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General => News => Topic started by: JLMatterer on October 18, 2024, 19:26:08

Title: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: JLMatterer on October 18, 2024, 19:26:08
Thomas Mann soon as a Playmobil figure
Status: October 18, 2024, 12:01 p.m.

The writer Thomas Mann is to be released as a Playmobil figure next year.

The publisher S. Fischer announced that the figure would be produced in a limited collector's edition to mark the writer's 150th birthday. In the past, Goethe and Schiller had already become Playmobil figures.

The publisher has already revealed that the man figure will be wearing a hat and a light suit and will be reading the novel "The Buddenbrooks". Thomas Mann was born on June 6, 1875. He is one of the most important German writers.

(https://i.imgur.com/rpTAbaJ.png) (https://www1.wdr.de/kultur/kulturnachrichten/Thomas-Mann-als-Playmobil-Figur100.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawF_k-1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbg2-gpVIYlsGokxUseqbX9CPc4KjLRk5FcgObJyC9q4t0dLqOFSGrvZGQ_aem_SWKWojQIZLAR20VFsD1PXg)
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: JLMatterer on October 19, 2024, 01:35:35
Thomas Mann becomes a Playmobil figure – for his 150th birthday next year
KNA
October 18, 2024 5:26 a.m.

Martin Luther is one of the most successful Playmobil figures of all time – will the reformer soon be replaced by a famous writer? To mark his 150th birthday, Thomas Mann is also being ennobled as a toy figure.

Thomas Mann will not only be celebrated in his hometown of Lübeck next year: There will also be a Playmobil figure to mark the writer's 150th birthday, as the publisher S. Fischer announced on Friday. After Goethe and Schiller, the author will be released in a limited collector's edition.

The actual figure is still being worked on. However, the publisher revealed that she will be wearing a hat and a light suit. “Of course” she will be reading Mann’s most famous book: his first novel “The Buddenbrooks”.

Born on June 6, 1875, Thomas Mann is one of the most important German writers. His stories such as “Death in Venice” are still read in schools today. In 1929, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. When the National Socialists seized power, Mann left his homeland for Switzerland and later for the USA; he died on August 12, 1955 in Zurich.

A ceremony is planned in the Hanseatic city on the actual birthday, and from the following day the exhibition "My Time. Thomas Mann and Democracy" will be on display in the local St. Anne's Museum. An exhibition about "The Magic Mountain" is currently running there, the 100th anniversary of its publication on November 28th this year. A Thomas Mann Festival is planned in Nida, Lithuania in July 2025.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: GrahamB on October 19, 2024, 08:53:12
The 1971 film of 'Death in Venice' is one of the dullest I have ever seen, saved only by the soundtrack which features (several times) the sublime Adagietto from Mahler's fifth symphony, but then I have been accused in the past of expecting films to be entertaining. Apart from that, to me Thomas Mann is another obscure German!
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: playmofire on October 19, 2024, 09:52:11
I wonder why Playmobil don't go more for characters of authors rather than the authors themselves?
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Macruran on October 19, 2024, 21:34:41
Interesting, might have to spring for one of these. I read The Magic Mountain when I was but a stripling and many scenes and characters are still vivid in my mind.  On the other hand it will suffer from the utter nondescriptness of Mann himself (the man himself). That is to say, Mann has no immediately recognizable visual identity the way Luther or Goethe do, so he will be just a Victorian extra.

Quote from: playmofire on October 19, 2024, 09:52:11
I wonder why Playmobil don't go more for characters of authors rather than the authors themselves?

Por que no los dos? Come out with Mann, plus a handful of Buddenbrooks characters to be collected in a set. And of course there are plenty of out of copyright works rich for exploitation. Series of Round Table knights, anyone?  :knight:
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Klickteryx on October 20, 2024, 00:25:43
Quote from: playmofire on October 19, 2024, 09:52:11
I wonder why Playmobil don't go more for characters of authors rather than the authors themselves?
I believe the point is to honour/highlight various historic figures with these sets.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Oliver on October 20, 2024, 02:22:07
Quote from: playmofire on October 19, 2024, 09:52:11
I wonder why Playmobil don't go more for characters of authors rather than the authors themselves?

I suppose it also depends on the writer in question - for example, with Dickens you could probably make some recognisable characters in Klicky form, but what would be the difference between a figure of Jane Austen and a figure of one of her heroines?
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: playmofire on October 20, 2024, 10:11:46
Quote from: Oliver on October 20, 2024, 02:22:07
I suppose it also depends on the writer in question - for example, with Dickens you could probably make some recognisable characters in Klicky form, but what would be the difference between a figure of Jane Austen and a figure of one of her heroines?

Yes, but Jane Austen etc have more than heroines, there are also heroes and "baddies" and supporting characters.

If they come up with a figure like this picture of Mann, it might be a winner, although I note it is a limited edition figure:

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/german-novelist-and-essayist-thomas-mann-in-his-study-news-photo/541530423?adppopup=true
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: playmofire on October 20, 2024, 10:12:39
Mis-post, please ignore.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Rasputin on October 20, 2024, 14:06:44
A man in a suit holding a book with limited production and distribution for many euros + shipping

Hmmmm

Meanwhile , have you seen Lego new adult sets at Costco or Amazon
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Ismene on October 21, 2024, 06:33:37
I don't see him outselling Luther in any way. Luther has more interesting parts and works better for customs, as well as being more famous himself. I don't think I've read any of Mann's works, but I just looked over the summary of Death in Venice and  :hmm:. It's just as well they didn't make a klicky set of the main character stalking a child.

Quote from: Oliver on October 20, 2024, 02:22:07
I suppose it also depends on the writer in question - for example, with Dickens you could probably make some recognisable characters in Klicky form, but what would be the difference between a figure of Jane Austen and a figure of one of her heroines?

