Review and images by Saarlooswolfhound; edited by bmathison1972
Happy Holidays everybody! How ever you choose to celebrate this season, I hope that you choose to include some plastic animal figures to enjoy. They always seem to brighten my holidays! This year I have selected the new 2022 Schleich special edition reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) #72189 to present here. As was the case with last year’s special edition of the same type, it is another festive rendition of the original sculpt from 2020 #14837. It is another unique holiday treat for the season.
This year, instead of the festive red colors to tie in to Christmas, they chose a green motif. The general body color of the deer is the same as before; a lighter tan on the dorsal side fading into white on the ventral side, with some highlighting around the shoulders and haunches. This year, the model sports green and white striped antlers, the same partially developed you see on the other figures. The nose is also stamped green instead of red, further continuing the scheme. This year the model sports a pale snowflake on its left hip with the year 2022 in green beneath it. Personally, as a collector I would have preferred they left it as just the snowflake rather than adding the year as well, to better match last year’s release that only had the sprig of holly berries present. Besides that, the model is unchanged besides the paint work on the antlers, nose, and hip.
Seeing as I have written articles for the Mojö Fun pair some time ago and returned for last year’s special edition, there isn’t a whole lot left to cover for the species or mythology that surround the chosen figure. We know that the animals themselves have adaptations for their arctic habitat and living like their ability to detect UV light or survive off of meager portions of lichen. They have been revered for centuries by native arctic peoples and their cultures, playing huge roles in their survival as well. The mythology involving Christmas and our dear Kris Kringle or Santa Clause figure would not be complete without the fantastic reindeer and their powers of speedy traversal around this globe. Since these sorts of facts were covered in my past articles, I will present a quick snap shot of these animals in a “fun fact” style.
One, in this species both the male and females can grow antlers (the latter, not always, but it is commonly seen). These antlers can grow over 5 feet in length and sport over 40 tines to boot! These animals can have remarkably long lifespans, usually longer than any of their other wild relatives. Reindeer can live to be 10-15 years old in the wild! This may be due to the lack of human interference (such as highways or cities, even hunting on the modern scale). They spend up to 40% of their lives in the snow, and have hollow fur strands to assist in trapping in body heat. Their wide splaying and cloven hooves are not only great for snow travel and traction, they actually help them become deft animals in the water as well! There are 7 subspecies of these reindeer around the norther climes of the world. These fawns are some of few not born with spots to blend in. Their noses do carry a multitude of blood vessels used to aid in warming up the air they breathe. Their eyes can change color depending on the time of year; gold in the summer and blue in the winter. They have a specialized tendon in their ankles that while walking often makes an audible “clicking” sound, this is thought to aid them in staying with the herd based on the sound during snow storms.
While this model is used to increase holiday sales and enthusiasm at the end of the year, it can still be a fun way to celebrate a hobby we all love and enjoy a species that has become iconic in our lives the world over. I hope you enjoy this end of year season and consider adding this bright ornamental model for your shelves!