Author Topic: The Financial Situation of Playmobil  (Read 6434 times)

Offline GrahamB

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #20 on: February 27, 2021, 18:36:19 »
I'm glad you have come down on the side of Playmobil! There have been many discussions about the two toys on here over the years. Yours was a very interesting post from someone who clearly knows a fair bit about L*** (pretending Lego is a swearword is an old Playmofriends joke, but we can discuss Lego on this forum!). There is a lot to be learned from Lego, its marketing strategies (virtually every shop in the UK seems to sell Lego, but very few sell PM- even toy shops!), its enduring popularity, its huge adult fan base, etc. etc. As an occasional user of Bricklink, I am amazed at the degree of completeness of the Lego parts and sets database there and the sheer numbers of sellers linking their inventory to the site. Although its a lot of fun hunting for PM parts on eBay, its not cheap. Bricklink isn't cheap either, as you said, but completing a set (in my case it was 2 or 3 Harry Potter sets) on there was relatively quick, so I could get back to my Playmobil!
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline PlaymoGuardian

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #21 on: February 28, 2021, 00:08:09 »
     I’m glad you had good experiences on bricklink, I’ve had my share (long ago)- but I’ve also had issues and there isn’t much to be done about that depending on the seller because the community isn’t quite as legally lock solid as eBay ; ) ...completing sets through certain purchases on bricklink can definitely be accomplished, but if you wanted to advance yourself as a serious builder with “acceptable” parts that will add to your art form when it come to building Lego Mocs, this can be a legitimate challenge. Also, if I’m being honest, I can very much appreciate the running joke about L*** being an inappropriate word. The AFOL community at its core can at times be a bit judgy and if not always that than certainly VERY clicky (pun intended, probably the best I’ve ever made). About ten years ago, the first time I flirted with the idea of returning to my childhood, I got somewhat close to their community before making any purchases (mind you, I had no idea this forum existed!!) I decided to stop any idea of buying lego because I knew my skills were inadequate and so much of what I knew about lego was more or less no longer acceptable by the community (certain pieces, building techniques, etc...). This community of playmofriends is just plain more welcoming, encouraging, and open to the concept of play being associated with playmobil as well as the toy being an expressive form of art. We all love steck, but no one will judge the incorporation of system-x.
     I’m immediately proud of this community and it’s foundation in fun. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m excited at the proposition of learning from you and advancing my abilities. Plus, I think we have a more difficult challenge given the less flexible nature of playmobil figure alone, and that is exciting to me. The creations I’ve found on our website are simply magic. Cheers to the kind and inspirational playmobil folks : )
« Last Edit: February 28, 2021, 00:16:58 by PlaymoGuardian »

Offline tahra

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #22 on: February 28, 2021, 07:45:57 »
I decided to stop any idea of buying lego because I knew my skills were inadequate and so much of what I knew about lego was more or less no longer acceptable by the community (certain pieces, building techniques, etc...).

Acceptable?! Really? Your lego, your play, your decision... You can see all sorts of "uncommon" techniques, things nobody thought of before (I guess)  within the playmocommunity.... and that is... amazing.

I had no idea the lego community would be so close minded. Especially considering those are building blocks...

Plus, I think we have a more difficult challenge given the less flexible nature of playmobil figure alone, and that is exciting to me.

Uhm... dunno about that. But I AM biased.  :P


Offline GrahamB

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2021, 10:07:29 »
I had to Google AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego). It's a shame when vociferous minorities dominate a group and lead others to feel like lesser mortals. I think Playmofriends is one of the friendlier forums. I hope you enjoy a long association, PlaymoGuardian, even if the availability of Steck parts, pine trees, etc. can be frustrating!
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline doug

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #24 on: February 28, 2021, 10:15:05 »
Brian,  I am rude too, I often avoid responding in the AAmeeting section of our forum. 

So: welcome.

Right now, "PLAYMOBIL 3006" will get you a few pine trees (plus animals).  Maybe for more than you want to pay...

I used "forest" for a search word.  "Landscape" works sometimes. 
Seems  like sometimes sellers are TRYING to get fewer hits...

Offline PlaymoGuardian

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #25 on: February 28, 2021, 11:53:17 »
Hello to you too! And thank you for the search ideas, trying anything I can at this point.

Offline Oliver

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #26 on: February 28, 2021, 14:35:43 »
eBay is simply covered in lego knockoff brands which are truly poor quality most of the time.

Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I'm currently in China and have bought a LOT of Lego knock off, and honestly in terms of quality I don't think I could distinguish a Lepin/Mould King/etc piece from a real Lego brick, but maybe I'm just not expert enough.

Offline PlaymoGuardian

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #27 on: February 28, 2021, 23:22:19 »
Perhaps you’ve found a good vendor, or maybe they’ve changed their products to compete better with the abs plastic of lego, but that would seem like a bad guess on my part, because I’d imagine that’s part of how they can afford to sell their items for such lower prices. I cannot really say for sure. A consistent enough feature for most Chinese or knock off figures is spongy legs that really have a lot of extra “bounce” (no idea how to describe that better)...legs that don’t fully connect to the waist of figure... hands that simply do not turn well... and the occasional crack here and there..if you haven’t experienced any of those things then well, hats off to your buying experience my friend, I’m happy for you : )

Offline Oliver

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #28 on: March 01, 2021, 04:05:59 »
Perhaps you’ve found a good vendor, or maybe they’ve changed their products to compete better with the abs plastic of lego, but that would seem like a bad guess on my part, because I’d imagine that’s part of how they can afford to sell their items for such lower prices.

I don't think the material would be the deciding factor - I don't know anything about plastics, but Playmobil and Lego are presumably made of the same or very similar plastic, and Lego retails for way more than Playmobil, kilo for kilo.

Perhaps Lego are more successful at blocking the better quality imports from reaching the western markets, especially since the easiest money is in doing direct copies of real Lego sets (the actual bricks are out of copyright so they can't prevent copy-cat producers from making their own bricks).

Offline PlaymoGuardian

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #29 on: March 01, 2021, 10:46:39 »
Just to be sure, I was referencing the knock off brand of lego being made with a cheaper plastic (unless that has been changed in recent years, I do not know)... I’m surprised lego hasn’t put an embargo or copy right in place to effect anything related to its competitors. My uncle was once an executive for lego and I found a lot of interesting things lego has done to its competition. The one copy right i found particularly interesting was that, at least at one point in time or perhaps even still, they picked up a copy right making sure they were the only building toy that was allowed to number their plastic bags for the convenience of the steps to build their products. How is something like that even allowed?! If anyone finds out any dirt on playmobil, please make sure to tell me to put ear muffs to muffle my auditory senses, because I like thinking of playmobil as pure and good people out to inspire the world : ) ...and as always, hats off to the wonderful community here, so far I’ve found everyone to be truly phenomenal humans and an inspiring bunch...