PHOTOS 1: Schleich @ London Toy Fair - 26th January 2017 (Farm & Wildlife)

Hi guys
So I made it to the Schleich stand at the toy fair which is always in the same position at the show.  Schleich is obviously a big player and have lots of money and so can secure a large prime spot.  
I remember when I first starting visiting the show, the Schleich stands were more elaborate, spectacular with no expense spared but in the last two years the set looks more empty and the staging of the models less dramatic.  It’s more of a minimal look these days with a coffee shop right in the middle presumably to entice potential customers.

It is always the same when I turn up.  As soon as anyone walks onto the ‘set’ you are immediately pounced upon by the sales people and as soon as I explain who I am I think the realisation sets in that they won’t make any money from me and so quickly move on ha!  The sales people are always nice and friendly and I do try to get some news from them but I didn’t have much of a discussion this year.  A friendly chap did explain to me that Schleich has been taken over by the former CEO/Chief of Lego and he is working his way through the entire product range and looking to make changes.  As he did with Lego (and as reported by other forum members) he changed the design of the catalogue.  Gone are the days of the mini booklets (which I loved quite frankly) and in come a series of cheaper made 2-part booklets.  I managed to obtain both large and small sized versions and will post photos of those later.
The new head of Schleich is also encouraging the sales of ‘box sets’ which include limited edition or unique items all of which would appeal to families looking to make a saving and buy an ‘all in one’ set rather than splashing out individually on single pieces which can cost more.  Lego did the same and so I think it is safe to say we can expect a lot more Schleich Wildlife box sets.  I don’t mind this if the entire set includes models which cannot be bought on their own such as the mountain animals set.  I also have a confession – I like my models with their original Schleich tags and boxed set animals don’t have these!

Anyway, all the new wildlife models look fine to me and I especially love the sloth.  It is so sweet.  The baby orangutan has moveable arms and there is an increase in more wildlife playsets such as the jungle house.  The dinosaur series has a new skull set which is quite good as they complement small dino species.  What’s important to note is that the recently retired Pogona lizard has made a return in completely new paint scheme and only available with the dino skull set….!

Of the new wildlife I am not keen on the wildboard - it's body does not look right to me, too short in length and is a backwards step in comparison to previous models but the one model which disapoints me most is the Red deer - the sculpting is not nice - I dont like the pose, the body shape, the face and more importantly the antlers - what is going on?? The previous red deer was beautiful but this one is terrible. Its antlers look very strange and that face? oh. such a disapointment for me (as a hoofed animal fan)....


All farm and wildlife models are below.  I have so many photos that I will post dino, fairytale and non animal models photos in a separate posting.
Enjoy!

FARM

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WILDLIFE

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This is the second posting with photos taken at the toy fair showing you other Schleich releases excluding farm and wildlife.

The first set of photos of wildlife and farm can be accessed here:
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ACTION FIGURES / NON-WILDLIFE

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FAIRYTALE

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DINOSAURS

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I can't see any photos

JonasV wrote:

I can't see any photos

They are there, they only take a very long time to load.

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Thank you very much for these beautiful pictures!

Yes, it takes a long time, because Numaan has taken SO many wonderful pictures for us
If you read the extremely valuable comments at the top, the pictures will be there

So, Schleich has turned into a cross between Lego, Playmobil, Siku, and My Little Pony, with a few wonderful things in between

I am fortunate to have the catalogue for the first half of the year, - what a mess !!
I really have a hard job to try to update TAI now
Wonder what the shop-owners say to all those large boxes ? Well, there will not be so much "Shrinkage"...
But the poor children who come with their pocket money to get a mountain goat....

Thankyou again, Numaaa !!!!

SUSANNE wrote:

...
I am fortunate to have the catalogue for the first half of the year, - what a mess !!
I really have a hard job to try to update TAI now
...

Found this. It may help you with TAI.
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Thanks for all the info. Especially the sloth close up and the Marvel & DC figures.

These pictures mean there is still at least one unconfirmed Marvel character. The Doctor Strange box says [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Including the first six and assuming the Green Goblin and Iron Man are 7/8, 7/9, or 8/9, there is still a missing figure. The first article said it is Dormammu, Iron Skull, and Ultron. In a newer one, it said Thor would be included.

Thank you :)

Thank you Numaan for these wonderful pictures!

Fantastic photos, thank you so much :)

I did have to do a double take as the couple sitting at the table with a rep in picture two are two people I know

NOoooooooo!
I like that sloth way more than the Papo one.
And I made myself promise last year that I would never ever ever ever buy another figure from Schleich again in my life.
But I've already succumbed to the sloth bear.
And now this lovely pretty sloth is calling my name as well....


DAMN YOU SCHLEICH!!!!!

ah finally mermaids! Ive been wondering why they havent made any yet!

their dragons have gotten much better too.

The dinos continue to be same ol crap...

this is my favorite sloth. It looks like Flash(from Zootopia)

Also love the sloth bear, new moose and the forest/mountain hoofies set.

Thank you for the photos again, Numaan! They are great to see!!

I really need that set with mountain animals, it's so nice! The forest animals sets are very cute also, I can imagine I would have enjoyed them so much as a kid The black bear, the moose and the skunk, this trio begs for wild adventures!

Sloth and sloth bear are both on my list too. I haven't buy any Schleich in a while but these are really lovely

The wildlife station set is a bit strange, why is the crocodile-head-shaped "rock" there?
Gorillas, tigers and sloth on one wildlife diorama are also quite confusing, where is the educational function of Schleich animals those times? But I do think it will be a successful concept, it's similar to Playmobil and Lego so it must work well.

Ana wrote:

......
Gorillas, tigers and sloth on one wildlife diorama are also quite confusing, where is the educational function of Schleich animals those times? ......

Just my first reaction to it

pokeyanyway wrote:

SUSANNE wrote:

...
I am fortunate to have the catalogue for the first half of the year, - what a mess !!
I really have a hard job to try to update TAI now
...

Found this. It may help you with TAI.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thankyou very much !!! I appreciate your help very much , but every time I try to open that link, my computer crasches
I think it is too large for my connection
Ohh, the joy of living in the middle of nowhere

Thanks for posting these new images. I agree that the dragons look like some of the best things here as well as the bearded dragon lizard. The fantasy sea horses look like an interesting concept as well, but it's unfortunate that they were made with no thought towards anatomy at all. Their new Acrocanthosaurus looks slightly better, but this species has been made by so many companies that there's no way this one can compete. It's a shame that they no longer focus on realism.

That's a fantastic reportage and it is fantastic to see the sloth there! There's something special in that figure, it looks very attractive to me and surely one more sloth in my wish list. This year Schleich is a sloth machine. A new color to the bearde dragon is also something new for me.
Numaan just forgot to resize all these pictures, it would take a huge effort from him anyway but it turns the page very hard to load. Fortunately it seems I have an excellent internet connection even if I changed the service to a different one and it was quite fast in my pc.

Wait what? A MALE mermaid? WOW! WOW! WOW! Wonderful!

Thank you for posting the pictures. A lot of must haves there.

First of all... THANK YOU NUMAAN FOR YOUR PHOTOS!! They are huge help in decision process. But with tears in my eyes I can say Schleich is saving my money this year in a big way!
I don´t want to sound negative but... this is horrible Schleich used to be my no.2 (after Papo) for more than a decade and now I feel like even Bullyland is higher for me Horses... their horses were magnificent, I still have old models and they are treasure for me. Personality, details, focus on breed marks... now their horses are full of crap. Braids, hearts, weird legs bending, weird poses, customing old molds, repeating still the same breeds...
It makes me angry also. Schleich is major part of my collection now but in future I´ll focus more on Papo and CollectA because they are focusing on details and realism.
Wildlife is even bigger dissapointment... woodland animals looks oddly. Body proportions (ibex), antlers (deer), smiling faces (sloth), color variations (horses), mold adjustment (moose),... what the ... is happening? New guy is obviously focusing on money and not customer.
It feels like Schelich came along way to be one of the best brands in the world in early 2000´s and than they came down and down with new management. Comparing older models and new ones it is a huge difference in quality. Mountain goat for example... old one was really good comparing to real animal but new one is looking like cartoon with smily face.
It makes me sad. There are few I´ll buy, maybe, but I´ll need to see them in person.
Anyway... thank you somuch Numaan for your photos.

Bloodrayne wrote:

NOoooooooo!
I like that sloth way more than the Papo one.
And I made myself promise last year that I would never ever ever ever buy another figure from Schleich again in my life.
But I've already succumbed to the sloth bear.
And now this lovely pretty sloth is calling my name as well....


DAMN YOU SCHLEICH!!!!!

Hahahahahaaaaa.

MartinH wrote:

...Wildlife is even bigger dissapointment... woodland animals looks oddly. Body proportions (ibex), antlers (deer), smiling faces (sloth), color variations (horses), mold adjustment (moose),... what the ... is happening? New guy is obviously focusing on money and not customer...

I understand your dissapointment and I totally agree.
Schleich animals are looking weirder and weirder each year.
But the "new guy" isn't the one that sculpt these creatures....
I would like to know what kind of people they are hiring to make these figures?
That "big eyes" and "cute hairstyles" sell is something I believe.
But why do the creators of these animals don't have some common knowledge about proportions and skeletal structure?
Don't they have some pride? It's their work standing there on shelves in shops.
...if I was a Schleich sculpter I would bow my head in shame everytime I would pass a shop that sells them.

Tupolew Tu-154 wrote:

Wait what? A MALE mermaid? WOW! WOW! WOW! Wonderful!

I know right?! and the seahorses remind me of the ones from the Little Mermaid tv series.