PlaymoFriends
General => Brainstorming For Playmobil => Topic started by: GrahamB on June 11, 2015, 16:50:59
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-Playmobil-Geobra-Tricycle/331576624001?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D31488%26meid%3D95e1ba65631d471fb94271403a63c9f2%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D321777073668 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-Playmobil-Geobra-Tricycle/331576624001?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D31488%26meid%3D95e1ba65631d471fb94271403a63c9f2%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D321777073668)
I can't find it in Produktarchiv or anywhere else!
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I would say doubtful. The "seat" seems all off.
Doesn't mean it's not Geobra's previous (or non-playmobil) work though.
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I agree, not Playmobil but could well be Geobra as they made many other things before Playmobil came along.
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i really don't know, i'm sorry.
pirates is my "solo" playmo-world.
although i like modern things in the real-world.
this is the WICLA , designed and produced in wood and cork, by a team of designers from the I.P.V.C. in viana do castelo (quite nearby from my week-end house).
i am so proud. it looks great.
maybe i'll try one someday (just as long as nobody sees me, a motorcyle-only man).
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i really don't know, i'm sorry.
pirates is my "solo" playmo-world.
although i like modern things in the real-world.
this is the WICLA , designed and produced in wood and cork, by a team of designers from the I.P.V.C. in viana do castelo (quite nearby from my week-end house).
i am so proud. it looks great.
maybe i'll try one someday (just as long as nobody sees me, a motorcyle-only man).
That's an adorable tricycle. I want one!
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That's a great piece of design and workmanship. No need to feel embarrassed riding that, even if you are usually a motorcycle man.
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Thanks for the replies, I had forgotten there were plastic toys from the Brandstatter stable before PM! Seems the most likely explanation (if it has Geobra stamped on it, for example, then its a reasonable mistake by the seller to assume its PM!)
Chachalote- you will be my first port of call for all questions piratical! Thanks for sharing the tricycle pictures, its good to see another market for natural cork, as the production of natural corks for bottles has been threatened by synthetic alternatives and the Cork Oak forests are a fantastic natural ecosystem in your part of the world (surprisingly, the survival of the forests depends on the cork bark being harvested, if I remember correctly). Our local bicycle manufactury makes electric/pedal powered bikes- much more my style of cycling, (especially in this hilly area!)
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http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150413-raiooo-wilca-portugals-wheels-of-change
a little bit more information.
cork (cortiça in portuguese) come from the periodical extraction of the bark from the trunk and main branches of the cork oaks (sobreiros). :)
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Ha! I cannot read the information in the link because the BBC only provides the site for 'international' viewers (i.e. not those in UK)!
I can't actually see any cork bark used on those tricycles, perhaps they use timber from the Cork Oak? (It is the harvesting of the bark- which, if done properly, does not harm the tree- which provides an economic reason for maintaining the 350 Cork Oak forests in Portugal, according to this (http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/cork-vs-plastic-how-real-cork-is-harvested-and-why-it-matters.html) and this (http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/put-a-wine-cork-in-it.html). All of which is fascinating, but getting far from PM!
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yes, way-off topic.
unless an idea to produce, as an exaemple, some southern europe agriculture sets could be put forward.
cork extracting.
olive harvesting.
black pigs farming.
lusitano and andaluz horse farm (much more beautiful than those enormous and clumsy horses they have in the north).
playmobil could even "go" into north africa and make a palm tree farm.
and what about the fisheries - a traditional work all coastal-countries have?
swordfish are already available, maybe some giant tuna could make them company.
there are a few tv series about these guys.
is this worth another topic in "brainstorming for..."?
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I think the richness and diversity in the world is something to be celebrated and Geobra should look to create products which reflect this. However the following quote from 'The Story of a Smile' (p.52) rather suggests the company pursues a very different policy:
"Playmobil products are intended to be marketed worldwide. If we get a letter that says 'Heligoland needs a fishing cutter', it's certainly attractive to children living in Heligoland or on the coast, but children in the USA won't be terrribly interested", explains Bernard Hane.
Berhard Hane is described on p.50 as 'Head of Playmobil's secret development department'
I find this statement by Bernard Hane very disappointing. OK, that was in 2006, maybe things are different now. Maybe Bernard Hane no longer works there. But the numerous debates collectors have and suggestions we come up with are perhaps doomed to run aground on that disappointingly market-focussed policy. And is it actually true that Playmobil products are always aimed at a worldwide market? I can think of quite a few which aren't. Doesn't the USA have a coastline? Are children in the USA the only children whose opinions matter? etc. etc.
Mods- please feel free to split this topic to 'Brainstorming...'
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It's true that PM did start out as sort of "generic European" - the early sets were almost abstract in their design. So there's probably some company DNA that inclines them to say things like Hane said.
I agree with you though GrahamB, I think it would be not only cool but also a quite successful strategy to go local and specific. The runaway success of the special klickies such as Martin Luther suggests this.
I think this is a path that would help PM differentiate themselves from L*go. Imagine that, instead of Star Wars klickies, we got medieval Russian sets, Renaissance Italy sets, and so forth. I'd go ape for that stuff.
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Definately not playmo, looks way to cheap.
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Thanks for moving this topic, Pynedor.
Geobra seem to make local, specific sets when they are commissioned to do so by other companies. This however, is no guarantee such sets will be recognised by (or sold to) people outside Germany. THW anyone?