any news about may's secret sets?

[cachalote]

as a member of the general public i am very disappointed ...  
tracking back the whole story, the secret sets were indded announced in a leaflet made for shop-owners.
the problem is that its design does not suit this purpose - it has a very general-public-oriented concept, in its language and in its shape (a leaflet ready to be vertically stored with lots of others).
does geobra really needs to crate this "secret-antecipation" in its seller? i don't think so.  
anyhow, they should know that all information leaks and that a shop owner can be as well a collector.
lhapp did the right thing - thank you   - and asked directly what was happenning.
unfortunately the worst news came - there are no secret sets and geobra just made a mess of this entire subject.  
someone sais, in another thread, that geobra was basically a "regional" short-sighted" view on things - it is true.  

[Richard]

Thanks for taking the initiative on this, Lars ...

They write that the two secret May sets are the 4445 Polizei-Wasserflugzeug und 4446 Ganster-Hovercraft and that it is right that they were planed to be released in May, but they were moved to an earlier date.

Hmmm ... However, that certainly doesn't explain ANYTHING about what we all saw in the silhouette ... 

All the best,
Richard

[playmofire]

Hmmm ... However, that certainly doesn't explain ANYTHING about what we all saw in the silhouette ... 

All the best,
Richard

I think people tended to see what they wanted, Richard.   There were fairly firm claims that the flyer indicated pirate sets or western sets, for example.  However, in the foreground are two rectangular boxes which were the real secret sets.

[Richard]

Hello, Martin ...

Well, if it wasn't announced to the general public, I don't think the general public (that's us) can be disappointed.

Still, it boosted Lego's sales a bit.

You are much too kind ... 

As, Cachalote said, "... they should know that all information leaks and that a shop owner can be as well a collector."

And, it is a well known fact that Zirndorf spies on us all the time. They were well aware of what they had created!

I really have to agree with Cachalote's statement, "Geobra just made a mess of this entire subject."

And, you are quite correct, Martin, "Still, it boosted Lego's sales a bit."

I want to be sure that none of Zirndorf's spies miss your comment:

"(Playmobil's Secret May Sets) boosted Lego's sales a bit." ... 

All the best,
Richard (the Lego buyer)

[Richard]

Hello, Gordon ...

I think people tended to see what they wanted, Richard.   There were fairly firm claims that the flyer indicated pirate sets or western sets, for example.  However, in the foreground are two rectangular boxes which were the real secret sets.

I guess that you are probably correct ... because that really looked like "Napoleon" to me ...

However, I really feel bad that Zirndorf disappointed so many people. (And, they really can't hide behind, "It wasn't a 'public'  announcement.")

Because any information that is printed and widely distributed is pretty much "public" information.

All the best,
Richard

[Richard]

What if?

What if the person who answered the email from Lars was mistaken?

What if the two sets were indeed Pirate sets?

What if the two sets were marketed together on TV (as shown in the poster and video clip)?

What if the two sets were "Killer Price" and "Limited Quantities" (as shown on the website)?

What if the larger of the two sets had an outline that closely matched the silhouette?

What if one of the pirate figures was in the foreground of the silhouette?

And ...
What if the sets were supposed to be released in Mid-May, but were released earlier for some marketing reason?

WHAT IF ...

Click HERE
and
Click HERE
and
Click HERE for a nice picture ...

All the best,
Richard (the "What Iffer")

PS: Click HERE and then scroll down to read about the May release that's also "killer price" and "limited quantity." However it's NOT on TV and it doesn't look like the silhouette!

[cachalote]

once again richard: what a mess ... 

1. there's no way in no angle that the hat belonging to the 4446 hovercraft driver can be the one "silhouetted" in the "mitte mai" picture. 
2. this picture first appeared in klickywelt in november 2007 as belonging to a shop-owner catalog of novelties for may/july 2008.
3. customizer bought and reviewed a 4444 set in february 2008, much earlier than "mitte mai" or even "april-july".
4. 4444 kanonensegler and 4443 piraten schatzinsel have hardly "killer prices".

... nothing makes sense. 

- the pirate sets could match the picture and have a tv add ... but they were released 3 months ahead of schedule and have no killer prices and geobra told lhaap they were not the ones.
the hovercraft set has geobra saying it is the secret set and the timing seems almost allright ... but it doesn't match the silhouette in the add, the size of its box is much smaller than the sea-plane and killer price is not what we can call what they cost.

on top of all this, both options are classified by geobra in richard's last link as being limited editions (whatever that means) ... 

[cachalote]

by the way, i just realised that i am now a playmo-addict  thanks to this playmobil-secret-dirty business. 

i wish a reply posted saying "i just love this 2 new pirate sets, they were worth the waiting, what a surprise after all the secrecy" could have made me an official addict instead ... 

[Timotheos]

As far as I can see, the announcement was only available at the back page of a so-called "Fachhändlerkatalog" (which means a catalogue only for the toy shops).

Don't ask how Fachhandlerkatalog is pronounced in English.

But, seriously, maybe instead of worrying about these daily letdowns we should all meet in Holland at some cafe, tear up our passports, have a few smokes, and see how long it takes for the money to run out.

[extjmv]

I think is this:

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-DE-Site/de_DE/Link-Product?pid=5782

Maybe they have some stock problem, and decide not to go to TV, this set is limited 5 per customer.