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News / Re: Not Quite Playmobil News
« Last post by JLMatterer on Today at 21:33:16 »
The fun forum for Playmobil® fans of all ages!
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News / Re: Korean exclusive - King Sejong the Great
« Last post by Macruran on Today at 19:16:09 »Unfortunately for me….all Playmobil is “cool”
And if Playmobil says I can’t have it, I want it more
There are some very rare unique internal Playmobil statues in glass cases that I’ve been after for a very long time.
You should engage an international master thief to carry out a heist
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News / Re: Korean exclusive - King Sejong the Great
« Last post by Rasputin on Today at 19:05:29 »Once again. All the cool stuff is overseas and/or overpriced. 🥲
Unfortunately for me….all Playmobil is “cool”
And if Playmobil says I can’t have it, I want it more
There are some very rare unique internal Playmobil statues in glass cases that I’ve been after for a very long time.
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News / Re: Korean exclusive - King Sejong the Great
« Last post by Janilew on Today at 12:45:05 »$35 + $10shippingOnce again. All the cool stuff is overseas and/or overpriced. 🥲
No way
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Dioramas & Buildings / Re: Lightning Bolt spaceship
« Last post by JPSA on Today at 10:43:35 »The 3-decker version ( Lightning Bolt - Phase 2B ):
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Notes:
The hangar bay was initially intended to house a crane ( PM 5254 ), as a gantry substitute, but the wide unobstructed space caused outward bowing of the walls, in the original ( Phase 1 ) version of the ship. The crane was meant to lift cargo and vehicles ( like the rover ) out of the hangar bay, and lower them onto the planet — which did work as intended. Phase 2B added a horizontal tension truss across the hangar bay ( seen above the captured Dark Invaders' spaceship ), to prevent it from collapsing under the weight, thus obstructing the crane's operation. Possibly, it might have been possible to use only the top of the crane, without the legs, and use it as a tension truss. I think I was missing pieces to try that out, if I remember correctly.
Interestingly, and somewhat disappointedly, my young nephew never fully embraced the Lightning Bolt as a playset, much preferring the allure of... Spy Team! While he did play with it, some, it never captured his imagination like it did mine. I chalk that up to the fact that his generation — Gen Z — didn't grow up in what I deem the "golden age" of sci-fi shows and toys, like I did, in the late 1970s and early 80s. Back then, Star Wars was a juggernaut, and spawned TV shows like Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica. We also had reruns of Space 1999, Logan's Run, and of course, Star Trek, along with seminal movies like Alien and Blade Runner, to turn to — to name a few ( remember The Last Starfighter? Enemy Mine? Outland? ). Space, and sci-fi, was all the rage in those days. Lego, for instance, released its original space theme — which I mostly owned ( those moon plates! ) — in 1978, while the Playmospace theme was introduced in 1981. As for Kenner Star Wars, well, it was everywhere, and I had them all — almost ( lucky me! ). Boys play, back then, was all about swooshing ships, firing lasers, and landing in and on bases ( remember MB's Starbird, with its Command Base? ).
Of all the dioramas and sets in my nephew's playroom, I did notice, however, males of my generation ( Gen X ), heading straight for The Lightning Bolt, as if to a lure — kind of awestruck: taking it in, getting it. It may also be that, in my nephew's specific case, he was definitely more interested in narrative play, whereas I enjoyed the construction and design aspects more ( as I always did ), reveling in projecting myself, visually, and in the idea of the thing, drawing on established notions, such as: a ship's bridge, hangar bay, engine room, docking platform, antenna array, reactors, imposing landing gear,... An entire sci-fi design — even aural ( I don't care if we're in space, everybody knows reactors do make that rattling, hissing sound, as wondrously exemplified by the thrusters of the USS Cygnus! ) — vocabulary, acquired over many, formative years of media exposure, both filmed and in print. Oh well...
