PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: tonguello on September 15, 2010, 13:01:18
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Hey guys. I wanted to share with you an article that was released on April 4th in the most popular Sunday newspaper. This was about the time of the Decorative Arts Museum of Paris exhibit. I'm working on the translation to english. Probably could post it during the weekend.
In fact there is nothing in the articule that we wouldn't know. But the interesting thing, at least to me, is to show you the fame and presence that Playmobil still has in Argentina. Unfortunately this does NOT much at all the efforts of Antex to keep up with the quality and updating of Geobra. Nevertheless the fans in Argentina keep loving and buying the toy, mostly the little amount of imported sets that we can get.
As most of you must know the quality of the plastic, the designs of parts and color squemes, the sets, even the packaging is very poor.
Now my question is.... shouldn't Geobra do something about it? Why don't they? I can't give myself any logical answer. I guess Antex must have the rights for designing and making sets up, but Geobra must approve them? shouldn't they take care of their product? Or are they approving this?
Anyway....I guess some of you could enlight me on this matter.
For now, I leave you with the articlue in spanish. I'll post a translation (if you are interested) on the weekend. Sooner if I can.
Gaston. :wave:
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Wish I could read it...Good to pose your questions Gaston! As I said before, I got an antex playmospace station last year and the quality of the plastic and the box was excellent!
There must be various issues regarding companies under licence...
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Whenever I see an instance of Playmobil ignoring opportunities to expand their markets, I can only come back to their desire to grow slowly.
Slow sustainable growth is their plan, and we've certainly seen what can happen to companies that try to expand too fast and end up imploding.
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Wish I could read it...Good to pose your questions Gaston! As I said before, I got an antex playmospace station last year and the quality of the plastic and the box was excellent!
There must be various issues regarding companies under licence...
do you know the year of fabrication? Antex was indeed excellent in the 80's. I have some playmospace too from that time and are perfect! :wave:
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Whenever I see an instance of Playmobil ignoring opportunities to expand their markets, I can only come back to their desire to grow slowly.
Slow sustainable growth is their plan, and we've certainly seen what can happen to companies that try to expand too fast and end up imploding.
I see your point but Antex has been in Argentina for over 30 years now.
And as I said previously it was AWESOME quality in the 80's. Many financial brokedowns from that time till today I know... but never stopped manufacturing. I just don't get it.
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do you know the year of fabrication? Antex was indeed excellent in the 80's. I have some playmospace too from that time and are perfect! :wave:
The spacestation's bottom writes playmobil geobra 1980 ??? ??? ???
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I see your point but Antex has been in Argentina for over 30 years now.
And as I said previously it was AWESOME quality in the 80's. Many financial brokedowns from that time till today I know... but never stopped manufacturing. I just don't get it.
Martin has a good point! And see it this way! You can still get your hands in sets that resemble the very first sets that playmobil produce!!!
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The spacestation's bottom writes playmobil geobra 1980 ??? ??? ???
that has to be the year of the new mold was made. Today Antex's writes Geobra 1974. :o
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Martin has a good point! And see it this way! You can still get your hands in sets that resemble the very first sets that playmobil produce!!!
don't think so. you should see the sets. I have no one but try to take pics at some toy store for you guys to see. Thanx fpr the comments!!! 0)
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:wave: hola tonguello,
:love: i think i was one of the first members here to declare my love for the antex sets - http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=3212.msg37694;topicseen#msg37694 - but unlike you i do like their "roughness".
;) fortunately i can read spanish and i really liked the article.
:lol: it has some minor errors (just like antex klickies) - it call horst brandsatter "collector" not mentioning him as the owner of geobra.
:clap: ... but it doesn't forget hans beck as the "conceptor" of playmobil.
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:wave: hola tonguello,
:love: i think i was one of the first members here to declare my love for the antex sets - http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=3212.msg37694;topicseen#msg37694 - but unlike you i do like their "roughness".
;) fortunately i can read spanish and i really liked the article.
:lol: it has some minor errors (just like antex klickies) - it call horst brandsatter "collector" not mentioning him as the owner of geobra.
