What is hot and what is not ?

[Justindo]

Regarding klicky skin color:

Cachalote, you propose an interesting theory, but I doubt there is much of a cost difference in plastic colors.

How many skin colors are produced by Playmobil anyway?  I count three:  "white" like most of their klickies, "medium brown" like the Egyptians, and "dark brown" like the Massai Warrior.  Are there other shades?  Should there be other shades?

I think Playmobil's klickies have become increasingly diverse and accurate as time has passed.  In the beginning, the Native Americans were "white" with normal jagged hair so that if one took off their accessories, they looked just like any other klickies.  The Native American klickies then became, accurately, "medium brown" with unique hair.  Also, look at the Pirates today compared with the early ones.  The upcoming Egyptians are certainly not "white" and while the majority of Specials are "white," what about the former Palace Guard (who actually should have been "medium brown," but I digress) and the upcoming Massai Warrior?

These, however, are all historical themes and we need to address the modern themes.  Clearly these have become more diverse as time has passed, but perhaps not as diverse as many would wish.  I personally see Playmobil moving in a more diverse direction  The recent modern families are a good example of this.  As Europe and America change, I think Playmobil will also change.

To answer the question why the majority of Playmobil klickies are white, I would say it's because the vast majority of Playmobil buyers and recipients are white.

Regarding Playmobil theme popularity:

I too would really like to know what themes or sets are considered by Playmobil to be "very successful," "moderately successful," "not successful," and "a total flop" for Playmobil.

I was under the impression that the Romans were "very successful," but now it seems they were "not successful."  On the other hand, I would think something like the plumber special would be "a total flop," but perhaps it is indeed "very successful."  I would also imagine the dinosaurs would be "very successful" because both my wife and I loved dinosaurs as children, but children today are different than they used to be.  After all, I used to play "cowboys and Indians" and "knights" all the time when I was younger, but I don't think these games are popular among most children these days.

[cachalote]

a very short remark justindo.
as we say it in portugal, which was born the first - the egg or the chicken? (o ovo ou a galinha?). 
this to say that if playmobil did more figures with light brown or deep brown skin color, maybe the "ethnical" balance of playmobil's customers would change. 

this way they could be even more successfull than they are now. 

going back to rasputin's original idea for this thread (i am sorry, rasputin, for having so much deviated from it  ) i wonder what happens to all the sets that nobody buys.
if some sets are a "flop" this surely means that they won't be bought by anyone.
what happens to them? they go back to germany or malta? they are destroyed and recycled to make water pipes or something? they are secretly burried under the fun-parks?
i am sure they don't end up, all of them, on ebay - but i have to confess that i sometimes wonder how a "cold" clicky ends its life.
maybe they are in distress, their smiles gone, left alone somewhere... 
should we start a shelter for all abandoned "cold" clickies? 

[playmofire]

this way they could be even more successfull than they are now. 

going back to rasputin's original idea for this thread (i am sorry, rasputin, for having so much deviated from it  ) i wonder what happens to all the sets that nobody buys.

Any items which fail quality control are ground up and the resulting plastic either reused by Playmobil or sold on to other firms to use.  Presumably, the same happens to any sets which don't sell.  However, Playmobil now produce items as needed, so after the initial production of a line no more are produced until stocks are run down, so if a line doesn't sell there shouldn't be a large stock left to get rid of.

[Timotheos]

light-pink skin color:
all the romans;
all the knights;
....................................... ......

Hi Cachalote, you might be spending too much time analyzing this.   

American television has responded to similar concerns related to the representation of gays.

Now, gay Americans, who make up roughly 5-10% of the American population, make up roughly 50% of the male television character population.  The other 40% are bisexuals, or at least chatty about having experimented with it.  The remaining 10% of TV men are beer-drinking Homer Simpsons or personality-less, masculine FBI agents.

So, if you complain too much, and playmobil starts over-compensating to satisfy politically correct quotas, you'll probably get what you deserve.

Like Justin has said, Playmobil really is moving forward with its representation of three skin tones (fair, brown, and black).*  * My friend from India called "white-skinned" Indians "fair-skinned".  Differentiating more skin tones than three would lead to preposterous combinations, like jaundice-skinned Chinese.  So, actually, take it easy with the talk about "more variety" of skin tones.  I'd be embarrassed to death if Playmobil released a Samurai theme of jaundice-skinned lemon men.  [East Asians aren't yellow, but white or brown, as PM currently supports]

I agree Playmobil should have more Africans, who make up 15% of the American population.  But when you consider that 100% of the Playmobil modern living klickies are yuppies, that sort of blows the quota anyway. 
 
