Any news about possible US exclusives 2012 (Target etc) ?

[Rhalius]

US seems to get some pretty neat exclusives once in a while, all we get here as Dutch exclusives are Sinterklaas sets and something with Soccer.

Weirdest thing might be that the US seems to be getting exclusive medieval sets while they never even experienced the period. I can't help but be a bit jalous at some of the exclusive historic sets the US gets.    I'd love for such sets to be released here too, or to at least have exclusive historic sets of our own around here. 

[basilsdad]

Weirdest thing might be that the US seems to be getting exclusive medieval sets while they never even experienced the period.

Which medieval sets are you referring to?
Joe

[Rasputin]

we recently got the 3030 super set

[Giorginetto]

US gets some really awesome exclusives such as hte recent FAO Schwartz victorian set up as many others. NO surprises as they all originatte from the country that invented marketing . Europe has sooo much to learn to learn still when it comes to msarketing, product development, exclusives etc etc , soooo much ...

[Ismene]

US seems to get some pretty neat exclusives once in a while, all we get here as Dutch exclusives are Sinterklaas sets and something with Soccer.

Weirdest thing might be that the US seems to be getting exclusive medieval sets while they never even experienced the period. I can't help but be a bit jalous at some of the exclusive historic sets the US gets.    I'd love for such sets to be released here too, or to at least have exclusive historic sets of our own around here. 

We didn't experience it, so we have to settle for mini plastic castles, as opposed to real stone ones 

[bonniebeth]

US seems to get some pretty neat exclusives once in a while, all we get here as Dutch exclusives are Sinterklaas sets and something with Soccer.

Weirdest thing might be that the US seems to be getting exclusive medieval sets while they never even experienced the period. I can't help but be a bit jalous at some of the exclusive historic sets the US gets.    I'd love for such sets to be released here too, or to at least have exclusive historic sets of our own around here. 

Um.... I don't think anyone alive has truly experienced that period. That doesn't mean we know nothing about it or are not interested in it. Many Americans have traveled to Europe and toured the great castles from that period, and there are societies that regularly have medieval-style battles, or learn about everyday life of the period. Some people wear clothes from that period, and learn skills and trades as they would have been taught in medeival times. For instance the SCA. http://www.sca.org/ This type of thing is a very common interest over here.

[Pynedor]

US seems to get some pretty neat exclusives once in a while, all we get here as Dutch exclusives are Sinterklaas sets and something with Soccer.

Weirdest thing might be that the US seems to be getting exclusive medieval sets while they never even experienced the period. I can't help but be a bit jalous at some of the exclusive historic sets the US gets.    I'd love for such sets to be released here too, or to at least have exclusive historic sets of our own around here. 

I'd have to agree with this somewhat, haha. It does seem quite unfair really. I mean, most people in the United States are descended from people who were part of the European-West Asian-North African society during the Middle Ages after all, so they truly have the same claim to that, but it really doesn't matter since all ought to have access to these great sets.

We didn't experience it, so we have to settle for mini plastic castles, as opposed to real stone ones 

I think the real ones are much better.

US gets some really awesome exclusives such as hte recent FAO Schwartz victorian set up as many others. NO surprises as they all originatte from the country that invented marketing . Europe has sooo much to learn to learn still when it comes to msarketing, product development, exclusives etc etc , soooo much ...

I reckon there are some things that should be looked upon as what not to emulate though. But still, the sets should be available to all, but with the example of the FAO Schwartz sets - I think that the company is based in the United States. I've never even heard of it until these sets were mentioned.

[Ismene]

Maybe since the USA is bigger, they figure that they can get more buyers to make exclusives more worth the time and money needed for design and production. They could do continental exclusives though, if they wanted.

The real castles are definitely better, but since we don't have any in the US, I think they are more of a novelty to Americans because we don't have any to visit and museums don't even have much medieval stuff. The European equivalent would be the Western sets. I notice a lot of Germans who come to the US wear cowboy boots 

I'm sure I've heard the name FAO Schwartz somewhere, but it wasn't one I remember well because I haven't seen one in our area. It is a well-established company in the bigger cities. I know Toys 'R Us though.

[Rhalius]

heh, I am not saying that here in Europe we lived to see it, its a bit more around us with the castles, cathedrals and many old buildings still being around from that time, and it being part of the national history. 

I'd bet americans would generally feel more of a connection with the american civil war than with the Napoleonic wars, just like how here in Europe it would be the other way around for the countries which where involved in it. 
While playmobil cowboys and american civil war soldiers are popular around the world, I'd bet they would be sold far more in America than any other place since to Americans its history. Did they ever release western exclusive sets in the US though? It seems like a perfect match.

It's probably a marketing thing though, and here in the Netherlands most people seem to know next to nothing about our own history. Most dont seem to care about anything that happened before WW2.  So I'd gues that might be the reason that exclusives are never of an historic nature here.
Still, countries like Greece, Italy and England seem to pretty much have the reputation to be quite fond of their own history so I really could picture such countries pushing for exclusives in that direction.

[Ismene]

Attitudes towards the Civil War are partly regional. Some places have re-enactments and such, but that's mostly older folk (middle age and above). There hasn't been a big Western movie for awhile, and I just don't see western Playmobil being all that popular with American kids these days. Of the current non-modern sets, I would think the Pirates would be most popular in the US, followed by the Medieval and Fantasy sets, based on popular movies and shows.

Personally, I feel more connection with the Napoleonic Wars than the Civil War , though I'm more interested in pre-French Revolution history. I'm sick of cowboys and southwestern stuff and cacti. I want castles! And cathedrals! We have old buildings, but they are Spanish colonial and the really old ones are pueblos.

Most Americans are pretty ignorant about history in general (I hate to say it, but really...), but they like "pretty" or "cool" things, despite not knowing much about the history behind it.