the newer models.
I also think current Papo bears are better than Schleich being the exception the giant panda but, I'm not considering the last Papo panda so I'm not completely sure.

Hi Roger, I definitely agree with you on this, the older Papos are so different from the models today! I also agree on Schleich,once again Papo had outdone them with the bear models.

Some nice bears!

I think that my favourite is actually Papo's Pyrenees Bear Bruno. For some reason I really like his fur texture and his colouring looks nice to me as well. He just has some sort of charm to him. I would love to get him for my collection but as long as I know he is sadly already retired (or did I miss something and he is still available?).

Romulus looks really terrifying (in a good way)! He just really transfers that atmosphere of a long time ago extinct animal. I wouldn't want to meet one in person... He is a nice figure overall but not really something that I would get for my collection.

Ursus (nice name for a bear btw) is the only one of these three that is also part of our collection. I really like him and my brother named him Chewbacca. I like how they made his fur texture and how they coloured his snout. He is just a nice little bear.

Thanks Katy, i think Chewbacca is a great name for a bear btw! Your also right with Bruno, he has a very old charm to him, and I think I got him off eBay? So there might be a few still available online in places

Thanks Widukind

Katy Leven wrote:

Some nice bears!

I think that my favourite is actually Papo's Pyrenees Bear Bruno. For some reason I really like his fur texture and his colouring looks nice to me as well. He just has some sort of charm to him. I would love to get him for my collection but as long as I know he is sadly already retired (or did I miss something and he is still available?).

It's still available as you can see on my 2023 Papo catalogue. If you have troubles finding it, let me know and I try to find it locally.

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It's funny, for me the Pyrenean Bear has always been a female, so calling her Bruno is very strange to me.
She's my favourite of the three, she may have less detail than more modern productions but she's much more charming.
I'm not a big fan of modern Schleich bears, the German brand tended in the 2000s to favour abundant detail over realism. For brown bears I prefer Papo, CollectA and Safari Ltd.

Hi Kikimalou, that's funny that to you Bruno is a girl bear! I get that with seeing other animals models spotted on here where owners have given them different genders etc. I'd like to know what you call your Pyrenees bear btw!

I call her Ours des Pyrénées

I see...that's Pyrenees Bear isn't it? It DOES sound very elegant though on a lady bear! ^^

Roger wrote:

Katy Leven wrote:

Some nice bears!

I think that my favourite is actually Papo's Pyrenees Bear Bruno. For some reason I really like his fur texture and his colouring looks nice to me as well. He just has some sort of charm to him. I would love to get him for my collection but as long as I know he is sadly already retired (or did I miss something and he is still available?).

It's still available as you can see on my 2023 Papo catalogue. If you have troubles finding it, let me know and I try to find it locally.

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Ah, ok then I was probably too stupid to find it there (I even have this catalogue at home  ). My closest toy store only started to carry Papo figures last year so they don't have too many Papo models yet and they are expensive there anyway but it is an interesting experience to see them in person and touch them.

Thank you for offering your help. Now I will try to find her online and I am relatively sure that that will be easier than trying to find her in a store here.

Happy birthday by the way  

Brandubh94 wrote:

I see...that's Pyrenees Bear isn't it? It DOES sound very elegant though on a lady bear! ^^

I don't know if it is elegant but I must say I never give a name to any model I won

[quote="Katy Leven"]

Roger wrote:

Katy Leven wrote:

Some nice bears!

I think that my favourite is actually Papo's Pyrenees Bear Bruno. For some reason I really like his fur texture and his colouring looks nice to me as well. He just has some sort of charm to him. I would love to get him for my collection but as long as I know he is sadly already retired (or did I miss something and he is still available?).

It's still available as you can see on my 2023 Papo catalogue. If you have troubles finding it, let me know and I try to find it locally.

Ah, ok then I was probably too stupid to find it there (I even have this catalogue at home  ). My closest toy store only started to carry Papo figures last year so they don't have too many Papo models yet and they are expensive there anyway but it is an interesting experience to see them in person and touch them.

Thank you for offering your help. Now I will try to find her online and I am relatively sure that that will be easier than trying to find her in a store here.

Happy birthday by the way  

Thanks! I am very good missing figures on catalogues. I took ages to find the bat. It is next to the reptiles with the tarantula and scorpion. Those are not exactly Garden animals but I wouldn't be surprised if they were displayed together with the other arthropods and small mammals. So, I ignored that page of the reptiles and went nuts trying to find it. I even assumed it was retired too.

I agree Widukind, somebody's done great research!