PlaymoFriends
General => Report & Review => Topic started by: Rasputin on November 03, 2012, 01:02:30
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Well I have a hard time resisting the western theme and have collected a decent amount. When the western theme had this years comeback I could not for a moment resist buying as many of the sets I liked. One of such sets was the Indian camp. A tepee, new fire, new klickies, painted horse and more awaited to join our world.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010020_zps150ce6bb.jpg)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010021_zps06c73d29.jpg)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010022_zpsf86b4c55.jpg)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010023_zpse876ebe8.jpg)
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There were a lot of bags
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010024_zpsf37cd222.jpg)
and a lot of accessories
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010025_zpscece99a4.jpg)
I wonder what is behind some sets not having sufficient bags and some to many, its logical to at least one packaging or efficiency engineer over at geobra
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010026_zpsbb95541c.jpg)
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The Klicies in my opinion look great. I like the lean muscular look of the warriors and I want to add lots more to our collection. I will dig out some older warriors and compare the uniqueness of this new body. I do hope a add-on pack becomes available in different prints.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010029_zpsaf8a000c.jpg)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010030_zps9df8b5ee.jpg)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010032_zps4de8f2e0.jpg)
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The whole camp
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010028_zps2708c703.jpg)
and some visitors, "we come in peace" ;D
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010034_zps56980ff1.jpg)
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I remember when companies used to cut out the holes completely. Then some wise gal realized that the factory would not have to clean up the mess and could only partially cut the material and send the garbage to someone else, um..... the client >:(
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc457/Koretsky/P1010033_zps077d2fe5.jpg)
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Oh-oh. I was trying to resist, but I think I will need to add these to my original Native American sets. The klickies are very different, the women in my series have the old dresses, and the papoose board is much simpler. I agree, the warriors have a nice look.
kaethe
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Nice pictures! :)
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It's a nice looking set. There are some great details.
As always I have to mention that they have mixed up tribal designs and items from vastly different cultures and parts of the country. I wonder if they will ever realize that totem poles and tipis never went together.
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Nice review, Ras, of a nice looking set. Thank you! :wave:
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Thank you for the review! :)
Looks like a nice set. Can you actually shoot arrows with that bow like it says on the box?
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This is a great review Ras, thanks. I remember the covering on the tipis to be plastic on the ones from the early 80's. I found them very difficult to put together, so this material looks like a vast improvement and much more colorful. :love:
Joe
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Looks like a good value set like the Warrior Klickies and the rocky landscape :)
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Can you actually shoot arrows with that bow like it says on the box?
I'd like to know that too! :lol:
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I never planned to resist the indians.. Am trying hard to resist the cowboys though.... VERY HARD.
Can you actually shoot arrows with that bow like it says on the box?
I think that is sooo... not good.. I still have the ancient bows that shoot... Of course, we need to replace the "strings". Bah. Not handy at all..
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Well I am glad I was able to make a decent review with so little time and effort on my part :-[ I would have liked to have it more elaborate with more pictures but I scrambled this together last night before I had to deal with 25 crazy chicks who keep trying to escape. Its fine they want to get out but then I would have to deal with the queen chick (aka my wife) and her wanting to kill them for damaging plants. Then there is my loss of ability to protect them from predators if they sleep anywhere they want 8} Right now they are in our pheasant enclosure.
As far as the shooting ability of the arrows...I will find out. I have never tried with the old ones but this new style looks like it should work better with the heavy headed arrows.
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You can definitely shoot these arrows, but it takes some coordination and practice... they're so tiny! It's really hard to hold them in grown-up hands.
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Wonderful set. :love: Many thanks for the review Ras.
George.
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Are the bows made differently? I couldn't imagine "shooting" them. :lol:
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Thanks for the review, Ras! This looks like an awesome set! :)
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I've held this set in my grubby hands at TRU but didn't buy it. I really wish I would have now. I love the klickies and accesories in this set. Next time I'm at TRU this village is coming home with me.
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I've fallen in love with the brave in this set :love: :love:
Great photos Ras, thank you - this is now on my Christmas wish-list :lol:
Now to chant the chant (that I always do, whenever I buy something from a different theme) *I will NOT extend my Western any further, I will NOT extend my Western any further* ... nope, not working! Still in love with that brave.. gah!
