Rtas' additions - Birthday gift from El Desperado

Benjamin, it is a joy to see your new acquisitions and also reading your descriptions with your typical sense of humour and some delicious details.
Bullyland Mountainland series is clearly inspired in the Alps and it is interesting to see that some shops have noticed it. I find quite remarkable that you decided to get the chamois. It has a special symbolism as a souvenir and also as a great toy figure.I have the Papo model but I enjoy the Schleich and Bully too.
You've got the reindeer, I see you know I am not surprised at all.
I am not sure but I think it was suggested the tortoises to be Greek tortoises.

Congratulations

Roger wrote:

Benjamin, it is a joy to see your new acquisitions and also reading your descriptions with your typical sense of humour and some delicious details.
Bullyland Mountainland series is clearly inspired in the Alps and it is interesting to see that some shops have noticed it. I find quite remarkable that you decided to get the chamois. It has a special symbolism as a souvenir and also as a great toy figure.I have the Papo model but I enjoy the Schleich and Bully too.
You've got the reindeer, I see you know I am not surprised at all.
I am not sure but I think it was suggested the tortoises to be Greek tortoises.

So my chamois and the ibex and marmot are not discontinued ? How disappointed I am, I thought I got a true rarity ! I wonder why you never see those nice Bully models in big toy shops from store chains, only the awful ones like this one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] or that one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Do you think I should also get the Papo chamois to complete the herd ? The toy shop close to my job has many of them (although it is retired since two or three years). What bothers me is that they all seem to be males (Papo, Schleich and Bully)...

white marks on a cormorant can have more to do with its age and whether it has breeding plumage or not, less about the species.

Such fantastic models you found !!!!

Of course I am especially delighted about the chamois from Bullyland , - one of the beauties from their golden days

Ohhh, and those new Papo model, - WOW !!!!

Great additions Ben! I think you've picked some great figures, and it's nice to see the new Papo, the sailfish especially! It's smaller than I thought would be

RtasVadumee wrote:

Do you think I should also get the Papo chamois to complete the herd ? The toy shop close to my job has many of them (although it is retired since two or three years). What bothers me is that they all seem to be males (Papo, Schleich and Bully)...

I recomend that you get the Papo chamois. It is already getting rare in many places and it is a wonderful model, in my opinion. However, if you never felt tempted to get it, maybe you don't like it that much? About the Bully chamois, I have no idea about what is retired or not on Bullyland range, it seems everything is discontinued even if they show it in their catalogues. In any circunstance, a Bullyland chamois bought in the Alps, a souvenir of this your great experience, works for me as it was a rare model, at least it is special.
My first impact with Bullyland was also very negative. I remember seeing loads of huge figures and most of them really weird. It was actually on forum where I learned to look at this great brand with different eyes.

Roger wrote:

RtasVadumee wrote:

Do you think I should also get the Papo chamois to complete the herd ? The toy shop close to my job has many of them (although it is retired since two or three years). What bothers me is that they all seem to be males (Papo, Schleich and Bully)...

I recomend that you get the Papo chamois. It is already getting rare in many places and it is a wonderful model, in my opinion. However, if you never felt tempted to get it, maybe you don't like it that much? About the Bully chamois, I have no idea about what is retired or not on Bullyland range, it seems everything is discontinued even if they show it in their catalogues. In any circunstance, a Bullyland chamois bought in the Alps, a souvenir of this your great experience, works for me as it was a rare model, at least it is special.
My first impact with Bullyland was also very negative. I remember seeing loads of huge figures and most of them really weird. It was actually on forum where I learned to look at this great brand with different eyes.

It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I already had my old Schleich chamois and never really wanted a herd of these animals, even if it can be a gregarious species.

Yes, it seems that Bullyland is a declining brand, they are not getting as good as they used to.

Roger, the chamois isn't retired, as it was in this years catalog

Benjamin, the chamois from Papo is the one I prefer and there is a bearded vulture from De Agostini you can see in "Old Europa" (outdoor photos)

Hi friends !

Since I am not working at the moment thanks to because of Covid, I am going to be much more active here in the days to come

I will continue and end my collection topic of course, but the first thing I am willing to do with my free time is to present you my newest acquisitions which are, as you will see, quite numerous.

Indeed, I have added six of the new Schleich since Christmas (a bit less than I expected since size, as I will explain to you, has been a main issue), received a kind surprise from Spain, finally decided to get a Papo model which does not convince me but everyone here wanted me to get and found an unexpected treasure in the shop where I work. However I was waiting to come back to my parents' house to take pictures of those wonders, because I do not find very useful to show you figures you have already seen a thousand times without what is, in my opinion, and I think you are all very aware of this thought of mine, the most interesting thing in our hobby :

COMPARISONS

Those are especially usefull for new figures in order to help collectors to decide wether or not the new comers will be joining their collection. Adam had promised me a lot of them but it seems that, as a French proverb says, if you want something done, do it yourself ! (no worries Adam, I'm just kidding )

However, before getting to the heart of the matter, I really want to update that thread with comparison pics for two previous acquisitions I was not able to provide at the time because I did not have access to my collection which is still in my parents' house : the Papo cormorant and the Papo sailfish.

I remember there was a debate about which species the Papo cormorant truly represented. Was it a shag ? A great cormorant ? There were relevant evidences supporting both identifications and as far as size is concerned, both interpretations can be right, depending on which figures you compare it with.

Compared to Schleich sea birds (especially the gull since the puffin is oversized), it scales better as a shag :
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But next to a pelecaniform cousin, it fits perfectly as a great cormorant :
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So it's just the perfect size to fit in my collection and I am really happy that Papo now produces much smaller birds than in the past.