:clap: ... but it doesn't forget hans beck as the "conceptor" of playmobil.
Hola Cachalote, thanx for your coments. I'm glad at least you like Antex. It is realy sad for me. I don't know, maybe because I can imagine how great it would be if Antex goes back to be what is was in the 80's. I had a lot of PM from taht time and they are of great quality. I would feel so proud if this was so. Nationalitty fervor I suppose :lol: :lol:
There are a few mistakes in the articules indeed. I'll translate it for the rest.
Cheers!
Gaston
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I've been tempted many times to buy the Antex saloon off of ebay. Can anyone vouch for that one? I mean is it decent? I know it's no Gold Nugget, but i'm not rich enough to buy one of those.
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Hi
So are these the sets you can get - Someones Ebay Store (http://toys.shop.ebay.com/Pretend-Play-Preschool-/19169/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A4053&rt=nc&_catref=1&_ipg=&_ssn=theuniversalstore&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=1)
The prices seem so high. Are they really expensive or is this just taking advantage of the opportunity ?
I too have been tempted to get some old new sets from Argentina but not at these prices especially if the plastic is inferior
Rasputin "The Mad Monk"
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yeah that's pretty much it.
I know they must seem expensive to you but those are the prices around here. crazy!
there is a set of a western wagon in that ebaystore that's 183 dollars. That's way too much. but the rest is not that far from the prices in buenos aires.
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Hi guys, here is the translation I promised. I just translated the article as it is. There are a couple of mistakes that are the author's.
I did the best I could. Hope you enjoy. Should you have any questions please contact me.
Cheers.
Gaston :wave:
Page 1:
Title: POWERFULL LITTLE ONE.
Stories: Playmobil, a little doll of perpetual smile it’s already a lot more that a toy. It attracts collectors, it’s arrived to a Parisian museum and features works of art.
Green circle top right.: It got far, The little doll created in 1974 is the star a of a retrospective of Les Arts Decoratifs museum in Paris.
Page 2: Article:
Germany, the beginning of the 70’s. Once upon a time there was a family company dedicated to build plastic toys. They were doing fine. They had already won some fame due to that little piece of engineering, the hula hoop. They were making a lot of money but they saw hard times coming and they thought they needed to change their way. The oil crisis was beginning to push and the managers found themselves with the necessity to create new products that would need less amount of plastic to be build. That’s why the company asked the chief designer, Engineer Hans Beck to create a toy, small and simple that would translate into material savings.
So Beck started working and based on drawings that kids usually make, with eyes and mouth and simple features, he conceived a 2,5 inches tall doll that would fit any kid’s pocket. And even though Beck didn’t imagine it, that prototype would start an important page in the History of toys.
So that’s how the first Playmobil was born. A toy, portable like any other and which later could be adapted to any profession and a thousand themes to the delight of millions of kids around the world.
So after 36 years is very hard to find someone un their thirties who wouldn’t have once played with them, and that’s why the Museum of Decorative Arts of Paris is today presenting a retrospective, in which till May a sort of parallel universe of this dolls will be exhibit. According to it’s curator Dorothee Charles, the show was born of the idea to“unite generations”, in reference to those kids who received their firsts Playmobils from their parents and now it’s them who buy Playmobil for their kids.
The secret of my success.
Playmobil started to be commercialized in Argentina in 1976 by the company Antex, It’s owner Antonio Atamian, remembers that at the beginning the distributors didn’t believe in the product because they thought that kids would never wanted to play with little dolls, most of all boys. It didn’t exist at that time the concept of dolls for boys and there were a lot of doubts about it, “but the owners of shops were the ones who gave us the confidence and in the end, through mouth to mouth propaganda and the amazing displays in shop windows, Playmobil was a complete success” he says.
But if someone can tell that Playmobil was not only good for boys, is Maria Pinto, an artist from Buenos Aires who had taken this dolls as her Muses. “In my childhood I played with Barbies, not with Playmobil, that came later. But in difference with Barbie, Playmobil recreates the whole world, machines, dogs, animals, landscapes, etc and that makes everything more interesting; they are a perverse way of the real world and have the disability of showing any feeling. If Barbie is the negotiation with the real world, that tries to hide its true limitations, Playmobil shows those limitations obscenely” says Pinto.
