Schleich company for sale!

As some of us suspected and commented here, HgCapital as an investiment company, bought Schleich some years ago, squeezing it as most as it was possible and as soon as results were not the expected the decision to sell the brand was taken.
Schleich is more known for Smurfs and Fantasy lines than it is for animal series but I hope the new buyer will continue with animal lines following the philosophy of the owners before 2006.

Read here!

Thank You for the info Roger! It's very interesting

What a shame I spent too much last month, otherwise I would buy it

Sorry, to say this, but that's why the horses look so bad the past few years

Well, I hope that they will learn from this, however the hardcore collectors (like me a bit) will buy them to keep their collection up-to-date.

Thank you for this information

For sale, no!
The new figures has more detail but I like more the retired bayala and knights.
And the retired catalog and boxes.
I don't like the new boxes
I hope that the new schleich make more models, but realistic like in the past. :)
Thanks Roger

That explains a lot. I suspected something was up for a few years , and I was right, something to do with the people in charge. Well, all I can hope for is that the company still is operating. If they don't that is like a huge part of my childhood will be wiped away.

...

I hope the new owner will take this seriously and maybe one of us should email the company saying what to improve?

Thankyou VERY much for the info, Roger !!!
Well, I hope they didn`t succeed to run the compagny completely to the ground !

My first reaction is : YESSSSS

But then...what is going yo happen ? Will it be split up..., will..... ??????

But Phil has the ansver :

schleich61 wrote:

TORBEN HACKSTEIN FOR NEW SCHLEICH CEO...

(o)): (o)): (o)): (o)):

schleich61 wrote:

TORBEN HACKSTEIN FOR NEW SCHLEICH CEO...

(o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)):

Kikimalou wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

TORBEN HACKSTEIN FOR NEW SCHLEICH CEO...

(o)): (o)): (o)): (o)): (o)):

Why not?

One thing I think Schleich and the other similar figure makers miss out on is marketing to the table top game market.

There are thousands of nerdy guys out there who think nothing of dropping $40 to $50 on a giant dragon figure or up to the $20 range on other large monster. Most gamers I know have never heard about Schleich or Papo. The few that do will get the dragons and other big creatures to use in games. The table top standard is 28mm or 1:48 to 1:64 scale, so most people and animals figures are to large but the smaller lines and the new fad of Mini lines and Toobs are close enough that guys will get them as an alternative to more expensive lead miniatures.

Who ever takes over at Schleich could do worse than rent a booth at game and sci fi cons to sell figures and increase awareness and break the though that Schleich are stuffy and spendy (ware as for the large creatures they are about the same or cheaper than an official D&D dragon of the same size)

I wish I could buy the company!

Maybe STS can share the cost

Yes I wonder how much they are selling it for?

And i'm very surprised, that so many people here are happy about selling Schleich. It can get better, but this can be also the end.

Paka wrote:

And i'm very surprised, that so many people here are happy about selling Schleich. It can get better, but this can be also the end.

I don't hope so, Schleich is the only thing I can find in the surroundings... All the other brands couldn't be found here... I can't even think about the end of Schleich. I think it is a bit too pessimistic...

Paka wrote:

And i'm very surprised, that so many people here are happy about selling Schleich. It can get better, but this can be also the end.

It si not the first time SCHLEICH is sold, the last time some of us think it was a bad thing for SCHLEICH. People's who are happy here are great SCHLEICH lovers believe me But you are right, the end of SCHLEICH could happen one day It alredy happened to som many "immortal" brands...

Interesting! I hope the new owner is better than the old one.

That frights me a bit... In fact the figurines, at least the horses, were getting worse and worse each year since few years ago, so a change could be a good thing. But... if it is the end? Maybe they get new and worse sculptors, or painters. Or change their philosophy. Who knows! I really hope the g¡change is for better!

As most as I can understand how market works, I am almost sure that it doesn't represent the end of Schleich. Among occidental manofacturers Schleich has already a strong name and a huge market. OK, It is not a word that belongs to the vocabulary of people in general like happens with Lego that is a word we can find in Portuguese official dictionary, also many people doesn't know the brand, but has more projection than the rivals. The end of Schleich would represent new open doors to other brands but in some countries other brands are ignored and it would also represent a dangerous changement in the direction of toy market.
Nobody here wants that Schleich desapears, there is only a hope that the brand turns more interesting educationally and scientifically.
Also, if the new owner wants to stop producing new animal figures, I think we have a word to say as dedicated collectors and enthusiasts of this kind of figures.
No drama, Schleich will continue and probably the workers will be the same, only a new owner.

Well ... lately strange things were happening in Schleich company. So we can only hope that the sale of the company will be step forward for it. Their figures were losing the quality and that's not good for customers and collectors. Hopefully the new owner will be familiar with the requirements of customers and improve the quality of new pieces... We can only hope... or buy it

SyLoBe wrote:

That frights me a bit... In fact the figurines, at least the horses, were getting worse and worse each year since few years ago, so a change could be a good thing. But... if it is the end? Maybe they get new and worse sculptors, or painters. Or change their philosophy. Who knows! I really hope the g¡change is for better!

The sculptors who are doing the horses are the same who made them for the past
20+ years, and I think they actually got better - more details, more texture, a lot
more realism and likeness to the actual breeds ... I don't know what you're looking
at, but just compare a 10 years old horse to one of the new releases, and the old
ones just look like a smooth, textureless lump of plastic. Maybe you're unhappy with
the new poses or something, but due to a lot of rules and restrictions there really
isn't a lot they can do with the poses. I'm sure the Schleich sculptors would love to
do running or jumping horses, but these simply won't be able to stand on their own.

...

I really understand the nostalgic view of collectors, as there isn't much
that I cherrish more than my vintage 1980's Star Wars and GI-JOE Action
Figures, as they just have so much *vintage charm* and carry so many
childhood memories. But toys like that are not produced anymore today.
Times and styles change - simple as that. The easiest way to show that is
this comparison ...

The 1978 vintage Luke Skywalker in X-Wing flight-suit figure from Kenner.
It does not look a bit like Mark Hammill (the actor who played Luke), and
the sculpt is just horrible, but it's just got that charme of childhood memories.

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And this is the 2011 Luke Skywalker in X-Wing flight-suit from Hasbro.
It is lightyears ahead in sculpt, paint decos, accessories and articulation,
but it is *new* ... and a lot of the nostalgic collectors just have a hard
time dealing with that *new* feel and look that the toys have nowadays.

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