Schleich 2014 (List with pictures, and colours)

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it should look more like this  

Duck-Anch-Amun wrote:

I´ve now readed on the first page, that the Bat is actually is a Flying Fox..is this confirmed or only speculation? 

It's confirmed.

I thought flying foxes were supposed to have a rusty-colored ring of fur around their neck? Or is this just another Schleich mistake? If I look at photos of flying foxes they all have that orange-ish color fur.

Schleich_Figures_4U wrote:

I thought flying foxes were supposed to have a rusty-colored ring of fur around their neck? Or is this just another Schleich mistake? If I look at photos of flying foxes they all have that orange-ish color fur.

There are many different sorts of flying foxes.  
The one you're talking about with the rusty-colored ring of fur is Mariana flying fox.
Perhaps Schleich is making the Black flying fox.(?)

Bloodrayne wrote:

Schleich_Figures_4U wrote:

I thought flying foxes were supposed to have a rusty-colored ring of fur around their neck? Or is this just another Schleich mistake? If I look at photos of flying foxes they all have that orange-ish color fur.

There are many different sorts of flying foxes.  
The one you're talking about with the rusty-colored ring of fur is Mariana flying fox.
Perhaps Schleich is making the Black flying fox.(?)

Oh, okay, thank you! I didn't realize there were different types.   

You're probably right then, if I look at photos. It looks like it's supposed to be a Black Flying Fox.   

About the bat, it says Megabat (fruit bat) at MPV: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I just love the lioness, she will be the first I will buy :)

Wow, you guys are awesome for sharing all these! Those dinos sure are very vibrant, lol!

Tyler Loew wrote:

I would rather have the old whitetail family, these look way to fake, they almost look happy.  

What's wrong with happy deer?
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I like my deer rather happy than depressed

bojan wrote:

About the bat, it says Megabat (fruit bat) at MPV: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Oh ok thanks and many thanks to Arafan, too :)
Than, I've one figure more on my list

krista wrote:

Tyler Loew wrote:

I would rather have the old whitetail family, these look way to fake, they almost look happy.  

What's wrong with happy deer?
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I like my deer rather happy than depressed

I agree it is a nice figure, but IMO it looks too similar to these ones.

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What's the point in making the same pose over and over again?
To sum it up, I don't hate the figure, but I think I have seen it alraedy.

I am kidding, of course, I hope you don't mind I am paraphrasing you, but for any reason, some figures need to be more defended than others.

Roger wrote:

krista wrote:

Tyler Loew wrote:

I would rather have the old whitetail family, these look way to fake, they almost look happy.  

What's wrong with happy deer?
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I like my deer rather happy than depressed

I agree it is a nice figure, but IMO it looks too similar to these ones.

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What's the point in making the same pose over and over again?
To sum it up, I don't hate the figure, but I think I have seen it alraedy.

I am kidding, of course, I hope you don't mind I am paraphrasing you, but for any reason, some figures need to be more defended than others.  :flower: ;)

Haha of course I'm not offended. : D 
And I wasn't particularly defending the new whitetails (I haven't even looked at the picture properly).
It's good that the old models get replaced, but once again the poses could be more interesting. Has any brand made for example a grazing deer?
But as you see, like every autumn, this forum gets full of negative comments and Schleich hate, and I just wanted to enlighten the mood with a picture of a happy deer.
And because I don't really understand why to mock a figure for looking happy, animals can feel happiness too.


EDIT: And you're definitely right about the look-a-likeness of the Safari deer :) I'm not sure about the Mojo one though.

Krista, Bullyland made a really fine grazing Fallow Deer!
I think that the new Schleich White-tailed doe doesn't look happy, she looks really flirtatious!   She'd fit well in one of Carola's comics!

krista wrote:

I am kidding, of course, I hope you don't mind I am paraphrasing you, but for any reason, some figures need to be more defended than others.

Haha of course I'm not offended. : D
And I wasn't particularly defending the new whitetails (I haven't even looked at the picture properly).
It's good that the old models get replaced, but once again the poses could be more interesting. Has any brand made for example a grazing deer?
But as you see, like every autumn, this forum gets full of negative comments and Schleich hate, and I just wanted to enlighten the mood with a picture of a happy deer.
And because I don't really understand why to mock a figure for looking happy, animals can feel happiness too.


EDIT: And you're definitely right about the look-a-likeness of the Safari deer :) I'm not sure about the Mojo one though. [/quote]Nice Krista that you're taking it in a friendly way. I know how much you love figures with a happy looking and it is a quite interesting fact. You and Kristie always shared a special and different way of collecting and I really enjoy it.

There are some vintage deers grazing but the only I know from a major brand is the Bullyland fallow deer
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curiously, it looks that in contrast with Schleich, it is the poor face of major brands when it is really a company with a fantastic story, some really great species, figures and good poses. Though, it gets often forgoten even some of Bully animals have the biggest smile of this world.

Sorry for repeating Bojan, it was already written!

Roger and Bojan, thanks for reminding me about the Bullyland grazing fallow deer! Poor Bullyland, always gets neglected :'D

Roger wrote:

Nice Krista that you're taking it in a friendly way. I know how much you love figures with a happy looking and it is a quite interesting fact. You and Kristie always shared a special and different way of collecting and I really enjoy it.

Yes, that's true :) But they don't always have to be happy, as long as they have 'soul' or personality. Some figures may be perfect anatomically but if they look completely emotionless, they don't interest me that much. But this doesn't mean that I only love the ugly figures for their unique charm :D
I also try to collect the figures of my favourite animals.

But as we all have different styles to collect and different tastes, I find it unpleasant to stomp on Schleich every year, because it happens to be the most mainstream and the easiest brand to purchase. Of course they have their faults (like every brand I know), and constructive and reasonable critique is more than welcome, because it starts discussion. But straightforward flaming makes the athmosphere very negative and might make the people who like Schleich ashamed of their enthusiasm of the new figures. Eventhough releasing new figures should be a happy thing.

Hope I made myself clear and didn't sound a complete bitch... :/

krista wrote:

But as we all have different styles to collect and different tastes, I find it unpleasant to stomp on Schleich every year, because it happens to be the most mainstream and the easiest brand to purchase. Of course they have their faults (like every brand I know), and constructive and reasonable critique is more than welcome, because it starts discussion. But straightforward flaming makes the athmosphere very negative and might make the people who like Schleich ashamed of their enthusiasm of the new figures. Eventhough releasing new figures should be a happy thing.  

Hope I made myself clear and didn't sound a complete bitch... :/

Krista, I am only quoting this part because all the previous I agree and already commented.
Honestly, I find the comments of this year, not very negative to the brand, mainly when compared with previous years. I agree that excessive criticism is not constructive and it explains why I haven't commented new Schleich dinosaurs.
Though, now it is my turn to tell you that it is not my style, being more tolerant with a main stream brand that is indifferent to our comments because it is confortable on market and more exigent and critics towards brands that still have a fragile position on market but that make everything to please us, releasing high quality figures instead of charming and half-fantasied figures under the educational label. If you read carefully this topic, you'll see that the most negative comments towards new Schleich figures are from the old and faithful collectors of the brand and not from those that never appreciated Schleich style.

Roger wrote:

Krista, I am only quoting this part because all the previous I agree and already commented.
Honestly, I find the comments of this year, not very negative to the brand, mainly when compared with previous years. I agree that excessive criticism is not constructive and it explains why I haven't commented new Schleich dinosaurs.
Though, now it is my turn to tell you that it is not my style, being more tolerant with a main stream brand that is indifferent to our comments because it is confortable on market and more exigent and critics towards brands that still have a fragile position on market but that make everything to please us, releasing high quality figures instead of charming and half-fantasied figures under the educational label. If you read carefully this topic, you'll see that the most negative comments towards new Schleich figures are from the old and faithful collectors of the brand and not from those that never appreciated Schleich style. :flower::D

You're right Roger, the comments haven't been half as bad as for example last year. Here on this topic people have been discussing in quite civilised manner.
Maybe I'm still living in the past :D
But there has been rather nasty comments in the other brands' topics regarding Schleich. Of course people are allowed to compare brands and like one brand better than another, but especially in the internet, phrasing matters so much more than in real life discussion.
And I hope you know that my criticism of manners is not targeted towards you, because I like the way you write and appreciate your debating skills. :)



By the way, I think that one of the problems that Schleich has is their catalogue pictures. They are too focused and sharpened on the texture of the figure which makes them look odd. Usually in real life the figures look better... They should rethink the way they photograph their figures ...

I agree with all krista and roger said. My main issue with negative comments is that not every animal is totally common looking and "realistic" in the sense that they all should look a specific way. I've said it before that all animals are different like people, and may have different proportions from each other. Anyways, the only time I find a figure bad is when the anatomy is totally wrong or the figure totally weird looking. This just my opinion though.

krista wrote:

Roger wrote:

Krista, I am only quoting this part because all the previous I agree and already commented.
Honestly, I find the comments of this year, not very negative to the brand, mainly when compared with previous years. I agree that excessive criticism is not constructive and it explains why I haven't commented new Schleich dinosaurs.
Though, now it is my turn to tell you that it is not my style, being more tolerant with a main stream brand that is indifferent to our comments because it is confortable on market and more exigent and critics towards brands that still have a fragile position on market but that make everything to please us, releasing high quality figures instead of charming and half-fantasied figures under the educational label. If you read carefully this topic, you'll see that the most negative comments towards new Schleich figures are from the old and faithful collectors of the brand and not from those that never appreciated Schleich style.

