A problem in Playmobil Medieval production?

[Martin Milner]

Complaining, constructive criticism, or customer feedback?

I have thought of Playmobil as a great toy to support education, because the details were spot on. Now they're not in some themes, so it loses that aspect (and my respect) and becomes just another toy. Still a very well made toy, but closer to MegaBloks, Fisher Price, Pyrates and the rest.


Why are themes discontinued? To make room for new ones, once sales have dropped off. Playmobil did pretty much everything they could with the Vikings, so they moved on. The Romans will eventually be fazed out, as will the Egyptians, but something new and hopefully exciting will replace them.

Pirates and Knights and Hospital and Fire Service etc have stayed in the line up for decades, but the old themes are just re-hashed. The Spanish Conquistadores are a very welcome addition to the Pirates theme as they take things in a whole new direction.

[Timotheos]

Complaining, constructive criticism, or customer feedback?

I have thought of Playmobil as a great toy to support education, because the details were spot on. Now they're not in some themes, so it loses that aspect (and my respect) and becomes just another toy. Still a very well made toy, but closer to MegaBloks, Fisher Price, Pyrates and the rest.

I agree with your commentary, Martin.

And would add: "It's for the kids, guys" is, like patriotism, the last refuge of a scoundrel!

A lot of my historical research is inspired by Playmobil's seeding.  As for the effect on kids?  The King Arthur knight theme in the 1970s (the medieval stuff that hit the states was very King Arthur) led me to read about King Arthur as a child and eventually trackdown Le Morte d'Arthur by Malory as a teenager.  So I think there is value in Playmobil retaining some connection either to history or literature.

These new fantasy knights are cute, but by necessity lack details--there are no details!  Some design team at Geobra yanked it out of their noses.  These won't inspire kids to read anything because there is nothing to read about them.

Schleich and Papo seem to be having success with historically based molded knights.  Probably the gruesome detail is that Playmobil has exhausted its ideas for the knight themes but it sells too well to discontinue.  Playmobil has a policy against licensing contemporary entertainment (a likely good thing) so its response is an off-the-wall generic fantasy environment, the design concept of which is neo-Pokemon.

I like the fairy theme a lot (the one with the garden fairies); maybe because it follows the image of old-fashioned European pixies that I grew up with.

These new knights with their funky catapults don't have an identity.  Just contemporary children's toys.   

[Gustavo]

Honestly, playmofriends, I proposed this topic because I was very intrigued by Heather's thought about [splitting the knights theme] in the Db.

We have a lot of complaints, but I think we can't be unfair ...

& I think I have, after all, my answer to Heather's dilema, "to split or not to split?", my version of the case.

Concerning this thread, I think that if we consider the attached sets, currently available: (...)

[Gustavo]

(...) including the ones attached below,

I'd dare say that there still is medieval Playmobil after 2004.

This is my thought, concerning this matter.

Thanks for the opinions of all of you guys, who gave your thoughts on this matter.


Gus


[Ps.

In my opinion, Heather, if you can manage somehow to make the knights to be in one section until future release(s) of new castles, it'd be wiser.

The new styles proposed by Playmobil are different, but we still can't say where it's going to take us, and I don't despise (or I want to believe) that they consider the collectors sector of their market (...)

As well as I'd wait to see how Playmobil will display and classify their fantasy knights in their own site, once they begin to appear. Very possibly there will be some sort of difference between fantasy knights and medieval castles, unless they became a bunch complete fools. So, my advice, if I may, would be to wait a bit.

But its discussion that we'll probably come back to, until they make any new move in Playmobil.com ...

Gus

]

[CountBogro]

I think you're rather being harsh with Geobra. Lately they have been producing a lot of "Historic correct" sets - the entire hospital range, police, Romans, Egypts, etc. So, now they're having some fun with fantasy. Well, I'm with them. I love them all - including the new Ghost pirates. Lord knows I'd wanted a ghost pirate ship when I was a kid. The only complaint I've got is that they're about 20+ years late 
But better late then never.

IMHO Playmobil is all about fantasy, even though for some it's more extreme then for others.

Oh, and Gustavo; you're wrong about MacGayver when you said you were kidding. Macgayver is a big kid; I only wish I was more like him 

Bogro

[Timotheos]

I think you're rather being harsh with Geobra. Lately they have been producing a lot of "Historic correct" sets - the entire hospital range, police, Romans, Egypts, etc.

Hi Bogro--
You're correct and I caught myself a couple of days ago.  The hospital and zoo and the Egyptians are as close to meticulous for detail as you will find from a children's toy.

I guess the real problem: a lot of us had soft spots for the medieval line.  It was my favorite before I moved on to the Romans.  Also a lot of us recent collectors missed the great 1990s medieval sets and maybe are a little bitter.

To Gus:
The pictures you provided of the black knight and the red dragon knights aren't such bad offenders.  Except for the huge, two-bladed battle axe, their equipment is realistic enough.  The red dragon knight, with his bowman and footmen, reminds me how when British knights answered the call to campaign they had to bring an allotment of archers and infantry with them.

-Tim

[macgayver]

Playmobil is all about fantasy, even though for some it's more extreme then for others.

Oh, and Gustavo; you're wrong about MacGayver when you said you were kidding. Macgayver is a big kid; I only wish I was more like him 

Bogro

True

 

and true

and thank you Bro 

[Rasputin]

I think that the dissatisfied need to look a little further back in History.   If you were to compare the old 70's Medieval sets with the ones from the 90's you will also notice a shocking difference. New twisting wrists, painted patterns, boots, lots of new weapons, etc... The toy is ever evolving from the 70's simplistic design to the 90's realism and now on to the new frontier

[Martin Milner]

When I joined this board, shortly after discovering the Romans Theme, I also joined a couple of Roman re-creationist boards. These are peopled by folks who actually go out in their free time and dress up in the gear, march around etc.

Now to me the Playmobil Roman Legionnaries look good, you can't look at one and not know immediately what he represents.  Things get a bit wobblier with the officers, signifers etc, but with a bit of organisation, as Tim has shown, you can create a very realistic arm, and Playmobil did a very sound job.

On the re-creationists board you would not believe the moaning there about how inaccurate the Roman Playmobil figures were, wrong helmets, their armour fastened in the wrong place etc.

I went to  Renaissance Fair in Texas last year - many people there were dressed in costumes that were distinctly NOT of the Renaissance.

I guess many people are very happy with whatever Playmobil produce in the Knights theme, as long as it carries a shield, wears something recognisable as armour, and wields a big weapon!

[Justindo]

When I joined this board, shortly after discovering the Romans Theme, I also joined a couple of Roman re-creationist boards. These are peopled by folks who actually go out in their free time and dress up in the gear, march around etc.

Now to me the Playmobil Roman Legionnaries look good, you can't look at one and not know immediately what he represents.  Things get a bit wobblier with the officers, signifers etc, but with a bit of organisation, as Tim has shown, you can create a very realistic arm, and Playmobil did a very sound job.

On the re-creationists board you would not believe the moaning there about how inaccurate the Roman Playmobil figures were, wrong helmets, their armour fastened in the wrong place etc.

While I can somewhat identify with these re-creationists, what they fail to realize is that this is a $3 3" plastic toy!  Considering that, I would say the Playmobil Romans are VERY ACCURATE.  No, the helmets and armor aren't perfectly accurate and there are, perhaps, a few minor things I would have changed were I the designer, but one can easily tell what each klicky is supposed to be.  The upcoming Egyptians look equally accurate.

And yes, I'm bitter about missing out on the late 1990's Medieval and Western themes!