Austen characters would make more sense as duo packs or larger figure sets because the novels are more about the interactions between the characters, rather than one character being the main focus. And Austen spent more time describing houses than the physical characteristics of her characters, so we don't have identifying features to portray.

Austen herself would need either her writing table or her iconic writing box. If they wanted to go above and beyond, the patchwork coverlet she worked on with her mother and sister and brewing equipment - she brewed a good deal of beer and mead.

Dickens doesn't need as many props because we have solid portraits of him and that beard is something on its own.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Oliver on October 21, 2024, 10:25:11
Quote from: Rasputin on October 20, 2024, 14:06:44
A man in a suit holding a book with limited production and distribution for many euros + shipping

Hmmmm

Meanwhile , have you seen Lego new adult sets at Costco or Amazon

Come on now, Lego is way more expensive than Playmobil, which is exactly why they can produce what they produce.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: tahra on October 21, 2024, 14:42:46
Quote from: Oliver on October 21, 2024, 10:25:11
Come on now, Lego is way more expensive than Playmobil, which is exactly why they can produce what they produce.

Also, they like money, and afaik, they don't consider collectors unwanted... nuisances...


As to this guy... will ne be yet another fancy gentleman?
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Rasputin on October 23, 2024, 03:56:25
Quote from: Oliver on October 21, 2024, 10:25:11
Come on now, Lego is way more expensive than Playmobil, which is exactly why they can produce what they produce.

Years of cultivating a relationship with their fans . Encourage your initial customer base ( kids) then reap the rewards into their adulthood

Seems like a found business strategy that’s paying off

On the other hand, ego your attitude and see what happens to your market share , then alienate your next of kin, and leave the empire to a dim witted secretary
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Klickteryx on October 23, 2024, 20:10:50
Quote from: tahra on October 21, 2024, 14:42:46
Also, they like money, and afaik, they don't consider collectors unwanted... nuisances...

They did some collector based sets. The original Star Trek sets, Magnum PI, Knight Rider etc. These are really only known to older people - though the original series look of Star Trek did get a reboot with a couple of movies so they're reasonably fresh in terms of pop culture.
The problem is that the modern pop culture they've gone for, Naruto and the bug people, are expensive. What they used to do well was coming up with a generic alternative theme but there is nothing like that. In regards anime there are styles which appear across many programmes so if playmobil made sure not to use specific looks they could create a whole theme that appealed to slightly older children as well as the 'geek community' at large. They've sort of done this with Novelmore but that doesn't match all that closely with anime which is one of the biggest pop culture forms around. They have that cat girl figure who's appeared in a couple of different colours (skirt with tail, cat ears headband) but that type isn't that common, they should have done a school uniform instead - male and female. The advantage of that is that you can sell a whole classroom of kids instead of a single person doing cosplay like the cat girl.

The Mann figure could be useful for a late 19th century/early 20th century generic gentleman type figure if done right. Then multiples of it could be purchased to populate a diorama/game of politicians, judges etc.  I still think they need to do a Gutenburg and his printing press and other historic people like Vasco da Gama.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Ismene on October 25, 2024, 05:26:07
Magnum PI got a reboot. Knight Rider is niche.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: tahra on October 25, 2024, 08:53:29
Quote from: Ismene on October 25, 2024, 05:26:07
Magnum PI got a reboot. Knight Rider is niche.

Knight Rider got a "reboot" also..  Another murdered series.. Never watched the Magnum reboot (or the original, for that matter). Wish people would make up their own shows, instead of murdering existing ones...
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Ismene on October 25, 2024, 09:56:21
Quote from: tahra on October 25, 2024, 08:53:29
Knight Rider got a "reboot" also..  Another murdered series.. Never watched the Magnum reboot (or the original, for that matter). Wish people would make up their own shows, instead of murdering existing ones...

Really? When was this? I must have missed it.
The Magnum reboot has a different vibe.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Klickteryx on October 25, 2024, 22:50:29
Quote from: Ismene on October 25, 2024, 05:26:07
Magnum PI got a reboot. Knight Rider is niche.
I think I've mentally blocked the existence of those reboots as they're too different from the original.
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: tahra on October 27, 2024, 06:38:28
Quote from: Ismene on October 25, 2024, 09:56:21
Really? When was this? I must have missed it.

https://epguides.com/KnightRider_2008/  - and I am 100% almost sure there was something else...

And McGyver - a cub barely out of diapers. With guns. That one I didn't pass the trailer. 
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Klickteryx on October 29, 2024, 02:23:50
Quote from: tahra on October 27, 2024, 06:38:28
https://epguides.com/KnightRider_2008/  - and I am 100% almost sure there was something else...


I didn't know that one existed. Was it any good?
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: tahra on October 29, 2024, 07:56:49
Quote from: Klickteryx on October 29, 2024, 02:23:50
I didn't know that one existed. Was it any good?

No, from what I can remember...
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Ismene on October 29, 2024, 14:57:48
I don't think I could accept K.I.T.T. not sounding like John Adams.  :lol:
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: JLMatterer on October 29, 2024, 15:05:47
Quote from: Ismene on October 29, 2024, 14:57:48
I don't think I could accept K.I.T.T. not sounding like John Adams.  :lol:

For God's sake, John, sit down!
Title: Re: New Figure: Thomas Mann
Post by: Oliver on February 25, 2025, 12:18:07
This figure has finally be revealed

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1073315825?fbclid=IwY2xjawIqk2BleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVWIzWdkTt9ZmDk51noBsZqmZ0YKNIgtibm3_l6pXkrEBfHeZ_r8UMCaAw_aem_lKZHfqKVU837E9AaIUE0rw