Does _this look like playmobil? Very funny Schleich!

Dear Sts Friends:

Well, here's my thinking about the Schleich, oh wait, somebody might have already written a review. Oops! In that case, I'll just say, is it just me, or is Schleich starting to look, in some ways, more like LEGO or playmobil? Here are the reasons why this might be what they're coming to:

1. If you look closely at the Bayala blossom sets, they rely heavily on stickers for information. For instance, in the magical vet bloom, there's a sticker which shows a rack of test tubes. Now, Schleich could have put more time and detail into these sets by adding more accessories, but _no, they had to go cheap. There, that's reason 1.

2. Their unicorns are looking less and less horse-ish, more cartoony in my opinion.

3. Okay, this really isn't a reason at all, but just an observation: Have you ever noticed how Lego and playmobil's people are all cartoony, well sort of, but you know what I mean right? They just aren't as realistic as us full size _people people. Anyway, this is a small fear for me as a collector. I mean, what if the fairies in the bayala sets start looking more, well, cartoony. Now, there's a fine line between cartoony and realieastic. At one end of the line are things like the smurfs, and LPS figures. At the other end are high quality thingies like the AAA models, and Safari Ltd. Yeah, those guys, Safari I mean, really know how to make something that's _really high quality. But that's beside the point. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that if Schleich gets more cartoony, more toward the LPS part of the line, then I don't know what I'll do! I mean yeah, I'll still buy their wildlife and horses and farm, maybe their dinosaurs, but now I'm not so sure about Bayala and Eldrador. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on this whole matter, then let me know.

Aschuck

P.S. I'm planning on getting the Lava Smasher and Ice Giant when they're available.

You are so right !
I think they latest Managing Director ( ? ) came from Playmobil

SUSANNE wrote:

You are so right !
I think they latest Managing Director ( ? ) came from Playmobil

That's so interesting, and probably explains why the quality is going down!
I agree with you that there seems to be less focus on realism, but as others have said I think it's because they're now making their models more for children and less for collectors. I think you'll be lucky with the Bayala and Eldrador though, because it seems that their fantasy lines are definitely the most beautiful and detailed of their range, and the ones they put a lot of effort into! But if Schleich continue to move in this direction we still have Papo, Safari, CollectA, Bullyland and Mojo, and many other brands too that bring out detailed models each year!

Some companies seem to treat their target audience of children differently to others. Schleich could well have done research to see which figures would get chosen (even if it's just showing a kid some mock-up pictures and saying 'pick one!'), at very least they'll have analysed sales data for recent releases, and the majority will choose something 'cuter', because it's more stylised, more cartoony. The children who'd always go for the more realistic animal, even if that made it look less cute/happy, are in the minority. So the range becomes more cutesy, with smiles and silly eyes, plaits and bows on the horses, etc.
Other brands are still focusing on making their models as realistic as they can, and the children (or parents buying for them) who favour an accurate and lifelike model will go there instead, but in the meantime, Schleich are selling LOADS to all the children who prefer cute and don't care about anatomy. They're not losing out by making their models more cartoony, and bringing out so much Bayala colourful stuff, because sales go up and up.
As adult collectors, we tend to fall into two overlapping groups - people who collect toys, and people who collect realistic figures. Some people don't care about Schleich's style shift cos they like cute toys, while other people are put off and start to favour other brands instead. That drift away by a percentage of adult buyers is a very small part of the sales figures, and not a market they're really all that interested in targeting, compared to the buying power of millions of children.
They've made a choice, and it's going well for them, so I doubt we'll ever see it reversed - just the occasional nice wildlife sculpt cropping up in the range to tempt us not to forget about them entirely!

You are so right, George.
I am sure Schleich makes that kind of market research, and that many children prefer cute to realistic...perhaps girls more than boys ? That would explain why the animals are still realistic to some degree, especially the farm animals.

I also think the many expensive play sets mirrors Playmobil.

Yes Ana, you are right, there is a tendency for some Schleich figures look more children oriented.
A design move towards a Playmobil style exists though, Schleich figures are still much closer in terms of design to the other brands of animal figures we are used than with Playmobil. I have no idea how it will be during next years but I am happy Schleich is still being able of making ultra realistic figures. I am not familiar with the fantasy lines but models like the pangolin, gorilla, hyena, cheetah and others are amongst the most realistic of the whole market. On the other hand, figures like the fennec, Bengal cat and a few others look really childish. Some models also have poor painting as it never happened in the past of this company. The new lynx is a good example of it.
Now that you are venturing into CollectA world, you will be able of finding extremely realistic models and also remarkable designs. i know you are getting the wombat. You will find the tail of the baby and the volume of its body covered by the reversed pouch of his mother. It may feel weird but those are the genial ideas I would love to see in brands like Schleich.

Dear Sts Friends:

Hey, the other day my happy Hen Toys order did indeed arrive, and yes, Roger, I now have the Collecta Wombat in my collection. By the way, the only reason I started this topic in the first place was to tell you my reaction to some of the Bayala stuff this year. I do have the Schleich Fennec Fox, and to be honest, he doesn't look too cartoony to me, but I guess that's just me. It might be that not everyone shares my opinions, but you know, you can't have everything. Anyway, the wildlife line up was really good this time, and I do hope that Schleich continues that line. Despite their sets looking playmobil-ish, I still can't stop collecting this brand. I guess I'll have to pay more attention to the new releases from Schleich in the future, to see what exactly they're up to. Anyway, right now, I think I have about 323 Schleich figures in my collection. Boy, I sure wish there was a way I could show you on the forum the totals of the different figures I have. Oh well, maybe someday. Anyway, no more new additions for the moment, but if I run across anything, then I'll let you know.

Aschuck

P.S. Roger, do you ever name your foxes? I do.

Anna, it seems I was off topic. I am not familiar with Bayala, I only have a few Bayala animals, porcupine and cheetah and they are fantastic.
Sorry if it sounds silly to you but for a long time I call Foxbert to all my foxes. My memory is a misery and that's the way it works. There are other members on forum that give names to their models, Tessa [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is particularly effective in this regard. By the way, she is an avid collector of Bayala models and you can find her topics through the link below
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

SUSANNE wrote:

You are so right !
I think they latest Managing Director ( ? ) came from Playmobil

The new CEO has more then 20 years of experience in Lego, not Playmobil :)
He was a sales representative in Lego and still is in Schleich.
Now we all know Playmobil and Lego aren't friends and competitors and maybe, this is just a guess from my part to be clear, he now wants to have some of that Playmobil money and popularity by making more sets and Playmobil-like appearance in Schleich.

Just a guess! But the new CEO from Schleich (2015) was in Lego before :)

NightLioness wrote:

SUSANNE wrote:

You are so right !
I think they latest Managing Director ( ? ) came from Playmobil

The new CEO has more then 20 years of experience in Lego, not Playmobil :)
He was a sales representative in Lego and still is in Schleich.
Now we all know Playmobil and Lego aren't friends and competitors and maybe, this is just a guess from my part to be clear, he now wants to have some of that Playmobil money and popularity by making more sets and Playmobil-like appearance in Schleich.

Just a guess! But the new CEO from Schleich (2015) was in Lego before :)

Great
Now I will never forget again