Author Topic: Pirates!  (Read 6083 times)

Offline Corso

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Pirates!
« on: July 22, 2020, 15:10:24 »
When I was 8 years old, the Playmobil pirate ship (3550) was my obsession. When I did my first communion, I gathered enough money to actually buy it. A dream came true.
Now - a few centuries later - I still have the ship, but it's very incomplete, some parts are broken and the box is missing.

Then I got lucky online:


A bit battered but still in decent shape. Seeing this box again in real life for the first time since I was 8 almost felt like a rebirth experience. Wauw! So happy!


The photo's also promote the custom color thing they just launched back then.






Only one flag and the ropes are missing (but I still have those in my own set)


It also contains information about differences in two versions of this set. This is V1, the original first version from 1978.


Maybe my favorite klicky's of all time.

So I will replace some assets in this set with the ones I still had left (after all, those are the ones I played with so many years ago) and thereby have the set complete again after all these years. So happy! For me, there's no set that can rival this one. Ever. This is for me the ultimate Playmobil set - a part of my youth.


Then the seller showed me another pirate ship, this one from the nineties: the 3750.

Almost the same ship as the 3550, only with different stickers. But I immediately fell in love with the klicky's.






Beautiful photo on backside.


And again: complete, safe for the flags. But I'll make my own ones anyway, because the klicky's don't really look like pirates to me - more like a happy family.


In the cabin the stickers also differ from the 3550.




Pirates? Neh! Just a beautiful, happy family. I like the female character most of all, somehow she's very special. These klicky's made me buy this set as well, and I'm very happy with it.

My next diorama will probably have a strong nautical theme with lots of ships!

Offline tahra

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2020, 17:56:19 »
Congratulations!

3750 was actually the first pirate ship for us...  the original 3550 came much later...

Still, my favorite is still the 3940.


Offline Macruran

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2020, 01:12:10 »
Moving account!  :thanks: :)9
"We like things in little." - G. Stein  
 :roman:

Offline Luftgaengerin

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2020, 07:59:39 »
Beautiful :love:
Thank you so much for explaining the differences, all the pics and showing the boxes! I found it very, very interesting; unfortunately I didn't have these ships as a child...
It's incredible how amazing the ships and the klickys are.
Have fun with your fantastic pirates!
Please do your diorama soon!  ;)
 :wave:
"Give me that man that is not passion’s slave" - Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Offline GrahamB

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2020, 08:52:50 »
Great tale, Corso, beautifully illustrated! Like Luftgaengerin, I was not lucky enough to have this set as a child, nor any PM :(. However, when my children were young we did have 3750 (still got it, but no box) which we enjoyed playing with.

BTW, there are two wiki articles here and here on Klickypedia which describe the many versions and international variants of set 3550, with differences in box design and set contents. This is probably the set with the most variations known to collectors, which reflects its popularity both then and now.
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 Tiermann

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2020, 21:25:18 »
Great story, thanks for sharing it with us

Offline Corso

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2020, 15:40:40 »
Congratulations!

3750 was actually the first pirate ship for us...  the original 3550 came much later...

Still, my favorite is still the 3940.
You mean in Portugal?

I will check out the 3940, although there can’t be a better ship than the 3550 of course ;)

Offline Corso

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2020, 15:42:17 »
Beautiful :love:
Thank you so much for explaining the differences, all the pics and showing the boxes! I found it very, very interesting;
Please do your diorama soon!  ;)
 :wave:
Thanks, and I will :)

Offline Corso

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2020, 15:43:59 »
BTW, there are two wiki articles here and here on Klickypedia which describe the many versions and international variants of set 3550, with differences in box design and set contents. This is probably the set with the most variations known to collectors, which reflects its popularity both then and now.
Thanks for the links, I will check them out!

Offline tahra

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Re: Pirates!
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2020, 16:01:57 »
You mean in Portugal?

No, in our collection :)