From the commercial side, with less passionate but certain arguments, Atamian says that the secret of Playmobil is its simplicity: “ it is one of the most versatile toys in existence and has an extraordinary quality; the shiny plastic used in its fabrication is the same used for telephones”. Other of the causes of it success has to do with the matter of the scale. “The fact of their small size makes that keeping the scale, big sceneries like ships and forts can be build and still adapt perfectly to an ideal size for kids”.
Many of the kids who in the 70’s fell in love with the toy, today became fanatic collectors. Some of them just collect sets and accessories, while others prefer to costumize them. There are also those who build huge dioramas to recreate different themes or historical events. “Most of the collectors have a favourite theme, Western, Medieval, pirates or construction – tell us a fan known as Arjona- In general, people with common themes get together to make a huge diorama for exhibitions that are planned many months in advance. In Spain for example The Manger is very popular them for dioramas around Xmas”
For those devotional fans there is a promised land since year 2000: Fun Park in Zirndorf, near Nuremberg (there are also theme parks in Orlando and Paris) but for purists, if the invention is German, you must peregrinate to the Holy Land.
The idea of this Park was Horst Brandstatter’s, a collector who thought that would be worthy to build a theme park for those nostalgic lovers of the toy. And so was created a them park of 9000 square meters, in which you can enter a castle, go into a space ship, board a pirate ship or climb a tree house, plans that share kids and grown ups.
Whatever the scale, the merit, with no questions is the fact that they are never outdated. They are not only sell like toys for kids but also like “emotions” for nostalgic fans. Who would have said in 1974 that this little toy of optimistic spirit and reduced mobility were going to build an Empire?
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Now my question is.... shouldn't Geobra do something about it? Why don't they? I can't give myself any logical answer. I guess Antex must have the rights for designing and making sets up, but Geobra must approve them? shouldn't they take care of their product? Or are they approving this?
Anyway....I guess some of you could enlight me on this matter.
Hi Gaston! :wave:
Thanks for the article :) I'll still read it but it's very inspiring to see that playmobil is object of interest in Argentina :yup:
Does Antex still produce playmobil?
In Brasil, Trol did it, until the 80's, and after that, Estrela, for a short time, in the 90's (Actually, Estrela didn't produce them, only packed them here, which was an evolution -- to me.) Now, Sunny Brinquedos imports it (or at least is trying to).
I guess the main thing about playmobil here, in South America, has to do with the change that the world market suffered from the eighties to today, specially through the internet era we're into, now.
I have great hopes that Argentina will somehow head the love for playmobil here, due to your European "airs". From all the South American countries, Argentina is the most Europeish, and Playmobil is a toy in an European mentality and culture, in many ways. (Its diversity, its cunning, its (beautiful) design ...) Playmobil has all the interesting (and the good) aspects of the origins of our civilization (the European part of it), and potential to portrait all mankind (which it doesn't fully do yet).
I know and understand (reasonably, I guess) the obstacles it has to reach Brasil in a larger scale ... I admit I don't have a clue on what happens in Argentina, but I'm sure we can think together. I'd be really glad to.
:thanks: again!
Gus
:blackhair:
Rio, Brasil
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Hi GUs! yes Antex is still producing Playmobil here, but as I said before, with very poor results. Poor regarding the design, quality of plastic and finishings, etc. COmercially I think they are doing good, miraculously.
Playmobil has been always a great success here. In the 80's quality was like their german cousins. Then everything changed.
I share the hope that Argentinian Antex will get better with time and start producing better parts, and maybe starts exporting to the rest of Latin Amercia.
In fact I went to a toy shop yesteday just to check Antex's boxes. Sets are getting at least a little more interesting. They are producing right now something similar to the artic expedition theme. A lot different from what they have been taking out into the market. But still ridiculosly expensive. Yet it is an improvement. So I hope this is just a start.
Cheers Gus! thanx for your comments.
Gaston :wave:
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That was a very nice read!! Thanks for translating it Gaston!