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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

playmobile.. to think the reason

19 replies

wonderingsoul · 30/12/2013 18:37

ds2 got his first playmobile toy a couple of days ago for his birthday.

i put it together tonight.. took almost 2 hours, granted there was lots of bits BUT aibu to think the real reason playmobile takes so bloody long to put together is becasue the instructions are extreamly crap!

we had the large piriate ship and some of the bits.. mainly the mask are very similier, but the intrustions dont really help you tell them apart.. so it took longer trying to work out what one to use.

also at the end of the intrustions it shouws you how to do the little drop plank of wood..(cant t hink of what its called) but doesnt tell you where it goes on the ship.. i had to look at the box...which also alerted me to a bit that wasnt in the instructions at all ( i doubled checked this)

that said.. ds2 LOVES IT... and so do i...

rant over!

OP posts:

MrsTerryPratchett · 30/12/2013 18:41

I was making a Quadrilla marble run today and marveling at how fantastic the instructions are. It make all the difference when you have an excited 3 year old screaming about marbles in your ear.

MurderOfGoths · 30/12/2013 19:04

Hang on, you're meant to look at the instructions on these things?!

HerlockSholmes · 30/12/2013 19:09

I spent 10 minutes crying on Christmas eve because my brother and i were building a police station and the instructions made it look as though three "vital" vits were missing.

turns out it was actually a tool for putting some bits together put the diagrams made it look as though they were parts and that we should have four instead of one.

PurplePidjin · 30/12/2013 19:10

This is why ds will be getting Duplo...

so i can spend hours playing with it, at 13 months he's really not bothered

Rinoachicken · 30/12/2013 20:16

I feel your pain. I was putting the treasure island together on Christmas Day, multiple bags of teeny tiny pieces. I foolishly thought that parts needed for each section would be in the same bag but nooooo, found one vital part nestled in amongst some 'leaves' and another bit in the little bag that had a parrot and rowing boat in!!

It was very tense, but DS loves it of course.

Purplepoodle · 30/12/2013 20:26

I'm sad, I love playmobil and putting it together. Iv had many a lovely shared hour with dp, putting together various playmobil toys before Christmas. It's an insurance sport.

Coveredinweetabix · 30/12/2013 23:09

I had to make the Playmobil school this Christmas and it was so frustrating as they'd made it so much more complicated than it needed to have been. There was umpteen bags of bits but there was no logic as to what was in which bag. And the instructions could have indicated more clearly whether it was a transparent or solid piece. But DD loves it.

ReluctantCamper · 30/12/2013 23:14

I have the camper van and swimming pool stowed away for DS's birthday next week.....guess I should start making it now....?

IneedAwittierNickname · 30/12/2013 23:26

I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour building any playmobil set, what's taking everyone so long?

Original poster

wonderingsoul · 30/12/2013 23:36

this is the first time iv done playmobile.. so i cant say if all sets are the same.. but i have heard they take a while :/

that said i love lego/putting together sets/ doing flatpacks..

but its even more enjoyable if you have good clear instructions, instead of spending 20 minutes trying to figure out what bit you actually need.. trying to figure out its this black long stick with a hoop on the end.. or if its infact.. another black long stick with a claw at the end... becasue the diagrames dont show you properly.

OP posts:

MaryzBoychildCheeszuzCrizpz · 30/12/2013 23:40

I miss lego. And Playmobil. Mine never liked it much. Which was good in a way as I could play with it. But it was so hard to justify the ridiculous prices.

I am looking forward to having grandchildren. They will love Playmobil

IneedAwittierNickname · 30/12/2013 23:41

Maybe I find it easy because I had it as a child and therefore recognize bits.
The good thing is, that once its built it mostly stays built.

(ps don't buy the pyramid if you dont like building it,.that set took me the longest and had to he dismantled for storage until recently)

AllabouttheE · 30/12/2013 23:44

That ship took me 3 hours. You did well, I nearly cried!

Purplepoodle · 30/12/2013 23:50

4 plus hours to build a farm, house thingy and all the vehicles

BarHumbugBeasty · 31/12/2013 09:37

It took me nearly 5 hours to build the princess castle, but I have to say that for that and the Noah's ark set we already had, the instructions are really good.

Yes there was a pair of doors that I thought were missing until I realised they were see through, but how do you draw a see through part on instructions? If it was true to life you wouldn't see them at all on paper!

Original poster

wonderingsoul · 31/12/2013 09:56

bar they could write see through or "glass" door

OP posts:

TSSDNCOP · 31/12/2013 10:07

I agree completely about the pieces being packed into bags separate from each other. It's the same with Lego and Playmobile and has reduced me to a gibbering wreck on many occasions.

It's a rookie error to start building PM on the actual day of the giving and that should be printed in BIG LETTERS on the boxes IMO.

Oreocrumbs · 31/12/2013 10:14

I built the school last night too.

I really enjoyed it after the first hour or so! The instructions are bad, there is no order and I think there are 600 pieces in the school. I actually sat there just looking at it making faces for the first 5 minutes!

Once I got into the swing of it though, I started to enjoy it. And at 10pm last night, DD was asleep in my bed. and I could be found up in her room playing with the playmobil .

BarHumbugBeasty · 31/12/2013 22:08

But it's all in pictures so they don't have to write it in hundreds of languages.

The princess castle is packed into 3 sections in the box ,andalthough the bags within each section hold random bits they are for the right section.

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