I also remember I once looked like a damn fool before Pardo for getting confused about the differences between marlin, sailfish, swordfish... I am no fish specialist and even at 28 YO, animal figures may have an educational purpose. Although the distinction between swordfish and marlin/sailfish is not difficult to understand, telling apart sailfishes from regular marlins is much more subtle but I now have the perfect tools to succeed in it !
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Although you clearly see that the Papo sailfish is more recent than the Schleich blue marlin which has quite a vintage touch, I couldn't have dreamt of figures fitting so amazingly well with each other as these two and I am very glad to own them both Now I am firmly waiting for the... swordfish

As far as the real acquisitions of January are concerned, I got two Papo models you all know very well :
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The first one was a very wished figure and was kindly sent by Antonio (Pepi) from Spain. It is the Papo buffalo, a gorgeous model very typical of Papo's style which is, unfortunately, retired since 2018. I enjoy collecting several individuals of the same species, especially when this species is gregarious. The only requirement is that the new figure should fit well with my models but I knew there would be no compatibility issue with my Schleich buffalo.
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No need for long speeches or detailed analyses to explain the differences between Schleich and Papo when you have these two models in your collection. They both represent perfectly well the design phylosophies of their respective brands. On the one hand, the quiet, peaceful, classy and academic Schleich buffalo. On the other hand, the powerful, steroized, bestial and agressive Papo bull. As you know I am much more used to the Schleich approach but I have to admit Papo's "rebellious side", as Roger calls it, works pretty well on a fierce species like the African buffalo. I would be unable to choose between the two but hopefully, I don't have to since both, although being very different, fit perfectly well together

The only problem is they form one more homosexual couple in my collection I mean, I don't have anything against homosexuality in any species on earth but I always find quite difficult to justify the presence of calves in a herd exclusively composed of males One of my main wishes in this hobby is to see the industry produce more female figures.

The second Papo I got this month is that one which "does not fully convince me but everyone here wanted me to get"

As a Schleich-based collector, I am very focused on beautiful eyes. That's why many Papo models don't appeal to me despite a brilliant sculpting. That's the case of this puma. I mean, pumas have probably the most beautiful, the most captivating, the deepest eyes among the felids, that's clearly a main feature which should be reproduced in any self-respecting replica. And I maintain that the Papo model does not manage to catch that unique look in pumas' eyes.

That's why I studied carefully every cougar figure available on the market and came to the conclusion that... no western brand has EVER managed to represent this species properly.

So, last day, when I saw the Papo puma again in that shop close to my job, I finally decided to get it because I knew there was no better option for the moment. At least, the sculpt is very nice and the pose dynamic, it's also the best sized one and, I have to admit it, it is still a huge improvement over my Schleich vintage model :
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Now, last but not least, it's time to deal with what I guess interest you the most : the new Schleich !

Here they are :
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Those six are the only one I will get for now, until the second batch arrives this summer (the llama, the alpaca, the swan ect...). I will explain later why I did not buy the others.

This is not especially a good year for Schleich but it is not a catastrophic one neither. I was finally quite disappointed by several models I was initially very enthusiastic about, when we only had the promo pics. But I am satisfied by each of the six ones which appear on this picture. So let's review them one by one.

I remember most of you were very eulogistic towards the new warthog so I am glad to be able to show you the following picture in order to prove what I have been saying since the beginning : there is no improvement over the previous family released in 2010.
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That's not an issue though, as the previous models were already perfect in my opinion, the new one is just reusing the same excellent design with a more dynamic pose in order to reintroduce a warthog in Schleich's range. As a result, it is almost identical to the previous renditions and thus, fits absolutely perfectly with them. Of course, they don't have the same colour but that's obviously because this young female just took a good mud bath

Indeed, that's a female (it has udders on its belly), a good point for me as I always prefer to have more females than males in my groups of animals, especially as female warthogs live in sounders while adult males tend to be solitary. And I am saying it's a young one because, even if it's not clearly visible on my pic, it is slightly smaller than the female from 2010.

A new individual from a gregarious species is always nice but, as I said, this one is no improvement over the previous generation. The same does not apply to the next species we are going to talk about.

From the beginning, when I saw the promo pic in a very bad quality YT video, I knew that the new Schleich manatee would be nice. And it actually is, no disappointment at all. I truly think this is now the best manatee from western brands, much better than the CollectA strange one and just slightly better than the current Papo which I may add to my collection in order to keep company to this one (they actually fit pretty well despite not having the same colour).

Until now, I was using the old Papo rendition, the famous mould from Maia & Borges which was first commercialised by Schleich. Here they are together :
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They obviously don't fit at all with each other, this is just not the same proportions. As a result, the new Schleich will simply replace the Maia & Borges one in my collection. I still think it is a very charming model (I always say that Maia and Borges moulds are timeless) but the new Schleich has much more realistic proportions and all my love towards the Maia and Borges model is not enough to ignore that (same thing as the pumas )

Unsurprisingly, the new Schleich also fits much better with its sirenian fellow, the CollectA dugong :
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Now comes what I probably consider as the nicest Schleich 2021 figure. Nothing compared to the 2020 dromedary masterpiece of course but still a proof that Schleich's savoir-faire is not completely dead : their new griffon vulture.

Although I bought the proboscis monkey first, because that was a much more exciting addition to my collection, the vulture was the second I got, the day after. When I looked at it from every angle in my flat, I was convinced that it was so superior to any other vulture in my collection that it would make all of them outdated. As a consequence, despite being happy to own this gorgeous model, I was sad to have to replace my other vulture figures

So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when I came back to my parents' house and took the following picture :
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Despite being eight years older, the previous Schleich fits admirably, prodigiously, UNBELIEVABLY well with the new one They make a perfect pair to raise chicks !