You're right Roger, the comments haven't been half as bad as for example last year. Here on this topic people have been discussing in quite civilised manner.
Maybe I'm still living in the past
But there has been rather nasty comments in the other brands' topics regarding Schleich. Of course people are allowed to compare brands and like one brand better than another, but especially in the internet, phrasing matters so much more than in real life discussion.
And I hope you know that my criticism of manners is not targeted towards you, because I like the way you write and appreciate your debating skills. :)


By the way, I think that one of the problems that Schleich has is their catalogue pictures. They are too focused and sharpened on the texture of the figure which makes them look odd. Usually in real life the figures look better... They should rethink the way they photograph their figures ...

Krista, thanks for your kind words and of course I know your criticism is not targeted towards me!
I have a different perception to what is happening on other brands threads. Most people is not really being nasty with the brand to ridicule their figures, actually, I think many people wished those great figures and unusual species of other brands were in fact Schleich releases. Why? take the example of Mojo and Schleich lionesses, we are happy anytime there's a new figure, specially when it looks excelent as it is the case of the Mojo. The Schleich is surely not bad but clearly it doesn't look as promising. But when will we see the Schleich one? In January, in a local shop with all the excitment of seeing new figures and having the chance of choosing one of the copies. ... and the Mojo? When we'll see it? Probably very late on the year with the big disadvantage of being needed to be ordered online with all extra shipping costs and without the chance of choosing the best of the shop. Thinking well, it would be great that all good 2014 releases were Schleich but it was much better if we had the chance of finding all brands locally or if Schleich was less conservative and stopped this exagerated children targeted lines.
With what Schleich told me directly and to other collectors on STS, I don't believe Schleich will change their commercial strategy, they even are offering the brand to Matel what explains the Barbie style of some figures.
I really wish instead that market turn more balanced and that soon we can find these new brands everywhere because I think they are putting quality in high levels and they deserve it.

About pictures you're right, the main difference between some old and newer Schleich versions is their texture, when you read people saying they are detailed, it is exactly because of the rich texture, a paradigmatic sign of what is modern and not. But proportions, muscular expression, are also important to make a great figure. However, Schleich insists in focusing their catalogue pictures to show how textured their figures are.

I'm personally looking forward with great interest to the black flying fox and the chipmunk. As well as tge new hedgehog. Schleich'sahedgehog. Yes, it's attatched to a "base", as is the chipmunk, but I like Schleich hedgehogs. I have the old retired one which is on the base, and Beatrice and Yvette have sent me the little mini "hogs," but I still need the current ones before they remove them from the market. Perhaps my mum will surprise me with them on my birthday.  Seriously though, I'll agree that lately Schleich's sculpts have run the wide gamut between naturalustic and "happy critters," but I'll still buy them. Personally, I like the wild Safari deer the most, but that doesn't mean I dislike Schleich.

Roger wrote:

Krista, thanks for your kind words and of course I know your criticism is not targeted towards me! :D
I have a different perception to what is happening on other brands threads. Most people is not really being nasty with the brand to ridicule their figures, actually, I think many people wished those great figures and unusual species of other brands were in fact Schleich releases. :idea:Why? take the example of Mojo and Schleich lionesses, we are happy anytime there's a new figure, specially when it looks excelent as it is the case of the Mojo. The Schleich is surely not bad but clearly it doesn't look as promising. But when will we see the Schleich one? In January, in a local shop with all the excitment of seeing new figures and having the chance of choosing one of the copies. ... and the Mojo? When we'll see it? Probably very late on the year with the big disadvantage of being needed to be ordered online with all extra shipping costs and without the chance of choosing the best of the shop. Thinking well, it would be great that all good 2014 releases were Schleich but it was much better if we had the chance of finding all brands locally or if Schleich was less conservative and stopped this exagerated children targeted lines. :study: 
With what Schleich told me directly and to other collectors on STS, I don't believe Schleich will change their commercial strategy, they even are offering the brand to Matel what explains the Barbie style of some figures. :flower::heart:
I really wish instead that market turn more balanced and that soon we can find these new brands everywhere because I think they are putting quality in high levels and they deserve it. :D

About pictures you're right, the main difference between some old and newer Schleich versions is their texture, when you read people saying they are detailed, it is exactly because of the rich texture, a paradigmatic sign of what is modern and not. But proportions, muscular expression, are also important to make a great figure. However, Schleich insists in focusing their catalogue pictures to show how textured their figures are.  :D

I understand your point of view, but I have to say that in order to succeed in this market, the more versatile the brand is, the more they can succeed.
I'm not sure where all the money Schleich gets comes from (Fantasy figures? Horses? Cute and common animals?), but I'm sure that the brand would go down very quickly if only animal collectors would buy that brand. I know there are lots of us, but after all, not so many on the larger scale.
So I'm happy if the brand can afford to make even one or two lesser known animals every year, even though they will never be the bestseller figures and producing them might actually cost them more money than profit.

