To think Playmobil is actually crap?

[BeaArthur]

I love the look of Playmobil toys and there’s something appealing about the fact that they’ve been around forever. They are quite a bit more expensive than other plastic toys but I figured they must be well made. We now have several different Playmobil sets, and they all literally fall apart with anything but the gentlest handling. They come with pieces that are so tiny as to be virtually guaranteed to get lost — things like tiny rubber flip-flops that don’t even stay on the size of my little fingernail. The people lose their plastic hair and end up with heads that are just open at the top. I’ve ordered replacement parts but I can’t keep doing this. I really don’t understand who these toys are made for. My DCs are 5 and 8. The 8-year-old is basically beyond playing with things like this, and the 5-year-old is constantly frustrated with the toys shedding pieces constantly. Am I missing the point here? Why do people keep buying these expensive plastic toys when they’re no better than the usual tat?

Don't get me bloody started!
For Christmas my son went in and on about it the playmobil toothless dragon that he wanted from how to train your dragon. Put t together and within minutes at wing had come off, no problem put back on... but it constantly friggin comes off! Every sodding day, and it's not easy to clip back in either! How we haven't lost it is beyond me but it's sending me nuts! £30 for a dragon that hardly has wings on!

They are the devils work.
I got a castle thing for one of mine at Christmas it took 5 hours to build it

I love playmobil and I think it's brilliant. The tiny bits are what make it interesting for my 4 and 6 year olds. My dc got the pyramid for Christmas which is excellent - lots of hidden doors and traps and things.

I'm still finding canon-balls from the original Playmobil pirate ship. Big Son was 30 last month.

Those tiny pieces really do get everywhere

DS2 has lots of Playmobil; we bought him a Tuff Tray with a stand for it so he can put his 'types' on there all together (he's currently got it covered in tin foil and full of space ships and rockets). I've always thought it was pretty robust, but the hairlessness drives me batshit so the Tuff Tray in the playroom means I don't have to look at the poor little people with gaping head holes so much (Lego men minus hair also drive me mad).

We have loads of Playmobil, and I think it's fantastic. Great quality. Nothing falls off.

But we haven't bought any new for maybe 5 years - are they using a differnt manufacturer now?

@Kidssendingmenuts - we have the exact same thing! Every day virtually, my son presents me with Toothless and a sodding wing that I then have to reattach. It feels like I'm going to break it getting it back on, the connection thing is that awkward.

I love Playmobil. Our 5 year old daughter was given the hospital and a few add-ons for Christmas and it's great. Seems so much better value for money than a Lego set of a comparable size and is better for playing with once built than Lego. The teeny pieces do get lost, but they are also what makes it brilliant - teeny rubbery tubes for the oxygen machine, teeny surgical tools, teeny potty for the children's ward. Love it!

DD is 11 and still plays with her's. We have had loads and had loads of play value from it. I thought we had finished with Playmobil and I sorted out the princess castle, the circus and the fairy things and felt really good to have cleared some out when she put some jungle things on her Christmas list last year. She has played with it loads and loves all the animals. My husband had lots of the fisher price ones as a child and his parents still have the campervan and other things which my kids play with when they visit them.

DS likes his few bits of playmobil but didn't actually play with them. He pulls then it, gets me to set them all up, including all the teeny tiny bits of bandages and scissors (vet) and little birds on trees, then just leaves it there and refuses to let me put it away.

The rest of my life revolves around finding tiny pieces of lost Lego - who's idea was it to make little Lego guns that fire tiny Lego bits?

ratrolypoly! 😵 how did it get there??

I think the quality is deteriorating. Especially with the cheaper sets that you can buy now. DD has an old set of fairies and unicorns, but we bought her the unicorn garden set for Christmas to supplement what she already had - it was really reasonably priced for Play Mobil. Unfortunately the unicorns are all very thin and unwell looking, they're also much flimsier than her original set (I think, from memory, they're hollow but don't quote me on that!).

I hate the amount of self assembly required too! When I had Play Mobil as a child, there was nowhere near the same level of building required.

I'd never even thought about it until I read about it on MN....so I looked at it and got DD a dolls house.

BLOODY CRAP!

Dealing with the parts was like panning for gold! Pathetically tiny, millions of them but never to be seen again once played with.

It may have gone downhill. Playmobil of 20 years ago was great, and you could rebuild the castle for example into so many different structures. Hair would come off, but only with force. Still keep finding playmobil people around the house though, and never quite get around to adding them to the big stock of playmobil in the loft.

The toothless dragon is so frustrating. The wings fall off at the slightest touch, and it's hit and miss if the 'bullet' things get fired out its mouth. It's like they only fire out once every 5 times of pulling the head back. Will never get play mobile again. Will stick to Lego, which my son is very happy with.

We have imaginext here having been unimpressed with playmobil previously. I was a bit aghast at the price initially but now think they are absolutely worth it (the imaginext that is). Dt's have built up a good collection now and play with it all endlessly. The castle recognises and responds to incoming dragon etc so they really enjoy it.
The transforming batcave was a bit of a let down for me but ds thinks it's amazing and plays with it every day

I'm the other way.

Compared to Duplo and lego it is cheap and much nicer stuff.

(My kid is about the pretend play and not the building though.)

My DC absolutely love Playmobile and some of the sets are pretty fab. We're into the Ancient Egypt and Romans now, along the hospital and city stuff.

Mine love Playmobil and it has lasted years, if you want to talk about little pieces try Sylvannian Families!!

Playmobil has always been good quality and amazing attention to detail. Haven't bought it in years now. When my ds was little, he absolutely loved it. No idea if the quality has changed as he is in his twenties now!

I love the Playmobil 123, I think it's called. Designed for toddlers and young children. You can get some really nice sets.

My four had a whole world full of playmobile and played with it for years upon years; at least one of them was making films with it well into their teens.

I do think some kids get it too young though; a certain degree of manual dexterity is required. My kids were actually always pretty careful with their toys though.

DS loves the old stuff at my MIL's, but we got some new stuff and it was crap. Imaginext (think it's a fisher price brand) is awesome though.

My dsts are are a few weeks short of 11. I am surrounded by playmobile which they have been playing with the last couple of weeks. The small parts were annoying when they were small but now they dig it all out. A lot of kids play with it too young. Screens take over and they lose the ability to play with it. That happened to ds1.

OP. Dad that you think your 8 y.o. is beyond playing with playmobile. I think he is probably the right age. What does he play with?