Of course, they do not work as perfectly with the Papo model but it is far to be shocking and all three make a nice trio like the three vultures in the jungle book cartoon :
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From Schleich to Papo, by way of Mojo, western brands have always offered us moderately sized griffon vultures. So, the main thing that stroke me when I saw that new model in the shop was how massive and bulky it looked compared to every other vulture figure I had seen before. That's actually a good point for me as it is the very first griffon vulture that is big enough to work with another European mountains raptor I am lucky to have in my collection : the absolutely mythical Schleich golden eagle
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So, I think you got it, I really like my new vulture figure But there may be a deeper reason to that enthusiasm. Indeed, we were talking about it a few weeks ago with Kostas on the Schleich 2021 topic, this figure actually reminds me of an old friend... And I truly believe Schleich got its inspiration back from him. One of the best vintage Schleich and the very first bird of prey produced by that brand.
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24 years ago, a griffon vulture in the same exact pose was released by Schleich and bought by my parents for the six years old child I was back then. A model absolutely AMAZING for its time, that I still own in my vintage collection, although it is far to be in good conditions... This comparison picture is a time travel and reminds me of my journey as a collector. Despite the clear decline of Schleich recently, I am glad to see they are still able to release such nice models, proudly bearing the glorious legacy of what MartinH calls the "golden age" of Schleich.

Since now, I was still using the old, very vintage Schleich badger from the 1990s, one of my favourite vintage Schleich and one I am deeply attached too. However, it was becoming more than urgent to replace it.

Unfortunately, the fantastic Schleich model from 2011 is one of the very few figures that kept resisting me and my figure hunts (I remind you that I ordered less than 15 Schleich figures on the net, my whole collection was built through "figure hunt trips" in all western France but I NEVER EVER found that badger despite dozens of shops visited). It's price on the net is correlated to its rarity in real life : no less than 35€ on ebay ! On the other hand, Mojo and CollectA's renditions did not satisfy me, they are too chubby for my taste. So, since I would be able to buy 5 Safari, CollectA or Mojo figures for that price, I decided to save a bit of money and make do with the new one, even though it is smiling and not as good as the previous
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However, I am still waiting for Susanne's comparison pic as I have not completely given up the idea of getting the 2011 version, it would make a nice mate for mine, especially as these animals are monogamous and raising two cubs is a lot of work !
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Larger than the vintage model, it is a perfect match for its mustelid cousin the wolverine...
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So a very decent figure whose smile is finally not as disturbing as it looked on the promo pic.

My parents had bought a wombat for me in my favourite Schleich shop because I had told them I was looking for a darker painted one to go better with my brownish CollectA female. However, when I came back home, I discovered that it was absolutely identical to the one I already had. So, I had to trade it for another figure. It was what finally decided me to get the new platypus. Indeed, I had already seen it in my hometown and found it gorgeous but was hesistating a lot over its acquisition as I really wanted it to go with my Papo model I did not want to replace. The size was not really an issue as the Papo platypus is already way too huge. I was more afraid about the colour and texture difference between the two. Schleich's platypus is closer to Mojo's as far as design choices are concerned while Papo's is closer to CollectA's. But I knew that I would never be able to resist it and would buy it one day or another, wether it be today or in two years. The model is very nice and the platypus is like the okapi : that's a species I could make a whole collection of. So, I decided to trade my wombat with it and the marriage is not as bad as I thought and actually even pretty good !
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I even think that this huge difference is a strenght in this couple. All platypus are not identical and the lack of texture of Papo's model and more glossy look is logical when the figure is clearly in a diving/swimming pose. To the contrary, the Schleich model kept its fur dry on the riverbank, that's why it looks more textured. I can even use the Southlands tiny one as their baby and the family is complete !

Of course, I kept the best for last. When I read rumors of a Schleich proboscis monkey in 2021, I immediately thought it was a fake news as I did not think Schleich would release such a strange-looking animal or, if they did, would make it clownish as hell. But they actually didn't and I have nothing to complain about this model, except maybe the size, but we'll talk about it later.

My first contact with this species dates back to my earliest childhood and the Belgian comic book Tintin. In "Flight 714 to Sydney" (one of the weakest albums) which takes place in Indonesia, the bad guy Rastapopouloses is compared to a proboscis monkey by his right-hand man Alan because of his huge nose :
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As a consequence, it has always been a very iconic species in my mind and I definitely needed one in my collection. Of course, there was already the Mojo rendition but it was way too big and I never order figures which are too large or too small to match my standards. The situation was quite different with the Schleich model as it is available in local shops. Furthermore, it is smaller than the Mojo but still not as small as I wished.

I would have appreciated a mandrill-sized proboscis monkey. Indeed, the Bornean species is a medium-sized/quite large cercopithecidae. A male is supposed to be roughly the size of a mandrill female but as you can see from the following picture, it is slightly larger than the mandrill male :
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However, it scales perfectly with the Papo mandrill so maybe the Schleich one is the one undersized, especially as it is not so much larger than the female (while it is supposed to be).

With another very appreciated figure on this forum, the Mojo black crested macaque, that's the opposite : the proboscis monkey is too small but that's because the macaque is supposed to go with the Mojo proboscis which is much larger.
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However, the most shocking is to compare it with standard-sized apes. Here it is next to its Bornean neighbour :
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So, to sum up, this newcomer's size is clearly not ideal for my collection but anyway, the Mojo rendition is even larger and the one from the Safari toob may have been too small so that was my best option as I really needed this species

In the end, the only primate which it is perfectly compatible with is the Diana monkey... Isn't it the most important ?
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As a conclusion, this year was very similar to 2019 and 2020 for Schleich, with a few very nice figures, a few very awful ones, a few oversized ones and a lot of meh ones. At least, we got an unusual species with the proboscis monkey.

