What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

[Klickteryx]

There possible can be no comparison to the purchasing power of “for kids” versus “adult collectors”

Kids vs adult playmobil collectors is definitely in the kids favour but I wonder how many adults have playmobil product because it represents something like work or play. Who is the audience for sports players in real world team colours like the hockey players? How popular are they anyway?

[tahra]

There we disagree. I can't stand stupid cardboard stuff  (another reason to avoid advents) - when they do a house wall with "windows", and "shelves" with "books" or whatever printed in a cardboard like thing.

It would be a huge cost (and waste) to include those - also, they would not fit, unless all folded and refolded.

I do belive the box should be clearer about the contents, as of old. Do the front on a neutral background, the back with contents layed out.. and the sides for dios, as they used to...

IMO. Of course.

[Oliver]

I do belive the box should be clearer about the contents, as of old. Do the front on a neutral background, the back with contents layed out.. and the sides for dios, as they used to...

Definitely showing my age because I consider the 'contents on the back' to be a modern innovation 

But seriously, as a child I hated them dropping on the dioramas on the back of the boxes. I don't think I ever struggled to work out what in a set, and this was before the age of the internet where I was entirely reliant on the catalogue and the boxes.

[NovaBombardment]

It would be a huge cost (and waste) to include those - also, they would not fit, unless all folded and refolded.

I do believe the box should be clearer about the contents, as of old. Do the front on a neutral background, the back with contents layed out.. and the sides for dios, as they used to...

You're probably right, but I guess my bigger issue is just how misleading the boxes can be. I kind of like how the older boxes did it like you said. They aren't as detailed to the point of being confusing as to what you're buying.

[Klickteryx]

It would be a huge cost (and waste) to include those - also, they would not fit, unless all folded and refolded.

Printing cardboard is cheap. It wouldn't need folding as it would fit just inside the box so for the larger boxes you can get a large backdrop. Such things are used in model railway dioramas to make the miniature world trail off into the distance. Similar things were used in older movies to make sets look bigger than they were.
The cardboard backdrops in the advent calendars feel cheap because they're meant to be a 3-D structure that is part of the play environment for a brand that includes such things in plastic so they are cheap. That's the wrong way to include cardboard. The carboard sea in the Asterix pirate ship set is much better. Dario's workshop with no cardboard is obviously preferred but even there an optional cardboard backdrop showing a corridor or something would add interest without replacing an actual item.

[tahra]

Definitely showing my age because I consider the 'contents on the back' to be a modern innovation 

I remember spending hours with my sister figuring out what the set brought, from those tiny cats...

And the boxes with no back content... Now they seem to move from that, putting useless stuff on the box (like the dumbed down american versions they used to have :s )

[PlaymoMan]

I do belive the box should be clearer about the contents, as of old. Do the front on a neutral background, the back with contents layed out.. and the sides for dios, as they used to...

Totally agree! They really nailed it with the mid-2000s box design. The meticulous hand-crafted dioramas of the 80s and 90s are pretty spectacular but from a purely utilitarian standpoint these are more legible. The new style is cluttered and I find when I'm in a store now it's much harder to discern Playmobil from other products at a glance. Used to make a beeline to wherever the wall of blue was located, but with different colours for each line I think that the brand identity has been badly diluted. I also miss how there used to be a consistent set of klicky-based icons for each theme (bottom left corner of the box). Hardly the first to observe, but the overall vision feels so much less coherent than it did even 10 or 15 years ago.

[Macruran]

I think that's le mot juste - there's no longer any coherence to PM

[Oliver]

I think that's le mot juste - there's no longer any coherence to PM

I agree that all the boxes should be consistently blue, but I'd guess the coherence is the figures, in the same way that Lego is the brick (and beyond that it doesn't have a great deal of coherence).

[Rhalius]

They could really make a lot of money if they'd put up some particular sets in the web shop that are the kind collectors might want a lot of, but which kids might also want a set or maybe two of.

There's a reason the prison tower has stayed in the store ever since it was added, and that they keep a good amount of the houses around too. Museum never left either I think.
In total it's a pretty respectable selection of steck, but it's mainly houses. We need some sets great for castle building.

A wall piece with corner has been in DS before, but that was before internet I think. It was such a hassle to order stuff that I never was able as a kid to convince my parents to do that.
It's a good set to bring back because it's really great to expand any steck building with a bit of a wall.
I'd bring a different version of the gatehouse back too, not with red and white doors like before, but with dark brown doors so it's faction neutral.
The tall round tower could also be brought back to DS.
And finally, a new two story tower I would add, not with a roof but with battlements on top and a corner floor piece that leaves room open for a ladder. It comes with 2 or 3 of those coveted glass windows that are super rare.

I'd couple this with some army builder sets bringing back popular old factions. Kids would like them just as well and it would be super popular with collectors, they can include newer molds for it too for diversity.

Each faction for it could have:
-a set of 3 soldiers: one archer, a spearman and one with another melee weapon like a sword, axe, mace or flail.
-A knight on a barded or armoured horse, with sword and shield and a lance.
-A decor set that includes a few flags and banners to put on a castle, as well as a herald with a horn and a message scroll showing their symbol. Possibly other clickies too which could differ like nobility or other servants, can be a weapon rack or something else to put the flags and banners on too.