Yes....the specials would continue to be the impulse sets countrparts of the Lego....whilst the surprise figures would do the role of the Lego mini figures. But I just cant stand playmobil giving us one full gap year for the export market. It is cruel in this day and age with all the information flowing to every corner in the world, and we need to wait wait wait and wait. I guess the new specials would be priced at twenty percent premium to the old ones.......love all of them except the knight with weird shield
I think it's a marketing buffer as well. If something really flops then they would not waste their time on an export market.
It also gives them time to produce enough stock for the rest of the world.
You never find a company in the USA sending it's stuff around the world in the same year. In fact they would use China to make it too.