Before ending on that topic, I would like to give you my opinion about the other ones, those I did not buy and will not buy, and explain you why I don't want to add them to my collection.

- The anteater : a nice one but absurdly oversized, the size of a Schleich or Papo black rhino ! Even if you are tolerant, I don't think it will fit in anyone's collection who is a bit concerned about scale. I will keep my old model from 2003 which is still very decent nowadays, even though the new one is obviously an improvement, I won't deny it. I know that Spacelab and Pardo are still looking for a giant anteater to join they collections so, I have to strongly advise them against the new Schleich because of this size issue : there is NO WAY it is gonna look ok next to your other South American fauna like the Mojo tapir, the CollectA capybara or the Safari peccary. Try to find the Papo one instead, it is just slightly bigger than my old Schleich but more detailed.
- The penguin : a nice one too but this time, too much undersized for me. That new emperor is the size of the CollectA rockhopper, smaller than the gentoo. However, I know that all my penguins are oversized compared with the rest of my collection (all birds are) while this new one is not, so it will be perfect for scale fundamentalists like Isidro
- The fennec : Arguably one of the ugliest Schleich I have ever seen, I showed it to my mother and she thought it was coming from a Disney cartoon. I am not as bothered by Schleich's cuteness as much as most of you are but this time they went too far, even for me. My Papo model is far to be perfect and does not look like a real fennec neither but it is not as ridiculous as this one.

Finally, the last addition I will show you is a very unusual one, quite different from what I usually collect.
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As you may know, I don't collect domestic animals, except very exotic ones you often see in zoos. Not that I don't like farm animals, I just need to remain focused as a collector, just as all of us I guess. But this calf is an exception as it is, for an unknown reason, the ONLY Schleich sold by the shop where I work. So I wanted to keep it as a souvenir.

I actually tried to convince my boss to speak to the company's management about my idea to sell animal figures in our shops. I work for "Nature & Decouvertes", a store chain whose reputation is based on alleged proximity to nature... The toy section is much focused on the educational purpose and, I have to admit, that's a very good one, one of the two only worth in the shop in my opinion. So, selling animal figures would have been logical in my mind.

However, since this company has a "premium reputation" and pretends to be very different from the other shops, we just could not limit ourselves to selling Schleich like everyone so I obviously told him about CollectA, which is almost impossible to find in French shops. Unfortunately, he answered me that it was not interesting for the company, that they already tried to sell Schleich and it did not work so that would be the same thing with my obscure brand.

At least I tried and they will not be able to reproach me for proposing nothing anymore ! It would have been truly great to be the one introducing massively CollectA in France, as our shops are very famous here and spread throughout the whole country.

Great post, very helpful! I'm quite mystified with your anteater comments as I like the model and prepared to be tolerant with its size. But if it's like a Rhino...hmm, I was expecting it to be closer to a jaguar.  
Anyway, with schleich I can check when the stores will open (if they ever) and decide. The monkey looks great!

A jaguar won't even dare to get close to that anteater

If you want, I can try to take comparison pics WITHIN THE TOY SHOP They already think I'm a freak for spending hours comparing the painting of two identical toys for kids, it won't make any difference to my reputation

That's surely a very interesting and informative post. Id say I agree with everything you're saying or at least almost everything. It is captivating to see your enthusiasm with the vulture, I am not too excited about it but probably, finding it in a local shop, I'd hardly resist. Your comparison pictures are really good even for a more tolerant collector as I am but I have a picture request if possible. No, it is not the size but for any reason the warthog seems to me quite different from the previous models, you tell it is similar but with a different pose. Maybe it is the pose illuding me once the body looks chubbier, shorter, etc. Could you take a picture muzzle to muzzle using only the new warthog and the older one next to it? If it is has nice as the older models, I have to reconsider it for my collection once I love warthogs and I was completely neutral towards this figure.

Oh, I'm sorry Roger but I'm back in my flat since a few hours ago and I don't have neither of these figures with me anymore But next time I come to see my parents, I promise you (however, it can be in two or three weeks)

You are right, the new female has slightly shorter legs than the previous adults and a bigger belly, so it's more stocky, I can confirm it. But it does not bother me personally as I consider it to be a younger female and maybe she is pregnant since she has no piglet yet unlike the other female ?

RtasVadumee wrote:

Oh, I'm sorry Roger but I'm back in my flat since a few hours ago and I don't have neither of these figures with me anymore But next time I come to see my parents, I promise you (however, it can be in two or three weeks)

You are right, the new female has slightly shorter legs than the previous adults and a bigger belly, so it's more stocky, I can confirm it. But it does not bother me personally as I consider it to be a younger female and maybe she is pregnant since she has no piglet yet unlike the other female ?

No hurries, their gestation is quite long, 25 weeks, so it depends how long she has been pregnant and I can wait that she takes birth to a few piglets. I am in a huge excitment to get the new Mojo warthog they've just announced and I am sure it will take much longer to be available.

It's always a full joy to read a post about your new acquisitions with your unmistakable charismatic style of writing, even if the starting is sad (I hope that the COVID only affected you indirectly and not directly).
As always I will expose my toughts about your exhaustive analysis of the figures :)

RtasVadumee wrote:

I remember there was a debate about which species the Papo cormorant truly represented. Was it a shag ? A great cormorant ? There were relevant evidences supporting both identifications and as far as size is concerned, both interpretations can be right, depending on which figures you compare it with.

