PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: AgeOwns on February 19, 2014, 05:05:08
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(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7379/12624986934_1efe73cd10_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrstinkhead/12624986934/)
Playmobil (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrstinkhead/12624986934/) by AgeOwns.com (http://www.flickr.com/people/mrstinkhead/), on Flickr
I just got back home from three days at the 2014 Toy Fair in New York City.
Playmobil at Toy Fair (http://www.millionaireplayboy.com/mpb/index.php/toy-fair-2014-playmobil/)
I took pictures of every set they had.
I also took a lot of video, I'll have my video edited and up in about a week or so.
On my blog page, I embedded a 3D image of one of the dragons. Check it out, all you have to do is wiggle your mouse over it.
Also, I brought along my old Inuit figure with a camera (http://instagram.com/ageowns) and took him around all the sights in NY.
Let me know what you think of what was on display!
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Thank you for posting your photos!
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I'm really looking forward to the parachutists, I think they could be a lot of fun. What are you most looking forward to?
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Thanks for the pictures!
I am looking forward to figures series 6 boys (pirate & highlander) - will be released in Germany in a few days!
Cheers,
HDL
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Thanks for the great report!
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Great photos you even managed to make the Fairies look good although I'm stil not going to get them as they're definately not my sort of thing anyway. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of the Mystery figures the boys in Series 6 look like they'll offer me a lot of temptation with the Highlander, Gladiator and Surfing Santa :love: being the ones I'm most lookign forward to plus a good Pirate and Judo guy amognst other temptations, I'm also looking forward to some of the Specials like the Genie who should make a good base for an Aladdin custom along with the Arabian mystery figure. I agree about the parachutist was thinking before they released it how it would be a good idea my Action Man parachutist is loads of fun and you'd probably need less height for a Klicky parachutist plus there's less chance of parts breaking like my MA's helmet on a particularly hard crahs landing :-[. I like the camping photo great choice of figures I love the design of the kid with the bandanna and tshirt and the tents looks like another promising theme along with the Alpine theme and WWF sets thanks again for the review :)
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That's a great set of pics to click through.
So excited to get the highlander mystery figure but how does one feel for a Scotsman anyway ;D. What are the telltale signs through the bag do you think? Also that black and white nun or medieval lady is awesome, I can never have enough black and white figures. And the Sri Lankan/Balinese lady, with a little paint the headdress can be a medieval custom I think.
The Alpine sets are really tempting if only so I can make the Toaster Strudel boy custom. I wonder how the Alpine Lodge would look next to the Steck medieval buildings. So tempting/
Was it good to visit ToyFair for you? I went once as somebody's guest and frankly it was quite torturous for me to see the new toys and not be able to get my hands on them RIGHT AWAY! Of the few virtues I possess patience is the least in evidence.
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Excellent report !
Thank you so much for sharing it with us :)
Karim
PS : I am also very attracted to the Alpine theme :love:
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In reply to CloudStrife:
It was a good Toy Fair. I've done this for 11 or 12 years. I took last year off because 2012 was kind of a let down and I had another out-of-town event to shoot a few weeks prior (Miss America pageant). But I missed it, so I came back.
Out of the entire experience, Playmobil was the best, because, well they're my favorite, but also because it was the only booth that was all new. Every other booth was 30-40% new IF that. Some only had one or two new items. Plus everything else is rehashed and licensed. Playmobil is the only company putting out new and creative product. Maybe that's another reason I love them.
I was disappointed with a lot of aspects. A few years ago at Toy Fair I met Buzz Aldrin and Doctor Ruth, another year I met Howie Mandel, another year Titan from American Gladiators. This year?? The only celeb was Grumpy cat (The real cat) But I did end up with a suitcase full of toys and goodies. And almost every company promised to mail me cool stuff as the year goes on. Yeah, it stinks not getting everything you want right away, but I really liked being a veteran. Most people transfer out or get shifted around by about this time, so I was the old guy on the block heh heh.
Don't get me started on the Lego or Mattel "Nerd Herd" blogger presentations. Those are the death of Toy Fair for me.
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AgeOwns, I am glad TF is generally positive for you. I can't believe you've been doing this for so long. And Playmobil is holding their end up in putting up a good show!
I saw another TF report in another board about the Star Wars figures coming out and so excited to finally get Toryn Farr this spring. You know the lady in Empire Strikes Back who says: Stand by ion control...FIRE!
