new pirates for 2007

[Sir Gareth]

I like these new pirates a lot.

Unlike other themes all of these new pirates look different none appear to be repeated amongst the sets, apart from the advent calendar it seems to have older figures with it.

The new Pirate captain 4293 look like a new fat figure to me, you don't see too many fat figures these days amongst the Playmobil themes.

The ship is OK looking my favorite part is the new sail set up, it would be good if it could be made to fit the older style ships like the 3750.

The lighthouse is absolutely brilliant I can't wait to own one and the Spanish figures are just fantastic but theres just not enough of them, yet.

So it will be another expensive end to the year another large order from Germany, I'm not waiting to get these late 2008 in the UK

[cachalote]

 
well sylvia, i totally agree with you:
we need more female pirates, like anne bonny http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny) or mary read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Read.
 
this need made me remember one of the few pirate sets i am missing - a promotional telepizza pirate and piratesse.
 
playmobil has come a long way from those "monochrome" sets
... or maybe it hasn't, judging by the new ship's color scheme.
 

[Hadoque]

Well, I like this renewel of the pirat theme too!  

When seeing the new ship a first time, I was a bit disappointed with the positioning of the guns and the lack of a true gundeck, like on the 3940. The 3940 will remain the most suited PM-"warship".
Really ugly is that awfull skull at the bow, I almost  felt sick when seeing it! It was quite a relief that this skull can be turned away to get a neutral bow!
And pics show the guns can be swivelled below deck, not ideal, but I can live with that and it turns the ship in a nice merchant vessel.
The canon-firing mechanism with the "arrow-canonballs" is stupid, but I think it's due to new EU-savety regulations...anyway, the gunbarrels can allways be replaced with the old ones.
I don't really dislike the red hull as much as some people seem to do. If the red colour is not wanted, a bit of paintspray can do miracles.
So, in general I think I quite like this ship, but to make a final conclusion about it, I prefer to wait to see it in reality.
The pirates themselves are awesome, I like the new pants, beards and detailed bodies. And the Spanish soldiers with the lighthouse, wow! Those Morion helmets are very welcome for my Conquistadores!

[Hadoque]

PS:
seeing the pics of the new pirate special, I must say he isn't as nice as I hoped he would be... the yellow stripes of his jacket are a bit akward, he looks like he's going to a disco-party. PM could have made a nicer paintsheme on it. It won't stop me from getting some though. His pants are very useful for upgrading some of my older pirates or for making new customisations.

[cachalote]

 
bad news...
maybe you all knew this but i didn't - with all the excitement with this new pirates i forgot to read all the information in the playmobil.de site.
 
all of these items will be released only in september.
 
the 4662 is the only one avaiable now.
we will have to wait ages gor the others.
ages...
 

[Sylvia]

I stumbled across a rather interesting Mega Bloks lighthouse set whilst looking for something else the other day.

They have quite an extensive pirate theme going, and it looks like Playmobil's designers may have gained a small amount of inspiration from it when planning the new releases.

Perhaps you 'hardcore' pirate fans were already aware this existed, but I got quite a surprise when I saw it.

[cachalote]

 
thanks sylvia,
i didn't knew this set.
although, as you say, i am a "hardcore pirate fan", i prefer playmobil's "softcore" aproach to the theme.
there are a number of companies producing playable pirates - lego, disney, mega blocks, fisher price... - most of them trying to gain some money with the "pirates of the caribbean" movie.
i imagine there are a lot of designers working on this and it will always be difficult to know who inspired who.
playmobil designs have on thing others tend to miss - a great balance between a realistic look and a toy look.
playmobil also seems to have a plastic quality and mold technology better than its competition.
i guess that's why we all love it.
 

[Hadoque]

Interesting! Yes, Geobra probably got some inspiration there... or vice versa, depending on how long ago that Mega Blok-set came on the market. The PM-version is undoubtable much better though!