Today, we will be reviewing a model from the popular Schleich brand. They make incredibly life-like and detailed animal models. But did you know they are controversial by a certain community of collectors? These collectors are model dinosaur collectors. And I happen to be one of them. One thing about us model dinosaur collectors, is that we can be very fussy about our models. The best detailed and most scientifically accurate models are what we look out for. Schleich are one of the best when it comes to modeling extant (living) animals, but their dinosaurs tend to be amongst the worst when it comes to scientific accuracy. Today's model I'm reviewing is no different in terms of accuracy, but it does however live up to Schleich's high level of aesthetic quality.
And without further ado, I present to you, the Schleich Light Green Tyrannosaurus Rex 2014 Re-Sculpt!
2014 has brought us many interesting and downright awesome models, including CollectA's beautiful and incredibly accurate Carcharodontosaurus and Papo's somewhat inaccurate, but stunning and amazingly detailed Dilophosaurus. Every company has their new dinosaur models for each new year, so of course that means Schleich follows suit. In 2012, Schleich released their updated (for the time) version of their Tyrannosaurus rex model. It was criticized by model dinosaur collectors for its oversized feet, large eye crests and incorrectly positioned hands (I told you we were fussy!). This year, they re-released their Tyrannosaurus rex model with an updated colour scheme (light green instead of dark green), larger feet and longer arms. Why they re-released it in such a short time with no improvement in scientific accuracy whatsoever instead of releasing a model on a dinosaur they've never made before is beyond me, but they did. Some very minor things have been improved since the last T. rex Schleich made, but unfortunately there's a lot of things that have gone worse as well, which I will get to now.
Let's start off with the positives. Firstly, the head is well sculpted and I'd say this is the best aspect of this model along with the textural detail. But the head is nothing new, just the exact same as the 2012 model. It has a hinged jaw which can be opened and closed to your liking, and the only main difference in the head of this model is that this 2014 T. rex's jaw doesn't open as wide as the 2012 model. There's lots of lovely little details like small scales and wrinkles. I particularly like how the eye areas are sculpted. It's very fine and animal-like with purely black, glossy eyes. The crests above the eyes might be a bit big for some accuracy purists, but I personally like the whole head just the way it is. The only thing I dislike about it is the teeth. They're all the same length when the real Tyrannosaurus had teeth of mixed sizes. When the jaw is opened, inside is a nicely sculpted tongue and the roof of the mouth is reasonably well sculpted, too.
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The texture of this model feels similar to the 2012 T. rex with a slightly rubbery or waxy feel but is still very solid and not flexible unlike their 2012 Velociraptor. I don't like the waxy texture much, as I prefer my mass produced dinosaur toys to have a strong, solid plasticy feel to them. I believe the reason for this texture was to add durability to the model for child's play. Plus the paint doesn't chip away as much with this type of texture. The rest of the body is covered in small, fine scales and on the underside of the model from the neck are some lovely skin folds and wrinkles to which around where the cloacal area should be turns to square-ish scales ending all the way to the tip of the tail. Also, there is no cloacal opening, so this poor Rexie is constipated.
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Jokes aside, the arms, which unfortunately are way too long and pronated, have smaller scales and where the hand starts, the scales are replaced by wrinkles. The hands have two digits, which is correct. The legs are similar, where the knee turns to wrinkles back down to fine scales and to the feet which have bird-like scales. For those who don't know the definition of 'pronated' hands in dinosaurs, it basically means that the hands are sort of like 'zombie' hands in the way that the arms are stretched out in front with the palms facing downwards, similar to that of quadruped animals like a rabbit standing up or a dog begging. This would've been impossible for carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs to do, and the correct position for a dinosaur such as Tyrannosaurus's hands would be supinated, as in a 'clapping' sort of position where they can grab onto objects, like prey. If a bipedal carnivore like T. rex had pronated hands, it wouldn't be able to do so many tasks like grabbing prey or holding onto a potential mate.
Another thing I should mention is that 2012's model had yellow spots on its neck and knees, which was usually not well liked amongst collectors. I didn't like it either, but in the 2014 model, these spots are now gone. And it definitely looks better without them. Instead, you can now see faint little 'bumps' on closer inspection on the neck. The knees are just without any detail at all other than wrinkles.
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The colour scheme is decent, but not very unique. The paint job is not sloppy at all in my model and the colour scheme is mainly blends of light and darker greens with salmon on the underside. The feet and hands are also salmon coloured. That's another thing Schleich is known for, very, very well done paint jobs. Unfortunately in a lot of toy shops, people have free rein to pick up the models, which often leads to children dropping and playing with them. Which tends to leave some models in toy shops with paint rubs or breakages at the very worst. Paint rubs might not be much of an annoyance to a child, but to us collectors it can be very off-putting. So if you are a collector buying online, make sure you ask the seller to send you a model with a good paint job. I've asked sellers before for this and they will often kindly oblige.
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Now on to the worst flaw of this model. The most glaring issue with this new T. rex is the horribly oversized feet. 2012's model had oversized feet, too. But not any where near as bad as this 2014 rex. The feet here are almost as big as its head. This is obviously to keep the model perfectly balanced, which I admit works well in terms of keeping the model balanced, but there is no excuse for this, CollectA's Carcharodontosaurus proves that a model can stay with it's tail parallel to the ground without having oversized feet and still be able to balance.
Overall, I really like this model despite the flaws for it's lovely textural detail, although I do prefer the 2012 Tyrannosaurus rex. If you collect dinosaur models solely based on scientific accuracy, you will probably want to pass on this model. If, however you are a parent (and sorry for anything you may have found confusing in this review, I originally wrote it for a dinosaur model blog with a few edits for parents to have a better understanding) then I would recommend picking this well-made toy for your child if they are a dino nut like I was when I was little as it is very durable with it's slightly rubbery texture and has a lot of play value, especially with the hinged jaw. But if you want to give your child a model based on scientific accuracy, I'd recommend picking up a model from the Wild Safari or Carnegie line, but make sure it's a recently made model and not one from the 90s, as Safari Ltd's models have improved greatly in scientific accuracy since their early years. If you want the ultimate detailed T. rex for a reasonable price, you should definitely pick up one of the many T. rex models from the French company Papo. Papo's models are un-beaten in terms of detail when it comes to mass produced toy dinosaurs, but generally are not as scientifically accurate. On a final note, I also received the Schleich Pentaceratops for my birthday, so I will also be reviewing that model as well soon. Stay tuned for more model dinosaur reviews and other toy reviews coming soon! Schleich models can be found in many toy shops such as Toys R Us, The Entertainer, Hamley's, Smyth's and independent toy shops and are easily found online at eBay, Amazon, Everything Dinosaur and DinosaurTime. (Note, these shops are all based in the UK. Other than Toys R Us, I'm not sure what shops in the US or anywhere else in the world stock Schleich models.)
Thanks for reading and please do share my blog so I can fulfill my dream of being a respected toy and collectable reviewer! It would mean a lot to me. Thank you once more!
wwwwwaaaaaayyyy too yellow!
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