Help deciding a second brand

Hey, I'm new here but have been stalking the forum for a while

I started collecting Schleich about a year and a half ago, but recently have been looking at some of the other brands. So my question to you guys is what's your favourite brand and why? Also pictures of your favourite model would be good to look at. I've been thinking about CollectA, but wonder what you think

I prefer models that look realistic, whether they are animals or fantasy, but at the moment the majority of my collection is wild life

Don't choose a second brand...choose what you want among all of them

I agree with Christophe.
If you are searching some animals that Schleich never released, you'll find them in all Schleich like brands. Safari coyote, Mojo gaur, CollectA striped hyena, Bullyland bearded vulture, Papo gibbon, are some examples.

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schleich61 wrote:

There is nothing wrong with collecting by brand, regardless of what anyone might say... :)

Of course

There is nothing wrong with collecting the way you like

Kikimalou wrote:

There is nothing wrong with collecting the way you like

That more or less tells it, I think there are almost as many ways to collect, as there are collectors

My favourite this year is CollectA, a lot of new species this year. For a wild life collector not bad

Truth is that every brand has some really good figures, so you have to pick your favourites from every one of them.
CollectA has put out some great antillopes last year.
Safari ltd. had some real gems as well, like birds and elephants and canine.
Mojo has some beautiful ones as well, like the black bear.

Take some time to figure out what you want, what you like to collect, and make sure the size of the figure is something you want in your collection.
In the end they all have issues.

My experience:
CollectA; beautiful figures but major standing issues, because one feet is shorter/bigger than the other and they lean to one side.
Mojo; they are expensive because they are hard to find and they like the "matted" finish on figures (which looks nice, but scratch easily).
Papo; you hate them or you love them, no middle ground. Their figures are accurate and beautiful, but too BIG and/or too SHINY.
Safari ltd.; mostly larger than your average collection of animals, but really good likeness and nice paintjob.
(I would pick them as a second brand.)
Schleich; always looking nice. Not always accurate and sometimes too small, but always looking nice.
Bullyland; .... their figures are made for children. Good price, good quality, good likeness, but made for children. It shows.

Kikimalou wrote:

Don't choose a second brand...choose what you want among all of them

I agree! :)

This is not really a problem, but still is something that I using a lot of time to think about.

I love the brand CollectA, the horses f.x.  are so detailed, in my opinion, and very beautiful.

But my head simply can't deal with the fact that I should collect two brands

I don't know what to do?

The things that I see as some negative things are that I can't buy CollectA in my country and It's not very often seen on the second hand sites (i not sure about the word in english, but its a site like Ebay.com, just here in Denmark)

But on the other side the figures are so great

I think the really big question is if my head can deal with to brands at the same time

What made you collect other brands? Do you collect from the wiew that your interest is on a special type of animal?

I hope this topic isen't to messy and it make sence.

As I've always, since I was a kid a very long time ago, collected many brands, I'm inclined to ask, what made you collect only one brand?

Of course, I do have main brands and themes in my collection, Britains farm and zoo, but sometimes it is the items in my collection which take a lot of research to even discover the brand which are more interesting. Most, but not all, of my 'other stuff' looks reasonably compatible with equivalent Britains ranges.

But you are where you are in your collecting life, and being a young person, your collection could develop in all sorts of directions in the future. Perhaps next logical step is to start with another brand which (1) you like, (2) are compatible in style with CollectA, (3) Are reasonably easy to find and buy in Denmark.

I am sure your head can easily cope with two brands, - I think that for most people it is the bank-acoount that puts a limit

But no realso to collect them ALL .
For instance the horses : most of them come in two colours, and sevaral look very much alike, so with a few, you have a very nice and representative collection

I think it isn´t bad collect more brands at once. If you really like collecta horses, why you don´t buy them?

