The Eifeltower

[Birdie]

Congratz, it looks amazing 

My avatar thought so too:

[Macruran]

A stunning achievement.

[Richard]

@ Tim and Richard

Maybe you remember, when we grounded the PCC we went to Zindorf to defend the wishes from the collectors

One major point on the agenda was , what with steck, we want to build with Playmo
The answer from the director devellopment was: If you wanna build, buy Lego

Believe it or not, Michael, even Horst couldn't get them to change their minds on this!
I was sitting with Horst in his home in Florida. We had a long discussion about how important "construction" toys are for children beginning with their first blocks. Horst absolutely agreed! He picked up the phone and called Andrea at home. (It was probably about 1:00 o'clock in the morning in Germany.) Unfortunately, we weren't on speakerphone, so I don't know what Andrea said to Horst. Horst didn't seem very happy about what she said. When Horst hung up the phone, he apologized to me and said, "Maybe later, Richard." I knew Horst well enough not to ask him a bunch of questions about the phone call. I also knew if Horst wanted to talk about it again he would. He never did.

[tonguello]

First of all congratulations!
It is an amazing construction! 
 

One major point on the agenda was , what with steck, we want to build with Playmo
The answer from the director devellopment was: If you wanna build, buy Lego

That answer you guys got was so rude!  Is it accurate? did the really answer that?
Who was development director at the time? 

[Hadoque]

The answer from the director devellopment was: If you wanna build, buy Lego

How rude! Was that Herr Hane?
With Lego you can build magnificent things too, but whole dioramas look awful with those silly yellow figures.
Playmobil is so attractive because it is much more realistic then Lego (especially the figurers and all the accessories, interiors etc.) and comes closer to modelling while still remaining a toy.

My first answer was Versailles

Though the Eifeltower is splendid as well, Versailles still remains my favourite!
To me Versailles is the most awesome customwork you ever created, with regard to the small details as well as the huge scale 
I still regularly take a look at the pics I took in Templeuve a few years ago.... Imho your  Versailles should be on display in a Museum!

[tahra]

Thank you for the compliments

It was GORGEOUS! Amazing work.. and.. well.. HUGE.

It was great meeting you too

Maybe you remember, when we grounded the PCC we went to Zindorf to defend the wishes from the collectors

One major point on the agenda was , what with steck, we want to build with Playmo
The answer from the director devellopment was: If you wanna build, buy Lego

Are you SERIOUS?!

[Hadoque]

Believe it or not, Michael, even Horst couldn't get them to change their minds on this!

I never guessed you got Horst to support our desire for additional Steck and construction-building, so thanks for the anekdote Richard.
Was he still head of the company at the time, or just (major) shareholder and was Andrea CEO and decisionmaker?

  Let´s kidnap the remains of Beck & Horst and hurry them both to the Krankenstein Institution, they must be resurrected asap!

[peetje]

Great job!

[Pynedor]

Impressive! It looks great.

[Tiermann]

I don't want to go too far off topic, but Michael is extrapolating a little from the presentation response. His mention of Lego is not a direct quote from anyone. They certainly were not interested in pursuing the building aspect. Herr Hane is who we met from development. Andrea is Andrea Schauer who was director of operations at the time. My impression is that she was behind SystemX in a big way and got burned by the negative response to it and the fact that parents didn't want to buy large buildings that had to be assembled. Parents just didn't see Playmobil as something the kids put together as part of the fun of the toy,  but expect it to be something that can be quickly assembled out of the box for quick play. This is in fact a point of difference that helps keep Playmobil different from Lego.

I will point out that since those meetings much of the back catalog of Steck buildings have been rereleased through add ons. That wouldn't have happened if we collectors hadn't made the noise we have over these years and backed that up with our purchases of the released items starting with the red house.

There has been a lot of change in top management in the last two years. New directors of operations, and a new head to development. They are certainly aware of what we do especially at big events like this one. Keep doing what we are doing and drop the phrase building system into comment threads at PCC and elsewhere when you can.  We are in this for the long haul as collectors.