The original Lego Ninja theme was great. It was actually considerably more based in history than these new Playmobil sets. And to me, that increased playability a ton, as I feel most historic sets do. Unfortunately, that theme hasn't been around for the last ten years or so. The recent Ninjago theme that goes along with a television show is what these seem to be more based on, with the exaggerated colours and wild-looking parts.
As you mentioned cheng, children's taste in toys has definitely changed, what with their playing annoying video games, never looking away from their cellular phones, and appearing to have much less grounding in the "global society" of the world. What I don't agree with is how the developers seem to accept this and continue to develop toys that someone - no doubt a "social expert" or "trend analyser" or some sort of high-paid fellow who reckons he knows what will sell and what the children will culturally accept and want to play with - designs and promotes. It's understandable how and why this happens, but it's still sad.
Playmobil doesn't seem that crazy to me yet though, but this theme is a bit disheartening. Hopefully they will release some some historic (or less flashy fantasy) sets soon. I guess this was sort of expected for the Asian theme, but I feel bad for those who are really interested in the historic aspects of Asian culture and wanted a theme more like the Roman, Egyptian, or Medieval Europe themes.