I think Susanne is right but there is also a cultural question around. When you collect stickers that belong to a album, of course you won't use stickers from a different album in this particular one. There's a needing of consistency in our collecting hobbies. Though, your shelves are not made for a specific brand and if you study Schleich and CollectA, there's not too much consistency on them.
CollectA has clearly two stages, the first horses from 2006 to 2010, sized like Schleich and made of a denser plastic. Then, you have the newer generation of horses, larger, made of a softer plastic and sculpted by Deborah. These two generations doesn't look to belong to the same collection but they are.
Schleich is more consistent, but if you think in current figures you'll find some paradoxes, first, they are in general more children oriented than before, in terms of sizes, you have the new Fjords there are much larger than the old Fjord and I could find some more examples easily.
If you only collect Schleich, your collection will gravitate around the same breeds and new figures are just new versions of the same animals limiting their educational interest.
If you collect CollectA horses, you'll be sure that you'll have a collection rich of breeds, some almost unknown, several poses, often according with the traditional gaits of respective breeds and a vaste variation of colors. Though, they are much harder to find, have a lower manufacturing quality and have something that I find completely boring that is the same mold using several colors.
My recomendation is that you don't have to complete a certain group of horses, just keep buying those you really like without caring if a series is complete or not, if it is from the same brand or not. A collection is not a project with a binding plan but something that give us joy, eagerness of learning and pleasure.

I have the same problem as you. I few months I'll put my Schleich collection 'on time' (I mean, I'll have all the models) so I'd like to start with CollectA. In Spain they are also hard difficult to find them, fortunately I live in Madrid so I found few shops. Also is a expensive brand, more than schleich. And finally we have the problem with the legs and bending...

I think maybe I'll save money and buy them on baby-markt, where CollectA horses cost 3 euros and purchases up to 80 euros shipping costs are free

Roger wrote:

My recomendation is that you don't have to complete a certain group of horses, just keep buying those you really like without caring if a series is complete or not, if it is from the same brand or not. A collection is not a project with a binding plan but something that give us joy, eagerness of learning and pleasure.  

To speak in general terms (I only collect vintage, so don't know anything about the CollectA range) I agree with Roger about toy/model collecting not generally being held to a 'binding plan', and can be both inordinately expensive and rather boring when collectors do follow this path, although sometimes just one or the other.

In the case of 'inordinately expensive', but still very splendid and not boring at all, there are certain vintage (downright historic!) brands as Elastolin, Heyde, Lineol and Lucotte, which look fabulous in big collections, but you have to be a multi-millionaire to afford such a collection. Then there are many collectors of swoppet type figures by Timpo, and often pay mega-$£Euros to get those elusive rarities to complete their one brand only collection -but somehow, to me, just boring. Then there is the Del-Prado range of model soldiers (associated with a part-work type magazine), which are nice, and usually cheap, but again somehow boring in large numbers.

And remember, there are two basic ways of getting 'learning' from toy/model figures, be they animals, soldiers, or whatever:
(1) The subject, in your case apparently associated with a general interest in horse breeds.
(2) The toy/model itself, such topics as who made it? who designed it? what else did this person design? (some were freelance designers for several companies)

It can get complicated - and hence interesting.

Hello,
there are a lot of ways to collect, as there are a lot of collectors.
My two collections ( model trains and toy soldiers ) are based upon themes and not by brand.
I have my "preferred" brands, as for model trains as for toy soldiers, but a theme can do a "sense" ( for example historical or geographical) to a group of figures.
For example, about my toy soldiers: my army of crusaders has figures by Schleich, BBI, Bullyland, Papo and ( one ) Plastoy.
My preferred, without any doubt, are the Schleichs and the BBIs. The few Bullylands and Papos and the only Plastoy permits to me to have more subjects, more positions, and so to have a more varied group of figures.
Anyway the most important principle to collect is that you must like what you collect.
If you collect by brands, perhaps, you can feel the "must" to buy all the horses or the bears or the dogs of "that" brand, sometimes buying figures you do not like, and avoiding to buy figures you like because they are of "another" brand.
Best wishes
Stefano.

Hmmm I guess I could count myself lucky, I never even knew about these other types of brands before I came onto STS because the toystore sold only Schleich. That was it. So I never come across other brands and coudn't be tempted to buy them
But if you really like those horses then go for them Unless you are worried about completing a schleich collection then go for the collectA horses   And show us which ones that you get first

I always say collect what you like. Don't feel like you're restricted to one brand. Buy the figures you want, no matter the brand or even if you don't know the brand. You'll enjoy your collection more and won't feel so undecided all the time. Often the search for the particular figure is the fun part.

Hi.

Thanks for all your input, thats great

I'm not sure that any other brands than Schleich can be bought in Denmark in fyscically stores.

Maybe Susanne knows?

I don't know why is it so hard for me to just buy another brand, I have no plans on completing my schleich collection, not at the moment at least.

I guess I'll just have to try and find some I really like an see how i goes  

It's so great that you share your thought, that's whats so great about this forum    

I wish you all the best on finding the other brands