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Don't get me started on the Lego or Mattel "Nerd Herd" blogger presentations. Those are the death of Toy Fair for me.
I don't want to get you started, but what are you referring to here?
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Lego, Mattel, and Hasbro invite all of the bloggers to come at one time. They put out everything like a buffet, and you get maybe a half hour to shoot everything. Most of the bloggers are less than professional and act like it's every dork for himself.
You try to wait in line and take turns getting photos of everything, but all decorum is forgotten the instant they get into the room.
It's gotten worse the number of people with phones and iPads. They have to get closer to each object, often times blocking or ruining the shot for the people trying to take photos.
And each year they seem to credential more and more bloggers, and offer less new stuff to actually see. A lot of big reveals are now made at Comic Con, so you go through all this, and you're not even looking at more than one or two brand new items per series.
LEGO makes theirs at 7 am, so you can imagine the logistics of getting to that on time.
And finally, they used to give out awesome premiums. Freebies that said Toy Fair on it, and they would go for hundreds of dollars on eBay. You could often fund your travel expenses with the promos we got. Those days are long gone as well.
BUT the alternative is not having any Mattel or Hasbro or Lego coverage.
That's why I love visiting playmobil. They know me now pretty well, but regardless, they're very friendly and patient. They're excited to see me. They give me the tour, answer questions, and then let me go back around one more time to shoot video or any photos I missed. I know I'm geeking out a bit on them, but they're totally patient with me. That, is what Toy Fair should be.
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This is all so fascinating to get your behinds the scenes take on the toy fair. And loving your photos.
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Thanks for the report! Nerdherd is so :lol:
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By the way, I literally shot video of the entire playmobil booth. What I usually do is get still shots of all the good stuff (any given booth) and then do a few video sweeps so that I can put together an overall video. But I went ahead and shot the entire playmobil booth. It's quick fly bys but I'll edit it together and post it for you guys.
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^ Yay!! ;D
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Thanks for the report... looking forward to watching the video!
(and the part about the nerd herd lol!!)
David
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Here's the video of just playmobil at Toy Fair 2014 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFcjciey4wg)
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Thank you! Makes me so greedy.
I love the camping!
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Thanks for the report...
That nerd herd seems dreadful.
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Thanks for the coverage. I trawled about ten main toysites on and after tf weekend and not one of them mentioned that PM was taking part in the toy fair. Doesnt PM do any networking at these events? Toyark, toynewsi, the fwoosh etc. No wonder pm never makes inroads in the american market.
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Woo hoo! PlaymobilUSA retweeted my video
The Tweet (https://twitter.com/MillionairePB/status/437973243941515264)
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Bolingbroke
Playmobil doesn't look at itself as a thing for collectors, and all those sites are mainly covering collectibles for adult collectors. Playmobil recognizes that there are collectors, but they put the marketing soley on the kids aspect. I'm friends with Figures.com and they've started covering playmobil since I've raved about it so much over the years, but mainly, I got it covered :)
I'm perfectly happy being the only collectible site to get the playmo-love
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Thanks for the video. Very nice music, usually they are obtrusive but this feels "adventurous" and fitting.
The Asian fortress seems much larger or maybe it's the turntable that's distorting the scale.
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Great video, thanks so much! The music was a great choice.
Seeing a years worth of new releases all laid out like that does show the enormous scope and variety that Playmobil offers. I got excited about things that don't usually interest me. For example, that swan boat is delightful. I have no need of it myself, but love that it exists!
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Bolingbroke
I'm perfectly happy being the only collectible site to get the playmo-love
That's not gonna help the company make serious inroads in the US though is it. :) :P
It's true though, PM keeps ignoring the collector's market. At the moment I am reading a book called Brick by Brick, about how Lego pig-headedly careened towards bankruptcy in the early 2000s. It's certainly ringing a bell with me, an adult collector of PM.
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To add additional insight, Playmobil was not performing where they wanted to in the early 2000s as well. Two trends A) children dropping toys for video games at earlier ages, coupled with B) retailers stronger preference for only carrying licensed properties, started really cutting in on their sales. Then out of the blue, the Made in China lead paint scare got all parents and retailers paying closer attention to where their toys came from. Toys R Us started carrying playmobil and pushing it as NOT coming from China, and 100% safe.
It worked.
