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General => Report & Review => Topic started by: Richard on June 05, 2008, 20:58:53

Title: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Richard on June 05, 2008, 20:58:53


Thought y'all might like to see an "outside" review of Playmobil's Roman Commander's Tent (4273).

Click HERE (http://www.figures.com/databases/action.cgi?setup_file=fignews2.setup&category=actionfigures&topic=65&show_article=586) ...

This "professional" review is from figures.com and it takes just a few seconds to load.



Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on June 05, 2008, 23:21:18
The review is respectable--example: he knew enough about Rome to know some Latin terms.

However, his critique of the artillery piece is somewhat incorrect.

The ballista he is describing resembles the "scorpion", a type of field artillery piece, a ballista small enough to be transported on a man's shoulders.
http://www.roman-empire.net/army/scorpion-pics.html

A book I have:
"The Roman Legions: Recreated in Colour Photographs" by Daniel Peterson shows re-enactors carrying a scorpion.

I think that set is great.  I only wish I could buy the figures again minus the tent for $16.  :(
I like that cavalry guy in yellow, who I call a Gallic Auxiliary Cavalryman.
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Gustavo on June 06, 2008, 01:56:15


The set is one of the best, master Rick, I think, in the Roman collection ... It has some actual content. (Horse, and its resting place ...)

I love some pirate sets because they're full of little stuff, and I honestly miss this in the Romans. (I'd like they made the Roman houses, villae as well as insulae, full of "traquitanae"* domesticae!

*Don't anyone make any efforts to try to find out what "traquitana" is ... It is Portuguese Latin ;) ...

Wonderful tent!

 :wave:

Gus
:blackhair:
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Justindo on June 06, 2008, 02:57:46
Although there are some errors, that's a pretty fair review.  I like the set quite a bit, as I do all the Roman sets.  Now if we could just got some Roman buildings...
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Richard on June 06, 2008, 04:26:33



Hello, Gus and Justindo ...



... I'd like they made the Roman houses, villae as well as insulae ...




Now if we could just got some Roman buildings...



It is our understanding that ALL of the buildings in the two attached pictures were made from existing System X parts! (Only the colours have been changed.)

All the best,
Richard

see attachments
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on June 07, 2008, 00:38:33
I'm sure you're correct, Richard.

I guess I should try and wrestle with DS here for the parts!

"Sorry, all columns sold out.  Try ordering one every two months for six years.  Here's a shutter for the window.  Sorry, the window frame itself is sold out.  Try again in four months."

Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Richard on June 07, 2008, 02:11:40



I guess I should try and wrestle with DS here for the parts!

"Sorry, all columns sold out.  Try ordering one every two months for six years.  Here's a shutter for the window.  Sorry, the window frame itself is sold out.  Try again in four months."




Timmy, I'm so sorry that you have had such horrible experiences with Playmobil USA's spare parts (DS) department.

I guess that I've been very fortunate. I am happy to say that I have never had a bad experience. And, that includes Schaper (all the way back into the 1970s).





Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Justindo on June 07, 2008, 04:46:09
Although it's nice to imagine that one could assemble these buildings from current parts, I have serious doubts they actually exist.  Even if they do, there's the major problem of procuring them from DS.

I guess I should try and wrestle with DS here for the parts!

"Sorry, all columns sold out.  Try ordering one every two months for six years.  Here's a shutter for the window.  Sorry, the window frame itself is sold out.  Try again in four months."

This sounds exactly like my experience with DS!

"Yes, we have that helmet in stock"
"Great!  I need 80, please."
"Well we only have 3."
"Okay, I guess I'll take them.  I also need 80 of the crests that go with them."
"Sorry, we don't have any crests in stock.  Try back in six weeks when we get our shipment from Germany and we might have 5 of them."

And then when I finally get my order 0 of the 3 are included!

It has taken the better part of a year and numerous orders from DS and I still don't have my Roman army together!  I shiver thinking of how long it would take to receive the parts to build a Roman building!
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Martin Milner on June 07, 2008, 06:09:36
Did the reviewer get stiffed with a knight's sword for his commander? I don't recall getting one of those with my tent set, but it is 10 months ago, maybe I did.

This wasn't my favourite Roman set by a long chalk, this one and the siege tower I barely looked at after opening, just grabbed out the figures. Horses for courses.
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on June 07, 2008, 11:55:12
This wasn't my favourite Roman set by a long chalk, this one and the siege tower I barely looked at after opening, just grabbed out the figures. Horses for courses.

