&, However ...

[Gustavo]

That's odd, but,
however we (erm, some of us) have lots of complaints about new releases,
it's still very nice to come by a set like 4292 (pirates) ... Or the 4444, that many here came to get, recently.

It should be time for some of those threads of "dreaming about" ... We've been complaining so much!

Maybe make a wish list ... I was remembering Richard's list of wishes, and I realized that it was organized geographically.

My wish list (not talking about the one published) would be like historically oriented ... (See the blog).

Tim mentioned mythical playmo: centaurs, &c, once ...

What (impossible) dream do you have, Playmofriends?

[CountBogro]

I think my dream isn't that different from a lot of us. I would like to have a medieval civilian life theme (extensive). Or in other words -> back to the Steck buildings of the eighties with "modern" klickies.

Keep dreaming, Bogro!

[Timotheos]

I'd like to see a Roman civilian set--with one of the buildings featured in the Roman cartoon that Playmobil made.

[starhorse]

Top of my list would definitely be a feudal Japan theme.  I seem to be obsessed with Japan and it's history, so I would be all over this if it was made.

Secondly I do wish they would do a medieval civilian life theme like CountrBogro suggested. 

I'm also very interested in the Viking times.  While the Viking theme wasn't the most historically accurate that Playmobil has done, it is one of my favorites.  I would personally love to see a return to it along with a large Viking long house / beer hall set.

[Jahme88]

I dream of approximations of Greco-Roman Gods and Goddesses under an ornate proscenium arch.  And little klicky comedy and tragedy masks..... 

A theme that is, in a word........Theater!

[Martin Milner]

I was going to take exception to the idea that we always is whine, whinge, and complain...  but I guess we do. 

I actually have quite a few "civilian" klickies and various equipment to provide a domestic side to life, from Romans to Medieval.

Much I got off eBay, but some sets are available as accessories, for example the 7855 set provides a spinning wheel and upright loom, a sharpening wheel (that goes well in a blacksmith's forge) and a lot of crockery.

I think Playmobil are short on civilian figures, but if they were released they'd be considered part of the accessories range.



Meantime I'm joining starhorse in hoping for a Japanese Feudal theme.

[Timotheos]

Meantime I'm joining starhorse in hoping for a Japanese Feudal theme.

I'd prefer a pre-feudal Heian-era theme centered around the Gempei wars!  (Joking)

I dream of approximations of Greco-Roman Gods and Goddesses under an ornate proscenium arch.  And little klicky comedy and tragedy masks..... 

A theme that is, in a word........Theater!

Hi Jaimie, I've done an Athena, Thor, and Frejya.  Maybe you could add to the list with your own creations.  On the French board, there was talk of a woman collector who was trying to do all the major gods, but I don't know what came of it, nor could I find pictures.

I am hoping, however, the Playmobil someday comes out with a Greek myth theme. 

I say Greek, not Greco-Roman, because in my opinion the Roman myths have little flavor.  (The Roman gods were a bunch of agricultural deities super-imposed over the Greek pantheon as a sort of propaganda exercise).  In addition, most surviving Roman myths have a dry "state propaganda" feel--like the Aeneid with its puffing up of the focused, flawless Aeneas to bolster Augustus's image and Rome's right to rule).  Whereas with the Greek myths, whoever each individual tale sought to glorify has long since faded into oblivion.  Besides, the Greek myths have passion.  Roman myths are coldly calculated patriotic hymns.

-Tim

[Gustavo]

I say Greek, not Greco-Roman, because in my opinion the Roman myths have little flavor.  (The Roman gods were a bunch of agricultural deities super-imposed over the Greek pantheon as a sort of propaganda exercise).  In addition, most surviving Roman myths have a dry "state propaganda" feel--like the Aeneid with its puffing up of the focused, flawless Aeneas to bolster Augustus's image and Rome's right to rule).  Whereas with the Greek myths, whoever each individual tale sought to glorify has long since faded into oblivion.  Besides, the Greek myths have passion.  Roman myths are coldly calculated patriotic hymns.

-Tim

Although it's a viewpoint, Tim, I can't help defending my area here: Romans actually would give much more importance to the gods of their ancestors than to the Greek gods, who entered Roman culture through Greek expansion. South of Italy was a part of Greece.

Greek religion was focused on gods of towns. Rome had no gods for the town. When Romans elected a god for their town, it was a living one, the king, not so different than Babilonia, Egypt or the Greece of Alexander (who was a living god, to his time and thought ...).

I agree completely with you, though, that they are Greek gods rather than Greco-Roman. Roman gods were their ancestors. Greco-Roman gods are Latin names for statues which had no great meaning to Romans themselves.

Then, statues that became important to Romans were the statues of their kings, though, not as gods, but as pictures of important kings ... Not much different than the big A. Lincoln statue in Washington, DC, or Brasilian head of Getulio Vargas, here & there (...).


Gus

[Timotheos]

I agree completely with you, though, that they are Greek gods rather than Greco-Roman. Roman gods were their ancestors. Greco-Roman gods are Latin names for statues which had no great meaning to Romans themselves.

Then, statues that became important to Romans were the statues of their kings, though, not as gods, but as pictures of important kings ... Not much different than the big A. Lincoln statue in Washington, DC, or Brasilian head of Getulio Vargas, here & there (...).

Hi Gus

I'm a little surprised by your response.

From the research I have read, gods such as Saturn, Ceres, Minerva, Mars, and Pluto were bonafide Roman gods with qualities that were sometimes significantly different from the Greek gods they later became equated with.

Minerva, for instance, eventually became equated with Athena, but Minerva obviously did not start out as the patron goddess of Athens (I think she was yet another Latin agricultural deity).

My reading concurs with your statement that the Romans had a strong cult of the ancestors (concrete examples are the household lares).  But for you to completely erase the impact of such gods as Mars (who became eponymous for "martial" adjectives) may be a mis-reading.

I've read similar to what you are saying about the fate eventually of the "state gods" who evolved into symbols, much like our statue of liberty, than into gods people had personal relationships with.

On the subject of statues of their kings--by "kings" do you mean "emperors"?  Or are you referring to ancient practices that came before the expulsion of the Tarquin Etruscan kings?  (As you know, Romans were allergic to the term rex / king to the extent that Julius Caesar called himself "Dictator in Perpetual" and Augustus called himself "Princeps" (first citizen/leader) but not king.

-Tim

[Kelly]

I agree with Bogro,  I like the medieval stuff, but just playing Knights gets old.  I want wives for the Knights and little huts for the peasants (and peasants to live in them)  How are you supposed to accurately portray a feudal system if everyone is a noble?  I would like wenches, and taverns where the knights can go a-wenching while their wives are making food and teaching the children to feed the sheep . . .  I would like a larger selection of market stands - like the victorian line had and I would LOVE a re-issue of the old buildings. . . I could go on and on.