Author Topic: Playmobil Listed in a Popular McDonalds Happy Meal Toy from the 80s Post  (Read 5395 times)

Offline leefert

  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2202
  • Gender: Female
I was going through my Facebook news feed and one topic was about some of the best McDonalds Happy Meal Toys from the 1980s... in it was included Playmobil.



Just thought I'd share
I'm glad that I'm not the only one :)

Offline Birdie

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3818
  • Gender: Female
Was it really 'the toy that rich kids played with' at the time? Maybe because it was imported from Europe?

Offline GrahamB

  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3461
  • Gender: Male
    • Playmofanatic
Wasn't there a big hoo-ha about PM toys in Happy Meals in the US, something to do with them not meeting the rigorous US safety standards?
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline leefert

  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2202
  • Gender: Female
Wasn't there a big hoo-ha about PM toys in Happy Meals in the US, something to do with them not meeting the rigorous US safety standards?

Yep, the pieces were choking hazards.  That is why we cannot have Kinder Eggs here.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one :)

Offline tahra

  • Playmo Guru
  • ******
  • Posts: 14892
  • Gender: Female
    • playkingdoms
Yep, the pieces were choking hazards.  That is why we cannot have Kinder Eggs here.

Yeah, other kids know that those are not to eat...  :P

Seriously though, they were recalled, and I think that it was after that that McDs started to be for over 3 year olds..

Offline Tiermann

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 9020
  • Gender: Male
  • Playmosaurus friendus
    • Animobil
Yes, all that is true, and yes Playmo has had a reputation in the US as being for higher class kids. It tends to be a little more expensive than most other toy brands, and their marketing for a long time relied on selling through independent toy stores that tend to themselves go for the higher end clientele. These days you can get it at TRU like everything else, though it's still in the independent stores too. So that has changed some, but it's still something of a problem.

Offline Macruran

  • desperate but not serious
  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3789
  • Gender: Male
  • Hiya!
    • my incomplete collection spreadsheet
I got the sherriff in a Happy Meal back then. In my mind he was my first klicky but I lived in England before I lived in the US and I distinctly remember talking about "Playpeople" as PMs were called there then, so I must have had at least one before the sherriff. He loomed large though. I can still see his little silver star.
"We like things in little." - G. Stein  
 :roman:

Offline Klickteryx

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 1716
Strange, playmobil was quite common here in NZ at that time, lots of kids had it. It was probably as common as lego back then. Of course America was a bit different back then, anything not American was downplayed.
When the original Mad Max came out, they dubbed Mel Gibson's lines with someone speaking with an American accent.

Offline tahra

  • Playmo Guru
  • ******
  • Posts: 14892
  • Gender: Female
    • playkingdoms
When the original Mad Max came out, they dubbed Mel Gibson's lines with someone speaking with an American accent.

That's ridiculous.

But then again, all the Xenaverse kiwi cast had coaching to speak "american"  ::)

Offline Birdie

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3818
  • Gender: Female
When the original Mad Max came out, they dubbed Mel Gibson's lines with someone speaking with an American accent.

How LAME is that  :wall: