What TLC Could Learn From Playmobil

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Emperor James
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What TLC Could Learn From Playmobil

Post by Emperor James »

I have said in jest before that I was going to switch to Playmobil. I am not really going to, of course, but Playmobil is a lot better than LEGO in castle right. Their castle section: http://store.playmobilusa.com/is-bin/IN ... r_us&PLS=0

Their stuff just looks so much better than LEGO does now. Some things that Playmobil has that TLC should:

1. Extremely good and accurate looking Castles. These all look really good, and the towers all have ladders, and the walltops all have stairs.
2. Surprisingly accurate helmets, weapons, and armor. Every one of their helmets looks nearly identical to a medeival one, and the armor is the same. Whats more, the armor and helmets usually match up as they would historically. The weapons, though straightforward, are also highly accurate.
3. Medeival looking siege weapons. The catapult looks good, and is a reasonable size, and the siege tower is awesome, actually fits men inside, has a cool slightly weighted battering ram, and the bridge actually fits and hooks onto the castle wall.
4. Lots of castle expansion sets. I don't know if I would buy the LEGO version of these, if they had a good main line, but with the Playmobil system, its good.
5. Figure packs from various fafactions! They have 8 castle figure packs (plus a few from the regular line). There are 4 factions represented, each has one pack with a few soldiers, and one that just has the leader. TLC would do well to do something similar :wink:
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Post by wlister »

After looking at all this I can say that Playmobile is definitely better than Lego in terms of style, design, execution, playability and all those things that TLC like to say they are the best at. The only drawback aside from price that I see with any of this is that it is not made out of bricks. I am a builder at heart and being able to build my own MOCs is paramount to accuracy and functionality.

These sets outshine the flash and wow factor that kids express at the Megabloks Dragon line as well. If this was a brick built product, my son said he would much rather have this stuff. The fig packs are amazing and check out the castle accessories, unbelieveable even the accessory pack has a better selection of part than TLC.

If they can sell fig packs for less than $8.00 then TLC can too, last time I looked Playmobile was plastic too.

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Get a clue.

Will

(That last line is harsh, but it is true, what is KKII to this? Bad enough Duplo kicks system behind, but Playmobile too. :x )
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Post by rogue27 »

I've been thinking for a while that it would be great to have faction-based minifig packs for LEGO Castle.

Playmobil's idea of having a separate pack for the leader is brilliant! No unneeded duplicates of unique figs when trying to build an army! LEGO Castle actually did have a King set back in 1995, but I think they also were foolish and put the king into the minifig pack of the time.

I've seen this Playmobil stuff at Target right across from the LEGO section, and I have been impressed with how "authentic" their medieval stuff looks, especially compared to the monocolored knights with big cartoon shields. *barf*

I don't know what TLC's problem is here. Somebody in their marketing department needs to go work for Pepsi or something.
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Post by Jojo »

Hello!


You are right, Playmobil is a great toy. Their current Castle line is awesome and their past mediaeval sets are simply outstanding. Please take a look at these halftimbered houses:
http://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/th ... mework.htm

And they always had an eye on mediaeval life as well as on armoured knights:
http://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/themes/knights.htm

Their castles are inspired by the Castle of Nuremberg (of wich I cannot find a proper image in the www, alas!) because the Playmobil company "Geobra Brandstätter" is located near Nuremberg. If only Billund had a castle...!

Oh, and don't miss their Magic line!
http://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/themes/magic.htm


Rogue:
Unfortunatelly the Royal Knights didn't even have a Figpack. The lonely king 6008 was the only set of this kind in that line.


Ah, I found a pic of the Kaiserburg in Nuremberg:
http://www.restaurant-burgwaechter.de/Kaiserburg.jpg


Bye
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Post by MaxiVisVires »

wow, that Playmobil set looks great. It seems they didn't worry about the bottom line when making that set. Wish TLC would do the same thing.
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Post by Sir Vincent »

I may be a Playmobil collector and builder...but I am also one of LEGO...Playmobil's current line of castle sets and the new ones that will be out in a few months...may be better than KK2...but we aren't here to bash LEGO...we are here to discuss the things we love about LEGO...not what we hate...even if Playmobil has drunken knights with a catapult...
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Post by LEGOFREAK »

I saw the castle line a few years back when someone gave me a playmobil catalog (seems SOME folks can't tell the difference between toys :roll: ...)
And for a brief moment I flirted with the idea of getting some. I mean LOOK at them. they rock!
but - no. I mean I like LEGO. period.
and I don't have the funds to obsess over more than one toy at a time, which is why I stopped getting Star Wars stuff. :D

ANyway - back on topic. I really hope lego's strategy of sucking in bionicle fans into big castle knights, and then into minifig knights, and then making a good line of castle really pays off.

