PlaymoFriends

General => Report & Review => Topic started by: AndrewL on March 08, 2011, 16:26:58

Title: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: AndrewL on March 08, 2011, 16:26:58
Hi All,

As with my review of the 4746 special, there has already been some discussion and review of this set here (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=7098.0), but again, I thought a formal review might be useful.

In its box (first two pictures), this set weighs in at about 120 grams. I got it for €3.49 from Playmobil in Germany (having German in-laws can be so nice sometimes  ;D). So using Martin Milner's 'heft factor' calcuation, that's about 34g/€. Not sure whether that's good or bad...

Anyway, out of the box, the parts appear as shown in the second two photos. Even though this set is listed on the German Playmobil website among the Specials, this set does include an instruction sheet with all the parts listed -- very useful!

...
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: AndrewL on March 08, 2011, 16:39:40
The horse is a pretty standard, all-black one. Dressed in his full caparison, he does look impressive (and I think it's a good impression!).

The Klicky, whom I guess we should call Christophorus, is in the second two photos. The plain white body with a red 'skirt' over the armoured legs is a somewhat odd combination. As others has noted, it seems slightly strange that there's no printing on the body -- given the quite extensive printing on his shield and on the horse's trapper, one might have thought they would print on Christophorus's body as well. Doing so would have been more in keeping with the first Knight Christopher (3800 - Sir Christopher (http://www.playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showinv.pl?set=3800)).

I think some questions have been raised about the quality of some of the plastic in this set, particularly on the 'silvery' parts on this figure. I got six of this set, and in about half of them, the colour of the armoured legs, the sword belt and the chainmail collar on the figure was somewhat paler, more 'milky' and less metallic than in others. Compared to other 'silver' or light grey metallic parts from many other sets going back over many years, the difference in colour is noticeable. That having been said, I don't think the plastic itself is any more brittle or soft than Playmobil's usual standard. It seems that at least one production run of these parts didn't have quite as much silver/metallic dye in the plastic when they did the moulding. Slightly perturbing, perhaps, but not the end of the world.

...
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: AndrewL on March 08, 2011, 17:01:55
...

And here he is fully armed, first on foot and then mounted.

His arm armour (pauldron, vambrace and gauntlet all in one) is of the new style that appeared with the new range of knights. Like with some of the other silver parts I mentioned above, in some of the sets, the armour pieces have a 'milky', less metallic look than what I think of as the norm. Again, the plastic isn't soft or brittle, just a slightly different colour than what I've come to expect.

Like the first Knight Christopher, Christophorus does not have a helmet, rather a silver circlet. I would have given him a helm of some sort, but I guess Playmobil may have wanted to have his face uncovered. The red staff and pennon is a nice piece, and the lion's head on the pennon does a good job of echoing the much more complicated blazon on his shield. The gold sword (again, as others have already commented) is a bit out of place in a set that is otherwise heavy on silver, black, white and red. Perhaps PLaymobil figure that children will assume a legendary champion (and Christophorus does have 'legendary champion' written all over him (metaphorically!)) should have a golden sword.

The shield is of the new, slightly curved shape with the pointed top edge. The blazon is intricate, to say the least. The scrollwork around the sides of the shield looks to me like it belongs on the pages of a late medieval herald's roll of arms, rather than on an actual shield, but that's just me. The combination of the crowned lion's head (the same as the recent Lion Knights), the three black arrows on a red field and the black and red six-pointed stars makes the shield look very 'busy', but there's certainly no mistaking it for any other blazon Playmobil have ever produced!

And finally, as is stated on the packaging, Playmobil are donating €1 from every set sold to continue their support of the project in Sri Lanka established to help children affected by the 2004 tsunami. So buying this set does help support a good cause!

All in all, a very nice set, and I'm glad I got more than one. Admittedly, I have now taken them all apart to customise, but I do that with all Playmobil now. I'll post some pics of some of my customs derived from this set in a bit (here: http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=7351.0).

Hope folks find this interesting/useful.

Cheers,

AndrewL
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: PrimusPilus on March 08, 2011, 17:15:10
I can't wait for mine to get here, he looks fantastic! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/luwerner/gif/clapping.gif)
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: playmofire on March 08, 2011, 17:20:12
Thanks for another excellent review, Andrew.  The blazoning on the shield is truly impressive and it's all the more perplexing why with that amount of care they should have got the horse caparison wrong as the lion heads on each side should surely both face the same way, i.e. face the same way as on the shield.  I would have thought it would have saved cost, too, if they were both facing the same way.
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: Bolingbroke on March 08, 2011, 17:41:01
Thanks for the review! I like the horse and shield, but the figure's hopeless. I cant remember the last figure PM released that didnt need customising.  ::)
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: Wolf Knight on March 08, 2011, 18:56:17
Great review Andrew!! Thank you!!!
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: tonguello on March 09, 2011, 00:00:23
I love it! Im gonna get as soon as I can! thanx for the review!
Title: Re: 3699 Knight Christophorus
Post by: playmojager on March 13, 2011, 20:34:20
Great knight !!! Thanks for the review.  :wave:
I did not have to say that this one will soon be on the collection. :P