PlaymoFriends
General => Report & Review => Topic started by: Tiermann on February 17, 2011, 23:04:10
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This is a review of one of the new zoo sets. I purchased it from Toys R Us for $54.95 when they had their 25% off sale recently. The new zoo series isn't due for general release in the US until April, but Toys R Us has had it since last fall as an exclusive. I hope they do the same next fall with the new farm or space series.
Here is an image of the entire Asian set
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-1.jpg)
The set consists of three animal enclosures and the large torii gate.
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The first enclosure is for pandas.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-2.jpg)
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-3.jpg)
There is one adult panda and two babies. The enclosure is 4 sections all with clear panels. Two of them are on a grass piece and two on grey rocks. This is a new fencing style and is available as an add on this year as well. the add on has red rocks though, like the larger zoo set. So only the grass sections would look good to enlarge this enclosure. The new rocks have a gap on the bottom that can be used to attach small landscape elements like the little pond seen here. The enclosure sections are held together by clip posts that allow a pretty broad range of bending, so a number of enclosure shapes can be made with them.
Also seen in the 2 above photos are the zoo visitors a man and little girl. Both have newer non-hat hairstyles and are nicely done.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-4.jpg)
This close-up of a fence post shows the clip style. this one has 3 connections so it could be used to attach to another enclosure. In this case there is a pitchfork as shown in the instructions. There is also a matching blue shovel in the set.
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Here is the torii gate.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-5.jpg)
This gate style is Japanese and represents a transition point between sacred and profane areas. It is used at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The color is correct but there is often black on the top. The piece is made of two halves that snap together and a separate lintel at the base that is connected with yellow System X connectors. All of the Sys X connectors in this set are the yellow type. On either side of the gate you see the short bamboo fence panel. There is also a longer panel used in the other enclosures. The part number is for 2 short sections and 2 long sections all together. I will definitely be ordering some from DS. I hope they eventually release a bamboo fence as an add-on. I think these would make a much better back to the panda enclosure than having it all be clear.
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That is the first thing I saw was the nice looking gate way and the fence. It looks really good in your pictures, nice deep red color :)9 I will be ordering many of these from DS as well
Set the wild animals free :sorrow:
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yeah...the gate is very nice ! Thx for this Review
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Here is the zoo worker that comes with the set.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-6.jpg)
She is a nice figure and it's good that they've included a woman for this one. There is the wheelbarrow in this set as well, and various food items to feed the animals as seen in the enclosure photos. No chocolate ice cream or strange shaped frisbees in this set though.
:D This IS free - otherwise they end up locked in plastic tubs...
I'm at work so this may take a while to get through. 12 more photos yet.
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The next enclosure is larger and is for the orangutans.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-7.jpg)
There are nice signs for the fences that show a cartoon version of the animal and have the name. You can see the nest for the tree. it is set up as the instructions show. I really don't like it, it's difficult for the orangutans to sit in with this method. I would use a different larger tree in the future.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-8.jpg)
The enclosure is made of two of the rock and clear fence sections in the front, the two larger bamboo fence sections to the left and two white walls. One of the walls has an arched door and the other has the small steps and the Chinese style roof sections with the 3 monkey wall sculpture.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-9.jpg)
Seen from the top you can tell that the walls are not at a right angle. the section with the door has a slanted connecting edge. This limits it's use somewhat as do the sections out of the corners.
In addition these wall sections are one sided. The other side is not attractive for use in a scene.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-10.jpg)
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-11.jpg)
It's unfortunate they are not more versatile. The roof sections though are much easier to use elsewhere as has been seen in the last year at the big European shows.
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The orangutan is a new animal with this set. The adult has moveable arms and legs and head similar to the gorilla. The baby doesn't have any moving parts.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-12.jpg)
They are nice though and a great addition to the primate family.
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The final enclosure is for the tigers. There is one adult and one baby in the set, the molds are the same as previous ones but there is a new paint job and the color is a little darker in the past. The enclosure sign says Sumatran as a sub-species.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-13.jpg)
There is a skeleton piece and a meat for food. The other animal in this set is the peacock with the raised tail.
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Here is the tiger paint job, nicely done I think.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-14.jpg)
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In the back of the enclosure is a small waterfall. There is a green baseplate with the clear water section in it, and the falling water as a separate piece. The top of the water is covered over by a rock. The large rock section this is all attached to has a cave opening which is behind the waterfall. There are 2 of these big rock sections with a gate between and a rock over the top of that.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-15.jpg)
The large sections are the same but one is turned around the other way and doesn't have the water and so on. You can see the cave here.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-16.jpg)
Here is the gate that clips between the two sections. The rocks above it are a large piece.
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-17.jpg)
This is a nice way to do the enclosure and it would be great to have a few more of these rocks.
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Wonderful set! I love the waterfall :love: Thanks for the pictures and wonderful review :thanks:
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To finish up I will show the gate again with the Fairy garden set I recently reviewed on the other side.
