Arrival of the 3666.

[Lindama]

Congrats! It looks great. Excellent photos 

[Playmoholics]

By far my favorite set  Congratulations!

[Giorginetto]

By far my favorite set  Congratulations!

Absolutely the same here !!! Congratulations on getting the best set that playmobil ever made. Also really liked your pictures and story.

Your set up and pics remind me of that rainy day in england when a student when i went a bought a 3366, 3668,3674, 3659, 3654, 3653 and 3652 and a couple of 3651. That was my first playmo purschase and my return to playmobil since I was 17 and before the floor that cost me half my collection pretty much, a day to remember i was goijng crazy at Toys R Us when i got them !!! and your pictures and set up just reminded all that , a playmo deja vu  !!!     

[Rhalius]

thanks, definatly the best set they made so far. The trap door seems to be the only gimmick that doesnt make much sense, but I really like how the ladders and hatches work in the round tower.
And the drawbridge, and the crane, and the house, and the stables underneath, and the stone stairs.. well pretty much all of it. 

A real shame that swan clickies are so sparse though. Does anyone know about medieval figures in light blue that could be used for them?

[Giorginetto]

thanks, definatly the best set they made so far. The trap door seems to be the only gimmick that doesnt make much sense, but I really like how the ladders and hatches work in the round tower.
And the drawbridge, and the crane, and the house, and the stables underneath, and the stone stairs.. well pretty much all of it. 

A real shame that swan clickies are so sparse though. Does anyone know about medieval figures in light blue that could be used for them?

A good question i thought of some years ago actually . bear in mind you want leg type that will allow for the gold leg armour to be klicked on ... Given the greatness that the swan knights have i decided to be patient and buy some every few months etc etc , i really liked how they look original and when i tried the very old blue klickies for example , knight looked horrible .... maybe some others have better ideas i am sure i only tried the original playmo blue klikcy as i still have lots of these !!! . i wonder if the old western union soldiers would work also .....

[Rhalius]

Oh I am fine with just this one golden swan knight, he's the leader. 
And as you can see I recruited a newer archer for them. Not a perfect match but it kind of works. I dont have other troops with regular blue and yellow so I gues it could show a class difference with light blue being reserved for the knights. Tower soldiers don't use black for example and they even have a herald and noblewoman in pink with a lighter green.

There seems to be a good fleur de lis archer coming up next year though, the archer that comes with an archery target seems to be clad in red and yellow, with a dark blue hat. He might fit in with them.

[Giorginetto]

There seems to be a good fleur de lis archer coming up next year though, the archer that comes with an archery target seems to be clad in red and yellow, with a dark blue hat. He might fit in with them.

That is in fact a very good idea about the 4762  !!!! 

The set 3652 shows that the Centre fleur de lis is associated with the swan, castle, lion ( with yellow background but similar design to the red background one ) and the rather rare red/white insignia from 3888, i have always thought  of these linked together under the 'royal banner' of fleur de lis , clearly associated with the king in set 3659 . Back in 1993/1994 playmobil set up all these very wisely , since then there have been sooo many different ones , insignias and kingdoms , i think it would have been wiser to bring out these news sets but keep or relate to those old signs, that sense of continuity i always think is missing from playmobil , something other toy makers and toy lines certainly do and follow.

[Rhalius]

Definatly, and these days the factions are rather generic while in the 90's and before that it seemed they where inspired by actual countries.

-Fleur de lis, French.
-Tower, possibly Irish.
-Lion (early ninetees version), English.
-Red falcon (from the siegetower), Spanish.
-Swan, Portuguese.
-Yellow dragon, German.
-Nuremberg guards, obviously German.

Wether I am right or wrong about this doesnt matter, either way theres no harm in using them again. Aside from the yellow dragon, none appear to be the evil faction and thats what is so great about it. It allows children to think and come up with reasons for why there is a war instead of just fighting the bad guys.
Each of them has character and none are forced in a specific role.

Fleur de lis are obviously royal, they also participate in jousting and track down criminals to capture them.
Swan seems to consist only of jousting knights, which could give the idea they are no true faction but perhaps just jousting favorites. The golden knight likely being a jousting champion or favorite of sorts.
Tower seems to enjoy jousting as well, having two knights in such sets. Their wide range of heralds, messengers and one noblewoman suggests they might be strong at forging alliances and arranging festivities.
Lion faction seems a bit more grim and war oriented, having only soldiers and no presence at jousting, or any barded horses. They seem to have captains and no knights, at least their more prominent characters look more like captains to me. A lion prince is in a special though, which could be considered their leader.
And his style of dress suggests an extravagant lifestyle in contrast to the somewhat grim soldiers.
Yellow dragon seems to be the antagionist, but one with clear plans. They participate in the jousting tournaments and have a tower as their home, with either a captured princess or an appearantly much friendlier and less grim princess who might have married their leader to seal a diplomatic deal with another faction.
Red falcon seems rather neutral but have a siege tower, could be opportunists or mercenaries with some skill at engineering.

[Giorginetto]

Very good and thorough analysis Rhalius !!! 


 small note that lions have a jousting champion in set 5725 though the presence of green color denote a slight variation i must say from the yellow / red colour of the black lion found in other sets .....

i have always and still prefer these fractions/klickies and weapons than today's by far even those that came with the system x castles , much more historically accurate as you very well argued , far more realistic   armour and weapons ( see dragonland !!! ) all together mix very well with the steck castles and houses therefore i buy these rather than the new ones which are soo unrealistic i dont think i will be getting much of the current medieval sets ( only got a lion system x castle this year as awell as the red dragon tower which btw i think is superb and connects with the above very well ...

anyways , some sad news are that the black lion 7664 are no longer available , over the past few years i have bought quite a few  and the very last ones available i got last week form playmobil greece. i think they are perfect for a standard army and they can take lots of armor etc , see my archers and pikemen and swordmen and light cavalry i have created from them in the Krull diorama ... Their realistic simplicity is what makes them so appealing to me i suppose....

[tahra]

-Swan, Portuguese.

    Really?