Play BIG: nice accessories, shame about the figures

[tahra]

There are some parts there that I believe I have, but had no idea they are playbig (and if that odd silver thing with the map crosses my path..)

The bundled indian baby is even weirder than the playmo one!

I find the figures VERY ugly (sorry, StJohn).. All that arrive here go straight to mount3 (whereabouts uncertain)...  Sometimes I wonder if some... unenlightened creatures can look at a klicky and find him.. ugly?  They are CLEARLY mistaken, and in need of glasses, but....

Anyways, the castle IS gorgeous (in pics), and so is the viking ship  - mine is incomplete and with missing and broken bits (pics somewhere in the PROCESS)..   Worth noting they had one AGES before playmobil made one, like the Airgam roman ship..

I loved the chicken helmet comment, btw. Could also be.. a duck.
(also, great compare pics with the klicky in matching color!)

[GrahamB]

I loved the chicken helmet comment, btw. Could also be.. a duck.

Thank you, tahra! Calling it a chicken was an idea I am sure came from you! You may remember I'm a bird fan (please, don't call me a twitcher!) and I usually like to be precise about what they are called (no, they aren't all ducks!)

[tahra]

Thank you, tahra! Calling it a chicken was an idea I am sure came from you! You may remember I'm a bird fan (please, don't call me a twitcher!) and I usually like to be precise about what they are called (no, they aren't all ducks!)

I remember - you always id all my ducks!   

[Macruran]

I'm with GB, those things are horrid. Like everything awful in 70s design compressed into one tiny humanoid toy.

[Hadoque]

I´m using the Play Big rifles for some of my Playmo custom-musketeers 

[StJohn]

I'm with GB, those things are horrid. Like everything awful in 70s design compressed into one tiny humanoid toy.

I don't like where this is going. Instead of a clean and judicious survey of Play-BIG parts, we're entering a mudslinging contest. That's what a poorly-judged title brings out in people.

[tahra]

I don't like where this is going. Instead of a clean and judicious survey of Play-BIG parts, we're entering a mudslinging contest. That's what a poorly-judged title brings out in people.

I am sorry. I wonder if it's a question of us being "used" to the klickys? I have no idea. I find it hard to believe that someone can find them ugly... but probably the same happens to people who love playbig or others?

Like the lego figures... the minifigures (ugly faces these days, but then again, happened to klickys too!) are ok - I mean, I don't find them beautiful, but not ugly either. They are "lego people". Blocky, tiny and yellow.  However, I was looking at a lego cat (amazing how so many sets are ALMOST the same as playmobil?! ) and saw some larger ones, that if they were not in the LEGO catalog, I would swear they were lame bootlegs..

Many people find the Airgam ugly - I love them. I find them beautiful - well... not the women  . I do wonder if it's because I NEVER saw an Airgam woman untill.. I don't know... 98 or later.  While Airgam.. well.. there were 2 klickys and a horse (who will be FORTY soon)... another klicky the following year (children's day gift - and yes, I remember their names, couples, children, siblings.. eish) and then a couple of Airgam next xmas. I wonder if my parents thought they were playmobil then. Uhm. Probably. Some years ago I was given several Airgam (when they were reissued) by my parents. Problem is, they thought it was playmobil..    RED boxes.  No harm done, love them as well... but..

Sorry, I digress. As usual. 

[StJohn]

Thanks for the digression, Tahra. It is not as if I'm married to Play-BIG, but I do see some real qualities of the brand: the horse example shows this quite well.

Remember that you should only compare Play-BIG to 70s/80s PM, which then still was quite limited in accessories and functions. Play-BIG was in many ways more ambitious. The way they solved the leg mobility problem is great, something that PM never aimed for. I mean, even those tiny Lego figures have legs that move separately, permitting the basic striding pose. We're used to PM not being able to, but wouldn't it have been great if Klickys could march? I guess it didn't happen because such mobility would impair the overall robustness of the design (a fair enough decision if you compare a Klicky to a Play-BIG figure), but at the same it very much limits their versatility: Klickys forever stand around!

[tahra]

Thanks for the digression, Tahra. It is not as if I'm married to Play-BIG, but I do see some real qualities of the brand: the horse example shows this quite well.

Remember that you should only compare Play-BIG to 70s/80s PM, which then still was quite limited in accessories and functions. Play-BIG was in many ways more ambitious. The way they solved the leg mobility problem is great, something that PM never aimed for. I mean, even those tiny Lego figures have legs that move separately, permitting the basic striding pose. We're used to PM not being able to, but wouldn't it have been great if Klickys could march? I guess it didn't happen because such mobility would impair the overall robustness of the design (a fair enough decision if you compare a Klicky to a Play-BIG figure), but at the same it very much limits their versatility: Klickys forever stand around!

Well, frankly, if they moved their legs, they'd be a mess... I have no experience at all with playbig (or even lego - we have 3 ancient ones from lego, all the others that came in lots I have passed on - or will), but Airgam, as they get old are a mess to stand.. Also, I don't know if playbig have that issue (but I assume not, as I don't recall broken feet), but Airgam, even if new in blister, have broken feet. Must be a design flaw. Actually, used ones may not, since the play gets some wear on that peg, and maybe it's enough not to break the foot around it...

I suppose this is biased - I assume it, like most people here, I guess - after all, this IS a playmobil forum, so I assume everyone here is a playmofan - we are probably just used to them not moving their legs, and that is fine. Actually, I hope that day never comes. I still can't have the bent arms and legs... A blessing for my wallet (or I'd NEED at least some of the football players, and the pretty yellow new one - Borussia, I think?) 

[Basie10]

This is a really informative post - thank you I have a couple of rifles, with bayonets', and a couple of cutlasses that I now know are from a playbig set (I was given them in the mid 80s). I think the cutlasses are the nicest looking swords I've seen - and the rifles are gorgeous too.  Great work team!