Since not everyone is going to check my addition topic, I am posting my Schleich 2021 reviews/comparison pics here too as it may be useful to several collectors.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 here a few weeks ago with Kostas, 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.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 !
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Larger than the vintage model, it is a perfect match for its mustelid cousin the wolverine...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 !
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]However, the most shocking is to compare it with standard-sized apes. Here it is next to its Bornean neighbour :
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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 ?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]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.
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