I absolutely love this set. It is the best zoo set I think Playmobil has done. The whole new series is good. I don't have the big set yet but will be getting it eventually. I particularly like the Asian theme though and the way it is used in this set is just great. The new enclosure fence sections are wonderful, very naturalistic while being clearly part of the zoo. I think they represent current zoo design styles in the real world pretty well with the natural enclosures. They look much nicer than the past fence sections. it seems like Playmobil has gotten better on the fencing with each new zoo series. I am seriously considering picking up another of this set. I don't usually buy duplicates of the larger sets but this is such a good one and I would really like to see the animals with larger enclosures. The fence add-on would be helpful but as I said earlier the rock color is wrong for this set. Did I mention I love this set?
(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-18.jpg)
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Wow, this is a cool set with some unique pieces. Thanks for the great review and pics! :wave:
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Great review! Many thanks.
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Great review of this unque set! Thank you Tim, for sharing this excellent detailed review! BTW, that new female zoo keeper looks like bonniebeth!
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(http://animobil.info/4852/4852-18.jpg)
Oh that is nice looking :clap: This with a bamboo fence in a large circle leading into a small Asian village :o could you have fit the right hand fence so the cross bar is on the inside ?
The rocks, are they normal ones or some new system? This waterfall and cave would look so good in a natural setting or maybe even with the new Cave people but only if the tabs and gate hinge area are camouflage-able
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That was a great review, Tim! I have this set, so I can say with authority that you covered everthing important about it. I was also a little confused as to why they had to put those two walls at an angle. Really limits its possibilities. This set IMO is rather unsatisfactory without adding extra fencing. But it has a lot to recommend it for sure!
BTW, that new female zoo keeper looks like bonniebeth!
:)9
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Thanks for the review, Tim. I have this set and I wish i'd gotten it for the same price as you did. I absolutely love it. I wish the baby orangutan had movable parts (like the baby gorilla).
I hope that those new Asian building parts represent the sneak peek of an up coming Asian theme!
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Thanks for the great review and pics Tim!
It feels like playmobil is producing sets that can be joined with older sets to complete a bigger zoo with different zoo settings!!!
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could you have fit the right hand fence so the cross bar is on the inside ?
The rocks, are they normal ones or some new system? This waterfall and cave would look so good in a natural setting or maybe even with the new Cave people but only if the tabs and gate hinge area are camouflage-able
No the fence pieces have clips on one side and bars on the other, so to connect to the gate one side must be upside down. You could probably use a fence post connector to change that but it might look awkward.
The low rocks for the fencing have curved slots in them. The big rocks for the waterfall have one rockies connector at the bottom but it's set up a bit to connect to the waterfall base piece. The side clip could probably be camouflaged using plants or other rocks. The large bridge over the top of the gate is standard rockies style and the tops of the waterfall wall pieces have a rockies size hole at each end.
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Great review, Tim, with excellent photos and very informative text. Thank you. :wave:
It's a shame about the new walls having no back and maybe Playmobil have missed a trick here.
The new zoo keeper is great, the uniform is a very attractive and professional design and the young lady herself is attractive too.
I like the new waterfall - very neat use of the clear plastic water.
The new rock layout with the cave is very interesting too. Would the cave part be of interest to the tigers to shelter in from the sun? If so, could the enclosure be expanded to take two rock formations or can the fencing be extended round the back of the rock formation so the cave part is accessible to the tigers?
Finally, a technical question - the base and the backdrop to the pictures, Tim - photoshop or real?
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Thanks for the extra info :**:
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I've tried flipping the second rock formation around so the cave would be on the inside. It worked ok-ish but made the space a bit narrower. You could definitely add another of these formations to increase the size or otherwise alter things so the cave could be available to the tigers.
(http://animobil.info/4852/tigercave.jpg)
The one side doesn't connect properly but that can be easily hidden. It would have been nice if they had made the connections on both ends of the rock piece the same so it could be more versatile.
(http://animobil.info/4852/edge.jpg)
Base and backdrop - real, I didn't use any photoshop in the images except to adjust the lighting up a little since it was done inside under the room fluorescent bulbs.
(http://animobil.info/4852/sett.jpg)
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....after you did such a great job with the backdrop it is just a few clicks to change to background with photoshop...
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Thanks for the information, Tim. The base you used looks very good indeed.
Thanks, too, for the photo with the extra rock formation with the cave showing. It looks good and adds an extra bit of authenticity with the cub coming out of the cave to see what's going on. It's a pity that the Playmobil designers didn't think of this when designing the fixings. Maybe they'll read this thread and look at the picture and do a bit of revision to the piece.
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Thanks for the review, Tim. :)
This looks to be a very nice zoo. The Asian architectural elements are quite nice and the waterfall looks really good. I'm not sure if that bamboo fence would be enough to keep the tiger contained, though. :-\