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News / Re: Not Quite Playmobil News
« Last post by Macruran on April 23, 2024, 04:00:05 »Never drew the connection between klickies and Romanesque art before 
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News / Re: Playmobil in the News
« Last post by Macruran on April 23, 2024, 02:52:18 »Quote
Playmobil trifft Gemäldegalerie - Ausstellung in Kassel
Mit der Sonderausstellung "Playmobil trifft Gemäldegalerie - Alte Meister neu erzählt" erweckt der Dioramenkünstler Oliver Schaffer im Schloss Wilhelmshöhe bekannte Werke der Malerei aus Playmobilfiguren zu neuem Leben.
Okay we NEED full pictures of this exhibition!
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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2
« Last post by JPSA on April 23, 2024, 02:36:12 »I'm kind of in 2 minds about this. I don't think that Playmobil is ever going to successfully be a 'building' toy - anymore than I think that Lego ever successfully works as a narrative/dolls house toy. . . . As a child, I owned more Playmobil (by a long way) than anyone I knew. Was there much I could do to build interesting, varied buildings? Not really.
I think it depends on the child. Some kids are narrative-play oriented — in which case, it's all about the figures and accessories, as you said, with environments being secondary to optional. And, for other kids, it's all about construction-play and environment design: world-building ( which includes construction, but not only ). The latter typically transition to building dioramas, and have a greater chance of sticking with the brand into their teens ( and a few into adulthood, though there is often a pattern of rediscovering the toyline, when getting kids, same as AFOLs ). ...That was me. Growing up in the 1970s and early 80s, I still have fond memories of configuring my steck castle. I had sets 3450 and 3449, and eventually combined them into one big castle, at one point ( I built and rebuild the castle several times ). I guess one might say that, to me, the environment was a character, serving the storytelling dimension.
The question isn't wether Playmobil should be a narrative or a building toy. It is clearly, primarily, the former ( opposite of Lego ), but there is — or rather was — a construction aspect, without which, you likely wouldn't see many of those gorgeous dioramas at conventions, today. I think the construction aspect has been neglected in recent years, and should be revalorized, and enhanced to some extent. ...Even the 'new' building system — let's call it 'tabs' — could be designed to allow some combining and reuse, so one isn't stuck with the one form the toy came with. Ex: Being able to add floors to the Violet Vale tower, or to link two such towers. Stuff like that. Other example: Let's say I want to build a seaport with my son. I could get a used set 5139 ( Pirates Soldiers Fort with Dungeon ), for not too much money, but what if I want another dock — or a bridge that connects to another structure? Where do I attach that? As a Dad, given a choice, I'd much prefer combining several 7376s ( Pirate Prison Fortress ) and make one long System-X port, so as to have room for several boats to dock to. Or better yet: several 7400s! The problem, is neither sets are made anymore, and cost a lot of $$$, used ( ...because they are versatile and add value ).
Then some paper pusher , sharp pencil numb nut decided to go for (as Tahra calls it “system y”) the modular, un-expandable hunk of junk that seemed to appease some lazy parents who were too concerned with no wanting to spend 30 minutes with their child and build a set.
I think it's fair to say that Playmobil has a "hunk of junk" problem, which is all the more striking when compared to the steck re-releases. It's like night and day. The re-releases are beautiful, substantial toys. Quality. Toys you could stand on! ☺ ...You definitely get your money's worth. And, they are extendable! However, the cheapo new stuff — hum, 'cost-optimized' — well, it's just going to end up partly disassembled, clogging the toy bin, never to be played with again once the singular, unmodifiable, design grows stale ( which is pretty quickly! ).
The build-ability issue isn't going away, and the reason it is still a subject of ( passionate ) debate is simply because it matters, and makes the Playmobil experience better. Being able to build stuff, and make dioramas in and around those creations, is one of the things I, and many others, like about Playmobil. You're not limited to a singular kind of play — at any age — or at least, shouldn't be.
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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2
« Last post by Macruran on April 23, 2024, 02:29:52 »Can I suggest here that we refer to this entire mess as "Playmogate"? 
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Welcome! / Re: Hi, just join, living in Nayarit Mexico, unstopable collector :S
« Last post by Riccardo on April 22, 2024, 20:32:57 »Bienvenido!
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Direct Service/Parts Queries / Re: Playmobil DE ordering down?
« Last post by bml87 on April 22, 2024, 20:16:08 »I'm happy to find this topic! Something similar occurred to me on Saturday! Some parts were in my basket and all of a sudden, they were not possible anymore to order, while other parts, which were not possible to order at first, were possible to order all of a sudden 
. Very strange... I hope this will be fixed soon!
. Very strange... I hope this will be fixed soon!49
Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2
« Last post by kaethe on April 22, 2024, 18:16:16 »When the PCC was set up there were 5 of us representing collectors that attended. I am the only one still active here I think.
At the big meeting we had with the department heads and president, the collectors brought up the concept of Playmobil as a building system. Management at the time felt that the steps they had taken in that direction with System X showed that it wasn't viable. My opinion is that at the toy scale Playmobil is in, the parts are too big and you need too many to do anything creative. Serious collectors like many of us here do end up with that much stuff, but the average toy buyer who is trying to raise kids simply can't afford that. What Rasputin says about the large parts and parents is spot on, that is definitely one thing that was also said at the meeting.
I don't believe any of the Playmobil staff that were at that meeting are still with the company.
Their underlying problem is at the board of directors level, and the inability to stick to a management scheme.
The guy who was in when they developed Novelmore and the beginnings of Wiltopia clearly knew what they were doing, but they didn't give them enough time to make progress.
The collapse of their online storytelling videos due to mismanagement of their business relationship with the producers of them was also a huge error. It really led to collapse of support for Novelmore and the entire Ducklas fiasco since Duck on Call was supposed to be supported by a full video series. They were attempting to follow LEGO in having video series support for their lines like LEGO does with Ninjago. But then they messed up their relationship with the video makers; I suspect by trying to micromanage and holding back payments to them that caused them to go bankrupt. It's a huge error to make and hopefully whoever was really responsible for it is no longer with the company. Sadly as any of us who have been in the world of work knows, it's just as likely that the people who messed up are still there and the good people have all run for the exits seeing what's happening. Once that happens it is incredibly hard to reverse the trend and keep the best people.
And a big thank you to you, Tim, and the others for going to Germany to meet with them. I treasure my PCC card, and the memories of the great sets from the early days, as well as our klickies with non rotating arms. I think you should start a separate post with PCC in the title and put an explanation in there for the newer members who are unaware. Or you could start a “history of playmofriends post” to acknowledge the group start up, Heather and the data base, etc. Just a thought.
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Brainstorming For Playmobil / Re: What's wrong with Playmobil? 2
« Last post by playmofire on April 22, 2024, 16:47:54 »"Sadly as any of us who have been in the world of work knows, it's just as likely that the people who messed up are still there" and have probably been promoted!