Playmobil will launch a Ghostbusters line in 2017

[Klickteryx]

How about these for licensing ideas? Asterix. Tin Tin. Sherlock Holmes. Doctor Who. Karl May. Corto Maltese. Judge Dredd.

There must be tons of slightly less famous characters from other countries that would be great licenses.

I know they've tried to keep Asterix going, but is Asterix and Tin Tin still current? There is also the Smurfs, not that I'd want to see a playmo version of them due to scale reasons.
Never heard of Karl May or Corto Maltese.

I'd love a Dredd theme, though I can't see geobra doing it.

Dr Who could work, there is certainly heaps of material to work with.

[Klickteryx]

Yes, that's right. Everything written after 1923 is still copyrighted in the US, but everything is in public domain in the UK.

I thought public domain was 70 years after the author's death which for Doyle would mean the year 2000 as he died in 1930.

[Klickteryx]

I see no reason to go into licensing because there's already so much material in the public domain. Alice in Wonderland would be a pretty popular one. They have the queen already.

They also have the March Hare thanks to the Easter rabbit theme they do.

Maybe they should just do an entire science theme to do something different in the modern era. Decontamination chamber, biolab, hazmat suits, isolation rooms for patients with serious diseases like ebola, crates of medicine, police and soldiers with various kinds of protection from face masks (like those blue or white paper masks) to full suits, full body scanners and so on.

[Ismene]

I thought public domain was 70 years after the author's death which for Doyle would mean the year 2000 as he died in 1930.

I've seen multiple sources state that the last few stories are still under copyright. I know copyright law changed, so I'm guessing these stories were grandfathered in under an older law. But, like I said, it doesn't matter that much for Playmobil because all the well-known characters and stories are in the public domain.

[Basie10]

Asterisx had its own range of non-playmo figures 30 odd years ago.  They were ok but nothing special.

[Redmao]

I think that Playmobil is taking the licensed set route because it seems that today's kids lack imagination.
For instance, even with an upcoming movie, kids won't play Tarzan using some of the wild animals available in the zoo theme and use one of the swimmer as Tarzan just because the box doesn't say Tarzan...

[Macruran]

I think that Playmobil is taking the licensed set route because it seems that today's kids lack imagination.
For instance, even with an upcoming movie, kids won't play Tarzan using some of the wild animals available in the zoo theme and use one of the swimmer as Tarzan just because the box doesn't say Tarzan...

This is a good point. Our imaginations are being colonized.

[vcrklicky]

They are hardly limited edition. Lego Re-released the ECTO-1 as well as came out with the ECTO-2 for the new movie and the huge $350 Firehouse is set with a regular production run. Having both LEGO and Playmobil with the same license at the same time is an oddity.

[Marco_4124]

(@vcrklicky, Network South East avatar )

[GrahamB]

(@vcrklicky, Network South East avatar )

It's a 3778 bus, maybe coincidence that matches a current operator's livery? Or perhaps Network SE licensed their livery to Geobra back in 1993?