Rome-Egypt

[Wesley Myers]

The latter might have brought in the girls, although I agree with Wesley that the knights, pirates, and Romans probably only appeal to boys and they have no interest in domestic items.

Like Martin, I too hold out hope for a Greek and Asian theme or at least a few sets from each theme.

As for the Egyptian pyramid, it's an impressive looking set, but I don't plan on "using" it for anything except as a backdrop for dioramas.

I would like to see domestic items for boys - like Playmobil used to have with the medieval sets.  I think the company is underestimating the creativity of boys.

I too would have loved expansions from ds.  I'm still waiting for the straight wall expansion for the arena for chariot racing ...

[Justindo]

I would like to see domestic items for boys - like Playmobil used to have with the medieval sets.  I think the company is underestimating the creativity of boys.

I too would have loved expansions from ds.  I'm still waiting for the straight wall expansion for the arena for chariot racing ...

You may be right about their underestimate, Wesley.

And a straight wall expansion would be great and only require a single mould to be created!

[bonniebeth]

Yes, this forum illustrates very well how creative "boys" can be! There are a lot of men here who do fantastic customizations of victorian dollhouses, hospitals, woodframe houses, castles, firehouses, etc.

[Hadoque]

To go back to the original question in this thread;
the Roman & Egyptian sets are put together in one theme because the Roman theme was thinned out so seriously that ultimately only the galley wasn't discontinued. Now the Egypt-theme was just discontinued as well, so on the German / Benelux-website the Roman / Egyptian leftovers (DS) are also mixed as one theme...
You guys in the rest of the world still have the rest of the year left to get the Egyptian sets you want.

[PrimusPilus]

At least for me, the Romans is exactly what got me back into PM again after 37 years. It's really sad to see that Geobra will no longer "support" the theme, but I can easily understand the reasoning behind why they axed the theme (the same goes for the Egyptians).

Let's face it, of every $100 spent on PM around the world, how much do you think is spent by adults like us? Five bucks at best? I would wager it would be a lot less then that overall. And for young kids, the big majority of the target audience for PM that were not exposed to Romans or Egyptians in the real world, these themes are NOT interesting. Why is the Pirates theme a big hit? Because of Pirates of the Caribbean. As much as I enjoyed 300, my 4 yo will only watch it many years from now, so what he knows about Greeks and Spartans is exactly zilch. But if you ask him about Romans, he knows the difference between a centurion and a decanus, but that's because I've read to him every single Asterix book every night. But even among the Roman lovers here on the boards, who reads Asterix to their kids  ?

If kids don't get exposed to the theme through some form of media they like (TV, movies or books), they will have no  interest in having toys in that theme. Geobra wants to make money, so they produce what sells. Geobra could start making Roman forts and houses and war machines and new siege towers, and the theme still would not be a hit. If it doesn't sell, and here we're talking about at least 95% of the public who buys PM, they will not produce that specific theme.

[Rasputin]

I do not agree that some silly movie was the reason the pirate theme was and had been so popular for so many years. The movie only came out recently and the theme has been a staple of Playmobil very early on in its history.  I do agree about the books. How many kids books glamorize pirates versus how many do the same for romans. Out of the hundreds of books we have and read to our kids at bed time there is a large percentage of books that have pirate adventures in them. I do not know a single one that sensationalizes Roman times. I will look into the one (Asterix ) you mentioned.

[bonniebeth]

I think Pirates of the Carribean keeps today's kids interested in pirates right now, just like several versions of Treasure Island kept me interested in pirates as a kid. Pirates have been a long-standing staple because there are so many pirate movies out there for kids, and books too, but for most kids these days, it's movies. The Pirates of the Carribean movies are the latest ones, which is why everyone keeps mentioning them specifically. 

[Bolingbroke]

I think Pirates of the Carribean keeps today's kids interested in pirates right now, just like several versions of Treasure Island kept me interested in pirates as a kid. Pirates have been a long-standing staple because there are so many pirate movies out there for kids, and books too, but for most kids these days, it's movies. The Pirates of the Carribean movies are the latest ones, which is why everyone keeps mentioning them specifically. 

How many pirate movies are there, apart from the POTC series? When I was growing up in the early 80s there was only one pirate film worthy of note, made by Polanski, but apart from that, nothing. And yet, the pirate theme was massive. Same for the knights theme. Looking back I can only remember a handful of knights films.

[bonniebeth]

Well, we had about 4 versions of Treasure Island, seriously. There was an animated version, One from disney with real actors (my favorite) another more grown-up version, and later Muppet Treasure Island. And of course there was Peter Pan and Hook.

[tonguello]

and guys of my generation wouldn't forget THE GOONIES.