| |
Hi all,
At the risk of being jumped on simultaneously, by thousands of AFOL's (or
having thousands of Timmy's thrown at me) I just finished having a look at the
playmobil site, and came away with much food for thought.
Firstly I was struck with the resemblance to Lego thematically, trains,
castle, western, pirates, town, on closer inspection, there were many sets
that seemed almost identical (thematically and piece wise, remembering that
playmobil don't do bricks as such, just minifigs, burps and spuds)
So much so, that I started to wonder who was copying from who? I decided
loyally, as the good AFOL that I am, that THEY must be copying from Lego.
Then a further set search revealed an interesting (to me anyway) coincidence
(or not?)
The set which piqued my interest was a knight figure, with a shield bearing
the image of a bulls head.
Check it out at:
http://www.playmobil.de/ushomepage/homepage.html
Have a look around, while you are there, check out the ox knight by clicking
on product, then castle, then oxknight, also, have a look at the log fort, in
fact look at any of the sets, Call me deluded, but I'm sure that after having
a wander around you will get an amazing sense of deja vu, what is going on?
Exactly who is copying who?
However, there is one product line, that I wish Lego would copy....
Now I have to say, that although I am not about to decamp by any means, Lego
could easily take a leaf out of Playmobil's book, and start supplying us with
the accessory and add-on packs that Playmobil do.
I was amazed to discover that their range includes such gems as Animal Packs,
both domestic and wild (two animals to a pack, and dozens to choose from),
People packs, (again dozens to choose from)Plant and rock sets (many varieties
of both), Fence packs ranging from timber look, to zoo, circus house etc etc,
Building packs (including individual walls, towers, drawbridges, gates,
apartment walls, bridges etc etc)
All these sets were just what they said they were, basic packs, with just the
pieces you need, and nothing to part out!!! Imagine being able to buy all the
castle walls, draw bridges, towers, weapons, armour, that you wanted,
separately!
Lego, wake up, give us AFOL's the pieces we need, without the pieces we don't!
Suffice it to say, I was jealous!!!
More than jealous, I found myself thinking about buying, (should mention that
the scale is all wrong for Lego and the sets are aimed at the very young,
three to six yrs, sort of a couple of steps up from Duplo, detail wise, and a
few steps down from Lego,) actually, just about perfect for my three yr old
son, who loves the Lego minifigs, especially those with guns and swords, (and
so has lost interest in Duplo, no weapons!) but is not really interested in
building with bricks, more acting out situations. He really likes pillaging
and plundering anything anyone else creates though!
He also loses Lego regularly, as he takes them to preschool in his pocket,
and they go through the wash! Playmobil would be a little harder to suck up
the vacuum cleaner, as well.
Rachel
(who is starting to wish that playmobil had bricks......The horses are crap
though!)
|
|
Message has 9 Replies:
 | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| This message reminds me my pre dark age lego playing habits. I had a collection of almost 2000 pieces but only four minifigs, which even included to the collection while I lost my interest at role playing, and started building models displaying (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| [ FUT lugnet.general ] Rachel Kingston: [ Comparing Playmobil and LEGO ] (...) In many cases (castle, wild west, and divers come to mind) LEGO copies Playmobil's ideas. What I find really bad is that LEGO also seem to be copying Playmobil's lack of (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| (...) I have noticed this similarity also. Part of it is the fact that both lines are very extensive, so should have an incredible overlap (or someone's research into what kids seem to be interested in is totally invalid). I have noticed other toy (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| (...) Hee. It's apparently no longer a part of the product line, but you should see the Playmobil Ghost. It's such a ringer for the LEGO ghost that it could be the LEGO ghost's giant economy-sized brother. I don't think I still have the box, (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| In lugnet.castle, Rachel Kingston writes: <snip> (...) Not only that, but the part numbers are clearly marked on the instructions, and the buyer is allowed, nay, encouraged to call Playmobil and purchase parts individually. Not cheap, of course, but (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| I looked at the Playmobile web site, and discovered that they have cannons too. Can the Playmobile cannon shoot? If so, how is it safer than its Lego counterpart? Cheers, Hao-yang Wang (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| Rachel Kingston wrote in message ... (...) the (...) After reading this post and the long string of responses, I would have to say that it is interesting that no one did jump on Rachel or throw thousands of Timmys. If someone made a comment (...) (25 years ago, 25-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| (...) should mention that (...) Despite using larger pieces, I believe Playmobil is still aimed at the same ages as LEGO System. Playmobil 1-2-3 is the DUPLO equivlant. What I like about Playmobil is, as you mentioned, variety. Thier current Town (...) (25 years ago, 25-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego/playmobile ramble
|
| Besides the great line of Playmobil 'accessory packs', there's one other thing we wish LEGO would do similarly: To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Playmobil just released a rerun of their classic Playmobil truck from 1975 ! And it's even budget (...) (25 years ago, 29-Nov-99, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
|
38 Messages in This Thread:
  
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
