More European cultural heritage in PM: comics and BDs!

[PlaymoGuardian]

Narnia was a terrific suggestion! The possibilities seem endless if they could tap into that world. I think a theme related to this could provide an abundance of medieval and obviously fantasy designs. Centaurs, Minotaurs, the ceiling would be quite high...

[GrahamB]

I would to see a distinction drawn on these forums between themes and franchises. Themes are open world. Franchises constrain imagination. Franchises are collectible but they are not usually easy to play with. A celtic warrior, for example, could be the hero or the villain, a central character or just part of the clan. But Asterix is always going to be Asterix. As such I am very much in favour of themes drawing on historical periods or fantasy fiction, but cautious about franchises.

I think it is telling that the Playmobil franchises to date are either 80s-related or self-invented. If they start making Octonauts or Paw Patrol figures we'll be in a whole new world.

The sets produced by Playmobil to reflect ideas/ intellectual property from other places (movies, books, etc.) are often referred to as Licensed products. Are they strictly franchises? I don't think I understand the distinction, but perhaps the terms franchise and licensed are interchangeable?

I do agree that 1980s ideas seem to be favoured by Playmobil, something to do with targeting middle-aged collectors I assume. And many Playmobil sets are look-alikes rather than licensed products (e.g. sets like 9350-53 and 9469-74, Ice Princess sets with a strong resemblance to the Frozen films!).

[drbatesy]

I suppose I'm thinking of franchise as a wider term, including the way geobra are partnering their own cartoons with their own products - Super 4, the Movie, Dino Rise, &c. But you're right, Graham, it's really a term for a borrowed business model.

I agree: I'm sure they are targetting collectors in their 40s and 50s. Spirit is a noughties thing, but the rest all seem to have been big in the 80s - as Star Trek would be if that does come out (think the movies here). Lego have sown up all the big selling contemporary franchises: MCU, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, LOTR. Bond's been big in every decade. Beyond that they have to think about the audience - Fast and Furious for kids? 

Perhaps this post should now turn towards eighties movies/TV series that could be turned into themes: Gremlins? Flash Gordon? Mad Max? Alien? They've missed the boat on Indiana Jones! 

Of course, I wouldn't want any of these ...

[Oliver]

They've missed the boat on Indiana Jones! 

To be fair, they basically did make Indianna Jones sets already with first Jungle ruins sets

[GrahamB]

To be fair, they basically did make Indianna Jones sets already with first Jungle ruins sets

I agree. Playmobil has issued sets and figures which reflect popular films, etc. without paying licensing fees for years. Shrek, Tolkien, Frozen, Indianna Jones to name a few. It's a bit of a standing joke that geobra manage to issue movie-inspired sets and figures about 2 years after the inspiration has dropped from peak popularity!

[tahra]

Also Tomb Raider and Aeon Flux..