It took me awhile to order the siege tower.
Historical nitpicks aside, the battering ram that comes with the tower is so poorly idealized.  Playmobil's medieval siege tower has a suspended battering ram that you can hoist back and let gravity do the rest.  The Roman one, on the other hand, would be inoperable and is a slander against Roman engineering knowledge (a smart battering ram provides mechanical advantage to the batterer).  We are supposed to "pretend" that the ram is suspended instead of clamped to the floor supports with its expensive kinetic friction tariff.

Although it's nice to imagine that one could assemble these buildings from current parts, I have serious doubts they actually exist.  Even if they do, there's the major problem of procuring them from DS.

Parts ordering in America follows an P^(n^n) complexity model.
Where P = the probability of acquiring one part for a multi-part item and n = the number of parts required to complete the multi-part item.

So, I estimate that to spare parts order one of the above Roman villas:

Odds of obtaining any one part: 80%
Number of parts: 20
Odds: 1.72E-37 %.

Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Gustavo on June 07, 2008, 15:38:37

It is our understanding that ALL of the buildings in the two attached pictures were made from existing System X parts! (Only the colours have been changed.)

All the best,
Richard

see attachments

WOW!! :D Beautiful pictures! They're from advertising videos, aren't they? Well, they should actually DO it! & With mobilia, and many little things inside! :yup:


Parts ordering in America follows an P^(n^n) complexity model.
Where P = the probability of acquiring one part for a multi-part item and n = the number of parts required to complete the multi-part item.

So, I estimate that to spare parts order one of the above Roman villas:

Odds of obtaining any one part: 80%
Number of parts: 20
Odds: 1.72E-37 %.


EH!! Greek! Translation, please! ;)

(I'm joking Tim ... : I know that you are trying to say that you find it hard to do it. But your math is beyond my hability of truly understanding the demonstration 8} ... I'll only believe in the spirit in it ::) )


G.
:blackhair:
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Gustavo on June 07, 2008, 15:53:11
The review is respectable--example: he knew enough about Rome to know some Latin terms.

However, his critique of the artillery piece is somewhat incorrect.

Although there are some errors, that's a pretty fair review.  I like the set quite a bit, as I do all the Roman sets.  Now if we could just got some Roman buildings...

There may be problem with his Latin as well ... I usually pass by them easily, but this one I'll have to speak out loud about:

Isn't Senatus Populusque Romani? Or is Romanus, -a, -um only attached to Populus? Now I got a doubt, here ... (My math does give me that 1+1 = more than one ;D )

(G.)
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on June 08, 2008, 00:29:07
Hi Gus

Romanus modifies Populus.
 
-Tim



Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on June 08, 2008, 18:42:29

EH!! Greek! Translation, please! ;)

(I'm joking Tim ... : I know that you are trying to say that you find it hard to do it. But your math is beyond my hability of truly understanding the demonstration 8} ... I'll only believe in the spirit in it ::) )

It's a joke on the math from my statistics and computer science classes.

P = probability (50% = 0.50)
n = a variable number (in this case, number of parts needed to complete a thing)

P^(n^n) = probability to the nth power of the nth power.

Example:
0.5 ^ 3 ^ 3 = 0.5^9

Something that follows an "n to the nth" (exponential) complexity model is considered to grow hard fast.

A manageable problem grows linearly--ie. adding three more parts is 3 times harder, vs. exponentially, which would make adding 3 more parts nine times harder.



Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Martin Milner on August 18, 2008, 14:23:56
Out of interest, are you guys (Tim & Justindo) still having problems ordering Roman spare parts?

I put in 2 orders in the last 2 weeks and had nothing refused except really old parts that I wasn't expecting to be in anyway (such as the violin & double bass set).

All the Roman parts I ordered were in stock, and I was ordering up to 30 of any one part at a time.

Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Gepetto on August 18, 2008, 16:09:14
Martin,


I am glad to see that I not the only one Still trying to order the double bass and other instruments (I want a Mariachi Band!).  The last DS order I placed they said they had the parts but did not ship any! Order was short over 60 pieces.





Gepetto
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Martin Milner on August 18, 2008, 17:39:59
A little spirit in me hopes that if we keep asking, they'll keep a total of the number of requests and eventually run off some more.  0)

A bigger spirit in me says if you can't kill someone with it, they're not interested in bringing it back.   >:D
Title: Re: 4273 ROMAN TENT
Post by: Timotheos on August 21, 2008, 12:07:24
A little spirit in me hopes that if we keep asking, they'll keep a total of the number of requests and eventually run off some more.  0)

A bigger spirit in me says if you can't kill someone with it, they're not interested in bringing it back.   >:D

Maybe that explains all the soft rubber flag poles and cannons that only dribble their projectiles.

But seriously, as a kid, I played all the time with possibly the most dangerous toy in the world--1978 Micronauts--and never killed anybody.