WHAT'S WRONG WITH PLAYMOBIL

[cachalote]

i see official box and catalogue dioramas as playmobil's suggestions of what to do with their products.
not that i follow them (i find it difficult to mix knights and pirates) but they help me to understand how the company's design "brain" works.
coreographing imaginary situations (contemporary, historical or fictional) seems to be the main purpose of playmobil toys.
i guess buildings (or ships, or cars, or planes) are seen as parts of a possible scenario - they can complete the action but they are not in the center of the action.
this being the case, the figures are the main elements of any action.
almost every kid can buy one and take it to school.
you can play with a knight imagining a chair as a fortress.
it's more difficult to play with a castle imagining some other object as a knight and it´s more difficult to insert a castle inside a pocket (the take-a-long sets are maybe a way to try go around this difficulty).
most of american toys (like barbie dolls) are very "figurative" in their design. they are also bigger in size (like american cars).
playmobil will always have both this problems: their figures are too small and too abstract (they have no noses, they have no real fingers, they have no visible muscles).
maybe north america is not an easy market for playmobil, despite being lead-free.
from what i understand, the invention of playmobil came as a result of the oil crisis in the 70's.
i bet the rising in oil prices won't help to change the small-figure-oriented philosofy of playmobil.
if you look at the new sets, boxes are getting larger and sets are getting "smaller" in the number of pieces they include.

[Customizer]

Hi Playmofriends,

im a big fan from stecksystem but at the beginning from systemx i thought ok new system i must like it , its playmobil.

But after a long time testing, i think that was not realy a great system like stecksystem.
- no realy stabel enough
- to many systemX connectors this cost many time to build a house........

I think this was a point for playmobil to make compact buildings.
Open the box and play fast, i think no parenst had enough time to build with there childs a complex systemX house and young childs had some problems to build alone a systemX building.

The lighthouse looks very nice and you can play great with it, but there some 
drawbacks.
- you cant use 3 cannons useful a little small......
- it was very hard to fix the trapdoor after use.
- not systemX compatible

I thought playmobil brings a systemX lighthouse and later some new spanish conquistadors
with a fort to combinate............
But i think this time the playmobil themes are very short-lived only to look how can sell more.

Look at the Future the compact buildings coming.........

- 4243 Pharaotemple
- 4343 Animal Clinic

But i think to make new moulds for compact buildings cost many money, but its not cheaper to use some older systemX or Stecksystem buidlings ?

The other way are playmobil brings some new SystemX buildings , church , livinghouse , police station ...........

Very complex to understand this all........
But its great to see the STECKSYSTEM pavilion:


Stecksystem not realy DIE this time !

Ok another Story:
Today i buy the new 4443 german version from treasure island !
The surprise are "MADE IN CHINA" I thought whats up ??
After i opend i was shocked about some part quality !
Looks realy china like........... 
I dont understand the advert at playmobil.com about german/europe quality after the Mattel china disaster.
"98% of Playmobil Toys are manufactured at Europe"
Are the 4443 the rest 2% ?? I cant believe it !

Dont angry about my words, im a big playmobil lover (for the future) but i cant understand some facts from zirndorf !

world greets

Andi

[macgayver]

all very very interesting reading

and could write a long reply too

if you look at the whole world around us
life has become very expensive

It all comes back to one thing      MONEY   

and trying to survive as a factory with a product that is luxury
they need to feed 700 families  zindorf only

let's not forget we collectors are a small part on their sales

and if I see wot they developping the last years
most of the themes are stuff that we collectors on all forums ask for  not ?

it's struggelling and trying to survive

My two cents

[CountBogro]

Actually - they more then "struggling" and surviving ...
They've actually achieved another year of growth in turnover even though the market is shrinking. In other words - it seems to me they are doing something right. Even though we might not like it. After all - it's a toy first and a collector's item for a fanbase secondly.

I'm afraid that Playmobil is getting more and more like the community in general. I remember only a few years ago that Phil Collins complained (*) that the instructions of toys were too complicated for adults. It took him over three (!!!) hours to put up the large king's castle from Playmobil. It seems to me that to general public wants a complete and ready set. Ready to be played with straight out of the box. And Geobra is providing. Earning a buck in the process too.

It would be nice if they stuck to the great ideas of the past and keep on producing all those wonderfull sets we love to own or would love to own. But then again ... how many years would they be able to avoid bankruptcy?

Just my own 0.02 worth ...

Bogro

(*) that was in a episode of room 101 ...

