Schleich made in a rubbery material?

I received mine today, and i must say I´m VERY dissapointed with him. The figurine itself is nice, I´ll talk about it when I upload photos. But the material... It´s rubber! Do you know old Bullylands? That solft and bendable rubber... That´s the material the Shire stallion is made of. And I can´t uderstand it, the rest of the 2013 horses are made of the hard plastic they usually are made of.

He´s made in China, like most of my horses. Once again I can´t understand that change.

Yes, the Chinese made one is soft, the German one is the old material .

It seems that Schleich is making some changes ( savings?).
One of the horses from last year had a broken leg when I got it. I have never before experienced that a Schleich horse was breaking, no matter how much it had been played with !!!!!
So perhaps they are trying more bendable/less brittle materials now...I don`t know, just a thought

Yes I also have a Chinesse variation and he's a little bit soft.

Susanne do you have an German variation?

So bad... I have no way of getting the German variation here unless I buy on internet, and I don´t have the guarantee I´d be getting the German one. I hate that soft rubber.

Many people on forum already commented the softer and rubberish plastic of Chinese version of new Schleich Shire stallion. It looks that the new sea life figures are made of the same rubber.
I also have a preference for harder plastic but I've seen for the first time the bearded dragon from CollectA as some of new dinos and most of them are of a soft plastic but in that case they allow that figures are made with very delicate details compensating them in spectacularity. On the other hand, I've found the CollectA Shire mare and it is of a hard and heavy plastic, only legs are softer but it is not disturbing.

By my Schleich shire stallion only the legs are soft, but i think the German variation only come next year on the marked.

There is no german Version of the Shire I think. I only saw the chinese one.

My 2013 horses except for the Shire and the hannoverian mare are all made in Germany.

The new sea animals, that came out in may have a strange material too. They are Made in China or Portugal.

Made in Portugal? Witch ones are made in Portugal?

Yes I have it is a good figure but...you can use it like ruber?!!! I don't like the new material of made
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I couple of month ago I'v read an article by Schleich about the use of the new material some of the new figures are made of now-the reason for that is simple-the new material is natural made and no plastic anymore-so they use it to protect our world...I don't know, if tehy will use the new, soft material in the future for more other animals than only horses.

I havn't bought yet one of the"soft rubber horses", and it seems I won't do it-not only because of the material, because they are ugly, poor Quality models, made mainly for 8-12 years old Girls...

*grumble* I can't help feeling like the new material is Schleich's way of saying they don't want their models customized. Lifting apoxie, cracking paint... good thing the models are so bleh, I guess.

Sumo wrote:

*grumble* I can't help feeling like the new material is Schleich's way of saying they don't want their models customized. Lifting apoxie, cracking paint... good thing the models are so bleh, I guess.

I also thought so

i was in my local toystore today and was looking for some of the 2013 horses, but the only had the shire stallion.

But i don't think he's a heavy as the other horses, like if he was made in another materiale??

But he's beautiful. :-)

oops i think i have been doing something wrong?

But i agree the material ain't good. Mine is very light.

mine is very light and rubbery

I have weighed the 2013 Schleich shire horses:
The mare 165 g
The stallion 132 g

I also weighed the Schleich tinker stallion 13625 to compare: 168 g

I emailed Schleich about the new plastic a few months ago. They replied and they told me they are using TPE plastic, they say it is more expensive but has better quality. The new plastic is suposed to be better for the earth, which I like about it. But, I have to agree that I do not like the rubber feel of it.

I don't like the rubbery feel to it     but it is cool that it is supposed to be better for the Earth. I still prefer the regular feel if only they could feel regular and be good for the Earth.

SchleichLover741<3 wrote:

I don't like the rubbery feel to it     but it is cool that it is supposed to be better for the Earth. I still prefer the regular feel if only they could feel regular and be good for the Earth.

welcome here

Welcome here

Well if it´s true it´s better for Earth... Then I don´t really mind. I prefer the feel of the old ones, but we have onely one Earth :)

I guess that explains the rising prices  

Although I agree with everyone else - if it's better for the environment, I'm okay with it!