Here the original ( aka. Phase 1 ):
Notice the misaligned decks, due to needing a lot of room to fit the PM 5254 crane, while not having enough plates to fit a fourth deck. Without the tensioning truss, the hangar bay had a tendency to bow outward and collapse, especially if applying too much pressure on the hovercar's landing pad, above.
Phase 3:
If I was to do it again, it would definitely be as a 4-decker, and longer, with huge thrusters ( PM rockets? ), as originally envisioned, and more hangar bay — enough to store one or two fighters, and the rover, or possibly the Galaxy Police truck, with lots of room to spare. I would also figure out that gantry crane thing. Finally, I would add greenery, possibly in the cargo hold, or as its own greenhouse, as well as in planters throughout the ship, just to breakup the gray, hard-surface monotony. How about live, unruly cargo, like dinosaurs ( which could be repainted to make them alien )? ...Ah, and weapons, of course; space isn't safe — everyone knows that — just look at the other sets: it's full of pirates, and belligerent, semi-intelligent species!
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2.
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13.
13.2.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
Notes:
The hangar bay was initially intended to house a crane ( PM 5254 ), as a gantry substitute, but the wide unobstructed space caused outward bowing of the walls, in the original ( Phase 1 ) version of the ship. The crane was meant to lift cargo and vehicles ( like the rover ) out of the hangar bay, and lower them onto the planet — which did work as intended. Phase 2B added a horizontal tension truss across the hangar bay ( seen above the captured Dark Invaders' spaceship ), to prevent it from collapsing under the weight, thus obstructing the crane's operation. Possibly, it might have been possible to use only the top of the crane, without the legs, and use it as a tension truss. I think I was missing pieces to try that out, if I remember correctly.
Interestingly, and somewhat disappointedly, my young nephew never fully embraced the Lightning Bolt as a playset, much preferring the allure of... Spy Team! While he did play with it, some, it never captured his imagination like it did mine. I chalk that up to the fact that his generation — Gen Z — didn't grow up in what I deem the "golden age" of sci-fi shows and toys, like I did, in the late 1970s and early 80s. Back then, Star Wars was a juggernaut, and spawned TV shows like Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica. We also had reruns of Space 1999, Logan's Run, and of course, Star Trek, along with seminal movies like Alien and Blade Runner, to turn to — to name a few ( remember The Last Starfighter? Enemy Mine? Outland? ). Space, and sci-fi, was all the rage in those days. Lego, for instance, released its original space theme — which I mostly owned ( those moon plates! ) — in 1978, while the Playmospace theme was introduced in 1981. As for Kenner Star Wars, well, it was everywhere, and I had them all — almost ( lucky me! ). Boys play, back then, was all about swooshing ships, firing lasers, and landing in and on bases ( remember MB's Starbird, with its Command Base? ).
Of all the dioramas and sets in my nephew's playroom, I did notice, however, males of my generation ( Gen X ), heading straight for The Lightning Bolt, as if to a lure — kind of awestruck: taking it in, getting it. It may also be that, in my nephew's specific case, he was definitely more interested in narrative play, whereas I enjoyed the construction and design aspects more ( as I always did ), reveling in projecting myself, visually, and in the idea of the thing, drawing on established notions, such as: a ship's bridge, hangar bay, engine room, docking platform, antenna array, reactors, imposing landing gear,... An entire sci-fi design — even aural ( I don't care if we're in space, everybody knows reactors do make that rattling, hissing sound, as wondrously exemplified by the thrusters of the USS Cygnus! ) — vocabulary, acquired over many, formative years of media exposure, both filmed and in print. Oh well...
Here the original ( aka. Phase 1 ):
Notice the misaligned decks, due to needing a lot of room to fit the PM 5254 crane, while not having enough plates to fit a fourth deck. Without the tensioning truss, the hangar bay had a tendency to bow outward and collapse, especially if applying too much pressure on the hovercar's landing pad, above.