I've held this set in my grubby hands at TRU but didn't buy it.
nuuh!
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Thanks for the detailed pics. I bough a few of the smaller new Western-sets (Marshall, bandits and covered wagon) but not the fort or the
indians native americans... Still have to decide weither or not to get some of the latter to change them into Aztec, Maya or Inca... the shields definetly look designed with a possible South-American usage in mind.
Btw, isn't that totem-pole a religious symbol, Ras? :P
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Thank you for the review, Ras! I am looking forward to these new western sets!!!
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Btw, isn't that totem-pole a religious symbol, Ras? :P
:lmao:
But actually, no, I don't think totem poles were religious, they had to do with keeping of ancestry records I believe. Kachina dolls had religious significance, though.
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The shields are Northwest Coastal, and don't look Inca/Aztec to me a t all. I guess because it's my home region.
Both depict Eagle or Thunderbird. Here is a good example of the frontal view by a Salish people artist http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jppqknn8 (http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jppqknn8) and the other http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jqknnpl0 (http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jqknnpl0) by a Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) people artist. The totem pole is also a NW Coastal item and is topped by an Eagle as well, so these must be Eagle clan guys except for the South Western woman (Navajo or Hopi) and the fact that they are dressed like Plains people and have a Plains tipi and horse in war paint.
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The shields are Northwest Coastal, and don't look Inca/Aztec to me a t all. I guess because it's my home region.
Both depict Eagle or Thunderbird. Here is a good example of the frontal view by a Salish people artist http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jppqknn8 (http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jppqknn8) and the other http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jqknnpl0 (http://www.pathgallery.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jqknnpl0) by a Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) people artist. The totem pole is also a NW Coastal item and is topped by an Eagle as well, so these must be Eagle clan guys except for the South Western woman (Navajo or Hopi) and the fact that they are dressed like Plains people and have a Plains tipi and horse in war paint.
So basically you are saying, they got it all mixed up :lol: Geobra does so well with most historical themes I wonder why they ditched the effort on the Native Americans? I know this is American history and a German toy company but the information is readily available, all they had to do really is ask you ;) It seems they just want to satisfy the preconceived notions and expectations of bb's Zoo visitors (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=11866.0) :P
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:lol: Yep, my little idiots would be more than satisfied. ;) Honestly for me the only glaringly wrong thing in the indian sets that I just can't live with is the totem poles. I mean, if they are nomadic tribes living in teepees, how would they carry a giant totem pole around? ::) Seems anyone could figure out that doesn't belong. So I just don't use them.
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:lol: Yep, my little idiots would be more than satisfied. ;) Honestly for me the only glaringly wrong thing in the indian sets that I just can't live with is the totem poles. I mean, if they are nomadic tribes living in teepees, how would they carry a giant totem pole around? ::) Seems anyone could figure out that doesn't belong. So I just don't use them.
Could you use them with a dio if it were placed with the Egyptian hut?
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Well.... the egyptian huts look more like adobe huts which would be made from mud and from more southwestern/desert tribes. The totem poles I believe were used by northern tribes, certainly in areas where there were a lot of big trees to make totem poles from. So I don't think they would mix with that type of structure either. I think they would go with wigwams, but I'm not an expert.
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Well.... the egyptian huts look more like adobe huts which would be made from mud and from more southwestern/desert tribes. The totem poles I believe were used by northern tribes, certainly in areas where there were a lot of big trees to make totem poles from. So I don't think they would mix with that type of structure either. I think they would go with wigwams, but I'm not an expert.
So then would they fit if a customized pirate/island hut was used, with lots of trees around?
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That might work, with a lot of modification.
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Well....no. Totem poles go with Longhouses.
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_nwc2.html (http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_nwc2.html)
Basically it's the same shape as 4305 - Freight Terminal (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showinv.pl?setnum=4305) but make new walls smooth with the designs on the outside and a roundish front center door, no windows.
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Ah, longhouses. See, there's an opportunity here for playmobil to do something really educational if thy would do a series of historically accurate indian tribes.