This cormorant is a masterpiece that I will get for my collection, but it has never been debated if it was a great cormorant or an (European) shag, but instead, if a great cormorant or a double-crested cormorant. Colour of face matches better as a double-crested and I will use as it in my collection. Definitely is not a shag anyway (too thick bill, too black colour, too stocky body, too.. etc)

RtasVadumee wrote:

Compared to Schleich sea birds (especially the gull since the puffin is oversized), it scales better as a shag :

Gull is also oversized, but not so enormously as the puffin. The cormorant is the only decent-sized one of the trio

RtasVadumee wrote:

Although you clearly see that the Papo sailfish is more recent than the Schleich blue marlin which has quite a vintage touch, I couldn't have dreamt of figures fitting so amazingly well with each other as these two and I am very glad to own them both Now I am firmly waiting for the... swordfish

Ohhh finally the Papo sailfish in real pics! As often happens, it's clearly much more poorly painted than the promo pic, but I think it's still acceptable. However now that I see the real product I enter in doubt. Should I buy this easier to get Papo sailfish for my collection as I planned the day it was announced, or, instead, pursue the much harder to obtain, but much better, Kaiyodo Aquatales polyresin one??
You have a good swordfish in the Safari LTD Pelagic TOOB, but it's TOOB-sized. It can pass a juvenile, as the one I've photographed taxidermized in Belgian Institute of Royal Sciences.

RtasVadumee wrote:

The first one was a very wished figure and was kindly sent by Antonio (Pepi) from Spain. It is the Papo buffalo, a gorgeous model very typical of Papo's style which is, unfortunately, retired since 2018. I enjoy collecting several individuals of the same species, especially when this species is gregarious. The only requirement is that the new figure should fit well with my models but I knew there would be no compatibility issue with my Schleich buffalo.

It's a very nice buffalo. I like especially the open mouth showing the lower teeth, af is the animal was chewing something or bellowing softly. I think the only possible issue would be the excessively thick legs. The head, instead, is amazing, and I think better than Schleich one. I don't have neither, instead I chosen the Mojo Fun one.

RtasVadumee wrote:

As a Schleich-based collector, I am very focused on beautiful eyes. That's why many Papo models don't appeal to me despite a brilliant sculpting. That's the case of this puma. I mean, pumas have probably the most beautiful, the most captivating, the deepest eyes among the felids, that's clearly a main feature which should be reproduced in any self-respecting replica. And I maintain that the Papo model does not manage to catch that unique look in pumas' eyes.

As with sailfish, I didn't remember to have seen photos of the real model until now (despite cougar being much older), and also in this case the paintjob (especially on face) is worst than in the promo image. But that's easy to correct and the figure is still undoubtely the most absolutely perfect cougar available in western brand figurines and the one I wished to buy since I started collecting (still pending).

RtasVadumee wrote:

I remember most of you were very eulogistic towards the new warthog

Certainly not me, as I already have the PNSO one. I think old Schleich warthogs were very far from the best, especially concerning tusks, that I find ugly. And I see that the new Schleich warthog is not better regarding this. Fortunately, lately all brands are releasing updated wathongs in last years, and at least in promo pics they look amazing. The new Mojo one is the last in the party, would be perfect if were not by the thickness of the tail.

RtasVadumee wrote:

From the beginning, when I saw the promo pic in a very bad quality YT video, I knew that the new Schleich manatee would be nice. And it actually is, no disappointment at all. I truly think this is now the best manatee from western brands, much better than the CollectA strange one and just slightly better than the current Papo which I may add to my collection in order to keep company to this one (they actually fit pretty well despite not having the same colour).

And the Schleich new manatee! Another one included in my wishlist since the day of announcement, but, this one with a bit of doubt, because I'm still unsure about if the best one is the new Schleich or the lattest Papo. Looks like both are quite decent. I favour the flipper position in the Schleich, unlike the Papo that have the flippers folded under the body. But the face maybe is better in the Papo one...

RtasVadumee wrote:

Now comes what I probably consider as the nicest Schleich 2021 figure. Nothing compared to the 2020 dromedary masterpiece of course but still a proof that Schleich's savoir-faire is not completely dead : their new griffon vulture.

I think that contrarily to what happens usually, the real product is better than the promo pic shows, especially concerning the eye size. If the bill would be slightly thinner and not so plain coloured, it would be an unbeatable griffon. Anyway I will not include any griffon vulture in my collection, it's just the less charming of all the vulture species for me.

RtasVadumee wrote:

Of course, they do not work as perfectly with the Papo model but it is far to be shocking and all three make a nice trio like the three vultures in the jungle book cartoon :

One of the countless sad decisions of this cartoon, as in the real Jungle Book never is mentioned any vulture.

RtasVadumee wrote:

The model is very nice and the platypus is like the okapi : that's a species I could make a whole collection of.

You always want herds of animals that are solitary in nature while some very social ones have very few models represented just kidding
I have only the Southlands one, that as I said sometimes, it's the only decent-sized platypus in figurine world. The others are as big as dogs

RtasVadumee wrote:

Of course, I kept the best for last. When I read rumors of a Schleich proboscis monkey in 2021, I immediately thought it was a fake news as I did not think Schleich would release such a strange-looking animal or, if they did, would make it clownish as hell.

I find proboscis monkey a very plausible species for Schleich, as it's an extremely well known species and ABC animals are the Schleich's speciality, but I agree totally in your second part, it could be expected that the result was more cartoonish that finally has been!

RtasVadumee wrote:

As a consequence, it has always been a very iconic species in my mind and I definitely needed one in my collection. Of course, there was already the Mojo rendition but it was way too big and I never order figures which are too large or too small to match my standards. The situation was quite different with the Schleich model as it is available in local shops. Furthermore, it is smaller than the Mojo but still not as small as I wished.

That proboscis monkey went inmediately into my wishlist, where I deleted years ago the Mojo one because of being enormous. However the Schleich one have the most absolutely perfect size of any primate figurine in the world, and despite having a less realistic coat than the Mojo one, it's the one that will went into my collection for being the not-oversized one. Then the Mojo black macaque will remain the only oversized primate in my collection, but I can forgive it because... it's a black macaque! I have not any ape in my collection, as they're not very exciting, but I suppose that the CollectA mountaing gorilla will be my first one, and maaaybe any orangutan (the standing CollectA one is good).

RtasVadumee wrote:

Spacelab and Pardo are still looking for a giant anteater to join they collections so, I have to strongly advise them against the new Schleich because of this size issue

Thanks, yes I knew the size of the new Schleich anteater and I saw it's a giant, and even if it was decent-sized it still have a stange-looking elongated neck that unqualifies it for my collection. What I want is the Papo anteater CollectA capybara is not in my wishlist but it's a figure I would not mind to place in my collection. About Safari peccary, I think I find it too big for my collection and I discarded it. Collared peccaries that I've seen in zoos are not larger than Vietnamese potbelly pigs!

RtasVadumee wrote:

- The penguin : a nice one too but this time, too much undersized for me. That new emperor is the size of the CollectA rockhopper, smaller than the gentoo.

Another must have that have been added to my wishlist inmediately after the announcement, because is the only decent sized emperor penguin in figure trade, excluding some Japanese ones, and also because it don't have a chick between the legs. All the other penguins that you mention are of the size of swans I only have a Kaiyodo adelie and a Safari TOOB chinstrap, and even that TOOB one is too big (compared with the Adelie and with most of my other animals).

RtasVadumee wrote:

so it will be perfect for scale fundamentalists like Isidro

Haha, I think that you mistook the person The only that could be called scale funamentalist here would be RogerPVG (he only collect's 1:32 animals), remember that I have the CollectA fennec fox (1:12) as well as the CollectA sperm whale and bowhead whale (around 1:60?), and many other divergent examples in my collection.

RtasVadumee wrote:

- The fennec : Arguably one of the ugliest Schleich I have ever seen, I showed it to my mother and she thought it was coming from a Disney cartoon.

I had the same felt when I saw the promo pics. The eyers looks like those of the classic Alien people. As cartoonish as their new bengal cat.

Really informative post once again, with many wonderful additions!
And you have picked some beautiful choices!

Pardofelis wrote:

It's always a full joy to read a post about your new acquisitions with your unmistakable charismatic style of writing, even if the starting is sad (I hope that the COVID only affected you indirectly and not directly).

I may sound as a lazy and selfish jerk but trust me, it's not sad for me to stay at home being paid as much as when I work five days a week !

Pardofelis wrote:

Ohhh finally the Papo sailfish in real pics! As often happens, it's clearly much more poorly painted than the promo pic, but I think it's still acceptable. However now that I see the real product I enter in doubt. Should I buy this easier to get Papo sailfish for my collection as I planned the day it was announced, or, instead, pursue the much harder to obtain, but much better, Kaiyodo Aquatales polyresin one??
You have a good swordfish in the Safari LTD Pelagic TOOB, but it's TOOB-sized. It can pass a juvenile, as the one I've photographed taxidermized in Belgian Institute of Royal Sciences.

I just checked that and you might be bothered by the base, not sure it stands without it.

As for me, I will wait till a "true" regular-sized swordfish is released.

Pardofelis wrote:

It's a very nice buffalo. I like especially the open mouth showing the lower teeth, af is the animal was chewing something or bellowing softly. I think the only possible issue would be the excessively thick legs. The head, instead, is amazing, and I think better than Schleich one. I don't have neither, instead I chosen the Mojo Fun one.

The Mojo is very nice, I really would like to add it to my herd but, of course, I have other priorities. That's a shame every major brand is not available in France, there would always be something to buy, I am much less motivated when it comes to ordering online...

Pardofelis wrote:

Certainly not me, as I already have the PNSO one. I think old Schleich warthogs were very far from the best, especially concerning tusks, that I find ugly. And I see that the new Schleich warthog is not better regarding this. Fortunately, lately all brands are releasing updated wathongs in last years, and at least in promo pics they look amazing. The new Mojo one is the last in the party, would be perfect if were not by the thickness of the tail.

Yeah, I'm aware of this issue about tusks but it does not bother me that much, I prefer the finely textured Schleich than the more accurately sculpted PNSO.

Pardofelis wrote:

And the Schleich new manatee! Another one included in my wishlist since the day of announcement, but, this one with a bit of doubt, because I'm still unsure about if the best one is the new Schleich or the lattest Papo. Looks like both are quite decent. I favour the flipper position in the Schleich, unlike the Papo that have the flippers folded under the body. But the face maybe is better in the Papo one...

I may provide you with a comparison pic soon as I am seriously thinking about getting the new Papo : they have both of them in the shop close to my job and they actually fit pretty well together despite coulour difference. You need to know that the Papo is slightly smaller than the Schleich so, in my opinion, it's less perfectly scaled with you dugong even though both are ok.

Pardofelis wrote:

I think that contrarily to what happens usually, the real product is better than the promo pic shows, especially concerning the eye size. If the bill would be slightly thinner and not so plain coloured, it would be an unbeatable griffon. Anyway I will not include any griffon vulture in my collection, it's just the less charming of all the vulture species for me.