From what I understand playmobil was able to invest the extra money in making the Roman series, due to the extra push the Made in China scare had provided to them. This and the Egyptian line were intended a bit more for collectors than small children, especially with the care provided to detail and accuracy.
However they still need to be in places like Toys R Us and Target to maintain, so kid friendly lines are going to be the priority.
I do think that the blind packed FIGURES line is also aimed at collectors, as you never know who you're going to get, and they've gotten more inventive with them.
my opinion.
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From what I understand playmobil was able to invest the extra money in making the Roman series, due to the extra push the Made in China scare had provided to them. This and the Egyptian line were intended a bit more for collectors than small children, especially with the care provided to detail and accuracy.
Does this mean we will never see their like again?
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The blind bags were a - uh - blind stab at the same blind bag market ruled by Lego. I only bought three or four of them, and stopped when I started getting doubles. Kids can swap doubles with their friends. It's more of a hassle when you're an adult. Whichever way you look at them, however, they are much less inventive than Lego's collectible minifigs: with the PM bags, it's always different permutations of the same things: knights, pirates (zzzz ...) etc. With Lego CMFs, some of the choices are totally out there. The gingerbread man, for eg. The man in the bunny suit. Plus they did things way before PM (the statue of liberty minifig, the scotsman etc). (and I know Lego copies PM too, so let's not get into that argument :P). I agree regarding the Egyptian and the Roman themes. For me the Roman theme was the last great theme produced by Playmobil. They say it didn't do very well, though. But maybe that's why they should start catering more for the adult market, too. Such historically accurate sets could be modelled on Lego's Modular or architecture series, too. Bigger sets, more expensive. I mean, the modular houses cost around 160 dollars. The Ewok Village is 200, same as the Simpsons house. Adults are willing to pay that sort of money for things aimed at them. I know there's a lot of resistance among PM fans - if it were for some, PM would still be stuck in 1983. But things have to move on. The biggest problem at the moment, I think, is that the PM management doesn't have a clue about the way the market works - you see it in the interviews with Horst Brandstatter for eg. New blood is needed, and badly. The mid-2014 catalogue is the most underwhelming one in years. Even pathological PM fanboys here on PF and elsewhere criticisied it!
But anyway, just my thoughts. We'll see how the next couple of years go.
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The blind bags were a - uh - blind stab at the same blind bag market ruled by Lego. . .
There are several things that I find odd about the way Playmobil sells the blind bag Fi?gures, at least in the U.S. - I'm not sure if the same is true elsewhere. First of all, you can't order them from the Playmobil website (the Lego blind bag figures can be purchased through the Lego site for $2.99 but they seem to sell out quickly.) When you can find the Playmobil Fi?ures in stores, the price varies widely from $2.99 at Five Below (don't know if they still carry them) to as much as $4.99 at ToysRUs. Playmobil got into some trouble in the US several years ago because they punished retailers for discounting prices but I would think that they could set a maximum price for the Fi?ures as $4.99 is ridiculous (TRU sells the Lego figures for $3.49 ::) ) Plus, they don't seem to have a lot of stock available in the U.S. and some retailers wait a long time for them to come in.
. . . they should start catering more for the adult market, too. Such historically accurate sets could be modelled on Lego's Modular or architecture series, too. Bigger sets, more expensive . . .
. . . The biggest problem at the moment, I think, is that the PM management doesn't have a clue about the way the market works - you see it in the interviews with Horst Brandstatter for eg. New blood is needed, and badly. . . .
They do understand a good deal about how their current market works as they are very successful in Europe where Playmobil seems to be available at reasonable prices in every toy shop and department store. They don't understand the U.S. market, IMHO, and they don't understand the potential of the adult collector community worldwide. Playmobil should definitely make sets geared to adult collectors (even if they only sold them through their websites) but first they need to recognize the buying power of the adult collector community. With the 1000's of photos by adult collectors posted at the PCC as well as at fan sites like PF, you would think that Playmobil would recognize that they could be making even more money with a special department devoted to us adult collectors.
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TRU finally after years of sales has now lowered the fi.ures to $2.99
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Wow, really, they drop it??
Nice, theres some TRU still hace series two. :-[
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Wow, really, they drop it??
Nice, theres some TRU still hace series two. :-[
hmmm, I guess TRU's getting stuck with series 2 all this time while series 6 and 7 are coming out is an indication that perhaps people were not willing to be scalped at $4.99 each ;)
about time greedy TRU :0 :whip: