No Blues is Bad News!

[Gepetto]

Working on it as we speak!



Gepetto

[Justindo]

I wouldn't be surprised if future Specials, as we currently know them, cease to exist altogether.  I think children would much rather have two figures to play with (e.g. bride and groom, knight and squire, legionary and Celt, etc.) instead of just one and the savings in packaging and shipping would be quite substantial for Playmobil.  Although collectors and traditionalists may lament this change, I personally wouldn't mind as I throw the boxes away anyway.  While one may not always want both klickies, I can't imagine this would happen too often as both klickies would be from the same theme.  As for price, the two-pack blisters are $2.99 at my local Target while the Specials are $3.29; $0.30 more for one less klicky and more packaging doesn't seem like a good value to me.

By the way, I was at my local Target today and there were no new pirates, no new crusaders, no new Romans, and no new Santas.

[Rasputin]

So far the blisters have been a sort of reissue of older specials ( except for the cop and crook 5816 & one of the sailors in 5814 if i am not mistaken ) . The specials are more unique and independent of certain themes . If you look at all  the current specials for the most part they are very few that are reissue . A lot of people speculate that playmobil uses the special to test the waters of an upcoming theme where the blisters compliment a current theme . I do not see why they could not keep both, as they each have their purpose . Specials - New and upcoming themes and unique characters, and blisters - a great way to expand a current theme at a low cost . 

[Gepetto]

By the way, I was at my local Target today and there were no new pirates, no new crusaders, no new Romans, and no new Santas.

Where do you live, Kansas?



Gepetto

[CountBogro]

I think you're right, Rasputin. There's no sign of the specials actually being phased out. Specially since there are so many places where the blisters aren't being sold yet.
Besides, I am not so sure that the packaging of the blisters really is that much cheaper as the specials cardboard box ...

Bogro

[Gepetto]

I still see plenty of the boxes at the smaller stores, just not at the larger ones. It may be that the large stores don't want to bother with all the individual boxes. I have noticed that the blisters don't even have their own separate part numbers at the check-out or when they check their inventory, they just come up as 'Pirate/Knight' regardless of the set. Surprisingly, to me at least, was that the little stores were happy that more big stores were carrying Playmobil in that it meant more product exposure and the blisters and carry packs allowed people to get 'hooked' rather inexpensively at which point the small stores could fill in the blanks.



Gepetto

[Indianna]

My guess is that the blister packs are geared to the big retailers like Target, TRU, etc.  They seem to want (and get) items that are different than what is available in traditional toy stores.  Also, besides being eye-catching and a good value, the blisters are much easier to handle - they can either hang on metal hooks or they can stand on shelves, but they don't fall over as easily as the "special" and "pals" little blue boxes do.  I have heard a few traditional toy store owners say that the specials boxes are a pain because they are always tipping over and getting disorganized - sometimes they just toss all of them into a big container and let people fish for what they want.  For that reason alone (easier handling) I would predict that the little blue boxes might be on the way out (making them even more valuable to collectors, of course!  )

- Anne

[sbblabotw]

I've been wondering in the last year or so if something was going to change about the Specials.  Why?  They're running out of sequential numbers.  The Specials started in 1994 with 4501 - Sherlock Holmes, and have continued in sequence up to the latest, 4686 - ABC-Schützen.  There are only 13 more numbers until the 4600's are used up.  Some of the 4700's have been occupied for a while now, and the 4800's just recently by several new series.  I predict two more runs of the usual six-pack of Specials, and then there will be some kind of change... what, though, is anyone's guess!

[CountBogro]

... I predict two more runs of the usual six-pack of Specials, and then there will be some kind of change... what, though, is anyone's guess! ...

I just think they re-start at 4501  It isn't the first time they re-used numbers 

Bogro

[Martin Milner]

So far the blisters have been a sort of reissue of older specials ( except for the cop and crook 5816 & one of the sailors in 5814 if i am not mistaken ) . The specials are more unique and independent of certain themes . If you look at all  the current specials for the most part they are very few that are reissue . A lot of people speculate that playmobil uses the special to test the waters of an upcoming theme where the blisters compliment a current theme . I do not see why they could not keep both, as they each have their purpose . Specials - New and upcoming themes and unique characters, and blisters - a great way to expand a current theme at a low cost . 

You haven't seen the Santa & Snowman blister then, it contains the recently released Santa Special (with open sack, stick & toys) and the shnowman from the boy & snowman special.

The recent Policeman with radar special was 4900, so he's jumped the sequence. I'm not worried about the numbering, but the use of CURRENTLY AVAILABLE specials in blister packs does give me some disquiet. 

The blisters are £3.50 in the UK compared to £2 for a special, so slightly better value if you can use both figures, which as people have observed, you usually can.