Once more I will talk about a detail that may look like unimportant for collectors but that probably makes all the difference to geobra Brandstätter ...
Playmobil isn't meant for collectors. It's meant for children. And I'll tell you why: nowadays children will be the ones buying playmo for their children (and even for themselves) tomorrow.
So, if you look at the castles about to be launched, for instance,
(attached), take a look at their roofs. (I told this once, I'll say it again.) They are "fake roof". They aren't like the old model of castles that Playmobil used to do, which had an actual house in it. It's a "little theatre" Castle Inside ... It's a fake roof. It'll be wonderful for playing (and even for making photostories -- my work!
-- but uneffective for realistic dioramas as the ones usually made with steck. (I've seen Napoleonic dioramas, from Garden-Wargaming people, that make you fall off you chair! ~ with steck. Super-realistic.)
What will these guys do with the new castles? Honestly don't know. But children, and "little-theatre" people will enjoy them a lot!, because they're good scenary for little-plays ...
It's somewhat like the old playmo cannon balls: they were substituted by the "arrow" rubber balls we have nowadays. It's much better to _play_ with the new ones, however it's much less realistic.
Well, in a way, playmobil doesn't have to be realistic, but playable, and safe for children.
(One extra pont for steck, once those System X pins are horrible for children to swallow
)
However, to say that playmobil doesn't have to be realistic is a paradox, because it's meant to be realistic, and finding the balance seems to be hard ...
Fact is that they have been trying to become more realistic: if you see the old models of animals, and the new ones, you'll notice that. If you see the old klickys and the new ones, including bikini girls, you'll notice that it's a hard thing to have balance in a toy that is considered (by us, collectors) a piece of art. There's people who only collect & like "vintage" playmo ... Odd, but, well, it's become a product. There's all sorts of playmobil consumers ...
And Zirndorf doesn't have, in a way, to pay much attention to it. Impossible to please everyone.