We may not have the same tastes as I am more "mainstream" than you, but my wishes for vultures are :
- Bearded vulture because it is the true mythical griffon from the mythology, a very original one from its diet and probably the most impressive thing a birdwatcher can see in Europe (golden eagles and bearded vultures are much more impressive to see in the wild than griffon vultures even though those ones are gregarious and you often see dozens of them at the same place).
- Nubian vulture, because that's the most powerful of African vultures, the king of the carrion !
- Palm-nut vulture because of its highly strange diet and feathered head.

Pardofelis wrote:

One of the countless sad decisions of this cartoon, as in the real Jungle Book never is mentioned any vulture.

Yes, I have read the real jungle book too but was a bit disappointed because I expected a long adventure novel but that was just tiny short stories, with half of them disconnected to the main plot like the mangoose one and the seals one (seals in the jungle book, what the f*** ?! )

One of the worst changes in the cartoon may be the role of kaa though, as it is depicted as deceitful, manipulative character as all snakes are supposed to be in the western christian tradition while it is actually very helpful in the book and even quite a mythical figure.

The Netflix movie is much more faithful to the book than the cartoon and the live action from Disney, you should watch it, even though CGI animals are always quite disturbing and Tabaqui the jackal is a brown hyenna (if they really wanted a hyenna, at least they could have made him a stripped one...)

Pardofelis wrote:

You always want herds of animals that are solitary in nature while some very social ones have very few models represented just kidding
I have only the Southlands one, that as I said sometimes, it's the only decent-sized platypus in figurine world. The others are as big as dogs

Yes, that's the problem, I have only one blue wildbeest but three okapies because I love okapies. So when you look at my African diorama, you hardly understand why it was discovered so lately !

That's like polar bears... I have the three polar bears from Schleich (plus the vintage ones) and I forbid myself to buy the two Papo wonderful ones because I already have too many. But that's a torture because I love polar bear figures ! (more the figures than the actual animal to be true )

Hopefully, I don't have the same problem with chimpanzees or... buffaloes as we were talking about them previously !

Pardofelis wrote:

That proboscis monkey went inmediately into my wishlist, where I deleted years ago the Mojo one because of being enormous. However the Schleich one have the most absolutely perfect size of any primate figurine in the world, and despite having a less realistic coat than the Mojo one, it's the one that will went into my collection for being the not-oversized one. Then the Mojo black macaque will remain the only oversized primate in my collection, but I can forgive it because... it's a black macaque! I have not any ape in my collection, as they're not very exciting, but I suppose that the CollectA mountaing gorilla will be my first one, and maaaybe any orangutan (the standing CollectA one is good).

Why didn't you buy the last Schleich gorilla male ? It is as stupendous as a Western lowland gorilla as the CollectA is as an Eastern mountain one.

The orangutan is a masterpiece I want in my collection, but I am not willing to replace my old Schleich family which I really love so I am always asking if both could be used as Bornean and Sumatran species but no one ever managed to give me a clear answer...

"the most absolutely perfect size of any primate figurine in the world" hum... Here is a new case of over-exaggerated dithyrambic frenzy towards an oversized figure, after the Diana monkey

Your mandrill is the Schleich one too and you really think they look perfect next to each other ? I mean, that's far to be unbearably shocking I agree, but that's clearly not perfect neither.

Pardofelis wrote:

Thanks, yes I knew the size of the new Schleich anteater and I saw it's a giant, and even if it was decent-sized it still have a stange-looking elongated neck that unqualifies it for my collection. What I want is the Papo anteater CollectA capybara is not in my wishlist but it's a figure I would not mind to place in my collection. About Safari peccary, I think I find it too big for my collection and I discarded it. Collared peccaries that I've seen in zoos are not larger than Vietnamese potbelly pigs!

Yes, peccaries are tiny but if you accept the Schleich proboscis into your collection, you should be able to accept the peccary too They share approximately the same "too large but acceptable" size.

Pardofelis wrote:

Haha, I think that you mistook the person The only that could be called scale funamentalist here would be RogerPVG (he only collect's 1:32 animals), remember that I have the CollectA fennec fox (1:12) as well as the CollectA sperm whale and bowhead whale (around 1:60?), and many other divergent examples in my collection.

Don't forget the TIBETAN FOX !

Pardofelis wrote:

I had the same felt when I saw the promo pics. The eyers looks like those of the classic Alien people. As cartoonish as their new bengal cat.

You know, since Kiki gave me the Ebay link, I am seriously considering getting the Eikoh fennec you have always wanted too, why haven't you bought it already ? Is there any issue I haven't noticed ?

Anyway, that's always a pleasure to talk and disagree with you about sizes We understand each other you and I, as we both know pertinently that, despite what they all say...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Man, you made my day when I saw the pic above I can't stop laughing

In case sailfish doesn't stand without the base I can put it in a stick as the Colorata striped marlin :)

No need to comparison pic between Schleich and Papo manatees: just your words finally convinced me, and I will get the Schleich one, not only because being best matching with the CollectA dugong (that I own) but also because probably better availability (many shops in my city sells only Schleich).

You have a Bullyland bearded vulture, but is retired and as hard to get as their capercaillie. Anyway is very oversizedfor my taste. Bearded vulture is in my list to "to do" homemade models, tough. Is Nubian vulture an alternative name for the Lappet-faced vulture? I think MiniNature 3-D printing animals have one of them... and yeah palm-nut vulture is fantastic, I cared for one and once I give it a fruit of (Ziziphus jujuba) but he probed a bit and discarded it... a normal carrion diet is good for this vulture, actually oil palm fruits only accounts for a small percentage of its diet that is composed mainly on beached fishes and small animal carrions. Also, recently I learned that it's not the only "vegetarian" raptor in the world, Daptrius americanus also eat some fruits and seeds (tough it's main diet are bee and wasp larvae).