[gloobey]

I originally bought Playmobil sets that were big, and noticeably time consuming to build. It was a way for my son and I to spend time together, and for me to help him be creative. A bigger building challenge = more fun for us. The new sets have been easier to build, less parts, no Steck! Now we spend time building with what we have or we go to our LEGO collection (which I started in 1979 and have added to ever since).

I think Playmobil is making a mistake if they move away from modular building / complicated sets. If I wanted Fisher-Price, I would have bought it in the first place...anyways, just my two cents worth. I still love Playmobil, I'll give them the benfit of the doubt to see what they come up with next. Hopefully it will be more trains...

[Knight Train]

I originally bought Playmobil sets that were big, and noticeably time consuming to build. It was a way for my son and I to spend time together, and for me to help him be creative. A bigger building challenge = more fun for us.

YES!!

This is how we got started on playmobil.  My niece gave my daughter an ambulance set and we added some simple stuff to it.  We discovered how much fun it was building the sets together with me helping interpret the instuctions and she being the builder, so next year we got the big doll house and so it started...

Being able to take multiple sets and combine them makes the playing much more fun.   

[Timotheos]

Yeah, I think PM is making a mistake if it changes design theory to suit Phil Collins!!!*  We bought a couple of lego sets for my daughter that took a few hours to build.  It was a mild hassle, but I'd hate to think that "as a race" we're being shoehorned down the path of insta-toy for insta-parents! 

A: MY HOURLY RATE AT WORK IS $XXX.  ASSEMBLING THIS TOY COST ME 2 * $XXX!!!!!!!**

* Joke: RE: Bogro's earlier Phil Collins quote
** Based on a true story.  Presumably the character, who actually kept to 40 hour weeks, would somehow have been able to charge the client for that lost time.

I originally bought Playmobil sets that were big, and noticeably time consuming to build. It was a way for my son and I to spend time together, and for me to help him be creative. A bigger building challenge = more fun for us. The new sets have been easier to build, less parts, no Steck! Now we spend time building with what we have or we go to our LEGO collection (which I started in 1979 and have added to ever since).

I think Playmobil is making a mistake if they move away from modular building / complicated sets. If I wanted Fisher-Price, I would have bought it in the first place...anyways, just my two cents worth. I still love Playmobil, I'll give them the benfit of the doubt to see what they come up with next. Hopefully it will be more trains...

[Richard]

Hello, Timmy ...

A: MY HOURLY RATE AT WORK IS $XXX.  ASSEMBLING THIS TOY COST ME 2 * $XXX!!!!!!!**

* Joke: RE: Bogro's earlier Phil Collins quote
** Based on a true story.  Presumably the character, who actually kept to 40 hour weeks, would somehow have been able to charge the client for that lost time.

Playmobil Steck System Dollhouse (or Pavillion) - $125.95 (or $57.95)

Reading glasses to read Playmobil plans and directions - $14.95

Time spent with daughter - Priceless

And for everything else, there's - Playmofriends ...

[CountBogro]

Very funny Richard.

But seriously. It seems to me that if you want to build with Playmobil, then you're in the wrong toy. Originally, Lego and Mechano were there to build and Playmobil was there for role-playing (and I am not refering to D&D). There were only a couple of figures with some accesories and that's it. Buildings and such only came much later.

I agree; the building is a lot of fun - but that's not the essence of the toy. And since society seems to go more and more for the "here and now" approach, most of the interest will go in the "here and now" sets. Which is a great pity. But understandable 

Bogro

[Richard]

Hello, Bogro ...

It seems to me that if you want to build with Playmobil, then you're in the wrong toy. Originally, Lego and Mechano were there to build and Playmobil was there for role-playing (and I am not refering to D&D). There were only a couple of figures with some accesories and that's it. Buildings and such only came much later.

I respectfully disagree with the idea that Playmobil is not a construction toy !

Playmobil IS a construction toy! It has always been a construction toy!

In 1974 Playmobil was introduced as a "KLICKY" ... Parts were "klicked" on the basic figure to change it from a Construction Worker to an Indian to a Knight. This is figure construction!

And, a mere two years later, buildings were introduced! This was the beginning of structure construction. These first Western buildings, to assemble, were later followed with the Steck System and then with SystemX.

Playmobil has ALWAYS been a construction "SYSTEM" ... The early boxes even "shouted" the word system all over them!

IMHO ... PLAYMOBIL IS A CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM!

(Even Playmobil stated in their 1974 flyer, "Das neu variable System für mobiles Spielen.")

All the best,
Richard