Phase 3:
If I was to do it again, it would definitely be as a 4-decker, and longer, with huge thrusters ( PM rockets? ), as originally envisioned, and more hangar bay — enough to store one or two fighters, and the rover, or possibly the Galaxy Police truck, with lots of room to spare. I would also figure out that gantry crane thing. Finally, I would add greenery, possibly in the cargo hold, or as its own greenhouse, as well as in planters throughout the ship, just to breakup the gray, hard-surface monotony. How about live, unruly cargo, like dinosaurs ( which could be repainted to make them alien )? ...Ah, and weapons, of course; space isn't safe — everyone knows that — just look at the other sets: it's full of pirates, and belligerent, semi-intelligent species!
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Dioramas & Buildings / Lightning Bolt spaceship
« Last post by JPSA on Today at 10:02:03 »While I am dredging my hard drive, here is a system-x project I built for my young nephew, a few years back. It is a spaceship he christened "The Lightning Bolt", and is the ship featured in the Space Patrol HQ illustration I made during the "corona confinement" [ shudder ]. I am listing it here because it is a bit too big to be considered a ship or vehicle ( although it is a spaceship ), and is closer to a building / fortress diorama.
The ship was designed in a 3D program, first, to figure out the design, as well as which pieces to buy ( plates, in particular ). Obviously, steck was out of the question, here.
Though, in my opinion, I believe steck could be extended to create futuristic bases with conventional walls ( imagine wall-sections with greebles and panel lines, instead of stone masonry ). In fact, a hybrid of steck and system-x might work for that use case — think: a futuristic base, as opposed to this ship's structural framework. Anyhow...
The System-X build experience was fine — even enjoyable — despite criticism you sometimes hear. I had fun figuring it out, and working around limitations. I do wish the blue and red pieces had been kept light gray, for this theme, same as the diagonal trusses, or possibly black, or white, though. I also wish there had been a way to skin the ship, somehow, and often wondered what it would look like, hulled.
The Lightning Bolt comes in two configuration: four-decker ( aka. "Phase 2" ), which was never built, and a 3-decker version ( aka. Phase 2B ). Note: Phase 1 was the original: a 3-decker with some structural issues, along with misaligned decks, which was built, as well.
4-decker version:
3-decker version ( Phase 2B )
The ship was designed in a 3D program, first, to figure out the design, as well as which pieces to buy ( plates, in particular ). Obviously, steck was out of the question, here.
Though, in my opinion, I believe steck could be extended to create futuristic bases with conventional walls ( imagine wall-sections with greebles and panel lines, instead of stone masonry ). In fact, a hybrid of steck and system-x might work for that use case — think: a futuristic base, as opposed to this ship's structural framework. Anyhow...The System-X build experience was fine — even enjoyable — despite criticism you sometimes hear. I had fun figuring it out, and working around limitations. I do wish the blue and red pieces had been kept light gray, for this theme, same as the diagonal trusses, or possibly black, or white, though. I also wish there had been a way to skin the ship, somehow, and often wondered what it would look like, hulled.
The Lightning Bolt comes in two configuration: four-decker ( aka. "Phase 2" ), which was never built, and a 3-decker version ( aka. Phase 2B ). Note: Phase 1 was the original: a 3-decker with some structural issues, along with misaligned decks, which was built, as well.
4-decker version:
3-decker version ( Phase 2B )
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Dioramas & Buildings / Re: Cutaway Castle diorama
« Last post by Klickteryx on Today at 09:16:37 »Amazing work, it definitely has an early-mid 20th century feel to it - the style, not the subject matter. It's not common to see such extensive hoardings either so the creator(s) must have done more than basic research.
Nice use of a door as a window shutter, haven't seen that before.
Nice use of a door as a window shutter, haven't seen that before.
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News / Re: Müller Black Knight exclusive
« Last post by tahra on Today at 08:53:35 »I want one too. I will try to find one of those stores and get my 50th knight there, since I didn't yet, anyways. But ... just a fool's hope.
I believe we better hope it's released later, and we can nag the usual german playmofriends for them..
I believe we better hope it's released later, and we can nag the usual german playmofriends for them..