Well, I limited myself to "the jungle book", at least the version I have, without the additional Kipling's tales about Rikki-Tikki-Taby or the seal. Just the history of Mowgli, nothing more. I'm more or less aware of the different movies made from this book, and I really should watch the more modern ones, the one that put really many effort in showing native Indian animals, plus the one that I probably like the more and that despite having human-faced animals is, according to what I saw in the trailer, the only one that catch the real spirit of the book, where Mowgli is "a legend" "a survivor", etc. (Sorry I don't know names of authors, years of release, etc... and too lazy for search)
And I agree, thet absolutely wrong paper of Kaa in all movies is really disgusting, as much as the presence of the invented King Louie. However, in Rikki-tikki-tabby the idea of "all snakes are evil" is much more according to the classic western culture.

I would recommend you to substiute one of your Schleich polar bears by a Papo one. There are countless polar bears in figure world but I think Papo are the unbeatable ones. The walking Papo is the polar bear that I've chosen for my collection and from images online I see that the standing one is equally good. The only issue (at least in the walking one) is that the soles are unpainted (white), but that's very easy to correct.

The Schleich gorillas that I've seen sometimes in shops are a bit small (but no idea if the was the last version or older ones), but anyway, the main reason for not having it is being western gorillas. If I have a gorilla in my collection I prefair an Eastern one.

And yes, you caught me I enfatized about the perfect size of Schleich proboscis because you said that the size is not perfect And well, I only saw proboscis taxidermized in a couple of museums, but mandrills in many zoos, and looking at your photo I would say both fit almost perfectly.

I already have some oversized but that's because being a babirusa makes me forgive the size. A peccary is not as exciting as a babirusa and then I'm more restrictive towards him Call me "specist" haha

And yes I saw "many other examples", so the Tibetan fox is included (together with countless other animals, including even the ones I made). That's the same than with the peccary. Tibetan fox is my most favourite and dreamed fox species and I just needed a figure of it, so I can forgive the fact of being as big as a wolf

The issues that you didn't noticed are:
1) I've readed that link just today so I would not have time to buy it (and not saw the figure for sale before in other places)
2) shipping is acceptable but prices for figure make me doubt a bit
3) I forgot my eBay password and I don't buy online since many months ago
4) I already have a fennec, and I never substituted a figure in my collection, that's a hard decision because it would break my numerical order of arrivals (fennec is in my 16th batch obtained on 6th January 2019 as an Epiphany gift together with other 9 figures bought at spielzeug-guestig.de (I'm sure I wrote it wrongly), where my total collection passed from 29 to 39 figures)
5) the fennec I have is not so bad (otherwise I would not have bought it), and actually it fits perfectly with all my other foxes and jackals. It just don't fit with larger canids but yes with smaller ones!

I absolutely love these talks about figures with you At first it can look like that we never agree in any point but actually the thing is that we share most of our opinions and tastes about figures

Pardofelis wrote:

You have a Bullyland bearded vulture, but is retired and as hard to get as their capercaillie. Anyway is very oversizedfor my taste. Bearded vulture is in my list to "to do" homemade models, tough. Is Nubian vulture an alternative name for the Lappet-faced vulture? I think MiniNature 3-D printing animals have one of them... and yeah palm-nut vulture is fantastic, I cared for one and once I give it a fruit of (Ziziphus jujuba) but he probed a bit and discarded it... a normal carrion diet is good for this vulture, actually oil palm fruits only accounts for a small percentage of its diet that is composed mainly on beached fishes and small animal carrions. Also, recently I learned that it's not the only "vegetarian" raptor in the world, Daptrius americanus also eat some fruits and seeds (tough it's main diet are bee and wasp larvae).

Yes, I meant the lappet-faced vulture. The bearded one would not satisfy me even if I found it, it's too... well, Bullyland-like I want a CollectA masterpiece for that vulture !
Thanks, you told me something about the palm nut vulture !

Pardofelis wrote:

Well, I limited myself to "the jungle book", at least the version I have, without the additional Kipling's tales about Rikki-Tikki-Taby or the seal. Just the history of Mowgli, nothing more. I'm more or less aware of the different movies made from this book, and I really should watch the more modern ones, the one that put really many effort in showing native Indian animals, plus the one that I probably like the more and that despite having human-faced animals is, according to what I saw in the trailer, the only one that catch the real spirit of the book, where Mowgli is "a legend" "a survivor", etc. (Sorry I don't know names of authors, years of release, etc... and too lazy for search)
And I agree, thet absolutely wrong paper of Kaa in all movies is really disgusting, as much as the presence of the invented King Louie. However, in Rikki-tikki-tabby the idea of "all snakes are evil" is much more according to the classic western culture.

I was talking about this one : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Pardofelis wrote:

I already have a fennec, and I never substituted a figure in my collection, that's a hard decision because it would break my numerical order of arrivals (fennec is in my 16th batch obtained on 6th January 2019 as an Epiphany gift together with other 9 figures bought at spielzeug-guestig.de (I'm sure I wrote it wrongly), where my total collection passed from 29 to 39 figures)

Oh yes, I forgot that rule I also don't like to substitute figures of animals that I already have but sometimes, I think it's just necessary.

Otherwise, my tiger would still be : [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] and my kangaroo : [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Not going to lie but I really like the old Schleich kangaroo

Advicot wrote:

Not going to lie but I really like the old Schleich kangaroo

In my opinion, that's the most monstruous Schleich ever, only beaten by this year's fennec fox