And the same goes for Mojo and the lesser known brands, they have to make also common animals (for example this year's lioness, zebra etc) to stay alive in the business. They have to make figures that would sell also as toys.

I don't know if Schleich selling the business or part of it to Mattel is bad, actually. I think that they would sell only their fantasy line to Mattel. That could turn out good. But you never know.

And as for all the stores stocking up only Schleich. It's mostly up to the storeowners and importers. The biggest toy store chain here (and also the local Toys R Us, i think) tried to have Schleich and CollectA simultaneously (or even replacing Schleich with CollectA, I don't know??), but it probably wasn't profitable, since they got rid of the CollectA stock pretty soon....

.... I don't know if it's pointless to say this in this point os the conversation, but Schleich is not my favourite brand (I don't really prefer any brand, except I have a really soft spot for Re-ment for some reason), I just try to understand the strategy and vision of every company.

One of my dreams is to have a store (not a webstore, but a "real" local one) that sells only animal figures. Of all the major brands. It would be targeted to collectors and children. But instead of plush toys, it would sell only plastic animals. But, as sad as it is, the company would crash and burn very quickly. So it's only a dream. :)

Sorry to cause all of the arguments of the new whitetails  , I meant to say that (in my opinion) Schleich seems to be making figures that appeal to young children which is brilliant because they will sell more items. The only thing about that is that the realism of the figures starts to decrease, thus making them seem almost comical. In recent years Schleich has added ribbons and bows to their horses hair which has made sales shoot through the roof. So, this has turned out to be great for the company. What I really meant (and I should have said this in the beginning) is that, me being someone who likes to collect realistic and life like figures, I am somewhat disappointed.  

I personally like Schleich's modern animal figures as I find the to be very detailed even if there a little cutesy or cartoonish.

What I don't like, is the fact that they retire everything after a year or too.

Tyler Loew wrote:

Sorry to cause all of the arguments of the new whitetails  , I meant to say that (in my opinion) Schleich seems to be making figures that appeal to young children which is brilliant because they will sell more items. The only thing about that is that the realism of the figures starts to decrease, thus making them seem almost comical. In recent years Schleich has added ribbons and bows to their horses hair which has made sales shoot through the roof. So, this has turned out to be great for the company. What I really meant (and I should have said this in the beginning) is that, me being someone who likes to collect realistic and life like figures, I am somewhat disappointed.  

You didn't start an argument, you started a discussion.  I see where schleich is going with their tactic of cuter figures, I only wish that they would rather select some figures that would fit their bill of cute animals to boost sales (like the hedgies), and instead keep a somewhat more regular line of figures (again as Roger said selecting some recognizable but different species like the penguin is a great idea since it appeals to mostly both parties). Like I said, yes they have to make money, and the more the better, however I just wish they realized that not everyone likes that style, and would rather have some more lifelike figures as well.

Tyler Loew wrote:

Sorry to cause all of the arguments of the new whitetails :shock: , I meant to say that (in my opinion) Schleich seems to be making figures that appeal to young children which is brilliant because they will sell more items. The only thing about that is that the realism of the figures starts to decrease, thus making them seem almost comical. In recent years Schleich has added ribbons and bows to their horses hair which has made sales shoot through the roof. So, this has turned out to be great for the company. What I really meant (and I should have said this in the beginning) is that, me being someone who likes to collect realistic and life like figures, I am somewhat disappointed. :roll: 

You weren't causing argument, only discussion, which is a good thing. And actually, my reply to you was meant to taken in a humorous way, the reply I sent to you was kind of a joke, but it was probably misinterpret to be more serious than it actually was.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but I'm interested, do you have any statistic or proof about Schleich sales. Are the ribboned horses really their bestsellers, because I honestly don't know. It would be awesome if Schleich published every year some sort of a statistic of which figures have been the most sold in which countries. :D

Takama wrote:

What I don't like, is the fact that they retire everything after a year or too.

I've never quite grasped that way of thinking. Retiring figures after only a few years is going to raise their value as a collectable item.
Ok, I don't collect figures to become rich later (that's not realistic, figures aren't a good investment), but doesn't everyone like to own rare figures?
And since information of the soon to be retired figures is out very early, you still have lots of time to purchase the figures you still want.

And my other reason why I don't see the retirement as a bad thing:
I like to have many different versions of the same animal. For example the Schleich fox... It's interesting to compare them and see how the brand has evolved.