-Tim

 

[Playmofool]

I wonder what happens to all the sets that nobody buys.
if some sets are a "flop" this surely means that they won't be bought by anyone.
what happens to them? they go back to germany or malta? they are destroyed and recycled to make water pipes or something? they are secretly burried under the fun-parks?
i am sure they don't end up, all of them, on ebay - but i have to confess that i sometimes wonder how a "cold" clicky ends its life.

Over the past two years, those "cold" sets have sometimes reappeared - all of a sudden in most cases - on the racks of German supermarket and retail chains.

We recently witnessed this happen with the yellow cab (3199? - I'm not sure), the big cannon (3111) and others. The supermarkets put these sets in their "weekly" ads and sell them in large quantity - often at THE ORIGINAL PRICE  as an exclusive offer from THEIR stock.

Even some stores selling mainly clothes suddenly had small supplies of Playmobil just before Easter or Christmas.

So there seems to be a way out of the boxes for most klickys and they needn't turn sad.

I suppose that these chains get good deals, but they probably still cover production costs for Geobra. (So no gain, but at least no loss and no money spent on destruction.)

Simon

[CountBogro]

Hi Cachalote, you might be spending too much time analyzing this.   
Like Justin has said, Playmobil really is moving forward with its representation of three skin tones (fair, brown, and black).*  * My friend from India called "white-skinned" Indians "fair-skinned".  Differentiating more skin tones than three would lead to preposterous combinations, like jaundice-skinned Chinese.  So, actually, take it easy with the talk about "more variety" of skin tones.  I'd be embarrassed to death if Playmobil released a Samurai theme of jaundice-skinned lemon men.  [East Asians aren't yellow, but white or brown, as PM currently supports]

I agree Playmobil should have more Africans, who make up 15% of the American population.  But when you consider that 100% of the Playmobil modern living klickies are yuppies, that sort of blows the quota anyway. 

But then again, according to wikipedia, they don't feature that heavily in the Germany:

Germans-Minorities
In recent years, the German-speaking countries of Europe have been confronted with demographic changes resulting from decades of immigration. These changes have led to renewed debates (especially in the Federal Republic of Germany) about who should be considered German. Non-ethnic Germans now make up more than 8% of the German population, mostly the descendants of guest workers who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. The Poles, Turks, Moroccans, Italians, Greeks, Portuguese and people from the Balkans in southeast Europe form the largest groups of non-ethnic Germans in the country.

So, on that bombshell, they are rather spot on 

I guess it just depends where you're living.

[Gustavo]

Ok, current lines are always getting discussed as to how much we like or dislike the sets, themes or particular item from Playmobil. I do not remember if it was discussed here or on Playmoboard but it was stated that the Roman theme did not meet Playmobils sales expectations . Does anybody have more information on this subject ? What are the expectations ? How poorly did the Romans fare ? What currently does or did meet or exceed sales quotas to be considered a success ? I am not particularly interested in only the romans , it is just what triggered the question . i am more interested in all the themes and sales .

I think if they did steck castles up to this day, it'd be selling. There's a mentality of doing things new, concerning toys. It's somewhat silly. They should invest in traditional playmobil in paralel with "funny toys". Possibly they're too worried about "the market" (...). If your product is good, it sells. If you believe it's good, it's good, even if only you buy it, which isn't ever the case.

They don't believe it to be as successful as it is.

(No way there's to be nothing new. Only, old stuff don't have to go out of line ... It's a bit stupid (strong word, but couldn't find any other, for the moment) to do so. You can sell the old together with the new, it'd be better for everyone, them, us ...)

However, I'm not the greatest businessman ever ... What can I tell about it?

Romans reach a small target. Children in general aren't much attracted by movies about Romans. Children like colourful stuff. (And dragons, no matter the quality of the dragon (...).) Romans were, maybe (hypothesis) a fever of the "Gladiator" movie. Apart from that, they interest mainly adults, and we definitely aren't their target.

Children want knights, police, and dollhouses. Whatever else comes and goes ...

We marvel at and keep (most) everything. Shame on us, but ... well


Gus