(leave me alone. thats my fantasy and I am sticking with it :D)
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Post by lil Jon »

I've compared prices at the store. Playmobil is a lot cheaper too! (well at my local Target)

I had a lotta playmobil when i was young. LEGO should learn from them!
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Post by kajo163 »

I've allways admired Playmo's medieval sets. I've got the catalogue from last year lying arround somewere, the siege tower in there kind of reminded me of Vladeks.

Let's hope that tlc picks up on the ideas.

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Post by jwcbigdog »

I have one word, authenticity. That is something that TLC has lacked since the Dragon Masters line. The great sets had the look of real castles, like what you would when you go to Europe and see the real thing. That is what Playmo toys have. They LOOK like the real thing, and you can play with them. Kids today are being cheated by toy companies and being given a false sense of what the past truly was like due to these circus-like fantasy land toys instead of things that are both accurate and fun. I hate to preach, but I believe that this is what TLC needs to get back to, taking pride in the fact that they may not necessarily be the highest selling toys in the market, but they are accurate and kids can learn how the past truly was. That is what Playmo has, a line of toys which are accurate and fun. The moral high ground is sometimes a lonely place, but often it is the best place to be.
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Post by Chancellor Erik »

I have been collecting playmobil for years now, and now more than ever (thanks to KK2). Not to say its better than Lego (that's not possible)...
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Post by Troy T. Moore »

The bad thing about Playmobil is you are limited in what you can do with it.

Lego is made up of elements that can be reconfigured so that one day you can make a castle and the next day a star cruiser from the same pieces (some of the same, that is :wink: )

I think that many of us here are not only LEGO castle freaks, but also like all things medieval, which is why the Playmobil castle line is appealing.

We all know TLG could do better because they have. Realism, like in the 80's and early 90's, would be appealing.

Legofreak wrote:
ANyway - back on topic. I really hope lego's strategy of sucking in bionicle fans into big castle knights, and then into minifig knights, and then making a good line of castle really pays off.

(leave me alone. thats my fantasy and I am sticking with it )

From what I have seen, this may be the case. Some friends of ours who have 2 boys that are Bionicle crazy are into the large KK2 knights. We can hope, can't we?
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Post by Emperor James »

Troy T. Moore wrote:The bad thing about Playmobil is you are limited in what you can do with it.

Lego is made up of elements that can be reconfigured so that one day you can make a castle and the next day a star cruiser from the same pieces (some of the same, that is :wink: )

I think that many of us here are not only LEGO castle freaks, but also like all things medieval, which is why the Playmobil castle line is appealing.

We all know TLG could do better because they have. Realism, like in the 80's and early 90's, would be appealing.
You miss the point. I am saying that TLC could learn a lot from Playmobil, not that Playmobil is better than LEGO. Notice that while Playmobil is offering a castle line that completely blows away the early 80's and 90's LEGO sets in terms of historical accuracy, TLC is making space for their castle line now. I want TLC to be more like Playmobil, that is all.
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Post by Buford »

For next Christmas I purchased about $900 worth of Playmobile Castle stuff for my great nephew. I love the detail, the castles are modular so one can buy several sets and combine them. His set has over 100 quality Playmobile minifigs, wild animals, a mess of Vikings with long boat, two castles, 2 catapults, an assault tower and a whole lot more.

So yes I prefer Playmobile, to a point. After I purchased the Playmobile stuff I went out and spent ~ $2,000 on LEGO. Why?

Well Charlie will need a regular supply of castles to assault. Some with very high walls, some with concentric walls. All with endless variations of towers and drawbridges.

There is a whole world of castle tricks and architectural details new to this 4 year old. Once he burns and pillages Castle de Gaulle, next week it’s Castle John Kerry, then the Castle de la NOW or Castle el ACLU.

With all the Playmobile castles sets combined I can make several nice castles, with LEGO I can make an endless supply of castles, towns and forts for Charlie to assault or defend. Both “play systems” have their advantages. I am not a purest, the stuff can be mixed.

I would love to post jpgs of the stuff but I don't think brickshelf would permit it.
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Post by Jojo »

Hello!
Buford wrote:I would love to post jpgs of the stuff but I don't think brickshelf would permit it.
BrickShelf permits MegaBloks. So why wouldn't they permit Playmobil?

Anyway, if you are unsure use http://www.maj.com/
Your BS-account is working there.


Bye
Jojo

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