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Ah, longhouses. See, there's an opportunity here for playmobil to do something really educational if thy would do a series of historically accurate indian tribes.
and...an opportunity to re-release the 4305 for the customizers ;)
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Ah, longhouses. See, there's an opportunity here for playmobil to do something really educational if thy would do a series of historically accurate indian tribes.
i was just thinking the same thing as i read through this. even if it was a subseries of special figures. i suspect that they may not see the financial incentive to do so and will continue to use a really attractive though mashed up and generalized representation to stand in for all indigenous peoples of north america. this will always be touchy stuff. some will call foul on the generic indian tribe, some will say it's romanticized but just think of the outcry this very traditional toy company would elicit if they made,say, a contemporary native american community - casino and all.
btw, i do see the introduction of a native 'family' set (sorry, i don't have the set in front of me) as a positive move towards further humanizing the 'savage'.
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I love this set but have held back on buying it. Is the tipi the same one that was offered as an Add-on from the official store last year? If so, what a great tipi compared to the ones I have from childhood.
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I think it has more to do with the expectations of kids buying these sets.
The do have to have the tipi, totempole, etc. That's 'real' to them - never mind if it's correct ;).
If they were to leave out the tipi (for example) they would definitly get a lot of requests for it, or at least a remark that it's a pity they 'forgot' them.
It's the same with the horned helmets of the vikings. They didn't have them in real life, but still - a viking without a horned helmet isn't a viking to most people.
So ... they more or less had to make them. Although Playmobil has a educational value too - it's a toy that needs to be sold in the first place.
But I still think it's great to discuss and find what is right and what isn't.
Bogro
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The viking helmets can easily be changed to similar ones without horns though, with the indians its a bit harder to correct.
If they do eventually release accurate indian tribes, it might be a good idea to provide some information about the featured tribe on the box or in a little book that comes with it, to explain a little about where the tribe lived, why they chose the kind of houses they lived in, and what they where known for.
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Thing is, I was more up on the different indian tribes and the kinds of houses they live in when I was 7 than I am now. We studied that in school every year in elementary school, in the US. There would be projects involving drawing pictures of or recreating these types of dwellings. Around thanksgiving we always learned about the east coast indian tribes that met the pilgrims. So it seems to me that kids, at least here, would relate very well to a theme involving different tribes rather than just hollywood stereotypes. And they could possibly even use them in school projects.
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You also have to keep in mind that this is a very country-specifc thing, too. The average European child/adult cares about the differences between Apache and Cherokee dwellings as much as the average American child/adult cares about the differences between Spanish and Visigoth armour.
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Yes, I realize that's country specific... well, probably all of North and South America is taught a lot about indian tribes, those native to their areas especially. But I don't think that means the sets can't be a little more accurate. Should they make knights sets less accurate because American children usually haven't seen a castle in real life?
Don't get me wrong, I think some stereotypes are absolutely fine in children's toys, like pirate cliches... eye patches and peg legs and parrots and bandanas. And I don't think the indian sets need to be straight out of a museum. It just seems that putting totem poles and teepees in the same set is just a little too inaccurate.
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Well for accuracy Gerobra should make a huge teepee and have a CASINO sigh on it :lol:
I always wondered why Europeans are so fascinated with the wild west aka Cowboys and Indians?
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I always wondered why Europeans are so fascinated with the wild west aka Cowboys and Indians?
Simple answer, Ras: movies-and for us Europeans cowboys and Indians are what Knights are for you guys.
Maybe Playmobil could bring out a "Historic", adult collector oriented "one figure" series to replace our "specials"...
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Well for accuracy Gerobra should make a huge teepee and have a CASINO sigh on it :lol:
I always wondered why Europeans are so fascinated with the wild west aka Cowboys and Indians?
It's the stuff you grow up with I guess. Last year I finally got to act out all my childhood John Wayne fantasies when I went horseriding all over Monument Valley. The scenery there is simply amazing. I've seen some pretty sights in my time - from the pyramids to the northern lights, but absolutely nothing beats the rocks at Monument Valley at sunset. Simply amazing. (Moab was great that way, too.)
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Well, I certainly understand the wild west fasination, as it's always been a fascination of mine. I can't tell you how much time I spent watching western movies, reading books about covered wagons, playing cowboys and indians, and of course western themed playmobil!
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As I don't specifically collect Western (except a few ACW- and Westernmovie-customs), I do allways look for nice parts that would also be useful in my Renaissance-world. Besides the shields and some of the figures as I mentioned earlier, the real exiting part for me in this set is the big campfire :love:
Also the totempole, for which I have a historically entirely incorrect purpose in mind :lol: