Make a Mardi Gras Theme!

[reimagination]

I'm from New Orleans, and among many things, we are known for having one of the biggest Mardi Gras celebrations in the US.

Now I know this'll probably never happen, but wouldn't it be great if we had a Mardi Gras theme? Now I know for some of you, this'll be quite foreign, so I'll try to explain my ideas.

First off, we'd need a float... or many floats.
A float is a big decorated vehicle that rides in a parade. They range from simple to quite elaborate (some with lights and moving parts). They are large. They hold several people, and those people wear costumes and throw things at people (fun things like beads, souvenirs, toys, etc).

Then there are the Mardi Gras Indians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians
These are groups of African Americans who make spectacular costumes out of beads and feathers.

Then there are flambeaux
These are people who carry around large gas powered torches that used to light the way for parades, and are now more just tradition.

There are people in costume on horses.

There are kings, queens, and court.

There are school bands
High School bands come from all over the country to march in our parades.

There are balls.
If you are a member of a krewe (what we call the group who is in the parade), you go to a formal ball every year. Sometimes they are mask balls, and people are in costume, and other times they are just balls with formal wear. You could have fun couples going to the balls as a set.

And lastly, let's not forget, the people. I can imagine like a Mardi Gras Family set where there's a ladder with a seat atop (a very common sight) for little kids and maybe an adult is dragging a cooler on wheels.

It could be real fun and neat.

I don't really have any hopes of this being made ever, but the idea is still pretty cool.

[playmofire]

Ah, a carnival parade, like the one in Leeds, Yorkshire:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/26/article-2193844-14B36259000005DC-738_964x620.jpg

http://www.coolplaces.co.uk/system/images/7689/leeds-west-indian-carnival-see-do-festivals-events-large.jpg

[Birdie]

Yep, that phenomenon is pretty big here in Belgium too 

It would probably look very pretty in Playmobil, so as an adult collector, I applaud the idea (especially the masked ball figures, because that would be awesome to add to the Victorian theme!). I don't know if children would like it, though, because as a theme it seems limited to play with. It's a parade, not a 'world', if you know what I mean.

[skypurr]

It sounds great. 
We have parades here too, not quite as elaborate (and it usualy rains!)
I made my version of ours last year.



Elaine

[Cloud Strife]

I would love this theme to be done because I am madly in love with New Orleans.  Such an evocative city like no other in America. 

The mind reels at all the possibilities of combining new houses with elaborate cast-iron porches with the existing Victorian dollhouses.  Also beads, beads, beads and hurricanes and floats and revelry and all that excitement but this should probably stay PG-13 (no displays of - ahem - pulchritude).

Then they can finally release that Delta Queen to top it off.

Love the parade skypurr.   The people in the flatbed truck are quite interesting.  Do they have paddles?

[playmovictorian]

Thank you so much for bringing this topic to us as New Orléans and the Mississippi River has been one of my dream destination ever 

I adore Mark Twain and if I had the time and money to do it one day, I would create a Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn diorama featuring their adventures along the great river 

Karim

[playmofire]

The mind reels at all the possibilities of combining new houses with elaborate cast-iron porches with the existing Victorian dollhouses... and hurricanes...

A Playmobil hurricane?  Now that would be groundbreaking!

[reimagination]

I don't know about lack of playability. As a kid I made Mardi Gras floats out fo Lego. It's colorful and fun. We could also make it a "world" by incuding Cloud's idea of the houses with cast-iron porches (the correct term being galleries, but most people not from here don't know that).

Skypurr, on actual Mardi Gras day, we have parades like those shown. That's quite cool. We call them the truck parades. They follow the grander Krewe of Rex. That's a pretty cool set-up you have there. I'd be quite happy if PLaymobil made that.

And it would be quite easy to keep the theme PG. Contrary to popular belief, most of Mardi Gras is family friendly. There's even really small parades like Krewe of Barkus which features dogs in costume, Krewe of Chewbacchus which is sci-fi themed, and Krewe of 'Tit Rex which features miniature floats that kids made and drag around. A friend of mine who has a petting zoo in the city will often even parade his animals in one of the smaller parades, and he has all kinds of crazy animals that'd be fun to have in Playmo such as llamas, ponies, and even a zonkey.

Of course, being a European company, I don't know if they would get an accurate depiction of a New Orleans' Mardi Gras. However, what kinda sparked this idea is the new (to the US at least) set of the Alpine Cattle Procession (5425).

[playmofire]

As a kid I made Mardi Gras floats out fo Lego.

But isn't that the weakness - in many ways it's something that people can already make out of Playmobil, just as you used to make it out of Lego?

(the correct term being galleries, but most people not from here don't know that).

Balconies is what we call them in the UK.

Skypurr, on actual Mardi Gras day, we have parades like those shown. That's quite cool. We call them the truck parades. That's a pretty cool set-up you have there. I'd be quite happy if PLaymobil made that.

My point again - Playmobil don't have to make it, Skypurr made it from parts that are already available.

 A friend of mine who has a petting zoo in the city will often even parade his animals in one of the smaller parades, and he has all kinds of crazy animals that'd be fun to have in Playmo such as llamas, ponies, and even a zonkey.

Again, people can already do this.  Is there any point for Playmobil in producing something which can already be done by people already and which would, in any case, probably only appeal to a few people?

Of course, being a European company, I don't know if they would get an accurate depiction of a New Orleans' Mardi Gras.

Well, Playmobil always do a lot of research before releasing a new product and their products have many small details that only adults or specialists in a particular field would notice.  I think that they'd do a pretty good job despite being European.

[reimagination]

I'm sorry. I thought it was a fun idea. And there are many aspects that can't be made with current playmo parts. But then, there's the whole thread on why wait for them to make it when you can 3-D print it. So really, why should Playmobil make anything else ever again?

I was just here trying to have fun. I wasn't trying to be rude. Despite the fact that I do read numerous posts here almost every day, I don't post much because I'm always nervous about what to post and worried that maybe it's already been done before or it's actually really stupid.

I didn't mean to insult the company. What I meant by that is that even when say, a movie is made in New Orleans by Americans, it's not an accurate depiction of New Orleans. So I just had little hope of that happening. Although, there is an interest in American culture such as in Cowboys and Indians, US Civil War Soldiers, and the fi?ures of Uncle Same and Lady Liberty, so maybe they would do a good job.

And on a side note, we have balconies here too. The difference is that a balcony has it supports from the building, where as a gallery has columns as support, and they are over a trottoir or bank (a sidewalk directly against a road) and are meant to be walked under.

Again, I am really sorry.