Ancient Japan

[Alex4420]

Watching the January Grand Sumo tournament on TV got me wondering whether PM would consider a shogun era line... could have wonderful warriors, castles, temples and shrines with plenty of ancient sports like sumo, archery and kendo mixed in as well. Considering they are making the Naruto line, they must feel as though they have a receptive audience in Japan; a historical line might make sense.

[Klickteryx]

They could but they might do better going for other anime titles like One Piece and Demon Slayer. I guess it will depend on how well Naruto does. Personally I didn't like the playset with the giant frog in it. I thought the arena piece was very limited in play value and the set would have been much better without it. The Ramen shop was very nice but comes with two characters already available in single form so a missed opportunity to introduce other characters like the woman who works at the shop and maybe another character from the Leaf village.

How would they do a castle? Japanese castles are essentially huge houses on a block foundation and I can't see them doing a huge roof. Probably a house with shoji screens is what you'd get if they did such a theme. It would be standalone of course so you couldn't combine it to make a larger dwelling with corridors.

[Eplay]

It sounds wonderful, but I don’t think young children will relate to ancient Japan. They might relate to a Japanese/Asian wiltopia line. If that’s done well it can also be interesting for adults/collectors. For example: a set with a pond with a bridge (like the ayuma bridge, but red) and a small Japanese tea house next to the pond. With Japanese cranes, red fox or sika deer.
If they do am Asian line they could do Chinese animals like a red panda and sun bear with some trees and a moon gate.
And don’t forget Indonesian animals.

[Oliver]

Considering they are making the Naruto line, they must feel as though they have a receptive audience in Japan; a historical line might make sense.

Naruto seems to be popular enough in the UK - now it's on my radar I've noticed a lot of Naruto clothing and branded good around. So I assume it's aimed at a European market rather than Japan.

There was the Dragon Knight theme that was vaguely 'Asian' - 5479 is the castle set number, I'm not sure about the other ones

[Macruran]

It's a great idea but the time for PM to do cultural themes has passed. Unless there's a total revamp of the company, we'll never see anything like this.  :'(

[Alex4420]

Pardon my ignorance, but why has that time passed? For that matter, what do we know about PM's internal creative direction? Is there anyone here who has insight?

[Macruran]

The current state of PM has been a topic of discussion here for a couple years now, there are several threads about it including some with contributions from a former PM employee. There are also many news articles about what's been happening to the company since Horst died. TL;DR: it's in a death spiral. There's little tradition or imagination left, and we will never see a great cultural theme like e.g. Romans or Victorians again because PM is no longer the same company it was when it produced those themes.

I myself would LOVE a Japanese theme, or any accurate cultural theme.

[Alex4420]

Appreciate the explanation. I have read a little, perhaps the recent management change just might take some time to take effect. I can't imagine they want to kill a business making that much money... I hope.

Frankly this just gives impetus to what I've been doing, which is sourcing and buying older PM. I want to preserve it for my grandkids, in the event PM doesn't make it another five or so years. And if no grandkids happen? Well, I'll have one hell of a time playing with my toys 😆

[Macruran]

 

[Pynedor]

I also think this would be fantastic! I too think that it is quite unlikely with how things have been going though.